HSE Warning re. CO from stored wood pellets!

[Dotty]

Risk of carbon monoxide release during the storage of wood pellets

 

[mountainman]

A laugh a minute this game innit?

 

[SimonG]

Frightening. Hadn't heard anything about this.

 

[zzzjim]

Chemistry amazing how many ways it finds to kill us !

Large quantities of pellets - theres a suprise - surface area strikes again

 

[Dannypipe]

What will they think of next? :crazy: LOL

 

[Dannypipe]

Just read the HSE document. Actually not a joking matter. The German guy who died just opened the door the the storage area, and was killed. The bloke behind him almost died too. Must have been a seriously high concentration of CO in the store.

 

[zzzjim]

Restricted supply of Oxygen , means less CO2 and more CO ..scary

( Smells better than that Slurry pit accident )

 

[Dannypipe]

Yeah, that slurry pit incident was terrible. He went in after the dog, his son went in after him, and the brother went in after them all. They all died and the sister almost did trying to help. Dangerous stuff.

Its ironic. We absorb CO more readilly that oxygen. So even if the room is mainly Oxygen, if the levels of CO are high enough, it's curtains.

When they dropped in price, I started to carry a battery powered CO alarm, but the truth is, I did for about a week, and now its kicking around in the van somewhere.

 

[peteheat]

OTT, as usual where govt. agencies are concerned, not accurate either, The Gent in Ireland was in a 3 tonne store not a 7 tonne, I can't say too much on the subject as I attended the scene with a group of forensic engineers to test and evaluate the system.

There were other factors at play in that case hopefully the full details will come out in the Courts as any one of the other factors are more likely to cause a repeat of that tragedy than anything mentioned in that article.

I have always advised that the pellet store is vented to the atmosphere though not because of carbon monoxide.

 

[SimonJohns]

I'm working in a wood pellet factory next week. I'll bring this to their attention

Thanks very much for the heads up

 

[Nostrum]

Hea about this on the hetas course. I got the impression it had something to do with damp pellet store and decomposition of the pellets, what's your take on it peteheat?

 

[peteheat]

Hea about this on the hetas course. I got the impression it had something to do with damp pellet store and decomposition of the pellets, what's your take on it peteheat?

All I can confirm re the Irish case is the pellets were as dry as the sands of the Sahara desert.

I know there can be problems with shipping and storing large quantities of wood pellet, re; the shipping transporting any wood in the hold has been a known problem for years it goes back to shipping large amounts of timber like teak etc which could be in a sealed hold for months.

It appears some people forgot that they were transporting a product that once was live and part of the early decay process is it gives off various gasses one of which appears to be C0, another theory I read was the heat that built up in the hold was a cause, I think it is policy in the shipping industry to ensure the hold is vented for a while to allow air circulate before off loading.

Wood pellet is different because we have all of the above and the heat generated during processing if the fuel is loaded when warm, there have been cases in pellet factories where the large silos for storing the pellets have gone on fire, the explanations I read blamed the operators for not allowing the pellet to cool before loading it into the silos.

For home owners and commercial users the above should never be a problem because the pellet will have had plenty of time to cool as it is very unusual to manufacture and deliver the same day, in fact I have been in very large sheds where the summer production of the wood pellet fuel is stored for delivery in winter.

Having witnessed what I did I would never advise anyone to enter a pellet store connected to a working boiler even if it has broke down before ensuring the tank has been vented and a second person is present, of course that should apply to anyone entering any store that has a limited entry and egress point regardless of the contents.

I'm sure HSE has very detailed documents about the safety precautions we all need to take in such situations.

 

[zzzjim]

Strange but true , Oxygen is the cause , it corrodes many things .

Think of Corrosion as a very slow fire , Copper pipe turns brown in air

( Sorry for becoming a Chemist for a few minutes ) Needs venting

 

[Nostrum]

Surely a lack of oxygen is the cause? I imagined it being something to do with carbon dioxide being released as the pellets started breaking down, and something using the oxygen, bacteria or some organism or whatever

I could be totally wrong mind, and interested to find out the real reason. The HETAS course tutor was very clued up to be fair, but didn't have a solid answer for this effect so would be good to get a clear idea of the cause.

 

[zzzjim]

The lack of oxygen is created by the " Corrosion " of the surface of the fuel , creating CO2 , if this puddles on the floor , now you make more CO i'm guessing .

Need ventilation ( or a few lung fulls of fresh air - and hold your breath ! )

Fuel in room is slowly consuming Oxygen - like its alive

 

[Nostrum]

The chemical reactions responsible for carbon monoxide production from wood pellets are assumed to be an auto-oxidation process, especially oxidation of the fatty acids to be found in wood.... apparently

 

[peteheat]

I honestly doubt that C0 is a problem for domestic and most commercial wood pellet tanks simply because the pellets are not in the tanks long enough to break down, at best a three tonne domestic tank should last one heating season possibly a year, all depends on the heat load.

Wood pellet for industrial / commercial heating does not last long, one installation I know of uses 12 tonnes of pellet every two weeks, not being stored long enough to begin breaking down IMHO.