TY - JOUR
T1 - Interlaboratory Study: Testing Reproducibility of Solid Biofuels Component Identification Using Reflected Light Microscopy
T2 - Article No. 104331
AU - Drobniak, Agnieszka
AU - Mastalerz, Maria
AU - Jelonek, Zbigniew
AU - Jelonek, Iwona
AU - Adsul, Tushar
AU - Andolsek, Neza
AU - Ardakani, Omid
AU - Congo, Tara
AU - Demberelsuren, Batbold
AU - Donohoe, Bryon
AU - Douds, Ashley
AU - Flores, Deolinda
AU - Ganzorig, Ranjin
AU - Ghosh, Santanu
AU - Gize, Andrew
AU - Goncalves, Paula
AU - Hackley, Paul
AU - Hatcherian, Javin
AU - Hower, James
AU - Kalaitzidis, Stavros
AU - Kedzior, Slawomir
AU - Knowles, Wayne
AU - Kus, Jolanta
AU - Lis, Kacper
AU - Lis, Grzegorz
AU - Liu, Bei
AU - Luo, Qingyong
AU - Du, Meili
AU - Mishra, Divya
AU - Misz-Kennan, Magdalena
AU - Mugerwa, Theophile
AU - Nedzweckas, Jennifer
AU - O'Keefe, Jennifer
AU - Park, Jackie
AU - Pearson, Richard
AU - Petersen, Henrik
AU - Reyes, Julito
AU - Ribeiro, Joana
AU - de la Rosa-Rodriguez, Genaro
AU - Sosnowski, Piotr
AU - Valentine, Brett
AU - Varma, Atul
AU - Wojtaszek-Kalaitzidi, Malgorzata
AU - Xu, Zhanjie
AU - Zdravkov, Alexander
AU - Ziemianin, Konrad
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Considering global market trends and concerns about climate change and sustainability, increased biomass use for energy is expected to continue. As more diverse materials are being utilized to manufacture solid biomass fuels, it is critical to implement quality assessment methods to analyze these fuels thoroughly. One such method is reflected light microscopy (RLM), which has the potential to complement and enhance current standard testing, leading to improving fuel quality assessment and, ultimately, preventing avoidable air pollution. An interlaboratory study (ILS) was conducted to test the reproducibility of biomass fuels component identification using a reflected light microscopy technique. The exercise was conducted on thirty photomicrographs showing biomass and various undesired components (like plastics or mineral matter), which were purposely added (by the ILS organizers) to contaminate wood pellets and charcoal-based grilling fuels. Forty-six participants had various levels of difficulty identifying the marked components, and as a result, the percentage of correct answers ranged from 52.2 to 94.4%. Among the most difficult components to distinguish were petroleum products and inorganic matter. Various reasons led to the misidentification, including insufficient morphological descriptions of the components provided to participants, ambiguities of the nomenclature, limitations of the analytical and exercise method, and insufficient experience of the participants. Overall, the results indicate that RLM has the potential to enhance the quality assessment of biomass fuels. However, they also demonstrate that the petrographic classification used in this exercise requires further refinement before it can be standardized. While a new simplified classification of solid biomass fuels components was created as an outcome of this study, future research is necessary to refine the nomenclature, develop a microscopic morphological description of the components, and verify the accuracy of component identification with a follow-up ILS.
AB - Considering global market trends and concerns about climate change and sustainability, increased biomass use for energy is expected to continue. As more diverse materials are being utilized to manufacture solid biomass fuels, it is critical to implement quality assessment methods to analyze these fuels thoroughly. One such method is reflected light microscopy (RLM), which has the potential to complement and enhance current standard testing, leading to improving fuel quality assessment and, ultimately, preventing avoidable air pollution. An interlaboratory study (ILS) was conducted to test the reproducibility of biomass fuels component identification using a reflected light microscopy technique. The exercise was conducted on thirty photomicrographs showing biomass and various undesired components (like plastics or mineral matter), which were purposely added (by the ILS organizers) to contaminate wood pellets and charcoal-based grilling fuels. Forty-six participants had various levels of difficulty identifying the marked components, and as a result, the percentage of correct answers ranged from 52.2 to 94.4%. Among the most difficult components to distinguish were petroleum products and inorganic matter. Various reasons led to the misidentification, including insufficient morphological descriptions of the components provided to participants, ambiguities of the nomenclature, limitations of the analytical and exercise method, and insufficient experience of the participants. Overall, the results indicate that RLM has the potential to enhance the quality assessment of biomass fuels. However, they also demonstrate that the petrographic classification used in this exercise requires further refinement before it can be standardized. While a new simplified classification of solid biomass fuels components was created as an outcome of this study, future research is necessary to refine the nomenclature, develop a microscopic morphological description of the components, and verify the accuracy of component identification with a follow-up ILS.
KW - biomass
KW - biomass fuels
KW - biomass fuels contaminants
KW - charcoal
KW - interlaboratory study
KW - quality assessment
KW - reflected light microscopy
KW - wood pellets
U2 - 10.1016/j.coal.2023.104331
DO - 10.1016/j.coal.2023.104331
M3 - Article
SN - 0166-5162
VL - 277
JO - International Journal of Coal Geology
JF - International Journal of Coal Geology
ER -