ABSTRACT
Soot particles emitted from the burning of solid fuel sources in the households carry important environmental and public health implications. In this study, the indoor soot particles released from firewood, cow dung, and bagasse burning at households of selected rural areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan were investigated by characterization analyses to study its morphological and elemental compositions. Results demonstrated diverse compositions of soot particles from each fuel source. The surface areas of soot particles emitted by the firewood, cow dung, and bagasse were about 0.3, 0.4, and 8.64 m2 g-1 , respectively. For the soot particles emitted by the firewood burning, the major functional groups for aromatic compounds were CâC at the 1,431-1,599 at 1,000-2,000 cm-1 . The absorbance rate of alkanes was about 1,599-1,431 at 1,000-2,000 cm-1 . However, silicon band vibration was more prominent in bagasse soot particles as compared to other samples. The emission of soot particles with high surface area in the atmosphere could provide an elevated adsorption sites for atmospheric pollution and trap more energy resulting in increased atmospheric temperature. Findings from the present study suggest that current households' fuel combustion practices significantly contribute to increase the particulate matter in the atmosphere and possible enhance climate change phenomenon and related disasters in northern Pakistan.
