Office of Research and Development

National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division

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May 29, 2013

John Kinsey, Emissions Characterization and Prevention Branch

Black Carbon Emissions 

from Wood Stoves and 

Fireplaces
1

Research Objectives

• Test appliances under “real world” operating conditions to the 

maximum extent possible

• Physically and chemically describe the smoke plume from selected 

RWC appliances and wood types to support source apportionment and 

health studies

• Compare the plume data to traditional laboratory dilution sampling to 

determine the ability of laboratory methods to adequately represent the 

ambient aerosol 

• Investigate other methods of expressing total PM emissions to 

“normalize” the effects of wood moisture, etc. to improve emission 

factor estimates
2

Technical Approach

• Modify standard test methods to mimic “real world” operation using typical 

fuel types

• Design and construct a calorimeter chamber to determine appliance heat 

output for emission factor calculations per draft ISO Method 13336

• Design and construct an atmospheric wind tunnel for plume 

characterization studies

• Add a suite of on-particle analyzers to determine total PM, particle size, 

etc. in near real-time

• Analyze the chemical composition of the collected particles for important 

parameters including elemental/organic carbon, water-soluble ions, gasphase organic acids, and organic speciation (total mass and by particle 

size)
3

Experimental Apparatus
4

Wood Stove 

Installed in 

Calorimeter 

Chamber
5

Wind Tunnel on Laboratory Roof
6

Test Summary

• Total of 28 tests conducted from mid-February to mid-May 2001

• 24 tests performed on a non-catalytic, certified wood stove and 4 tests 

on a zero-clearance fireplace

• The 24 stove tests included:

–10 runs using “wet” oak cordwood (7 with wind tunnel and 3 with 

Method 28 dilution tunnel)

–5 runs using “dry” oak cordwood and wind tunnel

–6 runs using “wet” Douglas Fir cordwood (3 with wind tunnel and 3 

with Method 28 dilution tunnel)

–3 runs using “dry” Douglas Fir cordwood and wind tunnel

• All 4 fireplace tests were conducted using “wet” oak and atmospheric 

wind tunnel
7

Mass Emission Rate vs. Time for Example Test 

Run (Wind Tunnel TEOM)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

8:0

0:0

5

8:15:0

5

8:3

0:0

5

8:4

5:0

5

9:0

0:0

5

9:15:0

5

9:3

0:0

5

9:4

5:0

5

10:0

0:0

5

10:15:0

5

10:3

0:0

5

10:4

5:0

5

11:0

0:0

5

11:15:0

5

11:3

0:0

5

11:4

5:0

5

12:0

0:0

5

12:15:0

5

12:3

0:0

5

12:4

5:0

5

13:0

0:0

5

13:15:0

5

Time (HH:MM:SS)

P

artic

ulate

E

mis

sio

n

R

ate (m

g/min)

Kindling High Burn Low Burn

3/29/01
8

PM Mass Emission Factors

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Stove-Wet OakWTStove-Wet OakDTStove-Dry OakWTStove-Wet FirWTStove-Dry FirWTStove-Dry FirDTFireplace-Wet

Oak-WT

C

orre

cte

d

T

E

O

M

T

otal M

a

s

s

E

mis

sio

n

F

a

ctor (g

k

g

-1

dry

w

o

o

d)

Kindling

High Burn

Low Burn

(Test 26 only)

Test 24

only

(b)

WT = Atmospheric 

wind tunnel

DT = Laboratory 

dilution tunnel

Average Teflon

emission factor for all

burn phases shown

in (a) above.

From McCrillis

(2000) for similar

fuel, H2O, and

burn rates in DT

(glass filters)

From Purvis

et al. (2000)

for wet oak

in DT (glass

filters)
9

Elemental & Organic Carbon Results from Wind Tunnel Quartz Filter 

Samples (Kindling + High Burn + Low Burn)

6.77

3.91

1.69

4.90

5.88

0.11

0.13

0.07

0.13

0.39

0.98

0.86

0.52

1.28

2.34

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Stove-Wet Oak (Avg) Stove-Dry Oak Stove-Dry Fir Stove-Wet Fir Fireplace-Wet Oak

T

otal P

M

E

mis

sio

n

F

a

ctor (g/k

g fu

el)

Inorganics

Elemental Carbon

Organic Carbon