Thanks to high-tech biomass boilers, Europe may soon lead the way in low carbon emissions.
Technology for the times
Poland has not had such a long experience of using the by-products of wood processing as fuel as other European countries, such as Austria, Germany, or Sweden. Therefore, it is natural that there are still very many people when they hear the term "wood-based fuel" (for example, wood chips or wood pellets) and think of either an open fire or a stove or boiler with very low technology, when in fact the opposite is true. Today's wood pellet boilers are actually much more advanced than typical gas boilers and far more advanced than the vast majority of oil boilers. The technology used in modern wood pellet boilers far surpasses that of most fossil fuel boilers.
Two tablespoons of ash
With modern wood pellet boilers, homeowners can monitor how their heating system is performing, not only on the display of the electronic controller, but by logging onto a computer or mobile app. They can check the number of kW consumed per hour, day or week, as well as the temperature, and see how many kilograms of biomass wood pellets they have used. The system predicts and notifies when to place a fuel order based on the current consumption rate and outdoor temperatures. All of these features are unavailable to homeowners using fossil fuels or oil boilers.
Misconceptions about wood pellets as a fuel still lingering in the public mind also concern the amount of pellets burned and the cost of heating. Some people imagine that burning wood pellets leaves a large amount of ash in an open fire. Meanwhile, wood pellets are very energy dense, much more so than wood itself, which means that the amount of ash created by burning pellets is minimal.
For example, a 10-kilogram bag of wood pellets typically produces about 30-40 grams of ash. That's two tablespoons. Some modern wood pellet boilers include advanced technologies that take care of even these small amounts of ash. Automatic "ash removal" systems remove the ash using augers, transferring it from the burner bowl to a special container that may only need to be emptied every two or three weeks. The good news may also be that when the container is emptied, the ash from burning wood pellets can be an excellent fertilizer for roses in home gardens!
The technology used in modern wood pellet boilers is far superior to that of most fossil fuel boilers.
Decarbonization still a long way off?
Minimal ash and smoke levels are the result of the biomass boiler constantly monitoring and analyzing the gases flowing into the chimney and adjusting the boiler's air supply, fuel flow and operating temperature accordingly. This ensures that the boiler operates at peak efficiency at all times.
The system is similar to the fuel injection system in a modern car, programming the engine to run as efficiently and cleanly as possible while using as little gasoline as possible. By comparison, most oil boilers are either on or off, with no way for homeowners to adjust the output - much like a carburetor engine from the 1960s. Therefore, most oil boilers become very inefficient over time, producing a lot of smoke, and money from the household goes straight up the chimney.
Europe's market-leading biomass boilers have until recently been produced in countries such as Germany or Austria, where manufacturing companies invested in the clean, low-carbon technology of the future some time ago. Today, many domestic manufacturers also offer excellent, meeting the exacting European standards, modern and largely automated wood pellet boilers. One such manufacturer is Stalmark.
Today Poland is an open-air museum of "kopciuchów" - old, fatal quality boilers for fossil fuels, primarily coal. Meanwhile, our country could soon catch up with Europe in terms of installation of biomass boilers in Europe and the world, if the government gave a clear signal of support for the biomass heating sector . What's more, adopting biomass as part of a special heat decarbonization policy for rural and off-grid areas could also generate much-needed jobs, help fight smog and provide effective solutions for hard-to-heat homes. Carbon reduction targets, the government's Clean Air Program, are a great start, but without an implementation plan showing how the targets will be achieved and without the resources to incentivize change, decarbonization for the time being still seems a long way off in our country.