Life Sciences Commons^™

Emissions From Smoldering Combustion Of Biomass Measured By Open-Path Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Robert J. Yokelson, Ronald A. Susott, Darold E. Ward, James J. Reardon, David W. T. Griffith

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Biomass samples from a diverse range of ecosystems were burned in the Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory open combustion facility. Midinfrared spectra of the nascent emissions were acquired at several heights above the fires with a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) coupled to an open multipass cell. In this report, the results from smoldering combustion during 24 fires are presented including production of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, ethene, ethyne, propene, formaldehyde, 2-hydroxyethanal, methanol, phenol, acetic acid, formic acid, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, and carbonyl sulfide. These were the dominant products observed, and many have significant influence on atmospheric chemistry at the …