Emission Factors for the Burning of Decking Slabs Made of Wood and Thermoplastic with a Cone Calorimeter

• Published in: Fire (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 6; no. 4; p. 162
• Main Authors: Martinent, Bruno, Meerpoel-Pietri, Karina, Petlitckaia, Svetlana, Barboni, Toussaint, Tihay-Felicelli, Virginie, Santoni, Paul-Antoine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-04-2023
• Subjects: Aerosols; Air pollution; Carcinogens; Chemical composition; Chemical properties; Combustion; combustion phases; Cone calorimeters; Emission; emission factor; Emissions; Emissions (Pollution); Environmental aspects; Experimental methods; Forest & brush fires; Forest products; Gases; Heat; Interfaces; Outdoor air quality; Pollutants; Polypropylene; Prescribed fire; Public health; Research methodology; Slabs; Smoke; smoke emission; Terraces; VOC; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds; Wilderness areas; Wildfires; France; United States > US; Europe
• ISSN: 2571-6255; 2571-6255
• DOI: 10.3390/fire6040162

Smoke is an important component of wildfires. Specifying the combustion process of different materials allows scientists to better prevent and adopt public health measures. This experimental study contributes to a better characterisation of the smoke emitted by two types of decking, wood and thermoplastic, commonly used in terraces. Emission factors were characterised using a cone calorimeter for different incident fluxes ranging from 10 to 50 kW/m2. The study showed that compared to wooden (pine) decking, thermoplastic (polypropylene) decking produces more gases and aerosols, less VOCs, but with a chemical composition that is more carcinogenic.