Biomass

An overview

G.V. Fracastoro Energy Department 011-090-4438

Dictionary
Auger = coclea Bark = corteccia Beech = faggio Chipwood = cippato Digestate = digestato Feedstock = materia prima Fir = abete Fixed grate = griglia fissa Fluidized bed = letto fluido Fuzz = pula Grind milling = macina a mulino Grate = griglia Hopper = tramoggia Landfill = discarica Limestone = calcare Livestock = bestiame Log = tronchetto Manure = concime Pits or stones = noccioli Productive chain = filiera Rice husk = lolla di riso Scrubber = torre di lavaggio Shells = gusci Straw = paglia Tar = catrame

Classification
There are three possible classifications according to
nature of raw material
Forest residues Agricultural waste Livestock and civil (exhaust oil) or industrial sludge Ad hoc energy crops (starch or sugar, ligno-cellulosic, oily, ) Municipal (MSW) and Industrial solid waste

final energy use

Heat Electricity Transport

state of biomass as input to the process

Solid biomass (from vegetation or dry waste) Gaseous biomass (sludge transformation and ad hoc crop digestion) Liquid biomass (oil, alcohol, etc.)

Glossary
BIOMASS: all organic material produced by plants or any process involving life is called biomass. Biomass is labelled as green house gas emission neutral energy source since it has a short carbon cycle, i.e. Emission of carbon from plant to atmosphere and absorbed by plant during growth only takes between one to some tens of years, whereas fossil carbon exists for millions of years. BIOMASS COMBUSTION: Traditional combustion process where biomass is used as a fuel and where the hot exhaust gases are used to produce heat or steam that is processed through a steam turbine to generate electricity. BIOMASS CO-COMBUSTION: Combination of fossil (for example, coal) and bio-energy fuels in conventional power plants. BIOMASS GASIFICATION : Oxygen starved combustion process where biomass is combusted in order to obtain CO and gasses as end products (so called producer gas or synthesis gas). In comparison to solid biomass the electricity produced by feeding gas into a gas turbine or internal combustion engine guarantees higher efficiency (35-40%, against 25-30% of traditional combustion).

Glossary
BIOGAS: a fuel gas produced from biomass feedstock through a low temperature biochemical process named anaerobic digestion. CO-DIGESTION: when the biomass involved in the digestion process is a mix of manure and organic waste or/and agricultural waste. By adding organic waste sources to the manure higher yields of biogas is obtained. DIGESTATE: semi-solid sub-product of anaerobic digestion stabilized in odours, in pathogenic bacteria and in carbon percentage, but with a still too high concentration of nitrates. PELLET: The term pellet identifies the sub-product realized through mechanical mincing of wood and agro-industrial residuals. That material has the right dimension and humidity to assure an optimal combustion performance of every kind of combustor, from big biomass combustion plants to the domestic boilers.

Biomass for commercial energy uses

Agricultural and forest biomass
Wood from forest Short Rotation Forestry (SRF) Agricultural food products waste Energy crop grown plants

Biogas, produced from

waste from livestock and agriculture organic fraction of Municipal Solid Waste

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Biofuels

Overview of agri-forest biomass

Main European consumers of Agri-Forest Biomass (AFB) are Germany, France, Sweden and Finland, followed by Italy with 5.2 Mtoe (2.7% of total energy consumption) and 20% of all renewable electricity AFB is used for producing heat and electricity, or both (CHP plants)
Heat production in Italy
Residences (< 1 MWt): 1 million pellets units, 800 M of turnover (2009) District heating systems (1-20 MWt): installed capacity 400 MWt almost only in Northern Italy, 100 M turnover in 2009

Electricity production in Italy: 100 installations (500 MWe, 1000 M in 2009), Calabria is #1 in Italy. Combustor + Boiler +Power cycle + Flue gas treatment. Power cycle consists in
Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) (0.3-1.5 MWe) Steam Rankine cycle (>4-5 MWe) Cost of a standard 20 MWe plant is around 60 M (3000 /kW)

