Your choices:
1 Process heat (150 - 1000 °C); 2 Fuel: solid; Biomass (solid)
| What is your resource? | What do you want to deliver? | What is the service the customer wants? |
| Biomass (digestible sludge) | District cooling | Comfortable indoor climate |
| Biomass (fermentable sludge) | District heating | Electricity |
| Biomass (solid) | Electricity | Process cooling (< 0 °C) |
| Geothermal | Fuel: Gaseous | Process heat/steam (50 - 150 °C) |
| Sunshine | Fuel: Liquid | 1 Process heat (150 - 1000 °C) |
| Water | 2 Fuel: Solid | Process heat (> 1000 °C) |
| Wind | Local cooling (ind. house) | Transport |
| Residual oils/fats etc | Local heating (ind. house) |
O
If solid fuel is selected to provide the process heat, then only solid biomass can be the resource.
Direct firing of solid biomass – in the form of chips, briquettes or pellets – is a fully realistic alternative for a number of industrial processes such as metal casting, glazing of materials where the presence of ash or soot flakes makes no difference to the product quality and alike, and where precise temperature control is not crucial.
Wood pellet burners are commercially available up to 500 kW and can be mounted in furnace walls just like oil or gas burners.
In case briquettes or chips are the desired fuel, then major modification to the furnaces will be required and the system economy needs be evaluated in detail.