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1555082 
Journal Article 
Control of NOx emissions of a domestic/small-scale biomass pellet boiler by air staging 
Liu, Hao; Chaney, J; Li, J; Sun, C 
2013 
1 
Fuel
ISSN: 0016-2361
EISSN: 1873-7153 
103 
792-798 
WOS:000311932200099 
The NOx emissions of a UK-manufactured domestic/small-scale
50 kW(th) underfeed stoker biomass pellet boiler were experimentally investigated under different
air staging configurations including varying primary to secondary air ratios and different
heights of the secondary air inlets above the fuel bed. Two different commercial biomass pellet
fuels, i.e. standard Class A wood pellets (fuel-N = 0.13 wt%) and clean waste wood pellets
(fuel-N = 0.46 wt%), were used in these tests. The total excess air level of the boiler was kept
constant for all air staging configurations. The experimental results show that even with the
domestic/small-scale biomass boiler, air staging can be effective and lead to considerable NOx
reductions, particularly with biomass fuels containing relatively high fuel-N. The height of the
secondary air inlets above the bed was found to have important impacts on both NOx and CO
emissions. However, the trade-off between NOx emissions and CO emissions needs to be carefully
considered when air staging is used to control NOx emissions of domestic/small-scale biomass
boilers. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 
NOx emission; Air staging; Biomass boiler; Biomass pellet