New technologies: pyrolisis and gasification (industrially irrelevant) An Italian value chain made by 350 companies (97% operated and 95% supply chain by Italian companies) For electric installations smaller than 1 MWe incentive is 0.28 /kWh

Overview of biogas
Sources: anaerobic digestion of waste waters, MSW organic fraction, waste from agro-food industry, livestock Germany (10 TWh) and UK (7.5 TWh) are the largest biogas users, followewd by Italy with 2.9 TWh produced by 450 MW installed capacity, about 500 installations (70% from MSW organic fraction and 30% from agricultural waste). Biogas is used to produce electricity through a digester and an internal combustion engine (ICE), with size varying between 100 kW and 1 MW or more (for MSW) and cost between 1400 /kW and 800 /kW for large engines. Whole installations costs range between 2500 and 4500 /kW Load factor can exceed 80% (7000 hrs), and electricity cost is between 0.18 and 0.22 /kWh Incentives are the same as for AFB

Overview of MSW
In the EU 53 Mt/yr (22% of total) are used for energy production. Germany has the largest capacity (59 kt/day), followed by France (46 kt/d) and Italy (21 kt/d) Energy recovery from MSW is regulated in Italy by DLgs 11/5/2005 n. 133 implementing directives 1999/31/EC and 2000/76/EC DLgs 133 establishes measures and procedures finalized at preventing atmospheric, water, and soil pollution and protecting human health. All installations require an Environmental Integral Authorisation (a complex and lengthy procedure) The main components of an MSW incineration plant are the same as for an AFB installation, but the cost will be higher. A 20 MW plant will use about 200.000 tons of MSW per year and have a cost of about 6000 /kWe Total MSW in Italy is about 33 Mt (550 kg/person), 14% is used for energy recovery (4.6 Mt, or 886 ktoe), 33 % is recycled (10%) or recovered in other ways (23%), 53% is sent to landfill (garbage dump) In Italy there are 53 plants for energy recovery from MSW with a total capacity of 730 MWe. The average size is 120.000 t/yr. They privilege electricity production, with a few exceptions, like district heating systems of Milano and Brescia (30.000 families). Turnover of this sector in Italy is about 1000 M, with 168 companies operating in the design, construction and operation of plants, waste collection and treatment. 40% of the upstream activities are made by foreign companies

Overview of biofuels
Biodiesel and bioethanol are the two main biofuels. Biodiesel is a mixture of methyl-esters and fat acids derived from vegetal oil or animal fat. Bioethanol is a fuel obtained from sugar (sugar cane, beet) or starch (amido). Before being mixed with gasoline it may be transformed into ETBE (ethyl-ter-buthyl-ether). Second generation bioethanol is made from lignocellulosic (non food) biomass. Third generation is algae fuels Directive 2003/30/EC has introduced reference values of biofuel share on the market (from 2% in 2005 to 5.75% in 2010, now postponed to 2015 by Directive 2009/28/EC). In Italy these levels are 3.5% (2010), 4% (2011) and 4.5% (2012).
There are 15 biodiesel production plants with a capacity of about 2.5 Mt/yr, but only 0.9 Mt (30% imported) have been consumed in 2009. This is due to incentive schemes based on capacity rather than production. Bioethanol and ETBE consumption amounted to 0.1 Mt in 2009, 90% of which comes from imported biomass treated in Italy

Biomass consumption in Italy

Biomass consumption in Italy in 2009 (7917 ktoe) 886 831

Data in ktoe (4% of total energy consumption)

1000 Biogas Biofuels Agro-forestal Biomass MSW

5200

Biomass advantages
Renewable or better regenerable source Price not linked to oil price Limited life cycle CO2 emissions (only during crop growing and transportation) Minimum sulphur content in flue gases May improve hydrogeologic territory conditions and socio-economical contest Economically already viable, for thermal use, even if with higher installation and maintenance costs

Primary energy factors (EN 15603)

