TeToxBeScheit
Single room furnaces for logs enjoy great popularity in Germany, but emit a complex mixture of particulate and gaseous pollutants. Efficient mitigation measures are needed to reduce the harmful effects on humans, the environment and the climate.
The overall objective of the TeToxBeScheit project is to develop a scientifically sound basis for a comprehensive practice-relevant evaluation of market-available primary and secondary abatement measures for single-room furnaces. Electrostatic precipitators, catalytically acting furnace inserts and electronic furnace controls will be investigated. Particular attention will be paid to a dedicated, pollutant-specific evaluation of their performance in reducing emissions. The project is based on the currently inadequate evaluation basis for such reduction measures and ties in with current developments, such as the development of the "Blue Angel" seal of approval. The results of the work are intended to provide impetus for targeted, substance-specific optimization of abatement equipment in industry and research in order to efficiently reduce pollutant emissions from individual room furnaces in the future.
The methodical approach aims at a holistic approach. For this purpose, technical as well as human and ecotoxicological methods are combined for a combined assessment. The data basis for the evaluation of the abatement measures will be developed experimentally by an interdisciplinary consortium with four partners from the fields of process engineering, toxicology, environmental research, and occupational and environmental medicine. In order to comparatively assess the effect of the abatement measures, the native combustion aerosol (particle and gas phase) is investigated on several levels with and without the use of the respective emission abatement device.
On the toxicological side, the Air-Liquid-Interface exposure method (Fa. VITROCELL Systems GmbH) is used, the latest state of the art for a realistic evaluation of airborne pollutants. The system allows exposure experiments to be carried out directly at the site of emission generation on the test rig.
The project consortium is composed as follows:
- Department of Energy Resources Technology (Coordination), RWTH Aachen University.
- Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Ecosystem Analysis, RWTH Aachen University
- AG Environmental and Nanotoxicology, Institute for Infection Prevention and Hospital Hygiene, University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany
- Institute for Occupational, Social, and Environmental Medicine, University Hospital Aachen