Variation in the physical properties of wood pellets and emission of aldehyde/ketone under different storage conditions

Published Date
Fuel
1 November 2016, Vol.183:314–321, doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2016.06.083
Full Length Article

• Author

• Siyuan Wang ^a,b,c
• Xingzhong Yuan ^a,b,,
• Changzhu Li ^c
• Zhongliang Huang ^c
• Lijian Leng ^a,b
• Guangming Zeng ^a,b
• Hui Li ^c,,

• aCollege of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China
• bKey Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, PR China
• cInstitute of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Hunan Academy of Forestry, Changsha 410004, PR China

Received 23 March 2016. Revised 13 June 2016. Accepted 20 June 2016. Available online 27 June 2016. 

Highlights

• •
  The pellets’ physical properties and moisture content were reduced during storage.
• •
  Ethanal and hexanal were the main compounds emitted from the pellets during storage.
• •
  The emission of aldehyde/ketone during pellets’ storage was evaluated systematically.
• •
  A correlation between aldehyde/ketone emission and influence factors was established.

Abstract

Considering self-heating and hazardous gaseous emission, the safety of wood pellets storage has become one of the important aspects for woody biomass utilization. In this study, the emissions of aldehydes/ketones were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatogram (HPLC). The properties of pellets stored in semi-closed tanks with different temperatures and relative humidity (RH) were also investigated. The emissions of aldehydes and ketones from pellets were increased with raising temperature and RH during storage, while the pellets’ physical properties (dimension, density, Meyer hardness and moisture content) were reduced, except for 70% and 90% RH runs. The fatty acids compositions were extracted from both the surface and the inner part of pellets, which were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The interaction between pellets’ physical properties variation and unsaturated fatty acid oxidation was revealed by the investigation of differences of extracted unsaturated fatty acids concentration between the surface and the inner part of pellets, which affected the aldehydes and ketones emissions.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

• Wood pellet
• Aldehyde/ketone emission
• Storage
• Physical property
• Unsaturated fatty acid

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• ⁎ 
  Corresponding authors at: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China (X. Yuan), Institute of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Hunan Academy of Forestry, Changsha 410004, PR China (H. Li).

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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