Multi-Fuel Biomass Boilers – The Future of Outdoor Heating?

The rising costs of energy have many business owners looking for alternatives to heat their commercial properties. Heating with a biomass fuel furnace has numerous benefits and can lead to significant annual fuel savings while also being sustainable.

What is Biomass Fuel?

The definition of biomass is pretty simple — things found in nature. Biomass fuel comes in a variety of options: wood chips, wood pellets, sawdust, or agricultural waste. 

Smaller biomass systems can use wood pellets or wood chips, often conveniently bought in bags, that are poured into a fuel storage container. Larger commercial systems can have biomass fuel delivered by truck. That fuel is loaded into a storage system that automatically delivers the product into the furnace via an auger, keeping everything worry-free.

Gasification: Converting Biomass to Energy

Gasification has been around in some form since the late 1700s. By applying heat and oxygen in the right way wood and agriculture waste are converted into synthetic gas. It sounds a lot like combustion but it isn’t. Gasification is a three-stage process which uses a small amount of carefully controlled oxygen to produce syngas.

When the fuel is put into the outdoor boiler from the hopper, high temperatures ignite the biomass in the firebox that releases gases. Oxygen is then applied to bring the temperature up to burn the gases. The resulting burn converts everything – solid fuel, smoke, and gas – into heat that transfers to the water in the jacket through vertical exchange tubes. The water then is run through exchange units that heat multiple commercial buildings, homes, barns, outbuildings, and more.

Advantages to a Biomass Furnace

It’s easy to see how getting off the energy grid and finding alternative ways to heat is going to reduce costs and increase savings. Biomass fuel furnaces are an excellent option for those looking to have energy independence and a rapid return on investment.

Renewable Resource

One of the most obvious advantages to a biomass fuel furnace is the use of renewable energy. By using biomass fuel, businesses can take advantage of a variety of sources to provide energy. Additionally, it is always available. Plants always grow and humans create natural waste products making things – there’s no danger of running out. By creating a strategy for renewable energy you reduce the risk of gas or electricity costs rising.

Carbon Neutral

Because properly burned wood and biomass fuels release the same amount of CO2 as decomposing biomatter using a biomass furnace is a carbon-neutral process. When managed and maintained the right way, a biomass boiler can be used endlessly without increasing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Locally sourced biomass also reduces the environmental costs of transportation fuel while helping the local economy.

Reduces Waste in Landfills

Many sources of biomass – wood waste, sawdust, and agriculture screening – would end up in landfills if they weren’t used in other ways. By burning them to create energy, waste products are put to good use for both the environment and people. 

Uses Excess Wood 

For businesses that have a wooded property and a wood chipper, a biomass fuel furnace requires nothing but time and sweat to haul, collect wood, and chop wood. By cleaning up the land, the chance of hot fires is reduced and the forest floors are cleaner and healthier for new growth.

Other Considerations When Looking at a Biomass Furnace

Biomass fuel has a number of benefits but, like everything, has some disadvantages as well. Nothing is perfect and it is up to you to decide if the disadvantages outweigh the benefits. 

Requires Lots of Space

There are two ways biomass can use up space. First, crops grown solely for fuel take up land, water, and resources. There is some debate about how this affects resources that could be used for growing food. Second, storing biomass fuel requires storage which can be expensive and bulky. 

High moisture biomass also needs special attention to avoid excessive degradation. And special storage consideration will need to be taken in the off-season when biomass fuel, like agricultural waste, is being produced but not immediately needed for fuel.

Not All Biomass Fuel is Equal

Because biomass fuel comes from a variety of sources the quality isn’t always consistent. The variability in quality also means a fluctuation in burn rates and energy produced. Good quality fuel can minimize air pollutants but lower-grade fuel may tend toward lower efficiency and more smoke. If possible, look for higher grade biomass fuels to maintain efficiency and lower environmental pollution. 

Using Biomass Fuel to Heat Your Large Property

Modern biomass furnaces are extremely efficient and easy to use. Individual or commercial biomass boilers offer you a low capital cost option to get the maximum heat to your buildings with 30-50% less fuel than conventional systems. That translates into a rapid return on investment. With conveniently integrated bins and optional hoppers, your system can run for more than a week without checking on fuel levels.

Able to handle multiple types of biomass fuels, outdoor furnaces like the HeatMasterss B Series furnace can pivot when you need to, offering flexibility and energy cost assurance. 

HeatMasterss B Series furnaces come with automated fuel feeding, walking fire grate, ignitor, and ash removal making heating your commercial property buildings trouble-free. You can even monitor your system remotely.

The HeatMasterss Advantage

The HeatMasterss team engineers our B Series Multi-Fuel Biomass Furnace with a fully automated and high-efficiency design that provides our customers a rapid return on investment. By combining the best materials with expert engineering, HeatMasterss has created the most rugged and longest-lasting furnaces available.

Our furnaces are made with Titanium stainless steel that resists corrosion, can withstand higher continuous temperature and transfers more heat to save you fuel. The B Series comes with automated features that keep every step of the process efficient, safe, and easy. All you have to do is make sure there is fuel in the bin.

Talk with our team about the advantages of an industrial biomass boiler to see if it’s the right large heating application for your property or business — find a local HeatMasterss dealer near you.