Black carbon aerosol plays a unique and important role in Earth's climate system. Black carbon is a type of carbonaceous material with a unique combination of physical properties. This assessment provides an evaluation of black-carbon climate forcing that is comprehensive in its inclusion of all known and relevant processes and that is quantitative in providing best estimates and uncertainties of the main forcing terms: direct solar absorption; influence on liquid, mixed phase, and ice clouds; and deposition on snow and ice. These effects are calculated with climate models, but when possible, they are evaluated with both microphysical measurements and field observations. Predominant sources are combustion related, namely, fossil fuels for transportation, solid fuels for industrial and residential uses, and open burning of biomass. Total global emissions of black carbon using bottom-up inventory methods are 7500 Gg yr−1 in the year 2000 with an uncertainty range of 2000 to 29000. However, global atmospheric absorption attributable to black carbon is too low in many models and should be increased by a factor of almost 3. After this scaling, the best estimate for the industrial-era (1750 to 2005) direct radiative forcing of atmospheric black carbon is +0.71 W m−2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of (+0.08, +1.27) W m−2. Total direct forcing by all black carbon sources, without subtracting the preindustrial background, is estimated as +0.88 (+0.17, +1.48) W m−2. Direct radiative forcing alone does not capture important rapid adjustment mechanisms. A framework is described and used for quantifying climate forcings, including rapid adjustments. The best estimate of industrial-era climate forcing of black carbon through all forcing mechanisms, including clouds and cryosphere forcing, is +1.1 W m−2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of +0.17 to +2.1 W m−2. Thus, there is a very high probability that black carbon emissions, independent of co-emitted species, have a positive forcing and warm the climate. We estimate that black carbon, with a total climate forcing of +1.1 W m−2, is the second most important human emission in terms of its climate forcing in the present-day atmosphere; only carbon dioxide is estimated to have a greater forcing. Sources that emit black carbon also emit other short-lived species that may either cool or warm climate. Climate forcings from co-emitted species are estimated and used in the framework described herein. When the principal effects of short-lived co-emissions, including cooling agents such as sulfur dioxide, are included in net forcing, energy-related sources (fossil fuel and biofuel) have an industrial-era climate forcing of +0.22 (−0.50 to +1.08) W m−2 during the first year after emission. For a few of these sources, such as diesel engines and possibly residential biofuels, warming is strong enough that eliminating all short-lived emissions from these sources would reduce net climate forcing (i.e., produce cooling). When open burning emissions, which emit high levels of organic matter, are included in the total, the best estimate of net industrial-era climate forcing by all short-lived species from black-carbon-rich sources becomes slightly negative (−0.06 W m−2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of −1.45 to +1.29 W m−2). The uncertainties in net climate forcing from black-carbon-rich sources are substantial, largely due to lack of knowledge about cloud interactions with both black carbon and co-emitted organic carbon. In prioritizing potential black-carbon mitigation actions, non-science factors, such as technical feasibility, costs, policy design, and implementation feasibility play important roles. The major sources of black carbon are presently in different stages with regard to the feasibility for near-term mitigation. This assessment, by evaluating the large number and complexity of the associated physical and radiative processes in black-carbon climate forcing, sets a baseline from which to improve future climate forcing estimates.

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Bounding the role of black carbon in the climate system: A scientific assessment

The optical properties of the light-absorbing, carbonaceous substance often called “soot,” “black carbon,” or “carbon black" have been the subject of some debate. These properties are necessary to model how aerosols affect climate, and our review is targeted specifically for that application. We recommend the term light-absorbing carbon to avoid conflict with operationally based definitions. Absorptive properties depend on molecular form, particularly the size of sp 2-bonded clusters. Freshly-generated particles should be represented as aggregates, and their absorption is like that of particles small relative to the wavelength. Previous compendia have yielded a wide range of values for both refractive indices and absorption cross section. The absorptive properties of light-absorbing carbon are not as variable as is commonly believed. Our tabulation suggests a mass-normalized absorption cross section of 7.5 ± 1.2 m2/g at 550 nm for uncoated particles. We recommend a narrow range of refractive indices for s...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02786820500421521

