Influence of metal oxides on the thermal ignition behaviour of woody biomass cellulose

The reuse and recycling of biomass materials would be useful for minimizing the environmental impact of society, and would help address the strong demand for a safe and sustainable community. Although woody biomass from demolished buildings could be a promising resource for recycling, contaminants are found in recycled wood dust, such as wood preservatives that likely contain metal oxides. These oxides might act as catalysts for the oxidation of organic materials, resulting in the spontaneous ignition of large piles of recycled wood dust. In order to better understand the influence of a typical wood preservative, CuO, on the oxidation and thermal ignition behaviour of cellulose, a main component of recycled wood dust, we conducted thermal analysis and spontaneous ignition tests of recycled wood dust. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to investigate the influence of the type of metal oxide, and the amount of CuO, on the thermal behaviour of cellulose, and showed that the onset temperature for the exothermic reaction decreased with increasing amount of CuO. Spontaneous ignition tests of various cellulose/CuO samples were used to measure the induction time to ignition, and showed that the induction time decreased as the amount of CuO increased, demonstrating that CuO has a catalytic effect on the thermal behaviour of cellulose.