Residential wood combustion is the main source of elevated concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) during winter in many towns of Tasmania, Australia. A commercially available firebox catalyst in Australia has previously been shown to reduce visible smoke emissions and the manufacturer reports reductions in particle emissions generated from individual wood heaters in laboratory settin...

When wood is exposed to elevated temperatures, changes can occur in its chemical structure that affect its performance. The extent of the changes depends on the temperature level and the length of time under exposure conditions. The changes in chemical structure may be manifested only as reduced strength, and hydroscopic water and volatile oil weight loss. In contrast, very drastic chemical cha...

Wood burning for residential heating is prevalent in the Rocky Mountain regions of the United States. Studies have shown that wood stoves can be a significant source of PM(2.5) within homes. In this study, the effectiveness of an electrostatic filter portable air purifier was evaluated (1) in a home where a wood stove was the sole heat source and (2) in a home where a wood stove was used as a s...

T he burning of wood is probably our oldest source for heating and cooking, and has been used by man for tens of thousands of years. Combustion of biomass, such as wood, animal dung and crop residues, is still used for cooking and heating by a large proportion of the global population, especially in less developed countries. In the industrialised world, and in countries with a cold winter clima...

The wood preservative chromated copper arsenate (CCA) contains hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] and the conversion of Cr(VI) to trivalent chromium [Cr(III)] drives fixation of the treatment chemicals to the wood fibers. Since the toxicity of Cr depends on its valence state, an assessment of the Cr species occurring in CCA-treated wood, as well as leachates and ashes from CCA-treated wood, is helpfu...

This paper presents emission factors (EFs) derived for a range of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) when coal and wood were subject to controlled burning experiments, designed to simulate domestic burning for space heating. A wide range of POPs were emitted, with emissions from coal being higher than those from wood. Highest EFs were obtained for particulate matter, PM10, (approximately 10 g...

The aim was to identify relationships between combustion conditions, particle characteristics, and optical properties of fresh and photochemically processed emissions from biomass combustion. The combustion conditions included nominal and high burn rate operation and individual combustion phases from a conventional wood stove. Low temperature pyrolysis upon fuel addition resulted in "tar-ball" ...

Chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated wood is a preservative treated wood construction product that grew in use in the 1970s for both residential and industrial applications. Although some countries have banned the use of the product for some applications, others have not, and the product continues to enter the waste stream from construction, demolition and remodeling projects. CCA-treated wo...

Several alternative methods for the disposal of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) treated wood waste have been studied in the literature, and these methods are reviewed and compared in this paper. Extraction experiments have been carried out on CCA treated wood and evaluated as a method to recover the metal compounds into either fresh wood preservatives or other useful industrial materials. Recyc...

The reported discrepancy between theory and experiment for external combustion Stirling engines is explained by the addition of thermal resistance of the combustion gasses to the standard Carnot model. In these cases, the Stirling engine ideal efficiency is not as is normally reported equal to the Carnot cycle efficiency but is significantly lower. A new equation for ideal Stirling engine effic...