Light Absorption by Carbonaceous Particles: An Investigative Review

[1] We present a global tabulation of black carbon (BC) and primary organic carbon (OC) particles emitted from combustion. We include emissions from fossil fuels, biofuels, open biomass burning, and burning of urban waste. Previous ‘‘bottom-up’’ inventories of black and organic carbon have assigned emission factors on the basis of fuel type and economic sector alone. Because emission rates are highly dependent on combustion practice, we consider combinations of fuel, combustion type, and emission controls and their prevalence on a regional basis. Central estimates of global annual emissions are 8.0 Tg for black carbon and 33.9 Tg for organic carbon. These estimates are lower than previously published estimates by 25–35%. The present inventory is based on 1996 fuel-use data, updating previous estimates that have relied on consumption data from 1984. An offset between decreased emission factors and increased energy use since the base year of the previous inventory prevents the difference between this work and previous inventories from being greater. The contributions of fossil fuel, biofuel, and open burning are estimated as 38%, 20%, and 42%, respectively, for BC, and 7%, 19%, and 74%, respectively, for OC. We present a bottom-up estimate of uncertainties in source strength by combining uncertainties in particulate matter emission factors, emission characterization, and fuel use. The total uncertainties are about a factor of 2, with uncertainty ranges of 4.3–22 Tg/yr for BC and 17–77 Tg/yr for OC. Low-technology combustion contributes greatly to both the emissions and the uncertainties. Advances in emission characterization for small residential, industrial, and mobile sources and topdown analysis combining field measurements and transport modeling with iterative inventory development will be required to reduce the uncertainties further. INDEX TERMS: 0305 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801); 0322 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Constituent sources and sinks; 0345 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Pollution—urban and regional (0305); 0360 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Transmission and scattering of radiation; 0365 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere—composition and chemistry; KEYWORDS: emission, black carbon, organic carbon, fossil fuel, biofuel, biomass burning

/pdf/a-technology-based-global-inventory-of-black-and-organic-3mwahkxf6g.pdf

A technology-based global inventory of black and organic carbon emissions from combustion

Although the definition and measurement techniques for atmospheric "black carbon" ("BC") or "elemental carbon'' ("EC") have long been subjects of scientific controversy, the recent discovery of light-absorbing carbon that is not black ("brown carbon, C brown ") makes it imperative to reassess and redefine the components that make up light-absorbing carbonaceous matter (LAC) in the atmosphere. Evidence for the atmospheric presence of C brown comes from (1) spectral aerosol light absorption measurements near specific combustion sources, (2) observations of spectral properties of water extracts of continental aerosol, (3) laboratory studies indicating the formation of light-absorbing organic matter in the atmosphere, and (4) indirectly from the chemical analogy of aerosol species to colored natural humic substances. We show that brown carbon may severely bias measurements of "BC" and "EC" over vast parts of the troposphere, especially those strongly polluted by biomass burning, where the mass concentration of C brown is high relative to that of soot carbon. Chemical measurements to determine "EC" are biased by the refractory nature of C brown as well as by complex matrix interferences. Optical measurements of "BC" suffer from a number of problems: (1) many of the presently used instruments introduce a substantial bias into the determination of aerosol light absorption, (2) there is no unique conversion factor between light absorption and "EC" or "BC" concentration in ambient aerosols, and (3) the difference in spectral properties between the different types of LAC, as well as the chemical complexity of C brown , lead to several conceptual as well as practical complications. We also suggest that due to the sharply increasing absorption of C brown towards the UV, single-wavelength light absorption measurements may not be adequate for the assessment of absorption of solar radiation in the troposphere. We discuss the possible consequences of these effects for our understanding of tropospheric processes, including their influence on UV-irradiance, atmospheric photochemistry and radiative transfer in clouds.