Productive chain
Forestry management wood

Thermal production Energy crops Grind-milling esterification bio-oil cogeneration biodiesel traction Agriculture waste Anaerobic digestion electrical production

biogas

Biomass energy conversion systems

Thermochemical C/N > 30 and humidity < 30%: wood, straw, rice husk, fuzz, shells, pits or stones
Combustion Carbonization Gasification Pyrolysis Anaerobic digestion Aerobic digestion Alcoholic fermentation Esterification of vegetal oils

Biochemical (animal waste, biomass from MSW)

Direct combustion
Combustor Boiler Power cycle Exhaust gas treatment

Combustion reactions

(C6H10O5 ) n + 6 n O2 6 n CO2 + 5 n H2O + 17.5 MJ / kg

Feedstock Preparation & Handling
Most biomass-to-energy technologies need the feedstock to meet certain specifications in regards to size, moisture content, ash content, contamination. Fuel preparation, by size reduction, screening, and drying are processes most biomass has to go through before being turned into energy. Moreover, in most cases the feedstock needs to be delivered to the plant, generally by conveyors or trucks. Loading or unloading a truck can be time consuming and can result in spills that might be acceptable to a sawmill operation, but not a public facility, such as a hospital. Finally the supply of a certain feedstock might be seasonal or intermittent, requiring intermediary storage or long-term storage on site. Pile burner Fixed or mobile (travelling) grate Fluidized bed

Combustion technologies:

Pile burner (fixed grate)

Pile burners typically consist of a two-stage combustion chamber with a separate furnace and boiler located above the secondary combustion chamber. Biomass fuel burns on a grate in the lower chamber, releasing volatile gases. The gases burn in the upper (secondary) combustion chamber. Wood is piled deep on a grate using an auger in the bottom section and combustion air is fed upwards through the grate and inwards from the walls; combustion is completed in a secondary combustion zone using overfire air. Ash is removed by isolating the combustion chamber from the furnace and manually dumping the ash from the grate after the ash is cooled. Pile burners typically have low efficiencies (50% to 60%), have cyclic operating characteristics because of the ash removal, and have combustion cycles that are erratic and difficult to control. Although capable of handling high-moisture fuels and fuels mixed with dirt, pile burners have become obsolete with the development of more efficient combustion designs with automated ash removal systems.

www.biomassenergyresearch.ca

Fixed or travelling grate

In a stationary or travelling grate combustor, an automatic feeder distributes the fuel onto a grate, where the fuel burns. Combustion air enters from below the grate. In the stationary grate design, ashes fall into a pit for collection. In contrast, a travelling grate system has a moving grate that drops the ash into a hopper.

Fluidized-bed combustor
A fluidized-bed combustor is a furnace chamber whose floor is slotted, perforated, or fitted with nozzles. Air is forced through the floor and upward through the chamber. The chamber is partially filled with particles of either reactive or inert material (sand), which will fluidize at an appropriate air flow rate. When the gas velocity is high enough, fluidization takes place, solid particles are widely separated and circulate freely, creating a fluidized-bed that looks like a boiling liquid and has the physical properties of a fluid As air velocity increases, the particles mix more violently, and the surface of the bed takes on the appearance of a boiling liquid.

Main features of FBC combustors

There are two reasons for the rapid increase of fluidized bed combustion (FBC) in combustors.
possibility of using fuels which are difficult to burn using other technologies possibility of achieving, during combustion, a low emission of nitric oxides and the possibility of removing sulphur in a simple manner by using limestone as bed material (increasingly important)

FBC is a combustion process able to control pollutant emissions without external emission controls (such as scrubbers* for flue gas desulfurization). The technology burns fuel at temperatures of 750-900 C, well below the threshold where NOx (at approximately 1400 C). The mixing action of the fluidized bed brings the flue gases into contact with a sulphur-absorbing chemical, such as limestone or dolomite. More than 95% of the sulphur pollutants in coal can be captured inside the boiler by the sorbent. A cyclone is used to either return fines to the bed or to remove ash-rich fines from the system.

