Biomass Burning

Biomass is a collective reference to any organic material which can potentially be used as a fuel source. This covers a very wide range of materials. The main examples of biomass that many people refer to are woody biomass. Woody biomass has been used traditional for thousands of years with logs on open fires. However, this form of biomass burning is not very efficient, as very little of the energy generated from combustion is actually captured for the core use. The modern form of biomass burning focuses on two main key principles. Firstly to reduce the amount of biomass required for energy production. This is achieve by increasing combustion efficiency of the biomass used. This refers to upgrading the biomass, this can be processing the biomass into a liquid or gas, or in the form of highly compressed fuel pellets.

Biomass Combustion and Fuel Pellets

Biomass fuel pellets are essentially the same raw material in a compressed form, with a much lower moisture content. Moisture is a key obstacle to efficient combustion. To get more of a complete burn where the carbon is used efficiently producing less smoke and particulates, high combustion temperatures have to be achieved. Moisture in the fuel stops the combustion zone reaching these high temperatures. Pellet fuel for example has a moisture content below 10%, and in some cases this is closer to 5%. If you compare these figures to the 50% of virgin wood timber, it is clear to see why biomass burning of fuel pellets is much more efficient than simply burning logs. The other important factor is fuel density. The compression of a fuel pellet is several times that of the raw material. This means again a much more complete burn can be achieved with higher combustion temperatures. Fuel pellets are a fairly simple means to upgrade biomass into a modern fuel.

Biomass Fuels and Biomass Fuel Pellets

Woody biomass has always been the focus of biomass burning, however to purely focus on woody biomass would neglect a huge volume of biomass that has to be dealt with. A key example of this is agricultural wastes, such as straws and grasses left over from food production. These resources have traditionally been burnt in the field, producing large volumes of smoke and generating no benefits at all. These resources can be collected and also processed into fuel pellets. This would help address another key issue of the 21st century in the cost of food. Upgrading the straw into fuel pellets would generate a secondary revenue for the crop, and reducing the cost of food.

Biomass Burner and Wood Pellet Boilers

The Wood Pellet Production Guide © PelHeat Ltd - Biomass Burning