Chemically distinct particle phase emissions from highly controlled pyrolysis of three wood types

Wood pyrolysis is a distinct process that precedes combustion and contributes to biomass and biofuel burning gas phase and particle phase emissions. Pyrolysis is defined as the thermochemical degradation of wood, the products of which can be released directly or undergo further reaction during gas-phase combustion. To isolate and study the processes and emissions of pyrolysis, a custom-made reactor was used to uniformly heat small blocks of wood in a nitrogen atmosphere. Pieces of maple, Douglas fir and oak wood (maximum 155 cm3) were pyrolyzed in a temperature-controlled chamber set to 400, 500, or 600°C. Real time particle phase emissions were measured with a Soot Particle Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (SP-AMS) and correlated with simultaneous gas phase emission measurements of CO. Particle and gas emissions increased rapidly after inserting a wood sample, remained high for tens of minutes, and then dropped rapidly leaving behind char. The particulate mass loading profiles varied with ela..., In each experiment, individual pieces of wood were heated under N2 so as to measure the pyrolysis products primarily with an Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS). The emissions from pyrolysis were entirely organic and further analyzed by individual ion fragments and bulk properties including O/C, H/C, and oxidation state. 
This dataset includes the total organic, individual ion, and O/C and H/C ratio data obtained with the AMS, along with the mass loss and gas phase measurements that comprise the figures in this paper. 
This data was processed into its current form from raw data using the openly accessible Squirrel and Pika software for AMS data, including calculation of O/C and H/C ratios from individually fit ion fragments. The software can be found at: https://cires1.colorado.edu/jimenez-group/ToFAMSResources/ToFSoftware/, Data from each figure are provided as csv files.