University of Strathclyde Biomass Installation Feasibility Tool

Biomass
Fuel Storage Manual

User inputs:

The user is expected to input expected fuel storage dimensions in the white cells of the box shown below (Figure 1)

Fuel storage input

Figure 1. Input window

In case of square silo sloping floor the length is the same as width and Extractor angle is calculated automatically. For the moving floor fuel storage, the user is expected to enter all three dimensions. The gravity hopper storage can be used only with wood pellets. In this case, user must input depth, height, fall angle and storage exit diameter.

Outputs:

The volumetric capacity of each storage option is then calculated automatically. Next step includes calculation of storage capacity in tonnes and expected cost per delivery to fill the whole storage. Fuel consumption per hour is calculated basing monthly consumption extracted from “Fuel comparator and consumption” spreadsheet.

Fuel storage

Figure 2. Fuel storage example output

As shown on figure 2, the tool attempts to estimate for how many days the fuel should last in each months for all applicable kinds of storage.

The last step involves choosing the final fuel and storage type (as shown in Figure 3) by the user.

Fuel storage

Figure 3. Fuel storage final result