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Bioenergy comes from the plant kingdom – wood chips, pellets and firewood, but also horse manure, for example. It is renewable and counts as carbon-neutral.
01The cycle
Bioenergy has less environmental impact than oil, gas and coal. The carbon dioxide released is absorbed again by growing forest – which is why it counts as carbon-neutral.
Growing forest absorbs carbon dioxide. This is where the cycle begins.
Most of it comes from forestry and the forest industry: logging residues, wood that is not good enough for timber or pulp, sawdust and bark. The sawdust can be pressed into pellets or briquettes.
In the boiler, the fuel becomes heat for the building, the farm or industry.
What is released during combustion is absorbed again by new forest as it grows.
02The economics
Today's plants are built for several biofuels, so you can burn whatever is cheapest and easiest to get hold of. An electric boiler or a heat pump can only run on electricity.
Does it pay off for you? We have tools that calculate the payback period.
03Fuel choice
Several fuels go into the same plant and come out as heat. Choose a fuel and follow its path.
The bioenergy plantBurns whatever is cheapest and easiest to get hold of
HeatElectricity
Electric boiler or heat pumpCan only run on electricity
Finely chipped wood from the less valuable parts of the tree. One of the cheapest ways to heat.
You choose the fuel – we supply the rest.
Choose the right fuel04The fuels
The fuel determines the boiler and the output range. Here are the four we calculate most often – and a few more.
Wood chips
Finely chipped wood from the less valuable parts of the tree. At final felling, logging residues are recovered as wood chips. Wood chips need space, so the fuel store and feed system are carefully planned.
Pellets
Pressed from dried and ground sawdust and other by-products from the forest and wood industries. Pellets are stored in small bags, big bags or bulk stores, and a vacuum system can fetch them from a store some distance away.
Firewood
For the farm and the smaller property. Multiauto can burn firewood in the upper part of the firebox, together with wood chips or pellets.
Horse manure
Biotherm's unique burner, developed together with Luleå University of Technology. The manure is burned on site instead of being stored and taken to landfill – or it is dried and pressed into pellets.
You can also burn
Choose the right fuelBranches and tops from felling, recovered as wood chips.
Sawdust and bark from sawmills. The sawdust can also be pressed into pellets or briquettes.
Dry sawdust or wood shavings pressed without additives. The wood's own lignin binds it together.
Sod peat is peat pressed into pieces. It is often burned together with other wood fuels.
05Operation
An automatic plant for wood chips or pellets looks after itself day to day. You top up the fuel and empty the ash.
The fuel is ignited automatically, for example by a hot-air igniter.
Screws carry the fuel from the store into the boiler.
The grate cleans itself while the boiler is running.
The ash is carried out automatically to an ash box.
06Rules of thumb
Wood chips in cubic metres per year come to roughly twice the boiler's output in kilowatts – up to three times with poorer chips.
Drag the slider or use the arrow keys.
With poorer chipsup to 300 m³
200 m³Wood chips
51 m³Pellets
Rules of thumb give a first idea. We work out the right size in the free heat-load calculation.
More on fuel use and tanks07Read on
Free heat-load calculation
Tell us what needs heating and which fuel you have close at hand, and we will calculate it – the heat-load calculation is free.
info@biothermheat.comVästerås · Luleå
