Biomass heating system

A biomass heating is a heating plant that uses biomass as fuel. The generated heat is supplied in the form of hot water or steam via a heat network to the customers. In contrast to the biomass power plant and biomass cogeneration electric power is generated.

If the system is in the building to be heated, speaks, depending on the fuel, eg wood heating, wood chip boiler, pellet, etc.

Function

A biomass plant biomass used as fuel, is identical in function but otherwise not of a conventional heating. There is a central production of heat or steam instead of a heating or boiler. About a local or district heating network, the distribution. Customers are large residential, business and administration buildings or other consumers with high heat demand, process heat demand (or demand ( eg swimming pools ) ). Advantages of centralized heat supply is that not every household needs its own boiler. In addition, better emission control is possible. Disadvantages are the high costs and line losses in the heating network.

Today, biomass heating plants are usually built for the power range 300-20000 kW, and have to cover the peak load a fossil-fueled failure and peak load reserve tank for reserve purposes. Larger plants, ie with a total capacity from approximately 10,000 kW, preferably built as a ( biomass ) heating plants in which through combined heat and power held a combined production of electricity and heat.

A biomass plant always has its own structure and generally consists of the following system components:

Fuel storage, fuel transportation means (eg, slurry pump, moving floor, screw conveyors, chain conveyors ), boiler feed, fuel or fire chamber, heat exchanger, flue gas cleaning cyclone, electrostatic precipitator, chimney, ash handling and ash container.

Fuels

Commonly used fuels are wood chips, sawmill residues, bark, wood chips, untreated wood residues and / or pellets.

The use of bioenergy, such as heat from biomass combustion is promoted by laws such as the Renewable Energies Heat Act ( EEWG ), as it has among other environmental benefits. ( see main article bioenergy and climate neutrality )

The use of forest chips is partly discussed, as this would increase the use of the forest ecosystem and thus the removal of nutrients. In biomass combustion wood chips but is only part of the fuel.

Historical development

In the past two decades, biomass heating were built. In the late 1980s took off the use of firewood as the fully automatic heat supply by oil and gas heating was much more comfortable. To enable the use of wood, began individual state governments in Austria, to promote the development of district heating. Leading the way was here in the state of Salzburg, and as other governments such as Lower Austria or Bavaria an economic basis originated in Lofer, Lamprechtshausen, Bramberg am Wildkogel etc.. Later created the first biomass heating plants with district heating before / around 1990 through investment subsidies, so in those Laender around the year 2000 many plants were built.

From the year 2000, the governments of the European Union began to promote the expansion of biomass use. Today common are government subsidies for the construction of biomass heating plants in the amount of up to 30 % of the investment. In Austria, more than 1000 biomass heating for example, were built since then with a boiler capacity of more than 500 kW, the partial total places, some only supply industrial plants with heat.

Present State

Biomass heating plants are now built with a power range from 300 kW biogenic and 5 MW. Smaller units are usually placed in the heat decreasing object, larger units produce mostly as biomass cogeneration plants both electricity and heat. Through the further development of the Organic Rankine Cycle process ( ORC) power generation in heating plants ( cogeneration plants ) can be economical.

The power generation biomass cogeneration is funded under the Renewable Energy Sources Act ( EEG). In particular, systems with low power receive a remuneration premium on electricity, which is fed into the grid.

In Germany there are more than 1200 biomass heating plants with a capacity of greater than 500 kW thermal. The whole bio-heat in 2009 from solid biomass was 95 TWh or 7 % of the total market in the heat sector, with the market share had almost doubled within the previous five years.