Mitrović, D., M.et. al.

: Primary Energy Savings Using Heat Storage For Biomass…

THERMAL SCIENCE, Year 2012, Vol. 16, Suppl. 2, pp. S483-S491 S483

PRIMARY ENERGY SAVINGS USING HEAT STORAGE FOR BIOMASS

HEATING SYSTEMS

by

Dejan M. MITROVI]*, Jelena N. JANEVSKI, Mirjana S. LAKOVI]

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia

Original scientific paper

DOI: 10.2298/TSCI

District heating is an efficient way to provide heat to residential, tertiary and

industrial users. The heat storage unit is an insulated water tank that absorbs
surplus heat from the boiler. The stored heat in the heat storage unit makes it
possible to heat even when the boiler is not working, thus increasing the heating
efficiency. In order to save primary energy (fuel), the boiler operates on nominal
load every time it is in operation (for the purpose of this research). The aim of
this paper is to analyze the water temperature variation in the heat storage,
depending on the heat load and the heat storage volume. Heat load is calculated
for three reference days, with average daily temperatures from -5 to 5 °C. The
primary energy savings are also calculated for those days in the case of using
heat storage in district heating.
Key words: heat storage, biomass heating systems, primary energy savings

Introduction

Currently, fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas represent the prime energy
sources in the world (approximately 80% of total use of more than 400 EJ per year).
However, it is anticipated that these sources of energy will be depleted within the next 40-50
years. Moreover, the expected environmental damages such as the global warming, acid rain
and urban smog due to the production of emissions from these sources have tempted the
world to try to reduce carbon emissions by 80% and shift towards utilizing a variety of
renewable energy resources which are less environmentally harmful, such as solar, wind,
biomass, etc. in a sustainable way [1, 2]. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
reported that continued emissions from fossil fuels would lead to a temperature increase of
between 1.4 and 5.8°C over the period from 1990 to 2100 [3].
The European Commission, and many other public and private organizations,
believes that biomass for power and heat production can play an important role in meeting
Europe’s “20-20-20” targets: by the year 2020, greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced
by 20%, renewable energy sources should represent 20% of Europe’s final energy
consumption, and energy efficiency should increase by 20%. Biomass is already the most

* Corresponding author: mitrod@masfak.ni.ac.rs
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important renewable energy source in Europe with a huge potential for further expansion. The
future development of biomass should follow some basic principles such as high conversion
efficiency, competitiveness and sustainability. The experience proves that the use of biomass
to produce heat complies in an optimal way with these principles. Biomass for heat can be
used in small scale units for individual houses, in heat contracting projects, in district heating
and in the industry. In any case, the supply of high quality biomass, be it firewood, wood
chips, pellets or refined wood, is of essential importance for the rapid growth of this market.
Biomass energy offers several significant benefits in comparison to fossil fuels. It is
renewable and therefore reduces reliance on nonrenewable fuels and their associated
greenhouse gas emissions; it is locally available and therefore creates local jobs and reduces
energy use for transport and/or imports; it creates value by recovering the energy in waste that
would normally be destined for landfills; finally, it is a low-cost fuel even at current depressed
natural gas prices.
Today, biomass contributes about 10-15% (or 45±10 EJ) of this demand. On
average, in the industrialized countries biomass contributes some 9.14% to the total energy
supplies, but in developing countries this is as high as one-fifth to one-third [4]. According to
the world energy council projections, if the adequate policy initiatives are provided in 2025,
30% of the direct fuel use and 60% of global electricity supplies will be met by renewable
energy sources [1]. The major source of GHG emissions from a boiler system is carbon
dioxide (CO2) from the combustion of fossil fuels in the boiler. Other minor sources of GHGs
can include methane (CH4) from leaks in the natural gas distribution system and CH4 and
nitrous oxide (N2O) as byproducts of combustion processes [5].
Biomass generally means any biological matter that can be burned for energy,
including cordwood, wood chips, sawdust, bark, various other forms of chipped sawmill
wastes, and wood shavings or other ground-up wood from wood manufacturing operations.
Other, less usual forms of burnable biomass include straw, corncobs, nut shells, seed hulls,
pine cones, and some food-processing wastes. Wood pellets are another form of biomass fuel.
Unlike most other biomass fuels, pellets are a manufactured product.
Biomass and its combustion have been the subject of a number of studies. Mladen
Ilić et al. [6] presented a review of the energy potential of different types of biomass residues
in agriculture and forestry, and the actual state of biomass energy utilization in Serbia.
Obernberger and Thek [7] presented a physical characterization of biomass fuels, together
with their chemical compositions, with regard to their combustion behavior. Ioannis Vallios et
al. [8] presented a methodology of the design of biomass district heating systems, taking into
consideration the optimum design of building structure and urban settlement around the plant.
In 2004, J. Lundgren et al. [9] presented their experimental work in the area of developing a
furnace suitable for small district heating networks. The fuel was wood-chips. The aim of
their study was to evaluate the performance of the combustion chamber during steady-state
operation in a complete thermal output range. Valentina Turanjanin et al. [10] presented their
work in developing technology for utilizing bales of various sizes and shapes for energy
production. The development started with the design and construction of a small-scale hot
water boiler, with thermal power of 50 kW, for combustion of small cubic soya straw bales.
One of the important features of biomass boilers is a need for steady operation.
Under steady state conditions, boiler efficiency reaches maximum, its operating life is
considerably prolonged and the ratio between heat generation and CO2 emission is considered
to be optimal. On the other hand, heating system is characterized by a dynamic operation,
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THERMAL SCIENCE, Year 2012, Vol. 16, Suppl. 2, pp. S483-S491 S485

