Atmosphere, Vol. 15, Pages 436: Important Contribution to Aerosol Oxidative Potential from Residential Solid Fuel Burning in Central Ireland

Atmosphere, Vol. 15, Pages 436: Important Contribution to Aerosol Oxidative Potential from Residential Solid Fuel Burning in Central Ireland

Atmosphere doi: 10.3390/atmos15040436

Authors: Matteo Rinaldi Francesco Manarini Mattia Lucertini Marco Rapuano Stefano Decesari Marco Paglione Maria Cristina Facchini Chunshui Lin Darius Ceburnis Colin D. O’Dowd Paul Buckley Stig Hellebust John Wenger Jurgita Ovadnevaite

Numerous studies have shown negative health effects related to exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM), likely due to induced oxidative stress. In this study, we have examined ambient PM samples from Birr, a small (~5000 inhabitants) town in central Ireland, for their water-soluble DTT-based oxidative potential (OP_DTT) with a resolution of 6 h, together with online chemical characterization measurements, to assess the OP of organic aerosols, in particular from residential solid fuel burning. The OP_DTT normalized by the volume of sampled air shows a high variability, ranging from <0.1 to 3.8 nmol min−1 m−3, and a high correlation with PM mass. A lower variability was associated with the mass-normalized OP. Nevertheless, both tended to present higher values during night-time pollution episodes. Simple and multivariate linear regression approaches linked OP_DTT to residential solid fuel burning, and in particular to wood (~87%) and peat (~13%) combustion. The results of the present study show how residential solid fuel burning can have a severe impact on air quality, even in small towns, with potential negative health effects on the exposed population.