Management of Solid Biomass in Medium Power Boiler Plants

Solid biomass plays a leading role in the development and dissemination of technologies pertaining to the usage of renewable raw materials. The biomass processed into solid biofuel requires special logistic operations. Distribution from the place of production, handling and storage of biofuel are basic and necessary elements of the chain of fuel supply to the energy source. Solid biofuels for energy use occur in different forms which affect the costs of logistic operations. Rational heat generation requires choosing a specific type and form of biofuel, assessing the availability of raw materials, integrating fuel management with energy source technology and, above all, determining the cost of energy generation. The cost of energy generation includes the cost of fuel and logistic operations, which depend mainly on a type and form of fuel. Currently, the commonly used biofuels are wood chips, straw and pellets. This paper presents a comparison of heat demand of 400 kW, 600 kW and 1 MW boiler plants generating heat for the purpose of heating buildings and water. The analysis took into account three forms of biofuels: compressed, crushed and granulated forms resulting from different types of biomass (straw, woodchips, pellets). The cost of heat generation in the aspect of biofuel management and the share of particular cost components in heat production were determined. It was shown that in medium power boiler plants, the granulated fuel has the lowest cost of biomass distribution, whereas wood chips have the lowest cost of heat production