Work

Accelerator mass spectrometry for tracing fossil carbon content of combusted fuel

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Fossil CO 2 emission inventory from waste incineration plants needs to be determined for the purpose of emission trading in the future. A fundamental method for this is to measure the 14 C content of the exhaust gas using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and deduce fossil/biofraction from it. Conventionally, the CO 2 in the sampled exhaust gas has been graphitized for the AMS measurement. In this work we have tested a method where the sample is fed to the AMS system in gas form, without the extra graphitizing step. The sample gas storage and feeding system of Helsinki Accelerator Laboratory is represented along with the results obtained in the test with flue gas samples from test combustion facility. The results show that that the analysis of biofraction of combusted fuels is possible in feasible, reproducible and accurate ISO13833 standard compliant way with the tested method.

Source: Applied Radiation and Isotopes

DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2025.111996

Authors: Kenichiro Mizohata, Kerttuli Helariutta, Juho Kauppinen, Mikko Lappalainen, Tuula Pellikka, Markku Oinonen

Institutions: University of Helsinki, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

Language: English

Topic: Archaeology and ancient environmental studies

Subfield: Paleontology

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Climate action

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,220