COLUMN IEQ APPLICATIONS

This article was published in ASHRAE Journal, September 2016. Copyright 2016 ASHRAE. Posted at www.ashrae.org. This article may not
be copied and/or distributed electronically or in paper form without permission of ASHRAE. For more information about ASHRAE Journal,
visit www.ashrae.org.
Patricia Mason Fritz

Progress and Challenges

Biomass-Fueled Appliances
BY PATRICIA MASON FRITZ, MEMBER ASHRAE

State and federal programs are in place to encourage incorporation of advanced

biomass combustion appliances in heating, steam and cooling systems to lessen our
dependence on fossil fuels. In New York state and elsewhere, these initiatives have
been incorporated in alternative energy, green and sustainable building, and green-
house gas reduction programs. Renewable Heat New York (RHNY), for example,
provides funding to individuals, schools and businesses toward the purchase and
installation of qualifying advanced biomass systems.1 Nationally, the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) offers tax credits to consumers for the purchase of qualifying wood and
pellet stoves installed in a primary residence. This column discusses a few issues to be
aware of when considering a new biomass system in new construction or as a retrofit
to an existing system.
Fuel: Source, Supply and Storage 12% weight to weight [w/w)], ash (<1% to 6% w/w) and
Understanding biomass as a fuel begins with rec- energy content (14 MJ/kg to 17 MJ/kg [6,019 Btu/lb to
ognizing that all biomass fuels are not the same with 7309 Btu/lb] based on pellet composition).2 Of the pellet
respect to source material, energy content or emis- types tested, wood pellets generally had lower ash con-
sions. This difference is underscored in the range tent, less than 10% moisture content and relatively high
of definitions of the fuel category itself used by the energy content. However, unlike the controls on for-
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), IRS and mulation of fossil fuels, biomass fuel quality can change
other organizations. For the purpose of this discus- with season and source, contributing to variability in
sion, biomass fuels (as distinguished from biofuels) pellets between shipments.
are solids, generally cordwood, chips or processed pel- Europe has established specifications for size, mois-
lets. Cordwood is produced from harvesting standing ture content, ash content, durability, percent fines,
timber, as are some wood chips. Responsible forestry binders, energy content and bulk density, as well as
practices that incorporate replanting and reduction of testing methods to confirm compliance. The European
forest floor fuel are important for the sustainability of regulatory process has been driven by the growing use
biomass as a fuel source. of biomass fuels in the energy sector and residential
Pellet ingredients vary regionally depending on source heating. The United States lags behind Europe in set-
material. They can be newly harvested wood, wood ting standards for pellet composition and quality. A
product processing waste (such as hardwood and soft- voluntary program in the U.S., created by the Pellet Fuel
wood sawdust), or vegetative agricultural crops or waste Institute, describes the required physical characteristics
by-products (e.g., straw, sawgrass, corn stalks, wheat of the pellets, but does not set any minimum energy
grain residue, buckwheat, sunflower stalks). content.3
Pellet characteristics vary with the source material. Patricia Mason Fritz is a research scientist in the Center for Environmental Health at the New York
Research has identified differences in moisture (5% to State Department of Health.

