CO gas

[arrowe44]

Interesting warning from Europe on wood pellets and CO gas.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/co-wood-pellets.htm

 

[TCaldwell]

whoud a thunk, makes the labors of cordwood attractive! Sounds like the ventilation is key.

 

[BoilerMan]

I wonder how much CO is released from freshly processed wood....... Yet another reason not to burn green wood that is stored inside.

TS

 

[heaterman]

Stack cordwood in a sealed room and the same thing will happen. Lawn clippings will do the trick also. The issue is not pellets but rather the method of storage. Notice also the size of the storage rooms in described in the incidents mentioned.

All vegetative matter gives off CO as it decomposes/oxidizes.
30 years on our fire dept has given me lots of training opportunities to learn about this phenomena.
We lost a high school classmate/friend a few years ago when he entered a silo on his farm.....something he had done many times before.....and was nearly instantly overcome and asphyxiated within less than a minute. Witnesses tried to get him out but could not enter because they became ill within seconds also and seeing what had just happened were able to recognize the symptoms when they felt them. Confined spaces are nothing to underestimate in any circumstance.

So yes Tom, ventilation is the key.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Confined space entry. Follow safe working procedures. Required on every job site, up here anyhow. Sad thing is many know this & completely forget it when they go home at the end of the day. Then well....stuff happens.

 

[BoilerMan]

Interesting, I learn something (or many things) every day. I was always under the impression CO was released in the decomposition of organic matter ie. wood rotting. I never would have guessed is was released from drying or stored wood, rather rotting or wet wood decomposing.

TS

 

[ewdudley]

Interesting, I learn something (or many things) every day. I was always under the impression CO was released in the decomposition of organic matter ie. wood rotting. I never would have guessed is was released from drying or stored wood, rather rotting or wet wood decomposing.

Carbon dioxide is released from decomposing wood, and it is released as a byproduct of fermentation in silos (and beer making!).

Carbon monoxide is what they're saying can accumulate in pellet storage facilities. "The chemical reactions responsible for carbon monoxide production from wood pellets are assumed to be an auto-oxidation process, especially oxidation of the fatty acids to be found in wood." http://www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/co-wood-pellets.htm

One will suffocate in a hurry and the other poisons the blood, either way heed FC's advice and be wary of sealed spaces.

 

[heaterman]

Carbon dioxide is released from decomposing wood, and it is released as a byproduct of fermentation in silos (and beer making!).

Carbon monoxide is what they're saying can accumulate in pellet storage facilities. "The chemical reactions responsible for carbon monoxide production from wood pellets are assumed to be an auto-oxidation process, especially oxidation of the fatty acids to be found in wood." http://www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/co-wood-pellets.htm

One will suffocate in a hurry and the other poisons the blood, either way heed FC's advice and be wary of sealed spaces.

Dioxide....Monoxide.....either one will kill you in a very short time given the right conditions. In fact, carbon dioxide is used in commercial meat slaughtering operations to "gas" the animals before butchering.

 

[700renegade]

[quote="All vegetative matter gives off CO as it decomposes/oxidizes.
30 years on our fire dept has given me lots of training opportunities to learn about this phenomena.
We lost a high school classmate/friend a few years ago when he entered a silo on his farm.....something he had done many times before.....and was nearly instantly overcome and asphyxiated within less than a minute. Witnesses tried to get him out but could not enter because they became ill within seconds also and seeing what had just happened were able to recognize the symptoms when they felt them. Confined spaces are nothing to underestimate in any circumstance.

So yes Tom, ventilation is the key.[/quote]

To clarify, silo gas is a combination of NO2 and CO2. The Nitrous Dioxide is the problem as it is heavier than air ( accumulates in the silo room or the top of the settled sileage ) and creates nitric acid when mixed with water in your lungs. The CO2 isn't poisonous, but could asphyxiate you if you lingered in it for too long. It doesn't tie up the hemoglobin like CO does, so it's not nearly the same risk ( speaking from experience here. visited my freindly ER for CO before ).

 

[BTEC_staff]

There are three public webinars and presentations on CO formation during bulk pellet storage on the Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC) website. With support from NYSERDA, our association has been conducting a review of the current science and policies (domestic and international) related to bulk pellet storage, CO production, mitigation, and storage guidelines/requirements. We've held three webinars over the past few months with a wide variety of industry professionals, and they're available below:

• (broken link removed to http://biomassthermal.org/resource/webinars.asp#CO3)
• (broken link removed to http://biomassthermal.org/resource/webinars.asp#stakeholder2)
• Webinar 3

The year long project's background is here (broken link removed to http://biomassthermal.org/programs/fuel_safety.asp)

Later this fall, BTEC will publish a final report complete with translations of European bulk pellet storage recommendations.

Feel free to contact me for project related questions ([email protected])