Christoph Schmidl

Development of a biomass heating device for low energy and passive houses

Purpose – Decreasing energy demand due to improved building standards requires the development of new biomass combustion technologies to be able to provide individual biomass heating solutions. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, the development of a pellet water heating stove with minimal emission at high thermal efficiency.Design/methodology/approach – The single components of a 10 kW water heating pellet stove are analysed and partly redesigned considering the latest scientific findings and experimental know‐how in combustion engineering. The outcome of this development is a 12 kW prototype which is subsequently down‐scaled to a 6 kW prototype. Finally, the results of the development are evaluated by testing of an accredited institute.Findings – Based on an existing pellet water heating stove, the total excess air ratio was reduced, a strict air staging was implemented and the fuel supply was homogenized. All three measures improved the operating performance regarding emissions and thermal efficie...