A Microcombustion Method To Measure Forest Fuel Emissions

Thermogravimetry (TG) was applied to forest fuel as a microcombustion tech nique to study emissions by evolved gas analysis (EGA). Emission rates for car bon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and total hydrocarbons (THC) for both combustion and pyrolysis processes were determined. Thermoparticulates (TP) were emitted in copious amounts; TP emission factors were 85 g/kg and 249 g/kg for the combustion and pyrolytic conditions, respectively, while factors for volatile organic carbon (VOC) compounds collected in plugs of polyurethane foam (PUFS) were the same (~ 66 g/kg) for both conditions. A carbon mass balance on two series of the tests accounted for 95 percent of the fuel carbon content.