STUDY ON CHARACTERISTICS OF PARTICULATE MATTER EMISSION FROM SEVERAL BURNING ACTIVITIES IN OUR DAILY LIVES

Much evidence suggested that indoor combustion could cause a significant increase in the concentration of fine Particulate Matter (PM) in indoor air and it is an important cause of indoor pollution. In this paper, the characteristics of PMemission from several burning activities in daily liveswere studied in a transparent bottomless chamber covered withteflon filter. The particle size distribution and the chemical composition loaded on thePM generated during the burning of cigarettes, sandalwood, mosquito coils and candles were analyzed and the results were discussed and compared with those of conventional combustion sources such as coal and oil. The finer particles(less than 1μm) were released from combustion sources in our daily lives compared with that of traditional dust from coal and oil. A large amount of Pd, Cr and Cd were detected loaded on the sandalwood dust, mosquito dust and cigarette dust, which were also different with the traditional industrial coal dust and oil dust and indicated a higher health risk. Almost allcarbon loaded on the PM by burning cigarette or candle were OC, and the OC content loaded on the PM by burning Sandalwood and mosquito coil accounted for 96% and 98% of total carbon respectively. SO42- was the most abundant inorganic ion regardless of which material was burned and there were a lot of F- loaded on the sandalwood dust and mosquito dust which should be pay more attention since F- is always associated with many health effects.