UBC Faculty Research and Publications

Analysis on Storage Off-Gas Emissions from Woody, Herbaceous, and Torrefied Biomass Tumuluru, Jaya Shankar; Lim, C. Jim; Bi, Xiaotao T.; Kuang, Xingya; Melin, Staffan; Yazdanpanah, Fahimeh; Sokhansanj, Shahab

Abstract

Wood chips, torrefied wood chips, ground switchgrass, and wood pellets were tested for off-gas emissions during storage. Storage canisters with gas-collection ports were used to conduct experiments at room temperature of 20 °C and in a laboratory oven set at 40 °C. Commercially-produced wood pellets yielded the highest carbon monoxide (CO) emissions at both 20 and 40 °C (1600 and 13,000 ppmv), whereas torrefied wood chips emitted the lowest of about <200 and <2000 ppmv. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from wood pellets were 3000 ppmv and 42,000 ppmv, whereas torrefied wood chips registered at about 2000 and 25,000 ppmv, at 20 and 40 °C at the end of 11 days of storage. CO emission factors (milligrams per kilogram of biomass) calculated were lowest for ground switchgrass and torrefied wood chips (2.68 and 4.86 mg/kg) whereas wood pellets had the highest CO of about 10.60 mg/kg, respectively, at 40 °C after 11 days of storage. In the case of CO₂, wood pellets recorded the lowest value of 55.46 mg/kg, whereas switchgrass recorded the highest value of 318.72 mg/kg. This study concludes that CO emission factor is highest for wood pellets, CO₂ is highest for switchgrass and CH₄ is negligible for all feedstocks except for wood pellets, which is about 0.374 mg/kg at the end of 11-day storage at 40 °C.

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