Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
two twigs) is all that is needed to raise the temperature of a litre of water from 20°C to
100°C. However, a traditional stove, with a typical conversion efficiency of 25 per cent,
requires about four times as much wood, an open fireplace would consume ten times, and
a campfire perhaps twenty times as much.
Technologies for biomass combustion range from domestic stoves and boilers to
sophisticated plants that heat entire districts or generate electricity. A power plant fuelled
with solid biomass works in the same way as a coal-fired power plant, except that it burns
wood pellets or dry wastes to produce heat or electricity, or both. The biggest difference
between biomass and coal plants is in scale. Biomass applications range in output from a
few kilowatts for small residential applications (stoves, boilers, and fireplaces), to several
megawatts for district heating systems, and up to 150 MW for biomass power plants.
These plants are dwarfed by the average coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 1,500
megawatts. The use of biomass alongside coal is currently the most cost-effective and
energy-efficient way to produce heat and electricity from biomass.
Figure 4.39.
Short-rotation poplar plantation in Italy (to produce wood for combustion
in a solid biomass power plant). The plantation is fertilized with digestate from a biogas
power plant.
Source:
ASICOOP Srl.
