Ecological and Financial Effects of Coal-Fired Boiler Replacement with Alternative Fuels

Nowadays, much attention is paid to the elimination of heat sources poisoning our environment. The air pollution is the most dangerous form of pollution of the environment, due to its direct impact on all living organisms, coverage of large areas and easy movement of pollutants. Therefore, air protection is one of the priority directions of each voivodeship. Hence, many programmes are being developed to promote the replacement of the old heating devices with the new ones and the installation of renewable energy conversion devices. There is no doubt that the equipment which emits the most harmful compounds into the atmosphere includes the old boilers fired with coal, wood or wood chips. In winter, chimneys with black circular smoke are a frequent sight. This problem can only be solved by connecting houses to the public heating network or by removing the old stoves. In this publication, an analysis of the profitability of boiler replacement with coal was carried out in terms of the material and environmental benefits. It is proposed to replace this boiler with a pellet boiler, an eco-pea boiler and a gas condensing boiler. The boilers were selected on the basis of the calculated thermal output, which is equal to 18.56 kW.