Biomass Boilers

For many years there was very little choice in available biomass boilers. The heating market for the last 50 years has been dominated by oil, gas and electric boilers. These fossil duel derived energy solutions provide minimum convenience, and for many years the price of oil and gas has made it impossible for biomass boilers to compete. However at the start of the 21st century it became very noticeable that the price of fossil energy was rising. This rise in price continues, and will continue to rise for several reasons. Firstly the supply of oil and gas is controlled by only a handful of nations, and many of these nations have an uneasy relations with many western countries. Conflict in some of the oil nations further adds to supply problems and price instability. The rapid growth of Chin and India in the global economic market also adds to the demand for energy, putting further strain on the limited resources. Finally, as you will obviously know, fossil fuel energy is regarded as one of the key contributors to global warming. Therefore more future taxes will be placed on the use of fossil fuels.

These factors are making it possible for biomass boilers and particularly lower maintenance biomass pellet boilers to compete with fossil fuel heating solutions. Biomass boilers are growing in popularity.

Biomass pellet boilers are predominately focused on burning wood pellets. This is to be expected as wood residues from timber processing have been abundant and cheap, in some cases the pellet manufactures have been paid to take the sawdust away. Wood pellets also require the least amount of maintenance. The issue is the pellet market cannot meet future demand on these same wood resources, and the timber processors now see the value of their waste and are charging for it. To meet future demand and keep pellet fuels affordable, more biomass resources have to be utilized. For example, grass can also be used for fuel pellets. Suitable grasses include switchgrass and reed canary grass. These resources grow extremely fast, and can produce large volumes of energy with very little land space. These materials can then be turned into fuel pellets for biomass boilers.

The most common form of pellet fuel is the premium wood pellet. Premium wood pellets are produced from selective softwood and hardwood resources. These resources must not only free from any paint or resins, but also must not contain bark, as bark can increase the ash content of the fuel. The ash content of premium wood pellets is generally around 0.5%, much lower than any other type of biomass fuel pellet. However, these resources are in more demand, and there is only a limited supply leading to premium pellets being the most expensive fuel pellets there are. Other lower grade wood pellets can be used in some pellet stoves and boilers, however some will struggle with the higher ash content. This is why the choice of pellet burner is very important for fuel flexibility.