primarily affected by frequent changes in environmental temperature. For the above reason, a
biomass boiler can only be used in a heating system equipped with a heat storage. Heat
storage has an important role in terms of the use of energy in buildings, since a lot of energy
can be saved in this way. Heat storage takes the surplus heat from a boiler used for heating
buildings and stores it. When the boiler shuts off and is no longer actively heating, the heat
stored in the heat storage unit can be used to heat the building. Many studies have been made
in the field of heat storage. Uros Stritih and Vincenc Butala [11] presented the performance of
a boiler with a built-in thermal storage unit. The thermal storage unit was an insulated water
tank that absorbed surplus heat from the boiler. The stored heat in the thermal storage unit
made it possible to heat even when the boiler was not operating, thus increasing the heating
efficiency. The model of the system and the mathematical model were made using the
TRNSYS program package and a test reference year. Vittorio Verda and Francesco Colella
[12] presented a multi-scale model of storage tanks. This model was particularly suitable to
analyze the operation of storage systems during the heating season and to predict their effects
on the primary energy consumption and cash flows. The analysis was conducted considering
the Turin district heating system as case study. Results showed that primary energy
consumption could be reduced up to 12%, while total costs could be reduced up to 5%. Milica
Grahovac et al. [13] presented a simplified model of primary HVAC system with an on-off
boiler, thermal storage and solar thermal collectors which were simulated in the hour
resolution. The simulation yielded results to an optimization algorithm that sized the system.
The results showed a good model performance and short-term simulation time. The amount of
user input data was minimized to allow the optimal configuration of choice during early
building design, but also to avoid the system oversize.

Description of Biomass Heating Systems

A biomass heating system consists of a heating plant, a heat distribution system, and
a biomass fuel supply operation. The system under discussion includes a biomass boiler, a
heat storage unit and the building. When the boiler is in operation, the heat that is produced is
used to heat the building and is accumulated in the heat storage unit. Alternatively, the heat
may simply accumulate in the heat storage unit. When the boiler is not operating, the heat
storage unit supplies the heat that is used to heat the buildings.

Biomass boiler

For the purpose of this research, biomass boiler with capacity of 600 kW is
proposed. Boiler efficiency varies with boiler output, according to data provided by the
manufacturer. The combustion process is controlled automatically by using two control
parameters: water temperature within boiler and temperature of exhaust gases. In order to
achieve primary energy savings (fuel), the boiler operates on nominal load every time it is in
operation (for the purpose of this research). Biomass consumption can be determined from the
following expression:
Pboiler
m f  (1)
b NHV
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Building

The analysis of heat storage and biomass boiler operation is investigated for the
building located in urban part of the City of Niš. Designed heating load of the building is
600kW. The building is a five-story residential building with four dwellings per story.
Outside masonry wall is insulated with polystyrene and has U-value of 0.8 Wm2K1.
Currently, the building is connected to the local district heating network, and heating energy
consumption and water temperatures are monitored. From the previous heating season,
temperature and consumption profiles were derived for three typical days.

Heat storage

The boiler is modeled as an ideal energy source. In each time step during which the
boiler is turned on, the boiler operates at full load, delivering the amount of energy equal to its
design power multiplied with the duration of the time step. The energy generated by the boiler
is fed to the heat storage, which is characterized by its volume and discharge rate. Heat
storage volume, together with the basic differentiation between low and high temperature
heating, defines the maximal storage capacity. The discharge rate defines which fraction of
the maximum capacity can be delivered to the load within one time step (under the condition
that more energy is currently stored). Apart from its role in system performance control, this
value regards the physical limitations of the distribution system. Another idealization is
neglecting the heat storage tank thermal loss to the environment.

