Analysis of ecotoxic influence of waste from the biomass gasification process

Małgorzata Hawrot-Paw,Monika Izwikow,Małgorzata Mikiciuk,Adam Koniuszy,Tomasz Stawicki,Paweł Sędłak

doi:10.1007/s11356-017-9011-8

Abstract

The purpose of this research was evaluation of the effect of soil contamination with waste coming from biomass gasification on chosen indicators of its biological activity, growth and development of spring barley, and change of physiological parameters of the plant. Chromatographic content and basic rheological parameters of the substances under research were also analyzed. Liquid wastes, tar, and mixture of tar and engine oil were introduced to the soil in the amount of 100 mg kg−1 DM soil. Based on the conducted research, it was ascertained that the changes in the number and activity of soil microorganisms were determined by the type of waste and its dose. Individual groups of microorganisms showed different sensitivity to the presence of pollution; however, the impact of tar and engine oil mixture was generally more disadvantageous. Presence of contaminants in the soil limited the growth of roots and aboveground parts of spring barley, especially when the dose was 10,000 mg kg−1 DM soil. The unfavorable impact of waste on photosynthesis efficiency on assimilation pigment synthesis and water content in the plant was recorded.

Highlights

Biomass has always been the main source of energy for people and still is the most widespread of its forms (McKendry 2002)
For temperature of 20 °C, meeting thermal conditions of the conducted biological research was established that 25% share of engine oil in tar influenced the decrease of this mixture viscosity by 350,000 mPas, that is, by more than 91% compared to the tar sample not including engine oil
More unfavorable influence was observed in the presence of mixture of tar and engine oil than only tar itself

Summary

Introduction

Biomass has always been the main source of energy for people and still is the most widespread of its forms (McKendry 2002). Gasification is one of the oldest technologies, which involves the change of fuel content by heating and chemical reaction with oxidant in the conditions of their limited access (which means lack of oxygen relatively to the stoichiometric requirement). In this process, so-called synthesized gas, which consists of 18–20% of CO, 18–20% of H2, 8–10% of CO2, and 2– 3% CH4 (Bridgwater 2003, Larsen et al 2003), is primarily formed and ash and tar as the result of incomplete biomass conversion (Kumar et al 2009). Physiochemical methods used to control this type of pollution often increase the problem

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