FOREST training material

The objective was to work directly with businesses in the biomass supply chain, from farmers and foresters to architects and designers. The aim with the training tool was to provide simple and basic information to promote biomass systems for heating in different scales.

copy hosted by bioenergyprof.eu

 

Using this self-study material

The aim with this material is not to be a handbook telling how to do this-or-that, but to be a general introduction to the field and to provide some of the underlying logics that you should be aware of when you are planning for a biofuel-based energy installation. The background is that sometimes, a solution that works fine with fossil gas, with oil or with electricity is not such a good idea in a biofuel-based installation.

This material aims at helping you understand why this might be so. In most cases, the reason simply comes down to the fact that biofuel has properties that other fuels do not have, and unless you understand these properties, the constraints they impose and the possibilities they provide, you might well do mistakes that were un-necessary if you had originally got yourself a bit more of the fundamental understanding.

The material is aimed to be used as a self-study material on-line - or printed out if you prefer that.

The over-all structure is best described thinking in form of a matrix.
Except for the four introductory chapters the horizontal axis denotes an increasing thermal power. This implies different demands on the fuel quality as indicated by the vertical axis. You will find that some fuel qualities are not suitable for certain scales. As you open a chapter you will also find a self-test at the bottom end of the chapter, together with a copy of the navigation matrix.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS 00-00:Global resources 00-01: Energy fundamentals 00-02: Over-all biomass properties 00-03: Fuel/Energy supply 
FUEL↓        APPLICATION→
 SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSES LARGER BUILDINGS DISTRICT HEATING COMBINED HEAT-and-POWER
FIREWOOD
Introduction
Properties 		Domestic firewood 
     NOT APPLICABLE      
     NOT APPLICABLE      
     NOT APPLICABLE
PELLETS and BRIQUETTES
Introduction
Pellet properties
Briquette properties 		Domestic pellets Large bldng. pellets DH pellets 
     NOT APPLICABLE
WOOD CHIPS
Introduction
Properties 
     NOT APPLICABLE
Large bldng. chips Chips for DH Chips for CHP

The material can be studied by rows (for example pellets/briquettes applied in single-family-houses, in larger buildings and/or in small district heating systems), it can be studied by columns (e.g. heating of larger buildings by pellets or wood chips) or you may study a separate chapter.

By the end of each chapter there is a self-test that you may take and there are also summary self-tests that you can take if you choose to study the material along rows or columns. These self-tests are just diagnostics and are offered here only for your own benefit - but to make the best use of the material you should take advantage of them and use them. Doing the tests does not make you an expert in the field.