Detection of emissions from the combustion of wood-based materials being furniture industry waste

Abstract The inappropriate combustion of furniture-industry waste can be a source of serious environmental problems. We proposed a method which is capable to distinguish the emission resulting from the combustion of wood-based materials, the essential component of such waste. The originality of the approach consists in the classification of gas mixtures instead of focussing on the individual pollutants emitted to the atmosphere. The classification of emission was based on the measurements applying differential ion mobility spectrometry (DMS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry, for comparison. There were successfully distinguished emissions associated with combustion of wood-based materials: OSB board, MDF board and plywood (≥95% correct classifications in the class (ccc)) and wood: pellet and kindling wood (≥92% ccc). Results of classification based on DMS and FTIR measurements were similar. Emissions from the combustion of individual materials were best distinguished using DMS (100% ccc), as compared with FTIR, which offered lower performance, mostly >90% ccc. Regarding pairwise classification, the most distinctive were emissions from the combustion of plywood (DMS: 99% ccc; FTIR: 99% ccc), MDF board (DMS: 99% ccc; FTIR: 99% ccc) and OSB board (DMS: 99% ccc; FTIR: 98% ccc). Emissions form kindling wood (DMS: 100% ccc; FTIR: 95% ccc) and pellet (DMS: 97% ccc; FTIR: 98% ccc) caused a bit more confusion. In most cases, results of classification based on DMS and FTIR measurements were comparable. The success of classification based on DMS measurements proved that it is possible to detect the harmful emission without determining the chemical composition of the flue gas. This solution represents a new approach to air quality monitoring, which recently attracts increasing attention.