/pdf/black-carbon-or-brown-carbon-the-nature-of-light-absorbing-3er7h504pj.pdf

Black carbon or brown carbon? The nature of light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols

The mechanical behavior of elastomeric materials is known to be rate-dependent and to exhibit hysteresis upon cyclic loading. Although these features of the rubbery constitutive response are well-recognized and important to its function, few models attempt to quantify these aspects of response perhaps due to the complex nature of the behavior and its apparent inconsistency with regard to current reasonably successful models of rubber elasticity. In this paper a detailed experimental investigation probing the material response of carbon black filled Chloroprene rubber subjected to different time-dependent strain histories is presented. Some of the key observations from the experiments are: (1) both filled and unfilled elastomers show significant amounts of hysteresis during cyclic loading; (2) the amount of carbon black particles does not strongly influence the normalized amount of hysteresis; (3) both filled and unfilled elastomers are strain-rate dependent and the rate dependence is higher during the uploading than during the unloading; (4) at fixed strain, the stress is observed to approach the same equilibrium level with relaxation time whether loading or unloading. Based on the experimental data a new constitutive model has been developed. The foundation of the model is that the mechanical behavior can be decomposed into two parts: an equilibrium network corresponding to the state that is approached in long time stress relaxation tests; and a second network capturing the non-linear rate-dependent deviation from the equilibrium state. The time-dependence of the second network is further assumed to be governed by the reptational motion of molecules having the ability to significantly change conformation and thereby relaxing the overall stress state. By comparing the predictions from the proposed three-dimensional constitutive model with experimental data for uniaxial compression and plane strain compression we conclude that the constitutive model predicts rate-dependence and relaxation behavior well.

https://polymerfem.com/polymer_files/Bergstrom_Boyce_model1.pdf

Constitutive modeling of the large strain time-dependent behavior of elastomers

The term dynamic properties as applied to elastomers refers to the response to periodic or transient forces which do not cause failure or appreciable fatigue (permanent change of properties) during the investigation. Generally this is limited to vulcanizates subjected to deformations not exceeding about 25%; and generally the dynamic properties are measured after several cycles or (in a transient experiment such as resilience) after several preconditioning transients, so that the Mullins effect or difference between first and second strain cycles is not of consequence. Thus, dynamic properties represent the viscoelastic properties of vulcanizates at deformations below about 25%, after reaching a pseudo-equilibrium state. The dynamic properties of rubber are altered tremendously by the addition of a filler. The scope of this article is restricted to the dynamic properties of rubber vulcanizates with carbon black as a filler. The effect covered in this article are important in designing rubber comp...

Effect of Carbon Black on Dynamic Properties of Rubber Vulcanizates

Morphology of aggregates: VI. Effective volume of aggregates of carbon black from electron microscopy; Application to vehicle absorption and to die swell of filled rubber

This paper gives a new geometrical method for analyzing the shape of colloidal aggregates from electron micrographs. The silhouette of an aggregate is treated as a plane figure, for which are calculated the radii of gyration about the two central principal axes in the plane. The ratio of these radii is taken as the anisometry of the figure, and other parameters are also calculated including the area and bulkiness, as well as a “structure factor” which expresses the excess area swept out by the figure as it rotates. These parameters characterize the two-dimensional projection of the aggregate; in order to relate this to the three-dimensional aggregate, we have generated floes by computer simulation (based on the method of M. Vold) and determined their two-dimensional parameters. Qualitative similarity is shown between the appearance of the simulated floes and of actual electron micrographs of carbon black.

Morphology of aggregates

Morphology of aggregates—II. Size and shape factors of carbon black aggregates from electron microscopy

The most highly reinforcing fillers, namely carbon blacks and silicas, consist of aggregates of quasi-spherical particles fused together. In the absence of direct experimental studies with...

Avrom I. Medalia

Papers

Effect of Carbon Black on Dynamic Properties of Rubber Vulcanizates

Morphology of aggregates: VI. Effective volume of aggregates of carbon black from electron microscopy; Application to vehicle absorption and to die swell of filled rubber

Morphology of aggregates

Morphology of aggregates—II. Size and shape factors of carbon black aggregates from electron microscopy

Filler Aggregates and Their Effect on Reinforcement