Historically, humans have harnessed biomass derived energy products since the time when people began burning wood to make fire. In modern times, the term can be referred to in two meanings.
- Biomass is plant matter used either to generate electricity or to produce heat
- Biomass includes plant or animal matter that can be converted into fibers or other industrial chemicals, including biofuels
Wood remains the largest biomass energy source today; examples include forest residues (such as dead trees, branches and tree stumps), yard clippings, wood chips and even municipal solid waste. Industrial biomass can be grown from numerous types of plants, including miscanthus, switchgrass, hemp, corn, poplar, willow, sorghum, sugarcane, bamboo, and a variety of tree species, ranging from eucalyptus to oil palm.
Wood is available in front of our doorstep and continuously growing for centuries. In fact, it represent the stored solar energy. Wood burns free of sulfur and, unlike fossil fuels, the CO2 that becomes while burning part of the carbon circuit. Also, heating with wood does not cause the greenhouse effect.
What are wood chips?
- Wood chips are pieces of wood large up to 10 cm. Usually chips are made from small wood , low-grade timber or wood residue. Chip quality depends on the quality of incoming raw materials and crushing technology. Chip size is adjusted to the boiler.
What are wood pellets?
- Wood pellets are made from a pure natural wood. They are made under high pressure, without chemical-synthetic binder material, quality control is providing a clean fuel with low humidity and high calorific value (ca. 5kWh/kg). Pellets are sold in kilograms, 1 m3 of pellets weighs approximately 650 kg. Pellets are delivered by tanker directly to the warehouse.
The adoption of biomass-based energy plants has been a slow but steady process. For our research work in Slovenia we visited Biomasa d.o.o. in Luče.
They show us their use of energy form biomasses. They have a very big heating system and they are warming a school, a kindergarten and some private houses (18) with it. We saw a place where wood chips are saved and how the heating system works. They also showed us a place where the whole heating system is controlled with only one computer.
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