Off-Gassing and Oxygen Depletion in Headspaces of Solid Biofuels Produced from Forest Residue Biomass

Kazimierz Warmiński (), Klaudia Anna Jankowska, Agnieszka Bęś and Mariusz Jerzy Stolarski
Additional contact information
Kazimierz Warmiński: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Prawocheńśkiego 17, 10-720 Olsztyn, Poland
Klaudia Anna Jankowska: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Prawocheńśkiego 17, 10-720 Olsztyn, Poland
Agnieszka Bęś: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Prawocheńśkiego 17, 10-720 Olsztyn, Poland
Mariusz Jerzy Stolarski: Centre for Bioeconomy and Renewable Energies, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Plac Łódzki 3, 10-724 Olsztyn, Poland

Energies, 2023, vol. 17, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: As living standards improve worldwide, the demand for energy increases. However, climate changes and decreasing fossil fuel deposits have increased interest in renewable energy sources, including pellets produced from forest residues. This study aimed to compare changes in concentration of gases (CO, CO 2 , O 2 , volatile organic compounds—VOCs) in enclosed headspaces above pellets produced from deciduous (oak OA, birch BI) and coniferous (pine PI, spruce SP) dendromass and selected types of commercial pellets during their storage. The experiment measured the concentration of gas released from the pellets in storage daily for 14 days. The highest mean CO concentration was found for PI pellets (1194 ppm), and the lowest was for OA (63.3 ppm). Likewise, the highest CO 2 concentration was noted for PI pellets (4650 ppm), and the lowest was for BI (1279 ppm). The largest VOC amount was released in the headspace above PI (88.8 ppm), and the smallest was above BI (4.6 ppm). The oxygen concentration was the lowest as measured for PI (minimum 16.1% v / v ) and for SP (19.3% v / v ). The threshold limit value (8 h) for CO was exceeded for all the pellets under analysis and, in the case of CO 2 , only for PI after day 10 of incubation. The study findings are extremely important from a scientific (but mainly from a practical) perspective because of the safety of storing and transporting wood pellets. The knowledge of autooxidation processes in those biofuels can help organize their logistics and storage and result in proper warehouse ventilation and monitoring of noxious gases.

Keywords: bioenergy; wood pellet; storage; off-gassing; carbon monoxide; autooxidation; toxic gas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/1/216/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/1/216/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2023:i:1:p:216-:d:1311076

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().