Air pollutant emissions from stationary installations using bioenergy in the Netherlands BOLK Phase 2

Main messages Up-to-date, detailed statistical/measurement data on the actual emissions of biomass installations, medium-scale fossil-fired CHP, biofuel production and biomass storage and transhipment is lacking. The population scenarios of technology categories presented in this study are based on what-if scenarios. Data presented in this report contains therefore a relatively large uncertainty and should be used with care. For the expected installed biomass capacity in 2020 the range is found to be 80-252 PJ/a, depending on the what-if assumptions made. This could be 2-6% of the total projected primairy energy use for 2020. Estimations of future contributions of specific bio-energy applications and medium-scale CHP is strongly dependent of subsidies and/or future obligations as these technologies are 1) currently not competative compared to large-scale fossil applications, 2) dependend of future policys on subsidies or obligations which are currently unknown/uncertain as well, and 3) dependent on technological and market developments (e.g. second generation biofuels). The estimated, updated annual emissions in 2020 determined in this study originating from the combustion of biomass in stationary applications are in the range of 4-11 kton/a for NOx, 0.3-2 kton/a for SOx, 1.2-2.5 kton/a for particulate matter, 0.1-0.6 for ammonia and 6-13 for NMVOC under the assumptions for the different scenarios. Significant to observe is that whether or not co-firing will take place on a large scale in 2020 can have a significant impact on the total emissions of NOx and SOx from biomass use. However more specific information about fossil fuel replacement and associated emissions is required to determine the substitution effect of fossil fuels by biomass. For the pollutants NMVOC and dust, small-scale biomass combustion (wood stoves) contributes a significant part of the total expected emissions of these componenents from biomass use.