Wood-Chip Heating Systems - Biomass Energy Resource Center

urners in the biomass fuel-producing forest products
industry.
Facility Types Suitable for Biomass Systems:
• Schools
• Colleges
• Hospitals
• Public buildings
• Hotels and motels
• Commercial buildings
• Greenhouses
• Large-scale agricultural operations
• Manufacturing plants
As part of the development of this guide, a 1993
survey of biomass installations in the Northeast and
adjacent regions found 43 schools, 26 hospitals, 17
colleges, 22 greenhouses, six correctional institutions,
and 20 commercial or industrial facilities that are using
biomass fuel. Another 20 installations are operating in
a wide range of settings: an environmental education
center, two monastic orders, an urban arts center and
library complex, two government forestry education
centers, a luxury resort hotel/ski area/industrial plant
complex, a low-income housing project, two state
building complexes, and two downtown district
heating systems. Since 1993, dozens of other woodburning
facilities have been added.
Most biomass energy plants use some form of
Shelburne Farms, Shelburne, Vermont
Facility Type: Farm educational center
System Size: 2.1 MMBH
Manufacturer: Chiptec Wood Energy
Systems
Right photo shows a two-chamber
system with boil er (on right) and
combustor, connected by a blast tube.
wood to meet their facilities’ needs for space heating or
domestic hot water. Industrial plants that use process
steam (either low or high pressure) in manufacturing
are also good candidates for biomass energy systems,
because their energy requirements are high and their
demand for energy is steady year-round.
The information in this guide is applicable to both
existing and new buildings. Many biomass systems
are installed as conversions in existing facilities, but
it is even more cost-effective to install them in new
construction, usually with an oil-fi red or gas-fi red
backup system. In Vermont, for example, a number of
new schools have been built with wood-chip burners as
their original primary heating systems.
The size range of the heating plants considered
here is from 1 to 10 million Btus per hour output (1-
10 MMBH). Above 10 MMBH, biomass systems are
typically designed by specialized engineers, who may
select various components from different manufacturers
and take responsibility for making the package
work. However, some manufacturers of large systems
do provide complete design and installation services
for plants much larger than 10 MMBH. Most of the
examples cited on page 6 are smaller than 10 MMBH;
some of the hospital, college, and district heating
systems cited are larger.
Most systems smaller than 1 MMBH are less
automated and take more operator involvement than
the fully automated systems that are the focus of
this guide. Small systems, in the range of 200,000
Btu/hour to 1 MMBH, are more likely to be found in
large residential or agricultural settings, or in small
schools. These small systems typically require the use
WOOD CHIP HEATING SYSTEMS
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