Sizing of heat storage

The basic purpose of the heat storage is to cover energy requirements for a
predefined period t [s], when the unit is out of operation. The heat which is accumulated in the
heat storage depends on the nominal power of the boiler:
Qst  Pboiler t (2)
where Qst - accumulated heat energy [kJ], Pboiler - nominal power of boiler [kW].
The net volume of the heat storage V [l] is:
Qst
V (3)
c pw  w tst

where cpw - water specific heat [kJkg1K1]; ρw - water density [kgl1]; Δtst=thtc [°C] -
network differential temperature. Changes in accumulated heat energy are equal to:
dQst dt
 mst cw st (4)
dt dt
Constraints are introduced for heat storage: the energy content (Qst, t) at time t in
storage equal to the sum of the energy content of the t1 (Qst, t1) and charge/discharge heat
flow (Ei,t), i. e:
Qst ,t  Qst ,t 1  Ei ,t (5)
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Second, the water temperature (tst) in the storage must not exceed the permitted
maximum temperature (t t, max), i.e:
t st ,t  tt max (6)
Third, the minimum water temperature in heat storage must be greater than the
supply water temperature to consumers - DH network:
t st ,t  t h ,t (7)
For reference days, it is assumed that the water temperature is 80°C in heat storage
at the beginning and end of the heating period. Following the boundary conditions, if the
water temperature in heat storage is higher than t h,t temperature, the boiler is turned off.
When the water temperature in heat storage approaches the temperature of t h,t, the boiler
starts to operate. In this part, heat energy delivered by the boiler is used to cover the heat load
demand, and the rest accumulates in heat storage. The boiler operates with a nominal
capacity. When the water temperature in heat storage achieves a maximum value (90 ºC), the
boiler is turned off.
For the analysis, the equation for calculating the volume of heat storage was adopted
during 1, 2 and 3 hours (eq. 2). Based on the adopted nominal boiler capacity (600 kW), heat
storage volumes of 25,714 l, 51,429 l and 77,143 l were obtained.

Results and discussion

The system was modeled using the Microsoft Excel programming platform and the
Visual Basic programming language. The simulation was carried out using heat storage tanks
of different volumes (25,714 l, 51,429 l and 77,143 l). The hourly heat requirements during
the entire heating season (from October 15 to April 15), as well as the external temperature
profiles, were made available by the plant operator. These data are relative to the total area of
connected buildings of around 4,500 m2. The temperature and the heat load profiles for three
typical days are presented in fig. 1 and 2. Using the temperature data during the entire heating
season, the corresponding heat loads were calculated and compared to the real data provided
by the district heating network operator. These data are the basis for the study of possible
effects of using storage tanks connected to the district heating system. Based on the ambient
temperature and heat load, the supply and return water temperatures were calculated. The
mass flow was assumed to be constant and equal to its nominal value.
When fuel pellets, with a net heating value of 18,000 kJkg1, were to be used, in
order to calculate primary energy savings, boiler efficiency should be provided by boiler
manufacturer. For this analysis, the following values of boiler efficiency based on
manufacturer’s data were selected: for nominal load, boiler efficiency is 90%; for 30% load
the efficiency decreases to 80%. The above data correspond to the boiler operating regime of
90/70 °C. To determine the water temperature in heat storage during charging and
discharging, the described model was used with some constraints. The water temperature in
heat storage followed the outdoor temperature, i. e. the temperature requested by consumers.
Figs. 3-5 show temperature profiles of heat storage, as well as the heating supply
temperature for reference days. Fig. 1 shows these profiles for February 8 of the current year,
when the average outdoor temperature was 5.2 °C. For heat storage volume of 25,714 l
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(0.04 m3kW1), the average boiler operation time was 2 hours, with app. 1 hour when the
boiler was turned off. During the heating period (5AM – 9PM), the number of boiler on/off
cycles was 5. For heat storage volume of 51,429 l (0.08 m3kW1), the boiler operation time
was increased to 4 hours, and the shut-down period was 2 hours, with the number of boiler
on/off cycles of 2.5. For heat storage volume of 77,143 l (1.3 m3kW1), on/off periods were
6 hours/4 hours, respectively, which yielded the number of on/off cycles of 1.5.

Figure. 1: Temperature variation with time Figure 2: Thermal demand variation with
of reference days time of reference days

Figure 3: Profiles for water temperature in Fig. 4: Profiles for water temperature in
heat storage and supply water to consumers heat storage and supply water to
for 08/02/2012 consumers for 17/02/2012

