Simplifying emissions modelling from wildland fires: laboratory-scale emission factors are independent of fine woody debris fuel load

Élise-Andrée Guérette; Clare Paton-Walsh; Maximilien Desservettaz; Fabienne Reisen; Nicholas C. Surawski; C. P. (Mick) Meyer; Christopher T. Roulston; Andrew Sullivan; Christopher J. Weston; Liubov Volkova

doi:10.1071/WF24117

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Simplifying emissions modelling from wildland fires: laboratory-scale emission factors are independent of fine woody debris fuel load

Élise-Andrée Guérette

^A ^B , Clare Paton-Walsh

^A ^C ^* , Maximilien Desservettaz ^A ^C , Fabienne Reisen ^B , Nicholas C. Surawski ^D ^E , C. P. (Mick) Meyer ^B , Christopher T. Roulston

^B , Andrew Sullivan

^D , Christopher J. Weston ^F and Liubov Volkova

^F

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Centre for Atmospheric Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2500, Australia.

^B CSIRO Environment, Aspendale, VIC 3195, Australia.

^C New South Wales Bushfire and Natural Hazards Research Centre, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Richmond, NSW 2753, Australia.

^D CSIRO Environment, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia.

^E Centre for Green Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Gadigal Country, NSW 2007, Australia.

^F School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, the University of Melbourne, Creswick, VIC 3363, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: clarem@uow.edu.au

International Journal of Wildland Fire 34, WF24117 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF24117

Submitted: 11 July 2024 Accepted: 18 December 2024 Published: 22 January 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of IAWF. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Background

Air quality modelling of smoke from wildfires requires knowledge of emission factors and how these vary.

Aims

Experimental fires were used to test the variation of emission factors with fuel load to improve a smoke forecasting model.

Methods

Gas and particle-phase chemical composition of smoke plumes from laboratory-scale fires was measured with different fuel loads and at different stages of fire progression.

Key results

Different fine woody debris loads had no significant effect on the emission factors. In contrast, different stages of the fire produced significant differences in emission factors. The lowest emission factors for most species (except carbon dioxide) were observed during the flaming fire front, which accounted for half the total emissions. Importantly, we found that emission ratios relative to carbon monoxide were consistent across different fuel loads and throughout the fire’s progression.

Conclusions

By modelling the modified combustion efficiency, it is possible to simultaneously model the emissions of carbon monoxide and the emissions of nearly all other pollutants throughout the progression of a fire.

Implications

The emissions of carbon monoxide, fine particulate matter and other key pollutants all scale with the intensity of the fire, simplifying the task of modelling these emitted pollutants downwind of prescribed fires.

Keywords: Biomass Burning, Emission Factors, Emission Ratios, Experimental fires, Fine woody debris, Fire behaviour, Fire emissions, Laboratory-scale fires, Modified Combustion Efficiency, Pyrotron.

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