[Stoves] Is the Blue Whirl really a 'thing'

[ajheggie at gmail.com]

On Mon, 24 Aug 2020 at 16:11, Anderson, Paul <psanders at ilstu.edu> wrote:

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> The transition phases can be quite rapid, but in general,
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> Solids do not burn
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> Liquids do not burn
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> In both cases, they become gases which are possible to then be burned cleanly (in the right conditions).

Paul that's too simplistic a generalisation, how are you defining
burning? Is it combustion or a subset of combustion that  involves
flames? Plainly a number of solids can be oxidised to give heat in the
absence of flame , magnesium burning in air being one . Similarly
charcoal  burning  in a thin bed produces no flame, it is when the
firebed becomes hot, above 800C and thick when   there is an lack of
air that the hot coals reduce the CO2 from lower in the bed to produce
carbon monoxide and then this gas burns above the  coals when exposed
to further (secondary) air and a blue flame is seen.

Normally when we burn biomass  we see heat, often from a solid being
directly oxidised, which then liberates  other flammable gases and
vapours, from fuel above, which are subsequently fully oxidised in
flaming combustion.

Andrew