CEN/TC 335 is the technical committee developing the draft standard to describe all forms of solid biofuels within Europe, including wood chips, wood pellets and briquettes, logs, sawdust and straw bales.
About CEN/TC 335 CEN/TC 335 allows all relevant properties of the fuel to be described, and includes both normative information that must be provided about the fuel, and informative information that can be included but is not required. As well as the physical and chemical characteristics of the fuel as it is, CEN/TC 335 also provides information on the source of the material.
Specifications
The fuel specifications and classes for all solid biofuels are set out in CEN/TS 14961:2005, which defines certain parameters and property classes.
Normative specifications for wood chips:
Origin
Particle size (P16/P45/P63/P100)
Moisture content (M20/M30/M40/M55/M65)
Ash content (A0.7/A1.5/A3.0/A6.0/A10.0)
Normative specifications for chemically handled wood or used wood:
Nitrogen (N0.5/N1.0/N3.0/N3.0+)
Informative specifications for wood chips include:
Net energy content (lower heating value (LHV)) as MJ/kg or kWh/m3 loose
Bulk density in kg/m3 loose
Chlorine content (Cl0.03/Cl0.07/Cl0.10/Cl0.10+)
Nitrogen (N0.5/N1.0/N3.0/N3.0+)
Many other properties may also be specified, including concentrations of many other elements and volatile matter and ash melting behaviour. Different specifications are required for different fuels, and for pellets and briquettes these include mechanical durability and particle density.
Technical standards
For specified parameters to be relevant it is important that there is a standard way of measuring them to ensure that measurements are reproducible and unambiguous.
There are therefore a list of technical standards that define terminology, measurement methods and sampling methods.
Solid biofuels - Sampling - Part 1: Methods for sampling
CEN/TS 14778-2:2005
Solid biofuels - Sampling - Part 2: Methods for sampling particulate material transported in lorries
CEN/TS 15149-1:2006
Solid biofuels - Methods for the determination of particle size distribution - Part 1: Oscillating screen method using sieve apertures of 3,15 mm and above
CEN/TC 335 is the technical committee developing the draft standard to describe all forms of solid biofuels within Europe, including wood chips, wood pellets and briquettes, logs, sawdust and straw bales.
