Degradation of biomass fuels during artificial storage in a laboratory environment

Biomass energy is growing worldwide as generators continue their search for sustainable energy sources. This project focuses on the storage of biomass fuels, investigating degradation. Four different fuels were stored in air-tight buckets for 9 months to promote artificial degradation and provide an initial benchmark in a long-term project investigating the impact of different storage scenarios on a range of fuels. At regular intervals, samples were taken out of buckets for analysis including stereo zoom microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. Fungal analysis was carried out on two degraded fuels. Copyright , Oxford University Press.