Emission of PCDD/F, PCB, and HCB from Combustion of Firewood and Pellets in Residential Stoves and Boilers

Abstract

To assess potential emissions of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) from residential combustion of biofuels, experiments were performed in which various types of pellets and firewood were combusted in four types of stoves and boilers, with both full and reduced rates of air supply. Intermittent combustion of wood pellets resulted in emissions of 11 ng-(WHO-TEQ)/kg combusted fuel (dry weight). A modern, environmentally certified boiler yielded somewhat lower emissions of PCCD/F and PCB than a wood stove. Both gave <0.1 ng(WHO-TEQ)/m3n (1.3-6.5 ng(WHO-TEQ)/kg) and considerably lower emissions than an old boiler (7.0-13 ng(WHO-TEQ)/kg). No positive effect on emissions could be observed in full air combustion (simulating the use of a heat storage tank) compared to combustion with reduced air. Two of the wood combustion experiments included paper and plastic waste fuels. Chlorine-containing plastic waste gave rise to high emissions: ca. 310 ng(WHO-TEQ)/ kg over the whole combustion cycle. The homologue profiles of PCDD/Fs show characteristic differences between ashes and flue gas from combustions with different levels of air supply. These differences do not, however, seem to have any correlation to the relative amount of toxic congeners.

A preliminary investigation of unintentional POP emissions from thermal wire reclamation at industrial scrap metal recycling parks in China

“…In this study, the average HxCBz concentrations from flue gas samples at P1 and P2 were 126 and 46.2 ng N m −3 , respectively, which are much higher than concentrations measured during the combustion of firewood and pellets (ND -1.1 ng N m −3 ) and copper smelting-H 2 SO 4 production (1.57 ng N m −3 ), but are lower than iron ore sintering (613.1 and 1491 ng N m −3 ) [31,32]. The HxCBz TEQs in flue gas and residual ash samples from thermal wire reclamation were in the range of 0.004-0.01 ng TEQ N m −3 and 0.001-0.002 ng TEQ g −1 , respectively.…”

An Overview of PCDD/F Inventories and Emission Factors from Stationary and Mobile Sources: What We Know and What is Missing

“…Also wind tunnel testing, bang box and remote sensing have been employed to estimate emissions of PCDD/Fs (Lemieux et al, 2004). (Šyc et al, 2011) residential combustion of biofuels 1.2-290 ng WHO-TEQ kg-fuel -1 (Hedman et al, 2006) were measured from a forest fire simulation in Oregon and North Carolina, respectively (Gullett and Touati, 2003b). Another study by Gullett and Touati (2003a) measured PCDD/F emissions from wheat and rice straw burning and found them to be 337-602 pg I-TEQ kg -1 for wheat and 537 pg I-TEQ kg -1 for rice straw.…”

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).…”

“…In this sense, the tests of Angelini et al (2000) confirm that the original plant fibres represent a potential substitute for materials of non-organic origin. It is important to highlight that the chloride content of plastic wastes of cords give rise to high rates of pollution during incineration (Hedman et al, 2006).…”