Mixture Of Pine Research Articles

Devolatilisation characteristics of coal and biomass blends

The characterisation of the initial devolatilisation products could provide important information for understanding synergistic effects and subsequently the formation routes leading to toxic organic compounds and soot during co-combustion. Initial devolatilisation characteristics of the fuels have been characterised following co-pyrolysis experiments. This paper investigates the devolatilisation behaviour during co-pyrolysis of pinewood together with one of three coals of different rank, lignite or high-volatile bituminous of different origin. A range of pyrolysis experiments has been performed over a temperature range from 400 to 900 °C using pyrolysis–GC–MS (py–GC–MS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Larger scale batch pyrolysis experiments of the hv bituminous coal–pine mixture have been performed enabling collection of the evolved tars. These tars have then been characterised by GC–MS and size exclusion chromatography (SEC). For these batch pyrolysis tests, synergy (non-additive behaviour) was observed and the blend pyrolysis oil contained a decrease in aromatics and an increase in phenols than would be expected for additive behaviour. The molecular weight distributions of the evolved tars also show non-additive behaviour. For the TGA experiments, additive behaviour was seen for all the coal–pine blends studied. Similarly, no obvious synergy was observed by py–GC–MS for the bituminous coal–pine blends, or for model compound–coal and coal–biomass component blends. Non-additive combustion behaviour is not easily explained by studying devolatilisation because of the difficulty in replicating the conditions of temperature profile and residence time experienced by the volatiles. Thus, conflicting behaviour is exhibited depending upon pyrolysis technique.

Pyrolysis and combustion of PVC, PVC-wood and PVC-coal mixtures in a two-stage fluidized bed process

Several tests using pure bottle-grade polyvinyl chlorine (PVC), with wood (pine) and with Polish coal have been performed in a two-stage combustion test facility which contains two reactors. The first reactor is a bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) where the fuel is pyrolysed in the temperature range 200–400 °C. The second reactor is a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) operated at a temperature of around 800 °C. The pyrolysed gases from the BFB reactor or the circulating fluidized bed combustor (CFBC) are analysed with a Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer. The main part of this work concentrates on the first stage of decomposition of PVC in the first reactor, which mainly yields volatiles (mainly HCl) and solid residue. The results show that there is an interaction in PVC/wood pine mixtures, which affects the degradation of PVC. The same interaction also occurred with the PVC/Polish coal mixture. For the two-stage combustion test, the chemical analysis of char samples taken from the bed of the first reactor, when 100% PVC is used, shows that the chlorine content is below 0.1 wt.% at chlorine to carbon mass ratio<0.001 kg Cl/kg C.

IgE-Binding Proteins from Pine (&lt;i&gt;Pinus radiata&lt;/i&gt; D. Don) Pollen: Evidence for Cross-Reactivity with Ryegrass &lt;i&gt;(Lolium perenne)&lt;/i&gt;

A complex mixture of pine (Pinus radiata D. Don) pollen proteins are rapidly released into aqueous solutions. IgE-binding proteins have been identified in these extracts using combined SDS-PAGE immunoblotting techniques. These IgE-binding proteins were detected using atopic patient and commercial pooled human sera known to be high in ryegrass-specific IgE. Enzyme-immunoassay inhibition studies revealed that leached P. radiata pollen proteins could partially inhibit serum IgE binding to ryegrass RAST discs thus providing preliminary evidence for allergen cross-reactivity between these two unrelated species.

Enzyme-inducing and cytotoxic effects of wood-based materials used as bedding for laboratory animals. Comparison by a cell culture study

Enzyme-inducing and cytotoxic effects of wood-based materials used as bedding for laboratory animals were studied in a cell culture system. Mouse hepatoma cell line, Hepa-1, was exposed to acetone extracts of hardwoods (alder and aspen), softwoods (pine and a mixture of pine and spruce) and cellulose materials. Cytotoxicity and induction of cytochrome P450IA1 (aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase) and aldehyde dehydrogenase were measured. Both softwood and hardwood extracts were shown to contain inducers of these enzymes. Pine appeared to be the most potent inducer and softwoods more potent than hardwoods. The softwoods and alder were clearly more cytotoxic than aspen. The two bleached cellulose materials were found to contain inducers of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase. Unlike the wood beddings, the extracts of the cellulose materials were not found to be toxic to the cells. Hepa-1 cell culture system was found to be a rapid and sensitive method for screening and comparative purposes.

The Late-Quaternary History of the Boreal Forest of Central Canada, Based on Standard Pollen Stratigraphy and Principal Components Analysis

(1) Pollen stratigraphic data from four 14C-dated sections of Holocene sediment at sites in the boreal forest region of central Canada were analysed by standard relative frequency pollen diagrams and by principal components analysis (PCA). Ordination of the 173 pollen samples on the second and third components of the PCA facilitated comparison between zones and sites. (2) Modern pollen samples from 1 10 sites throughout the modern vegetation zones of the Western Interior of Canada were ordinated onto the same principal component axes as the sub-fossil data, to provide a further comparative, graphical description of the data. (3) The two northern sites revealed a stratigraphic sequence from a treeless Artemisiawillow-sedge zone, through a Picea-Juniperus-Artemisia zone, to zones dominated by mixtures of pine, spruce, birch and alder. (4) At the two southern sites, by contrast, an early treeless zone was lacking; there were comparable early spruce and final mixed-forest zones, but the intermediate zones were dominated by herb and non-coniferous tree types.