* See following page

Wet scrubbers
Inertial separators had the drawback of dust particles not accumulating properly on the collecting surface, resulting in finer particles being swept back into the air stream. Wet scrubbers, use water to absorb the finer dust particles (scrubbed). Water comes into contact with the dust filled air stream and captures dust in water droplets. The dirty water droplets accumulate, and are collected and removed. The cleaned air in air washers contains fine water droplets forming a mist, which can be removed from the cleaned air by a mist eliminator

Scheme of FBC

Carbonization
Carbonization: transforming wood into vegetal coal Process:
Preheating @ 165 without air with emission of C O2, water C vapour and heat Heating @ 250 C

Carbonization is a complex process in which many reactions take place concurrently such as dehydrogenation, condensation, hydrogen transfer and isomerisation*. The final temperature applied controls the degree of carbonization and the residual content of foreign elements
*Isomerisation is the process by which one molecule is transformed into another molecule which has exactly the same atoms, but the atoms are rearranged

Gasification
Converts biomass into a gaseous fuel easily employable in more advanced energy production systems (internal combustion engines, gas turbines). Consists in partial oxidation @ low oxygen rates and @ high temperature (900-1000 of lignocellulosic produ cts. C) Yields a combustible synthesis gas, formed by a mixture of hydrocarbons CxHy, CO, H2, CO2 and H2O. Typical lower calorific value
4 MJ/Nm3 air gasificators gasogen gas 10 MJ/Nm3 steam gasificators 12 MJ/Nm3 oxygen gasificators synthesis gas

Problems: technology still in the experimental phase, especially on small size low calorific value impurities in flue gases (particles and soot)

Pyrolysis (dry distillation )

Converts biomass in liquid Pyrolysis or liquefaction of biomass converts solid biomass into a liquid fuel. Gases and solids are generated as a by-product only and are partly used to fuel the conversion process and drying of the feedstock. Most pyrolysis technologies generate two or more liquid biofuels of different viscosity that can be physically separated and are usually refined further before use in applications such as boilers, turbines, or combustion engines. The energy content of these liquids are roughly half of the calorific value of diesel. A key advantage of pyrolysis is that a rather crude, bulky feedstock biomass is converted into a higher value, dense energy product that is easily transportable. The concept of pyrolysis has historically been used by utilities for the gasification of coal and until to date in the (petro-)chemical industry; only recently has the technology been expanded to recover carbon contained in waste material, including municipal solid waste Pyrolysis is realised heating ligno-cellulosic materials at temperatures between 400 and 800 without any oxygen C C Yields high calorific value gas (presence of tar vapours) and char (agglomerate made of C, ashes, CmHn)

Calorific value of products from pyrolisis and gasification

process pyrolisis fast pyrolisis gasification pyrolisis gasification in air gasification in oxygen gasification in steam temperature products LCV (MJ/Nm3) 300-500 char,bio-oil e gas >15 500 bio-oil e gas 16.5-18.5 500 gas 18 900-1000 gas 5.5-7.5 900-1000 gas 11 <800 gas 10

Anaerobic digestion
Anaerobic digestion is a series of processes in which pathogenic bacteria (Salmonella, Escherichia coli,..) break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. As part of an integrated waste management system, anaerobic digestion reduces the emission of landfill gas into the atmosphere. Anaerobic digesters can also be fed with purpose-grown energy crops, such as maize. The process produces a biogas, consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and traces of other contaminant gases.

Anaerobic digestion
The digestion process begins with
bacterial hydrolysis of the input materials to break down insoluble organic polymers, such as carbohydrates, and make them available for other bacteria. Acidogenic bacteria convert the sugars and amino acids into CO2, H2, NH3, and organic acids. Acetogenic bacteria then convert these resulting organic acids into acetic acid, along with additional ammonia, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. Finally, methanogens convert these products to methane and carbon dioxide.

