New sight on the emission of PM10: Mechanisms and interactions from the combustion of hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin

Combustion is one of the main sources of particulate matter (PM) emission during the biomass utilization, while the effects of three components, namely cellulose (CL), hemicellulose (HC), and lignin (LG), are still unknown. In this work, the model compounds were used to simulate the three components of cornstalk (CS), and their interactions on the PM emission behavior during the individual or co-combustion were investigated. Meanwhile, three different potassium-containing compounds were introduced to simulate the reactions between three components and alkali metals. The results showed all particle size distribution curves from the combustion of three components exhibited a unimodal distribution, while CS presented a bimodal distribution. The total PM10 yields from the combustion of CL, HC, and LG are 0.32, 0.65, and 5.27 mg/g_fuel, much lower than that from cornstalk combustion (10.04 mg/g). The interaction between CL and HC could facilitate the formation of PM0.1 and increase its yield by 4.93%. In contrast, the interaction between HC and LG was conducive to reducing PM1 by 13.2%. However, the interaction between CL and LG has little impact on PM emission. The types of potassium salts had a significant impact on PM formation, and K2SO4, CH3COOK, and KCl could inhibit the PM emission, achieving a 9.4%–13% reduction compared to the theoretical value.