What happens if you use an undersized afterburner?

[stolenchurch]

I have found a fairly good price on an afterburner that is rated for roasters 2 to 7 kilo, it has 400,000 BTU max output, maximum CFM is 200, and I think the unit it self holds 4.5 cubic feet. It is a very basic set point style of incinerator.

What would happen if I used this with a 10 kg roaster? Would a higher amount of CFM of smoke production reduce dwell times and make the ability to incinerate the smoke less effective?

I don't need to meet any kind of requirements for particulate or emissions, I just want to treat/reduce the smell. I don't even need to eliminate the smell completely... just decrease it.

Any advice/input? Someone had mentioned on another thread about a "good neighbour" afterburner where it is just decreasing smell more then anything else.

Anyone else have problems with grumpy neighbours?

 

[ellatas]

An undersized afterburner can impair the performance two ways. One is the residence time and the other is the temperature. For larger roasters in most areas, the afterburner needs to be sized for 1200 degF with a half a second residence time. All this is dependent on the airflow from the roaster. If you have a fluid bed roaster with high airflow, the afterburner requirement would be higher than the lower airflow on a drum roaster.
That said, if your 10 kg roaster is a drum roaster with less than 400 scfm, then this afterburner should be capable to reaching 1200degF, but with less than 1/4 second residence time. This will not eliminate the visible smoke coming from the stack, but should get rid of most of the aroma.