energies Article Influence of Thermal Decomposition of Wood and Wood-Based Materials on the State of the Atmospheric Air. Emissions of Toxic Compounds and Greenhouse Gases Przemyslaw Rybi ´ nski 1, * , Bartlomiej Syrek 1 , Miroslaw Szwed 2 , Dariusz Bradlo 3 , Witold ˙ Zukowski 3 , Anna Marzec 4 and Magda ´ Sliwka-Kaszy ´ nska 5   Citation: Rybi ´ nski, P.; Syrek, B.; Szwed, M.; Bradlo, D.; ˙ Zukowski, W.; Marzec, A.; ´ Sliwka-Kaszy ´ nska, M. Influence of Thermal Decomposition of Wood and Wood-Based Materials on the State of the Atmospheric Air. Emissions of Toxic Compounds and Greenhouse Gases. Energies 2021, 14, 3247. https://doi.org/10.3390/ en14113247 Academic Editor: Rajender Gupta Received: 19 April 2021 Accepted: 31 May 2021 Published: 2 June 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Institute of Chemistry, The Jan Kochanowski University, Uniwersytecka 7, 25-406 Kielce, Poland; bartlomiejsyrek@wp.pl 2 Institute of Geography and Environmental Sciences, The Jan Kochanowski University, Uniwersytecka 7, 25-406 Kielce, Poland; miroslaw.szwed@ujk.edu.pl 3 Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Cracow University of Technology, Warszawska 24, 31-155 Kraków, Poland; dariusz.bradlo@pk.edu.pl (D.B.); witold.zukowski@pk.edu.pl (W. ˙ Z.) 4 Faculty of Chemistry, Instituteof Polymerand Dye Technology, Lodz University of Technology, Stefanowskiego 12/16, 90-924 Lodz, Poland; anna.marzec@p.lodz.pl 5 Department of Organic Chemistry, Gda´ nsk University of Technology, Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gda ´ nsk, Poland; Magdalena.sliwka-kaszynska@pg.edu.pl * Correspondence: przemyslaw.rybinski@ujk.edu.pl Abstract: This paper presents the energy characteristics of wood and wood-based materials in the form of commercially available pellets, furniture board (MDF) and OSB. Toxicometric indices were de- termined for gaseous destructs arising from thermal decomposition and combustion of the materials studied. The paper proves that combustion conditions are crucial in terms of toxic destructive emis- sions. It has been shown that the combustion of wood-based materials under controlled conditions can lead to equally low emissions of toxic wastes as the combustion of traditional wood materials. The paper also presents the index of greenhouse gas emission, the so-called CO 2 equivalent, for the examined wood and wood-based materials. Keywords: toxicity; fire hazard; air pollution; fluidized bed; CO 2 equivalent; toxic greenhouse gases 1. Introduction Recently, the problem of air pollution, commonly called “smog”, in the face of enor- mous health, social and economic costs has become an absolute priority. Numerous studies conducted in many parts of the world indicate that there is a link between exposure to air pollution and the occurrence of various adverse health effects. Particularly vulnerable groups are children, people with existing cardiovascular and respiratory disease, diabetes, obesity and the elderly. It has now been proven that exposure to air pollution is associated with increased mortality and reduced life expectancy [1–4]. Particularly important, from the point of view of protection of human health and life, is particulate matter, whose particles have an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers. In addition to the size of the dust particles, the effects of dust pollution on human health may also depend on its chemical composition. Dust from combustion processes may include various substances harmful to health, e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their derivatives, azaarenes and other polycyclic aromatic compounds, compounds from the dioxin group (PCDD/F), as well as heavy and transition metals and their compounds [5–22]. Gaseous pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and tropospheric ozone, which is formed by nitrogen dioxide in photochemical reactions, also have a harmful effect on health. Reactions between gaseous substances (ammonia, sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides) may also result in the Energies 2021, 14, 3247. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14113247 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies