Carbon monoxide from vegetation

This is not the case in most fires where some oi the intermediate produces, formed when large, complex molecules are broken up, persist. Examples are hydrogen cyanide from wool and silk, acrolein from vegetable oils, acetic acid from timber or paper, and carbon or carbon monoxide from the incomplete combustion of carbonaceous materials. As the fire develops and becomes hotter, many of these intermediates, which are often toxic, are destroyed—for example, hydrogen cyanide is decomposed at about 538°C (1000°F). 

For any pollutant, air quality criteria may refer to different types of effects. For example. Tables 22-1 through 22-6 list effects on humans, animals, vegetation, materials, and the atmosphere caused by various exposures to sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, and lead. These data are from fhe Air Quality Criteria for these pollutants published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

Sulphates, silicates, carbonates, colloids and certain organic compounds act as inhibitors if evenly distributed, and sodium silicate has been used as such in certain media. Nitrates tend to promote corrosion, especially in acid soil waters, due to cathodic de-polarisation and to the formation of soluble nitrates. Alkaline soils can cause serious corrosion with the formation of alkali plumbites which decompose to give (red) lead monoxide. Organic acids and carbon dioxide from rotting vegetable matter or manure also have a strong corrosive action. This is probably the explanation of phenol corrosion , which is not caused by phenol, but thought to be caused by decomposition of jute or hessian in applied protective layers. ... 

The most important natural source of atmospheric carbon monoxide is the combination of oxygen with methane (CH4), which is a product of the anaerobic decay of vegetation. (Anaerobic decay takes place in the absence of oxygen.) At the same time, however, carbon monoxide is removed from the atmosphere by the activities of certain soil microorganisms, so the net result is a harmless average concentration that is less than 0.12 to 15 ppm in the Northern Hemisphere. Because stationary source combustion facilities are under much tighter environmental control than are mobile sources, the principal source of carbon monoxide that is caused by human activities is motor vehicle exhaust, which contributes to about 70% of all CO emissions in the United States. 

Processes of this kind, known as hydrogenation, occur, for example, in the manufacture of margarine from vegetable oils. An important related reaction is the manufacture of methanol from carbon monoxide, which is performed at about 250 °C and 30 atmospheres pressure in the presence of a copper catalyst ... 

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