90 ASHRAE JOURNAL ashrae.org SEPTEM BER 2016

Advertisement formerly in this space.
COLUMN IEQ APPLICATIONS
In a 2013 NYSERDA report,3 the authors estimated it
would take 4 tons to 7 tons (3.6 Mg to 6.4 Mg) of pel-
lets to provide adequate winter season heating for a
residence in a cold climate. In the U.S., pellets can be
purchased in bags or delivered as bulk supply. Bagged
pellets must be moved and loaded into the fuel hopper
manually. Bulk delivery of pellets to an on-site stor-
age container makes the pellet fuel delivery process
familiar to consumers who have used heating oil for
residential heating.
Auger-fed, advanced biomass appliances have made
it easier to have residential and commercial systems
approach the automatic fuel delivery and operation that
conventional fuel systems offer, and have reduced the
need for hand loading. However, standardizing safe fuel
storage and delivery to biomass-fueled appliances is still
evolving, and presents challenges. Safely mitigating the
dust hazards (autoignition of fine dusts is a recognized
hazard in industrial settings), and preventing the poten-
tially unhealthy off-gassing of carbon monoxide (CO)
from stored pellets is the subject of research.
The potential for wood pellets (and other wood chips)
to emit CO when stored in bulk is not a new concern.
Until fairly recently it was regarded as a workplace haz-
ard. Reports of European workers who were overcome
by lethal concentrations of CO when opening cargo
holds containing bulk wood pellet shipments were the
basis for strict worker protection protocols for unloading
pellet shipments from unventilated holds.
It was reports of individuals dying after entering pel-
let storage rooms for residential district heating systems
in Europe around 2011 that brought the CO issue to the
attention of officials outside the occupational health
discipline. Laboratory testing confirmed that even small
amounts of clean, dry softwood or hardwood pellets
could produce elevated CO concentrations in the head-
space of sealed, partially filled containers.
Recent work, funded by NYSERDA4 has confirmed
that air concentrations adjacent to indoor pellet storage
units could periodically reach and exceed the level of the
eight-hour EPA National Ambient Air Quality Standard
for CO, as well as the CO limits cited in ASHRAE
Standards 62.1-2016 and 189.1-2014 and LEED. These
findings prompted NYSERDA to require outdoor storage
of pellets for projects funded under the RHNY project
until an effective mitigation system or solution is iden-
tified. Stakeholders and researchers will need to work
92 ASHRAE JOURNAL ashrae.org SEPTEM BER 2016
together to find effective solutions to allow safe, indoor
storage of pellets.
System: Sizing, Thermal Storage, Emissions and Operation
For an advanced biomass system to successfully com-
pete with oil- or natural gas-fueled systems, it has to be
selected and sized for the projected demand cycling to
limit periods of time at low load, which produce more
pollutants and lower efficiency. The energy inefficien-
cies due to cycling are least for conventional oil and gas
systems, intermediate for pellet systems and greater for
cordwood units.
Oversizing a biomass system will accentuate cycling
inefficiencies. Thermal storage strategies for hydronic
heaters offer a way to minimize cycling, allow steady-
state operation, and bank energy produced in excess of
demand in an insulated hot water storage tank.
One clear challenge facing the advanced biomass
market is the history of older, visibly polluting biomass
boilers. Woodstoves had been the subject of EPA regula-
tion as early as 1989, but other biomass technologies
including pellet and wood hydronic heaters (aka, wood
boilers) were not regulated. While the newer advanced
biomass-fueled systems, especially the two-stage, gasifi-
cation-type, offer improvements with respect to particu-
late (PM) and CO emissions, attention to proper sizing,
siting and operation is needed to ensure optimal system
performance.
In contrast to oil and gas systems, emissions of PM, CO
(several hundred to over 10,000 ppm for biomass) and
other hazardous pollutants are greater due to the nature
of solid fuel combustion.
A properly operating conventional fuel unit can cycle
on and off quickly without significant PM emissions.
Biomass systems respond more slowly and go through
longer start-up and shutdown cycles, during which they
produce significantly more PM emissions than during
steady-state, high-load operation. Even the advanced,
high-efficiency residential biomass-fueled hydronic
appliances currently on the market, operated accord-
ing to manufacturer instructions, can emit 600 to 1000
times more PM on a milligram of PM per million Btu
basis than a natural gas-fired system, and 400 to 600
times more PM than a system using ultralow sulfur No. 2
fuel oil.5
In 2015, the EPA updated the New Source Performance
Standards (NSPS) for woodstoves and expanded them to
Advertisement formerly in this space.
COLUMN IEQ APPLICATIONS
address emissions from new indoor and outdoor wood-
fired boilers (hydronic heaters) and new indoor wood-
burning forced-air furnaces.6 The original 1988 NSPS
only addressed emissions from adjustable burn-rate res-
idential woodstoves and fireplace inserts, allowing other
wood-burning appliances, such as hydronic heaters, to
be operated in ways that frequently contributed to air
pollution. Seasonal use of wood-burning heaters, often
in rural areas, can create poor air quality due to terrain
and meteorological conditions that trap smoke near the
source and in surrounding valleys.
The new NSPS reflects comments of diverse stakehold-
ers and aims to prevent PM and other emissions from
degrading air quality in communities where people use
these appliances to meet their heating needs. It does not
affect appliances that were installed before February
2015 or new fireplaces.
The final version of the regulations allows additional
time and flexibility for manufacturers, distributors and
sellers to transition to cleaner heaters, does not allow the
sale of noncompliant appliances after December 2015,
Advertisement formerly in this space.
94 ASHRAE JOURNAL ashrae.org SEPTEM BER 2016
and implements emissions limits in stages, with full
implementation in 2020. Even with the new emissions
limits, PM emissions from biomass systems will still
exceed those of oil and natural gas systems, but replace-
ment of older, more polluting wood stoves and boilers
with new appliances that comply with the standard can
bring air quality improvements to communities where
wood is burned for heat.
With continued incentives and funding opportuni-
ties, the trend for individuals, schools and businesses
to incorporate or switch to biomass-fueled systems in
future construction and renovation projects in locales
where biomass fuels are available and economical has
made the EPA’s NSPS an important health protective
regulation.
However, as with any mechanical or combustion sys-
tem, the ability to achieve the performance observed
during testing and certification is contingent on the
operator understanding the system and running it
appropriately. This will be a learning process as opera-
tors adapt their procedures to integrate the require-
ments of their building system with the operation of a
new biomass system.
As automated and advanced systems become more
common, the biomass sector will need to devote
resources to assisting operators to obtain the perfor-
mance they seek and to help owners safely and economi-
cally achieve heating goals. Ensuring that biomass sys-
tems are run properly and efficiently and do not degrade
air quality will be the key to expanding the advanced
biomass fuels sector as an alternative to fossil fuels.
References
1. NYSERDA. 2016. “Renewable Heat N.Y.” New York State Energy
Research and Development Authority. http://tinyurl.com/q9xxtuw.
2. Krugly, E., et al. 2014. “Characterization of gaseous- and
particle-phase emissions from the combustion of biomass-
residue-derived fuels in a small residential boiler.” Energy & Fuels
28(8):5057 – 5066.
3. NYSERDA. 2013. “Elemental Analysis of Wood Fuels: Final
Report.” NYSERDA Report 13-13. Prepared by Northeast States for
Coordinated Air Use Management for New York State Energy Re-
search and Development Authority.
4. NYSERDA. 2015. “Dynamics of Carbon Monoxide (CO) and
Volatile Organic Concentrations in Wood Pellet Storage Bins: Final
Report.” NYSERDA Report 15-33. Prepared by Clarkson University
for New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
5. Russell, N., E. Burkhard. 2011. “Getting there: High-efficiency
and low-emissions wood heating.” EM 1:19 – 22.
6. EPA. 2016. “Final New Source Performance Standards for
Residential Wood Heaters.” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
http://tinyurl.com/hanvv8r.