Specific chimney emissions and biofuel characteristics of softwood pellets for residential heating in Sweden

Abstract

Softwood pellets are mainly produced from sawdust and to some extent from wood shavings. The moisture content is typically less than half of that in firewood. The present annual residential use in Sweden for pellet burners in boilers and for pellet stoves amounts to more than 100 000 tonnes and is increasing rapidly. The total annual production capacity at the more than 20 units exceeds one million tonnes, and permits continued rapid replacement of firewood and petroleum oil for residential heating.With the purpose of characterising emissions to air, chimney smoke was sampled, and specific compounds were assessed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Benzene was the predominant aromatic compound in emissions from pellet burners. The smoke from stoves contained methoxyphenols with antioxidant properties and lower proportions of aromatic hydrocarbons. Observed differences in emissions from specific burning appliances are of interest with regard to both health hazards and regulation of emissions.Consideration of ecological aspects and pollution hazards indicates that wood pellets should be used primarily for residential heating, whereas controlled large-scale combustion is preferable for most other types of biomass waste.

Flue gases thermal emission concentration during waste biomass combustion in small combustion device with manual fuel supply

“…For example, the authors Johansson et al (2003); Olsson et al (2003); Gürdíl et al (2009) point to a very good emission properties of biomass combustion in modern combustion devices. If we have to decide on biomass waste, whether it is suitable for burning in a certain type of combustion device, it is necessary to know those of its properties that characterize it enough.…”

Briquettes of plant remains from the greenhouses of Almería (Spain)

“…The plastic comes from the cords used to train the plants and that are often tangled with the plant material and are not separated at the end of the harvest. The main problem with these plastics are their emissions in the combustion process (Hedman et al, 2006) in addition to the emissions of the plant material itself, the latter being much less harmful than the combustion of any fossil fuel (Abasaeed, 1992;Hall and House, 1995;Misra et al, 1995;Obeng et al, 1997;Danon and Stanojevic, 1998;Muiste and Kask, 1998;Dai et al, 1999;Arbon and Bowell, 2000;Kakareka, 2002;Olsson et al, 2003;Chowdiah and Gowda, 2004;Mendoza et al, 2004;Debdoubi et al, 2005;Bianchi et al, 2006;Nilsson et al, 2006;Katinas et al, 2007;McIlveenWright et al, 2007;Narayanan and Natarajan, 2007;Skoulou and Zabaniotou, 2007;Koa and Chang, 2008;Mirza et al, 2008). However, the emissions exist (Demirbas, 2005) and should be evaluated (Frings et al, 1992;Dolensek, 2004;Elías, 2007).…”

“…It is vital to know this potential (Dolensek, 2004) as in the case of organic agricultural remains from unfavourable areas of India (Misra et al, 1995;Chowdiah and Gowda, 2004), Ghana (Obeng et al, 1997), China (Dai et al, 1999), Peru (Mendoza et al, 2004), Morocco (Debdoubi et al, 2005), and Pakistan (Mirza et al, 2008), which can provide an economic resource for inhabitants of these areas in addition to a more environmentally sound energy source. Also, in more developed counties, such as Estonia (Muiste andKask, 1998), Serbia (Danon andStanojevic, 1998), Belorusia (Kakareka, 2002), Sweden (Olsson et al, 2003), Poland (Nilsson et al, 2006), and Lithuania (Katinas et al, 2007), briquettes of vegetable origin are used for fireplaces.…”

Producción y uso de pellets de biomasa para la generación de energía térmica: una revisión a los modelos del proceso de gasificación

“…Mediante análisis de cromatografía se ha determinado que parte de estos gases son Metoxifenoles, Benceno, Metilbenceno, Fenol y Naftaleno, entre otros [39]. Aunque principalmente se considera que el gas generado de la etapa de pirólisis está compuesto por H 2 O, CO, CO 2 , CH 4 , C 2 H 4 , C 2 H 6 , entre otros.…”