Particulate emission from the gasification and pyrolysis of biomass: Concentration, size distributions, respiratory deposition-based control measure evaluation

Gasification and pyrolysis technologies have been widely employed to produce fuels and chemicals from solid wastes. Rare studies have been conducted to compare the particulate emissions from gasification and pyrolysis, and relevant inhalation exposure assessment is still lacking. In this work, we characterized the particles emitted from the gasification and pyrolysis experiments under different temperatures (500, 600, and 700 °C). The collection efficiencies of existing cyclones were compared based on particle respiratory deposition. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify the most effective design parameters. The particles emitted from both gasification and pyrolysis process are mainly in the size range 0.25–1.0 μm and 1.0–2.5 μm. Particle respiratory deposition modelling showed that most particles penetrate deeply into the last stage of the respiratory system. At the nasal breathing mode, particles with sizes ranging from 0.25 to 1.0 μm account for around 91%, 74%, 76%, 90%, 84%, and 79% of the total number of particles that deposit onto the last stage in the cases of 500 °C gasification, 600 °C gasification, 700 °C gasification, 500 °C pyrolysis, 600 °C pyrolysis, and 700 °C pyrolysis, respectively. At the oral breathing mode, particles with sizes ranging from 0.25 to 1.0 μm account for around 92%, 77%, 79%, 91%, 86%, and 81% of the total number of particles that deposit onto the last stage in the six cases, respectively. Sensitivity analysis showed that the particle removal efficiency was found to be most sensitive to the cyclone vortex finder diameter (D₀). This work could potentially serve as the basis for proposing health protective measures against the particulate pollution from gasification and pyrolysis technologies.