Studies specifically addressing the elemental carbon (EC)/black carbon (BC) relationship during the transition from clean-normal (CN) air quality to heavy haze (HH) are rare but have important health and climate implications. The present study, in which EC levels are measured using a thermal-optical method and BC levels are measured using an optical method (aethalometer), provides a preliminary insight into this issue. The average daily EC concentration was 3.08 ± 1.10 μg/m3 during the CN stage but climbed to 11.77 ± 2.01 μg/m3 during the HH stage. More importantly, the BC/EC ratio averaged 0.92 ± 0.14 during the CN state and increased to 1.88 ± 0.30 during the HH state. This significant increase in BC/EC ratio has been confirmed to result partially from an increase in the in situ light absorption efficiency (σap) due to an enhanced internal mixing of the EC with other species. However, the exact enhancement of σap was unavailable because our monitoring scheme could not acquire the in situ absorption (bap) essential for σap calculation. This reveals a need to perform simultaneous measurement of EC and bap over a time period that includes both the CN and HH stages. In addition, the sensitivity of EC to both anthropogenic emissions and HH conditions implies a need to systematically study how to include EC complex (EC concentration, OC/EC ratio, and σap) as an indicator in air quality observations, in alert systems that assess air quality, and in the governance of emissions and human behaviors.

Although total carbon (TC) can be consistently quantified by various aerosol carbon measurement methods, the demarcation of TC into organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) has long been inconsistent. The NIOSH and IMPROVE protocols are most widely used for thermal/optical analysis (TOA), but current knowledge rests in the description that the NIOSH protocol usually gives lower EC values than does the IMPROVE protocol. This study seeks to explore the possibility of quantitatively linking the difference between the two TOA protocols. Residential coal-burning samples that had been collected and analyzed following the NIOSH protocol in previous studies were directly reanalyzed following the IMPROVE protocol for this study. A comparison of each pair of NIOSH and IMPROVE EC values reveals the dynamic relation between the two protocols, which can be expressed as a regression equation, y = (1−x)/(1 + 4.86x2) (R2 = 0.96), where the independent x is the EC/TC ratio (REC/TC) for the IMPROVE protocol, and the dependent y is the difference between IMPROVE and NIOSH REC/TC relative to IMPROVE REC/TC. This regression equation may be the first effort in formulating the relationship between the two TOA protocols, and it is very helpful in harmonizing inconsistent TOA measurements, for example, source characterization, ambient monitoring, and atmospheric modeling.

The use of coal briquettes and improved stoves by Chinese households has been encouraged by the government as a means of reducing air pollution and health impacts. In this study we have shown that these two improvements also relate to climate change. Our experimental measurements indicate that, if all coal were burned as briquettes in improved stoves, particulate matter (PM), organic carbon (OC), and black carbon (BC) could be annually reduced by 63 ± 12%, 61 ± 10%, and 98 ± 1.7%, respectively. Also, the ratio of BC to OC (BC/OC) could be reduced by about 97%, from 0.49 to 0.016, which would make the primary emissions of household coal combustion more optically scattering. Therefore, it is suggested that the government consider the possibility of: (i) phasing out direct burning of bituminous raw-coal-chunks in households; (ii) phasing out simple stoves in households; and, (iii) financially supporting the research, production, and popularization of improved stoves and efficient coal briquettes. These actions may have considerable environmental benefits by reducing emissions and mitigating some of the impacts of household coal burning on the climate. International cooperation is required both technologically and financially to accelerate the emission reduction in the world.

China is thought to be the most important contributor to the global burden of carbonaceous aerosols, and residential coal combustion is the greatest emission source of black carbon (BC). In the present study, two high-efficiency household coal-stoves are tested together with honeycomb-coal-briquettes and raw-coal-chunks of nine different coals. Coal-burning emissions are collected onto quartz fiber filters (QFFs) and analyzed by a thermal-optical transmittance (TOT) method. Emission factors (EFs) of particulate matter (PM), organic carbon (OC), and elemental carbon (EC) are systematically measured, and the average EFs are calculated by taking into account our previous data. For bituminous coal-briquette and -chunk, EFs of PM, OC, and EC are 7.33, 4.16, and 0.08 g/kg and 14.8, 5.93, and 3.81 g/kg, respectively; and for anthracite-briquette and -chunk, they are 1.21, 0.06, and 0.004 g/kg and 1.08, 0.10, and 0.007 g/kg, respectively. Annual estimates for PM, OC, and EC emissions in China are calculated for the years of 2000 and 2005 according to the EFs and coal consumptions, and the results are consistent with our previous estimates. Bituminous coal-chunk contributes 68% and 99% of the total OC and EC emissions from household coal burning, respectively. Additionally, a new model of Aethalometer (AE90) is introduced into the sampling system to monitor the real-time BC concentrations. On one hand, AE90 provides a set of EFs for optical BC in parallel to thermal-optical EC, and these two data are generally comparable, although BC/EC ratios vary in different coal/stove combinations. On the other hand, AE90 offers a chance to observe the variation of BC concentrations during whole burning cycles, which demonstrates that almost all BC emits into the flue during the initial period of 15 min after coal addition into household stoves.