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

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• smoke emission
• emission factor
• gases
• VOC
• combustion phases
• aerosols