Wood Waste Heating Improves Environment and Saves Money in Campeni, Romania

In addition to reduction of fossil-fuel use, the project was made to reduce pollution of rivers due to the dumping of wood residues to the rivers, and to reduce costs for heat generation in public buidings and dwellings. The beneficiary of the project is the town of Campeni, with a population of 10,000 inhabitants, placed at the feet of Apuseni Mountains. This place was selected because of its:

• high amount of wood residues from the Aries Forest Basin – about 54,000 tons/year;
• high cost of heat generation by light fuel burning and the increased level of State subventions;
• high pollution level of Aries river by dumping of wood residues and sawdust resulted from wood processing units;
• deep concern and cooperation of local authorities represented by Campeni town Council and Prefect’s Office of Alba county, as well as by district heating company GOTERM S.A. for the project implementation.

Before the project, the district heating systems Heating Station no. 1 8the site of the project) was equipped with four hot water boilers type PAL, running on light fuel oil, producing heat in the amount of 2,5000,000 kWhl/year (8 hours/day) and domestic water (2 hours/day), with a consumption of approx. 324 t oil/year. The boiler efficiency was max. 70%.

• use of approx. 2345 t wood waste/year
• 1000 t/year reduction of CO2 emissions, compared to use of fuel oil
• 14.5 t/year reduction of SO2 emissions, compared to use of fuel oil.

Other advantages of the project:

• the increase of heat production in the heating station is approx. 88%.This  represents the improvement of the populations welfare;
• 40% reduction of heat production costs (from 2.3 to 1.4 EURcent/kWh)
• a substantial reduction of subventions from the Local Council to cover heat costs (from 1.5 to 0.33 EURcent/kWh, -81%);
• the replacement of fossil fuels with cheap local fuel (population in the area has low incomes);
• the reduction of pollution due to the dumping of wood residues in the rivers can increase the tourism, consequently helping the economic development of the area;
• the use of equipment designed and produced in Romania markedly reduced the investments costs.

Large Replication Potential
The project has a large potential of replication in urban areas with woodworking industries and district heating systems, such as: Nehoiu, Busteni, Vatra Dornei, Campulung Moldovenesc, Abrud, Bicaz, Tg. Neamt, Gura Humorului, Campina.
 
 

Name and type of project	Wood-fired Boilers at Heating Station in Campeni, Romania, Romanian Equipment
Overall costs of the project	120,000 EUR
Energy amount saved	3,500,000 kWh (324 tons) of heavy fuel oil/year
Contact persons for  further information	Lavinia Andrei, TERRA Mileniul III Ph/fax: +40 1 4402487 e-mail: terra@fx.ro Mr. Dan Frosin, National Institute of Wood Ph/fax: +40 102331556 e-mail:bioenerg@inl.ro