A newly developed stereoscopic camera system has been applied to measure the temperature, size and shape of burning coal and biomass particles in a lab-scale laminar flow reactor. The stereoscopic imaging method enables to measure the particle contour which can be used to determine the shape of the particle. As the camera system is constructed for two-color pyrometry, the simultaneous detection...

Oil palm biomass, namely empty fruit bunch and frond fiber, were pretreated using a planetary ball mill. Particle sizes and crystallinity index values of the oil palm biomass were significantly reduced with extended ball mill processing time. The treatment efficiency was evaluated by the generation of glucose, xylose, and total sugar conversion yields from the pretreatment process compared to t...

In this paper we describe a spatially multidimensional (two-dimensional [2-D] and three-dimensional [3-D]) particle-based approach for modeling the dynamics of multispecies biofilms growing on multiple substrates. The model is based on diffusion-reaction mass balances for chemical species coupled with microbial growth and spreading of biomass represented by hard spherical particles. Effectively...

We characterized residential biomass burning contributions to fine particle concentrations via multiple methods at Fyfe Elementary School in Las Vegas, Nevada, during January 2008: with levoglucosan on quartz fiber filters; with water soluble potassium (K+) measured using a particle-into-liquid system with ion chromatography (PILS-IC); and with the fragment C2H4O2 from an Aerodyne High Resoluti...

The aim was to identify relationships between combustion conditions, particle characteristics, and optical properties of fresh and photochemically processed emissions from biomass combustion. The combustion conditions included nominal and high burn rate operation and individual combustion phases from a conventional wood stove. Low temperature pyrolysis upon fuel addition resulted in "tar-ball" ...

Coal and biomass pyrolysis and gasification has gained importance in the last few decades for synthetic fuel synthesis, which is a promising solution to the current energy crisis. Efficient fuel feed is necessary to the coal and biomass utilization processes. Common gasification systems employ large-scale slurry feeders to inject the fuel into the gasifier vessel. The presence of excess water i...

Biomass burning is a major source of light-absorbing black and brown carbonaceous particles. Brown carbon is 10 a poorly characterized mixture that includes tar balls (TBs), a type of carbonaceous particle apparently unique to biomass burning. Here we describe the first atmospheric observations of the formation and evolution of TBs from forest fires. Aerosol particles were collected on TEM grid...

Soil structure depends on the association between mineral soil particles (sand, silt, and clay) and organic matter, in which aggregates of different size and stability are formed. Although the chemistry of organic materials, total microbial biomass, and different enzyme activities in different soil particle size fractions have been well studied, little information is available on the structure ...

In this study, the sorption of Malachite green (MG) on Hydrilla verticillata biomass, a submerged aquatic plant, was investigated in a batch system. The effects of operating parameters such as temperature, adsorbent dosage, contact time, adsorbent size, and agitation speed on the sorption of Malachite green were analyzed using response surface methodology (RSM). The proposed quadratic model for...

Controlled bench scale pulverized coal combustion studies were performed, demonstrating that inorganic particles play a critical role as carriers of organic species. Two commonly-used aerosol mass spectrometry techniques were applied to characterize fine particle formation during coal combustion. It was found that the organic species in coal combustion aerosols have mass spectra similar to thos...