Bioenergy

Mid to Small-scale Wood Boilers

Boilers can fire logs, split wood, pellets, or chips, though some boilers are limited to only some of these feedstocks. Boilers can be sized to provide heat for a single building, or multiple interconnected buildings in a district heating system. Because they heat water, the boilers can also replace building hot water heaters. Wood-fired boilers can be high efficiency (up to ~85%) and pellet/chip boilers often have automated loading. This reduces the manpower required to feed the boiler, though also leads to a much higher up-front cost. Wood heating can save on fuel costs compared to natural gas, propane, or fuel oil, however they do require more manpower and maintenance through loading the wood, and cleaning and disposal of ash.