Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 9, 10101–10152, 2009 Atmospheric www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/10101/2009/ Chemistry ACPD © Author(s) 2009. This work is distributed under and Physics 9, 10101–10152, 2009 the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Discussions

This discussion paper is/has been under review for the journal Atmospheric Chemistry Trace gas and and Physics (ACP). Please refer to the corresponding final paper in ACP if available. particle emissions in central Mexico Trace gas and particle emissions from T. J. Christian et al. domestic and industrial biofuel use and Title Page garbage burning in central Mexico Abstract Introduction

Conclusions References T. J. Christian1, R. J. Yokelson1, B. Cardenas´ 2, L. T. Molina3,4, G. Engling5, and 5 S.-C. Hsu Tables Figures

1University of Montana, Dept. of Chemistry, Missoula, MT, USA 2National Center for Environmental Research and Training, National Institute of J I Ecology/SEMARNAT, Mexico, DF, Mexico J I 3Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA Back Close 4Molina Center for Energy and Environment, La Jolla, CA, USA 5Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academica Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC Full Screen / Esc

Received: 1 April 2009 – Accepted: 3 April 2009 – Published: 21 April 2009 Printer-friendly Version Correspondence to: R. J. Yokelson ([email protected]) Interactive Discussion Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.

10101 Abstract ACPD In central Mexico during the spring of 2007 we measured the initial emissions of 12 gases and the aerosol speciation for elemental and organic carbon (EC, OC), anhydro- 9, 10101–10152, 2009 − − sugars, Cl , NO3 , and 20 metals from 10 cooking fires, four garbage fires, three brick 5 making kilns, three charcoal making kilns, and two crop residue fires. Biofuel use has Trace gas and been estimated at over 2600 Tg/y. With several simple case studies we show that cook- particle emissions in ing fires can be a major, or the major, source of several gases and fine particles in de- central Mexico veloping countries. Insulated cook stoves with chimneys were earlier shown to reduce indoor air and the fuel use per cooking task. We confirm that they also reduce T. J. Christian et al. 10 the emissions of VOC pollutants per mass of fuel burned by about half. We did not detect HCN emissions from cooking fires in Mexico or Africa. Thus, if regional source attribution is based on HCN emissions typical for other types of biomass burning (BB), Title Page

then biofuel use and total BB will be underestimated in much of the developing world. Abstract Introduction This is also significant because cooking fires are not detected from space. We estimate 15 that ∼2000 Tg/y of garbage are generated and about half may be burned, making this Conclusions References a commonly overlooked major global source of emissions. We estimate a fine particle Tables Figures emission factor (EFPM2.5) for garbage burning of ∼10±5 g/kg, which is in reasonable agreement with very limited previous work. We observe large HCl emission factors in the range 2–10 g/kg. Consideration of the Cl content of the global waste stream sug- J I

20 gests that garbage burning may generate as much as 6–9 Tg/yr of HCl, which would J I make it a major source of this compound. HCl generated by garbage burning in dry environments may have a relatively greater atmospheric impact than HCl generated in Back Close

humid areas. Garbage burning PM2.5 was found to contain levoglucosan and K in con- Full Screen / Esc centrations similar to those for biomass burning, so it could be a source of interference 25 in some areas when using these tracers to estimate BB. Galactosan was the anhydro- Printer-friendly Version sugar most closely correlated with BB in this study. Fine particle antimony (Sb) shows initial promise as a garbage burning tracer