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ENHANCED COMBUSTION WOODSTOVE (ECW) TECHNOLOGY
Citation:
McCrillis, R., J. Abbott, W. Ponder, N. Butts, AND D. Henry. ENHANCED COMBUSTION WOODSTOVE (ECW) TECHNOLOGY. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/A-94/124.
Description:
The paper discusses Enhanced Combustion Woodstove (ECW) technology, developed by EPA in response to the field observation that woodstoves certified by EPA as being clean burning were not achieving the level of emission control "seen" in laboratory tests. ts development was also in response to projections of woodstove emissions growth which indicated that, even if all new woodstoves achieved the levels seen in the laboratory, annual national woodstove emissions would not decrease due to continued increases in woodstove population. CW technology is based on the fact that woodstove emissions are caused by the incomplete combustion and pyrolysis of wood in the primary combustion zone. o achieve low emissions, the stove must incorporate a secondary combustion zone above the wood which will hold flame at all times. urrent noncatalytic woodstoves can achieve satisfactory secondary combustion only under fairly ideal conditions. table secondary combustion may not be achieved at typical low-fire conditions, leading to high emissions. nitial work focused on using an electrical glowplug (ECW electric) to ignite and add energy to the secondary combustion zone. ater work has focused on using a gaseous fuel (ECW gaseous or ECWG) for this purpose.