Laboratory benchmark of low-cost portable gas and particle analysers at the source of smouldering wildfires

Smouldering wildfires emit large amounts of carbon, toxic gases and particulate matter (PM), posing health and environmental hazards. It is challenging to conduct field measurements on wildfire emissions, and available instruments are limited by high cost and low mobility.

Here, we contribute to solving this challenge by studying three commercial low-cost and portable air quality analysers (KANE101, SDS011 and FLOW) and comparing them with research-grade instruments (FTIR, PM Cascade Impactor and DustTrak).

A series of laboratory experiments on peat smouldering were conducted including the stages of ignition, spread and burnout to provide conditions of emission measurements near the source.

The gas analyser KANE101 accurately measured CO₂ and allowed calculation of modified combustion efficiency (MCE). The FLOW air pollution sensor was found unsuitable for PM measurements near fire sources because of its narrow range. FLOW captured the variation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), but measurements did not correlate well with NO₂ measurements. The SDS011 PM sensor responded well in measuring PM10 in this study.

KANE101 and SDS011 can be used in the field after calibration to measure CO₂/CO and PM.

This work provides a better understanding of how low-cost and portable emission sensors can be of use for wildfire measurements in the field.