Using an Air Curtain Destructor to Burn Vegetative Debris
In This Article:
- Air Curtain Destructors and safety
- Air Curtain Incinerator Set-Up
- Air Curtain Burners and CO2 emissions
An Air Curtain Burner, also called an Air Curtain Incinerator or an Air Curtain Destructor, is a fantastic means of managing large amounts of vegetative debris. The alternatives, such as hauling or grinding, can present many problems, the most dramatic of which are cost and volume. However, burning debris with the help of an air curtain burner allows for a clean, safe, and relatively low-difficulty removal of even extremely large amounts of vegetative matter. How so?
Air Curtain Burners are a safe method of debris management.
The fast-moving curtain of air acts as a protective barrier between the smoke and sparks and the outside world. This translates to better air quality and less likelihood of accidentally starting a forest fire. Furthermore, humans have no need of coming near the pit, as the fire is fed by means of heavy equipment, removing the risk to those working on the project that exists with chippers and grinders.
Air Curtain Destroyers are an easy method of debris management.
Using an Air Curtain Incinerator means not having to move debris off of your staging location. This can mean huge time and cost savings! Imagine the difference between only having to bring your debris to your burn pit and the alternative, hauling it off-site and then paying dump or grinding fees.
While you could grind debris on-site, you would still be left with large piles of chips, which you would then have to manage. On the other hand, the ash left over from the fire can either be repurposed or simply covered back over when the pit is filled in.
Air Curtain Incinerators are a clean method of debris management.
An Air Curtain Destructor burns vegetative debris efficiently. The fire is much hotter thanks to the curtain of air that is oxygenating the flames. Smoke and sparks are trapped beneath, causing little impact on air quality. Further, burning with the aid of an air curtain incinerator aids in significantly lowering CO2 emissions as opposed to open burning.
PLEASE NOTE that chemically treated wood should not be burned. The chemicals used to treat the wood can be dangerous when released into the air when burning. For this reason, burning chemically treated materials is often illegal. Check with you locality to learn more about what you can burn and how to obtain permits. You can also check here on our web page for permitting and legal information. We have easy-to-navigate pages directing you to the correct contacts and State, District, and County pages for all permitting and legal burning needs.
Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association published a great article detailing scientific studies on air curtain destroyers as it relates to CO2 emissions.
“Combustion of vegetative debris in ACD (Air Curtain Destructor) units results in significantly lower emissions of particulate matter and CO per unit of mass of debris compared with open pile burning. ” (You can read more here.)
Waste Advantage Magazine posted an article all about Air Curtain incinerators and included this intriguing fact about CO2 emissions.
“Contrary to the CO2 emitted from sources that require hydrocarbon fuel, such as grinders, trucks or airplanes, air curtain burners only release biogenic CO2, which is the same amount of CO2 that the wood while alive as a tree took in from the surrounding air releasing oxygen through photosynthesis. This CO2 is called biogenic CO2. The CO2 from burning hydrocarbons would never turn into a greenhouse gas, if it were left deep down in the Earth where it has been confined for millions of years.”
(You can read the full article here.)