Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are emitted during incomplete combustion of organic materials and are particularly harmful to human health. As a representative of PAHs, Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is restricted by the European Union to an annual average value of 1 ng m⁻³ in ambient air. This threshold is significantly exceeded during the heating season in various regions. Residential wood combustion furnaces are considered to be a major source for BaP pollution.

In this research, a compact sampling method for BaP measurements was validated. Afterwards, the method was used to assess emissions from modern automatic wood boilers, in order to obtain a detailed knowledge of BaP emissions from residential wood combustion furnaces.

It was demonstrated that, for a wide range of BaP concentrations, sampling from the hot flue gas of residential wood combustors can be carried out effectively over a simple quartz filter, after proper dilution with cold purified air. Highest BaP emissions from the investigated boilers occurred during start, with a mean concentration value of 6.3 μg m-3. All values refer to standard conditions (273.15 °C, 100 kPa) and to an O₂ volume fraction of 13% in the dry flue gas. The lowest concentrations occurred during full load operation (mean value 73 ng m-3 at STP). It was found that, amongst all flue gas compounds analysed, elemental carbon is the parameter most closely related to BaP. This work demonstrates, at optimal operating conditions, modern automatic wood boilers have potentially lowest BaP emission concentrations amongst residential wood combustion furnaces.

多环芳烃（PAHs）在有机材料不完全燃烧过程中排放，对人体健康尤其有害。作为多环芳烃的代表，苯并（a）re（BaP）受欧盟限制在周围空气中的年平均值为1 ng m ^-3。在供暖季节的各个地区，都大大超过了这个阈值。住宅用木材燃烧炉被认为是BaP污染的主要来源。

在这项研究中，验证了一种用于BaP测量的紧凑采样方法。此后，该方法被用于评估现代自动木材锅炉的排放，以便获得有关家用木材燃烧炉的BaP排放的详细知识。

结果表明，对于宽范围的BaP浓度，在用冷的净化空气适当稀释后，可以通过简单的石英过滤器有效地从住宅木材燃烧室的热烟气中取样。在启动过程中，所调查锅炉的BaP排放量最高，平均浓度值为6.3μgm-3。所有值均参考标准条件（273.15°C，100 kPa）和O ₂干烟气中的体积分数为13％。最低浓度发生在满负荷运行期间（STP时的平均值为73 ng m-3）。发现在所有分析的烟气化合物中，元素碳是与BaP关系最密切的参数。这项工作表明，在最佳运行条件下，现代自动木材锅炉在住宅木材燃烧炉中可能具有最低的BaP排放浓度。