For increased outdoor temperatures, the situation changed in the sense that the off
period for the boiler increased. Fig. 4 shows temperature profiles for February 17 of the
current year, when average outdoor temperature was 0.65 °C. For heat storage volume of 0.04
m3kW1, on and off periods for the boiler were 2 hours, and the number of boiler on/off cycles
was 4. For increased heat storage volume of 0.08 m3kW-1, the duration of one on/off cycle
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was 9 hours, and there were 1.8 boiler on/off cycles in the heating period during the day. A
significant increase of on/off cycle duration was observed for heat storage volume of
1.3 m3kW1, which had the value of 11 hours (the boiler was on for 6 hours, and off for 5
hours). The total number of on/off cycles for the heating period during day was 1.4.
A similar analysis is presented in fig. 5 for March 12 of the current year when the
average outdoor temperature was 5.2 °C. Due to significantly lower heating demand
compared to the nominal one (app 35%), the periods during the day when the boiler was off
were longer, and in the case of heat storage volume of 25,714 l, the number of on/off cycles
was 3 (the boiler was on for 2 hours and off for 3.5 hours). The number of boiler on/off cycles
decreased with the increase in heat storage volume. For heat storage volume of 51,249 l, this
number was 1.6 (the boiler was on for 4 hours and off for 6 hours), and for the volume of
77,143 l, the number was 1.4 (the boiler was on for 7 hours and off for 4 hours).

Figure 5: Profiles for water temperature in Figure 6: Profiles for water temperature in
heat storage and supply water to consumers heat storage and supply water to consumers
for 12/03/2012 for 12/03/2012, working with two boilers

From the above analysis, taking into consideration the fact that the period between
two boiler starts should not be too long in order to prevent boiler cooling, heat storage volume
can be determined. For heat storage volume of 25,714 l, the number of boiler starts was
higher, with shorter periods when the boiler was off. This difference is significant for case 3,
so the volume of heat storage should be between 0.04 m3kW1 and 0.08 m3kW1, which is in
compliance with the results from other authors [11].
In the case of higher outdoor temperature, which is the case in 50% of heating
season, the solution with 2 boilers is more acceptable. Only one boiler would be in operation,
with short periods when the boiler is turned off. Fig. 6 shows temperature profiles for heat
storage volume of 0.05 m3kW1 for March 12 with two 300 kW boilers. The boiler was in
operation for the larger part of the day. Besides covering the heating demand, heat storage
was charged as well.
Since one of the assumptions was that the water temperature in heat storage remains
the same at the end of the day compared to its beginning, heat storage volume does not
influence fuel consumption. Adding heat storage to boiler plant decreases fuel consumption,
due to the fact that the boiler operates all the time on nominal conditions, i. e. with maximum
boiler efficiency. In tab. 1, fuel consumption is shown for all analyzed days for situations with
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and without installed heat storage (eq. 1). Primary energy savings are significant, and overall
plant efficiency is increased. When the average outdoor temperature increases, primary
energy savings increase as well.

Table 1: Fuel consumption and primary energy savings for reference days
Date 8.2.2012. 17.2.2012. 12.3.2012.
Boiler operation time [h] 11.5 8.8 7.75
Fuel consumption withou HS [kg] 1,598.95 1,256.5 980.2
Fuel consumption with HS [kg] 1,533.33 1,173 900
Primary energy savings [%] 4.1 6.6 8.2

Conclusions

In this paper, the primary energy savings that may be achieved by using heat storage
systems in district heating are discussed. One of the main problems with boilers is how to
adapt their heating power when the heating system of a building does not need all the heat that
is being produced. Building a heat storage unit into the heating system helps balance the
boiler loads and improves the quality of the biomass burning. Heat from the boiler is stored in
a heat storage unit, which then feeds heat to the building as required. The simulation shows
that the heat storage volume must be optimized in such a way that all the heat of combustion
can be stored at a sufficiently high temperature and that the time when the boiler is not
working is short. With the change in heat load, shown for reference days, the time when the
boiler is not working is changing, and it depends on the heat storage volume. The increasing
heat storage volume reduces the number of cycles, and increases the period when the boiler is
not working. Since it should be strived for less time for cooling of the boiler, it is necessary to
choose the optimal value of the heat storage volume. The analysis shows that the heat storage
volume should be in the range of 0.04 to 0.08 m3kW1. During the period when the heat load
is small, it is sometimes necessary to have two small boilers to reduce the time when the
boiler is not working.
The installation of heat storage enables primary energy savings in the range of 4-8%.
For higher average outdoor temperatures, the savings are greater.

Acknowledgments

This paper was done within the project TR 33051-”The concept of sustainable
energy supply of settlements with energy efficient buildings” (2011-2014), financed by the
Republic of Serbia, Ministry of Education and Science.

Nomenclature

NHV – net heating value, [kJkg1] ρw – water density, [kgl1]

h – boiler efficiency, [-] Δtst – network differential temperature, [°C]
Qst – accumulated heat energy, [kJ] tst – water temperature in the storage, [°C]
Pboiler – nominal power of boiler, [kW] t h,t – supply water temperature to consumers
V – net volume of the heat storage, [l] - DH network, [-]
cpw – water specific heat, [kJkg1K1] t – time, [s]
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Paper submitted: May 3, 2012.

Paper revised: June 29, 2012.
Paper accepted: July 11, 2012.