Particulate matter measurement in residential wood combustion: method comparison and introduction of a novel approach

Abstract

Residential wood combustion (RWC) is a major source of atmospheric particulate matter (PM). Yet, the diversity of PM emission measurement methods used for RWC appliances often leads to inconsistent and non-comparable results. This study compares two PM measurement techniques: a dilution-based method combining a porous tube diluter (PTD) and an ejector diluter (ED), and the heated filter method defined in EN 16510-1:2022 standard. A novel hybrid method was also introduced, integrating the EN standard with a PTD to separately quantify solid and condensable PM fractions. For the method comparison, emissions from six RWC appliances were measured across different combustion phases. Results show that both appliance type and combustion phase significantly affect emission composition, particularly the organic matter (OM) content, which in turn influences method comparability. The dilution method generally yielded higher PM concentrations, except when OM content was low. Due to the strong dependence on emission composition, universal conversion factors between methods were not feasible. The findings underscore the need for harmonized PM measurement protocols that account for condensable organic particles. The proposed hybrid method offers a more comprehensive assessment and is potential for future regulatory use.