A Relative Relationship between Low-Stack Emissions and the Quality of Fuels Used in Heating Boilers and Grills

Abstract

Fuel combustion conditions in modern boilers are currently fully automated. Controlling the combustion process with preset parameters with an appropriate air distribution adapted to the type of fuel ensures maximum use of fuel properties. Combustion of heating materials in such controlled conditions allows to minimally affect the environment of emitted flue gases and solid residues (ashes). Unfortunately, the best boiler with the best regulator will not provide optimal combustion conditions without good fuel quality. Contaminated biomass (pellets, wood chips, wood) with plastic, fossil coal, colored metals not only effectively affects the low emission burden, but also the failure rate of boilers. Analogically, the use of poor-quality solid fossil fuels translates into the formation of smog and sometimes irreparable damage to CO equipment. According to the authors of the study, in which the combination of low and medium power boilers with dedicated tested fuels to a given type of heating installation will ensure maximum reduction of low emissions. In the summer period, we can observe the phenomenon of fog caused by the use of grill fuels to prepare dishes. In case of high insolation and accumulation of devices (grills), e.g., on plots, recreational areas, smog phenomenon may also occur. The more the grills are polluted, the more the combustion fumes are burdensome and harmful for users of both active and passive barbecues. Based on the analysis of flue gases from the combustion of charcoal and charcoal briquettes, it can be stated that their particulate matter emissions, which are mainly responsible for the formation of smog, range from about 110 mg/m³ to 280 mg/m³. It was found that charcoal briquettes show extremely high emission levels for both PM 2.5 and PM 10 and other compounds emitted during the combustion process. Optical analyses performed on fuels used in household furnaces revealed, in the case of the samples analyzed, a low content of additives such as plastics and metals; the only significant and unnecessary component in all the fuels analyzed was the mineral matter.