This biogas can be used directly as cooking fuel, in CHP gas engines or upgraded to natural gas-quality biomethane. The nutrient-rich digestate also produced can be used as fertilizer. Yields biogas: methane (50-80%) + CO2 Calorific value H = xCH4*36 MJ/Nm3 CO2 may be afterwards eliminated

Aerobic digestion
Aerobic digestion is a bacterial process occurring in the presence of oxygen. Under aerobic conditions, bacteria rapidly consume organic matter and convert it into carbon dioxide (metabolization). Once there is a lack of organic matter, bacteria die and are used as food by other bacteria. This stage of the process is known as endogenous respiration. Solids reduction occurs in this phase. Because the aerobic digestion occurs much faster than anaerobic digestion, the capital costs of aerobic digestion are lower. However, the operating costs are characteristically much greater for aerobic digestion because of energy costs for aeration needed to add oxygen to the process. AD is an exogenous process suitable for sludge depuration installations in which complex substances are converted into simpler ones with CO2 and H2O emission Composting is an example of aerobic process

Alcoholic fermentation
Applied to sugar materials (sugar cane, beet (bietola), sugary sorghum (sorgo zuccherino)) and starch plants (wheat, barley (orzo), maize, potato) Transforms vegetal glucides (carbohydrates) into ethylic alcohol (C2H5OH) or bioethanol C6H12O 6 2C 2H5OH + 2CO2 Reaction May also be produced from lignocellulosic biomass (straw, maize waste) from previous hydrolization Bioethanol may be used as gasoline additive (up to 15% in weight)

Vegetal oil esterification

squeezing of oleaginous seeds (sunflower, colza-seeds, soya, palm, cocoa nut) yields vegetal oil (triglyceride) Esterification = reaction of oil with excess methylic alcohol
oil + me t hanol glycerine + methylic ester

methylic ester is called biodiesel Typically 1000 kg of oil + 100 kg of methanol = = 1000 kg of biodiesel + 100 kg of glycerine

Pollutant emissions for different technologies

12 10
waste wood combustion in boilers fluidized bed combustion poplar tree gasification MSW combustion

emissions (g/kWh)

biogas combustion coal installations bituminous coal combustion coal powder combustion fluidized bed combustion natural gas installations internal combustion engines

gas turbines

0 SOx NOx CO PM-10

Emissions from biomass and other fossil fuels installations

12 10

SOx NOx CO PM-10

0 waste wood fluidized bed poplar tree combustion combustion gasification in boilers MSW combustion biogas combustion bituminous coal combustion coal powder fluidized bed combustion combustion internal combustion engines gas turbines

Some data on possible uses of biomass

type of biomass lignocellulosic from hydrosoluble glucides oleeaginous short rotation forestry forest management
12

examples cane, whole maize, gramineous beetrave, sorghum, sugar cane colza, soya, sunflower locust tree, willow, poplar oak, chestnut, conifer, beech

yield (toe/ha) min max 5 10 1 2 0.5 1 2 5 0.2 0.3

10

Yearly solar energy on the horizontal corresponds to about 1000 toe/ha

min max

8 resa (tep/ha)

0 lignocellulosic from hydrosoluble glucides oleaginous short-rotation forestry forest management

Wood biomass

100%

Availability of wood biomass Piemonte

90%

80%

70%

60%

50% Oakwood, Locust tree (robinia) Shrub (arbusti) Pine New woods and underwood Beech (Faggio) Other conifers Chestnut Hygrophile plants

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% forest surface [875.000 ha] available wood [153 Mm3] withdrawable wood mass (820 kt/yr) yearly withdrawable energy [200 ktoe/yr]

Present situation of wood heating appliances

Small (20-100 kW): firewood, logs or pellets
low efficiency (15 - 45 %): open fireplaces, stoves, wood ranges or ovens (70-80% of users) High efficiency boilers (70-80%): 20-30% of users

Average (100-350 kW): wood chips or pellets (efficiency 75-80%) Large (> 350 kW): wood chips (efficiency 80-85%)
100

90

= 67 + 6 log Pn

Efficiency (%)

80

70

Minimum efficiency according to DPR 412/93

60 0 200 400 600 800 1000

Maximum power at the burner (kW) Potenza massima al focolare (kW)

Moisture
Wood is normally not dry, but has a variable moisture content. This may be expressed through moisture on dry wood Udry or as moisture on wet wood (tal quale) Uw, defined as
Udry = Mw Mdry Mdry

Uw =

Mw Mdry Mw

Mw = mass of wet wood Mdry = mass of dry wood Moisture on wet wood is usually between 35% and 50%, depending on the type of wood, time passed since biomass production (new biomass is obviously more humid) and type of storage.

