Carbonaceous Aerosols Generated from Wood Charcoal Production Plants in the South Korea Context

Herein, a case study discussing the effect of carbonaceous aerosol pollution, which is emitted during the charcoal kiln manufacturing processes or carbonization processes, on the atmospheric environment is presented . In South Korea, in situ analysis of different charcoal production plants specialized in the production of charcoal sauna indicate that the emitted organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) aerosols are significantly influenced by the nature of the biomass and technological processes, i.e., treatment or emissions abatement systems for the exhaust effluent gases. In detail, total carbon (TC), which is calculated as the sum of OC and EC emission factors, varied widely from a charcoal production site to another ranging from 21.8 to 35.8 gTC/kg-oak, where the mean value for the considered production sites was approximately 28 gTC/kg-oak (N = 7 and sum = 196.4). Results indicate that the emission factors from a modern charcoal production process in South Korea are quantitatively lower in comparison with the traditional kiln. This study aims to propose advanced wood processes for the production of charcoal from the viewpoint of environmental protection policy and green engineering.