Comparative study of gaseous and particulate emissions from traditional and

modified charcoal production kilns

Dipak Sharma1, Sagar Adhikari2,Siva Praveen Puppala2
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University
2
International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), G.P.O. Box 3226, Kathmandu,
Nepal

Forest is degrading day by day due to forest fires and invasive species. Of these, invasive species
can be harvested and turned into charcoal and can be sound addition to energy mix alternatives.
Mostly traditional pit system and bio energy kiln are used to convert the invasive species into
charcoal. This study aims to compare the emission impact of two charcoal producing
technologies in terms of emission factors of CO2, CO, PM2.5 and Black Carbon (BC). Emission
factors for these types of technologies are helpful in assessing their impact on immediate
environment and air pollution. Here we design a emission measurement system that continuously
monitor the emission concentration of CO2, CO, PM2.5 and Black Carbon (BC) from two charcoal
technologies throughout combustion process of invasive species feedstock. The measurements
were performed at Nawajagriti Community Forest, Chitwan. E-sampler, Microaethlometer, IAQ
Probe, Licor Gas Analyzer was used to measure PM 2.5, Black Carbon, CO and CO2 respectively
One complete batch of biomass was burned and the emission was measured continuously for the
batch. Using invasive species as a fuel, charcoal yield of Traditional Pit System was found to be
17.95% and that of Bioenergy Kiln as 20.63%. The calorific value of the charcoal produced from
Traditional Pit System and Bio Energy Kiln was The emission factor was calculated by Carbon
balance method. The average emission factors for BC, PM 2.5, CO2 and CO of Bio Energy kiln
were found to be 6.73±6.13 g/kg, 84.68±130.03 g/kg, 1444.4±471.55 g/kg and 334.14±297.68
g/kg of fuel burnt respectively. Similarly, the average emission factor of for BC, PM 2.5, CO2 and
CO of Traditional Pit System were found to be 7.72±6.25 g/kg, 153.94±140.99 g/kg,
1336.2±472.82 g/kg and 248.97±190.60 g/kg of fuel burned respectively. We observed that
average emission factor of Traditonal Pit System is significantly higher than that of Bio energy
Kiln for Black Carbon and comfortably greater for PM2.5. However, for CO2 and CO, the
emission factor of Bio Energy Kiln is higher than Traditional Pit System. This study will
contribute to a number of air-pollutant emission inventories from a unique source-charcoal
production. Detailed results will be discussed in the conference.
Keywords : Bioenergy Kiln, Tradition Pit System, Charcoal, Emission Factor