Biomass is generally called the material that has biological origin. Biomass energy (bio energy) is a secondary solar energy that is stored in chemical form and is the result of photosynthetic activity of plant organisms.
The utilization of biomass can be converted into a variety of products with various methods and the use of relatively simple technology. One advantage is that the production and transformation does not burden the ecologically environment. Also the burning of biomass has a zero balance of carbon dioxide (CO2), as the quantities released during combustion are bound again by the respective plant organisms which in turn will be converted into biomass.
A form of biomass are wood – pellets, which result from mechanical compression sawdust, without adding chemicals or adhesives
Considering that conventional energy resources (coal, oil) continuously reduced the cost of them will be continuously increased.
In contrast, wood is a renewable resource produced everywhere. Modern heating systems with wood pellets seem to have become increasingly ideal alternative solution, not least because wood pellets can be just as simple to use as a fuel such as oil or gas, while costing less.
The compressed form of biomass pellets allows distribution and storage of solid fuel similar to that of liquid fuels and allows their use for home heating or buildings’ heating, even for industrial plants.
In Greece there is widespread availability thanks to 5 factories that produced pellet, while in 2010 a sixth factory started manufacturing pellets in Nevrokopi, Drama.
Characteristics of wood pellets according to European quality standards for combustion in units / stoves of pellet.
The pellet aggregate is characterized by high cohesion, high density but low moisture content (less than 10%), making it ideal for combustion with high thermal efficiency. Moreover, the quality standard is to produce 1% ash during combustion. Also, the geometric shape and the small dimensions, facilitating the storage and use, as well as possible packing of wood pellets in bags of 15 to 1.000kgr.