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Increased concerns about particulate matter (PM) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) emissions from residentialbiomass combustion and their potential health effects, motivates detailed emiss ...

Ash related problems have more than occasionally been observed in pellet burners during the last years. These problems can lead to reduced accessibility of the combustion systems as well as bad pub ...

Sweden's goals of contemporaneously reducing CO2 emissions and phasing out nuclear power will require a maximum utilization of biomass fuels. This would imply a significant shift from electricity and fuel oil to biomass generated heat, but must also be accomplished without a deterioration of the local air quality. The most suitable energy carrier seems to be pelletized biomass fuels with their associated low emissions and considerable residential conversion potential. Using an underlying statistical design, a parametric dispersion modeling study was performed to estimate and illustrate the combined effects of source-specific, meteorological and modeling variables on the ambient air quality in a typical residential area for different conversion scenarios. The work nicely illustrated the benefits of combining statistical designs with model calculations. It further showed that the concentration of combustion related ambient THC was strongly related to conditions affecting the source strength, but only weakly to the dispersion conditions and model variables. Time of year (summer or winter); specific emission performance; extent of conversion from electricity; conversion from wood log combustion; and specific efficiency of the pellet appliances showed significant effects in descending order. The effects of local settings and model variables were relatively small, making the results more generally applicable. To accomplish the desired conversion to renewable energy in an ecologically and sustainable way, the emissions would have to be reduced to a maximum advisable limit of (given as CH4). Further, the results showed the potential positive influence by conversion from wood log to low emission pellet combustion.