Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The main objective of this thesis was to determine to which extent the new terminology standard and fuel specification standard provided by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) have penetrated the Swedish biofuel market and to which extent they fit the need of its users. Two surveys and six interviews were performed. One survey was addressed to large scale producers, suppliers and consumers of solid biofuels, the other survey was addressed to producers and suppliers of equipment for upgrading and combustion of solid biofuels. The interviewees were actors from different stages in the biofuel supply chain: 1) Medium-scale log wood producer; 2) Large scale producer and supplier of solid woodfuels for large scale consumers; 3) Large scale straw firing DH-plant; 4) Actor providing measurement services of larges scale biofuel deliveries; 5) Large scale producer of upgraded solid biofuels.

Results from the surveys indicate that ca two thirds of the biofuel actors and one third of the equipment producers know about the existence of at least one of the mentioned standards. Still only a few of the respondents use any of the standards.
Some nonconformity between information required by the biofuel actors and information provided of the standards was discovered. Net calorific value is highly demanded by both producers and consumers and should be obligatory information for most kinds of solid biofuels. Content of heavy metals and Cesium 137 should be stated if it is high enough to cause risk for restrictions regarding ash recycling in crop land and forest. Ash melting temperature is demanded for many kinds of fuels and ash melting is seen as a problem causing wear and stoppages by 80% of the respondents making combustion equipment. Some of the interviewees were sceptical to the idea of several threshold values on the different fuel properties. Many of the threshold values is suggested to be rejected, except from cases where they are motivated by restrictions regarding contamination of ash, risk for air emissions or where solid biofuels are intended for usage by unskilled people at household level.