Calorific value (H) of wood

m water + mdry = m wet
Hdrymdry r m water = H m wet

Hdry (m wet m water ) r m water = H m wet

H=

Hdrym wet m water (Hdry + r ) m wet

= Hdry Uw (Hdry + r )
MJ/kg

r (vaporization heat) Hdry (calorific value of dry matter)

2.4 19.2

H = 19.2 21.6 Uw

[MJ / kg]

Calorific value of wood

25 100%

20

Seasoned wood logs

Udry
80%

Calorific value (MJ/kg)

15

60%

chipwood
10 40%

20%

0 0% 10% 20% 30% Uwet (%) 40% 50%

0% 60%

Udry (%)

Energy content of wood

The calorific value (H, sometimes called energy content) of a wooden species depends on its content of lignin (25 MJ/kg), of cellulose (16.7 MJ/kg) and resin. Also bark percentage modifies calorific value, because it has low calorific value and high ash content. Typical average values of Hi are reported in the table below for broadleaves and conifers. Lower calorific value of wood Udry = 12-15%
calorific value kcal/kg MJ/kg kWh/kg 3800 15.9 4.42 3600 15.1 4.19 3700 15.5 4.30

type of wood conifers broad-leaved general

Evolution of humidity loss in stacks

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 5 10 15 mesi 20 25 30
cataste aria aperta Logs left on cutting bench in the open air for 6 months and afterwards stacked c.s. dopo 3 mesi al riparo after three months lying on the cutting bench, logs stored under shed Small (33 cm) tagliati in pezzi da 23 cm c.s. dopo 3 mesi logs stored under shed after three months lying on cutting bench, Small (33 cm) logs stored under shed immediately after cutting tagliati in pezzi da 23 cm e accatastata al riparo

umidit sul tal quale (Utq)

Evolution of wooden mass with time

400

350

300

peso a secco (kg)

250

200

pioppo acero frassino olmo abete pino

poplar maple ash-tree elm fir pine

150

100

50

0 0 5 10 15 anni 20 25 30

Mass-diameter ratio
18000 16000

14000 frassino faggio olmo acero castagno pino

12000 peso (kg)

10000

8000

ash-tree beech elm maple chestnut pine

6000

4000

2000

0 0 10 20 30 40 50 diametro (cm) 60 70 80 90 100

Volume of 100 kg of fuel (lt)

Volume of 100 kg of fuel (litres) 1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0 gasoil hard wood soft (dolce) wood chipwood sawdust wood-shaving

Wood logs boilers (20-100 kW)

Wood logs boilers are fire tubes boilers, using water as a heat carrier fluid. Typical models are:
Inverse combustion boilers Horizontal combustion boilers Inverse combustion with fan for secondary combustion With flue gas suction

Typical features of wood boilers

Inverse combustion with fan for inverse combustio Horizontal secondary n combustion combustion 20-100 20-150 10-100 20-100% 20-100% 20-100% 10-35 10-40 20-30 10 10 10 75-85 70-85 75-85

feature optimal power range (kW) Power control range Moisture on wet (%) ash content (%) efficiency (%)

pressurized 10-100 15-100% 20-40 10 70-80

Inversion flame boiler

Three turns fire tube boiler

Heat storage tank

For wood boiler it is advisable to have a heat storage tank for a number of reasons: possibility to dissipate the heat when the user demand is lower than the power produced by the boiler without interrupting the wood load combustion Limitation of number of boiler loadings safety (high thermal inertia of the system) DHW production in summer months As a direct consequence: Better efficiency Longer boiler lifetime More homogeneous heat production

Wood installation with heat storage (accumulator)

Heat storage size

Vsp = 15 TB PN [1 0.3(QH / Pmin )]
Vsp = storage tank capacity (litres) PN = nominal thermal power (kW) TB = combustion time (h) QH = average heating load of the building (kW), equal, as a first approximation, to half the design thermal load Qp Pmin = the minimum thermal output of the boiler (kW) Assuming Hi = 4kWh/kg, the formula above may be rewritten as

Vsp = 60 m[1 0.3(QH / Pmin )]

in which m is the maximum load of the boiler, in kg.

