Determination of Pollutant Emissions from Wood-fired Pizza Ovens

The present study deals with the determination of pollutant emissions from wood-fired pizza ovens throughout the implementation of an innovative sampling system, specifically designed for the source in question. The experiments were conducted on a traditional wood-fired oven using two different forms of beechwood as fuel: wood logs and briquettes. Three different combustion cycles were used to carry out the tests, two for the wood logs and one for the briquettes. Different sampling sites along the system allowed for the collection and analysis of several gaseous pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and OGC (organic gaseous carbon); along with total particulate matter (TPM). In order to study the synergistic effect of biomass burning and pizza cooking, combustion cycles were performed both with and without the presence of the pizzas. The results show that the concentrations of gaseous pollutants were affected mainly by the combustion conditions in the oven, whereas the values of TPM depended more on the amount of fuelwood used. Pizza cooking had a great impact on the emissions of OGC and, to a lesser extent, on CO and TPM.