Hydrogen from biomass burning

Lee, M B. G. Heikes, D. J. Jacob, G. Sachse, and B. Anderson, Hydrogen Peroxide, Organic Hydroperoxide, and Formaldehyde as Primary Pollutants from Biomass Burning, J. Geophys. Res.,... 

Hydrogen sulfide H2S is emitted to the atmosphere either from natural sources, e.g. volcanos, soils, biomass burning, and marine biology, or from anthropogenic sources, mainly industries. The reaction of H2S with OH yields HS (sulfanyl radical) by abstraction reaction. 

As part of the Megacity Initiative Local and Global Research Observations (MILAGRO) project, a comprehensive airborne study by Yokelson et al. reported the first detailed field measurements of biomass emissions in the Northern Hemisphere tropics [169]. Volatile emissions were measured from 20 deforestation and crop residue fires on the Yucatan peninsula. This included two trace gases which are often considered to be useful as indicators of biomass burning. One we have discussed before, namely acetonitrile, and the other is hydrogen cyanide. A variety of instrumentation was co-deployed for this investigation (FTIR spectroscopy, GD-FID, a GC-Trace Analytical Reduction Gas Detector, fluorescence and chemiluminescence instruments and various other spectrometers). PTR-MS was used to monitor methanol, acetonitrile, acetaldehyde, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl propanal, hydroxyacetone plus methyl acetate, benzene and 13 other volatile species. 

Sustainably generated hydrogen has many uses in chemical synthesis and in synthetic fuels manufacture. In addition to its applications in fuel cells, it can be burned directly in gas turbines and internal combustion engines. It is the fuel of choice for fuel cells and, combined chanically with N2 from air, it is used to make ammonia for fertilizer and synthetic nitrogen compounds. It is a key feedstock for processes to convert biomass materials, such as sugars, to useful synthetic chemicals. And elemental H2 is a key ingredient in making synthetic fnels from coal, biomass, and even CO2. 

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