Storage volume
4000 3500 Volume accumulo (litri) 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Prodotto potenza-ore di funzionamento (kWh)
Q/Pmin = 0.8 Q/Pmin = 1 Q/Pmin = 1.2 Q/Pmin = 1.5 Q/Pmin = 2 Q/Pmin = 2.5

Size of timber store-house

Size of store-house influenced by many factors:
Required wood demand, wood type, Reliability of distribution Available space Size of transport medium, etc.

No more than 70% of the available space may be used Ensuring complete unload of a truck without waiting that the store-house is completely empty is important (stock breaking should be avoided) useful volume of fuel store-house should be :
> 50% maximum truck load = two weeks fuel need

Example of 30kW boiler room and log store-room

deposito

Boiler room and store-room have always to be separated for fire protection reasons. Adequate room shoul be provided for around the different components of the installation in order to allow maintenance, loading and repair.

Wood chip boilers (average capacity)

Lower feed boiler for dry fuel Lower feed boiler for moist fuel Fixed grille boiler Mobile grille boiler

Lower feed boiler

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. oxygen residual sensor in flue gases sensor of flue gas temperature Exhaust gas blower Exhaust gas dust remover combustor sensor for char (braci) control primary air introduction primary air introduction secondary air introduction Combustor hatch (portello) Furnace temperature Smoke tube heat exchanger sensor for boiler temperature

The best equipment for wood factories, especially for low-medium capacities. The special combustion chamber structure reduces slag (scorie) formation even for very dry material and wood shavings.

Moveable grid boiler

Suitable for any sort of wooden fuel, directly from the forest, with high moisture content and bark. The moveable pull-push grille is easy to maintain. Used for large installations also for dry wood combustion.

Power range: Power control range Moisture of fuel Ash content up to Nominal efficiency from

100 kW - 3000 kW 30-100% 9-60% 10% 80 a 85%

Wood chip boiler

Combustion control Control may be exerted on power yield, and combustion parameters (excess air, incombustibles). The best chip wood boilers can control power and combustion using the so-called LAMBDA probe (control of residual O2 in flue gases) in case integrated by CO control. Pollutant abatement NOx NOx abatement is normally realised through postponed introduction of combustion air. With this system NOx values may be reduced by 40-80%, depending on the biomass type. Solid pollutant abatement Sleeve filter (for dry flue gases) Multicyclone Other systems (electrostatic, washing, condensation, etc.)

Wood chip boiler

Size of the bin

Most important design parameters for sizing the bin volume are: E = daily maximum useful energy [GJ/day] u,m = average efficiency during the period N = number of days between supplies [days] Hv = fuel calorific value referred to volume [GJ/m3] V = minimum bin volume [m3] = stock factor increase

V=

E N H vu ,m

Extraction of ashes
Ash quantity depends on biomass typology: beech wood, (faggio) almost without bark, will produce 0,2% ashes, while ash-tree (frassino) will produce 7%. When burning branches, bark, dirty (waste) wood and packing the frequency of removal of ash container will increase Ash extraction systems also include particulate extraction from cyclone flue gas filters and from combustion chamber. They can be manual for small installations automatic for large installations. E.g., scroll or auger or pneumatic extractor.

Wood chip transportation

Chip wood quality (shape, size, oversized pieces, etc.) affect normal operation of chip wood boilers and especially transport systems from the bin to the combustion chamber. Extraction systems of chip wood from bin
internal rake (a rastrelli interni), for particularly moist fuel Scroll (a coclea), only for homogenous and small size chip wood, funnel and mobile screw (a imbuto e vite mobile)

Feed systems to combustion chamber

Scroll (a coclea), conveyor belt (a nastro trasportatore), for low quality chip wood (e.g., for long pieces) or bark, with final hydraulic pusher (spintore idraulico) hopper (benna, tramoggia) driven by overhead travelling crane, for very large bins