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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Following one of the worst U.S. wildfire seasons on record, researchers at Oregon State University have been awarded a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study the impacts of smoldering combustion.

This type of combustion produces no visible flame but can emit higher amounts of pollutants than flaming combustion. It can impact soil productivity, flora survival rates, air quality and public health in municipalities located many miles from fires.

The five-year project could lead to development of tools that firefighters, climate scientists, foresters and others could use to predict and prevent smoldering, manage controlled burns, and calculate potential pollution emissions based on geographic location, fuel types, moisture levels and other factors. The research might also contribute to basic fire prevention methods - including household fires.

"During a fire event, smoldering combustion can be responsible for most of the carbon monoxide, methane, volatile organic compounds and fine particulate matter released, and it can contribute substantially to carbon emissions," said David Blunck, a professor of mechanical engineering in the OSU College of Engineering, who is one collaborator on the research.

Currently, fire managers have no tools to predict how or where smoldering combustion might ignite, how deep it will burn, the amount of pollutants emitted or what the impacts will be on the surrounding environment. Most past work has been done on flaming combustion.

"We will look at a wide range of ecosystems, fuel types, moisture levels and more in order to understand what ignites, controls and is emitted from smoldering combustion," Blunck said. "We're looking at the underlying physics - fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, heat transfer and chemistry, because combustion involves the intersection of all those."

As climate conditions become drier, it's easier for fires to ignite, he said, so the researchers want to understand the hidden variables at the molecular level that influence combustion, so it can be prevented or controlled.