Quality standards for pellets in European countries 

In the vast majority of the European countries, there are few or no laws written specifically for pellets. Often these come under the jurisdiction of only very general biomass laws.
Presently only few European countries like Austria, Sweden and Germany have official standards specifically for compacted biomass fuels. Other countries with significant pellet markets like Denmark and Finland have decided to wait for the completion of a common European pellet standard.  Comprehensive work has been done on defining standard methods for analysing and classifying pellets and are defined in the report of CEN/TC 14961. In table 1 the most commonly used standards together with the new CEN classification system of pellets are listed.

Austria:	ÖNORM M1735 (briquettes and pellets)
Sweden:	SS 187120 (pellets) and SS 187121 (briquettes)
Germany:	DIN 51731 (briquettes and pellets)
Suggestion for European Classification :	CEN/TS 14961 "Annex A" Examples of specifications for high quality classes of solid biofuels recommended for household usage

The most important content of these standards regarding pellets are decribed in table 1 below. The complete report can be downloaded here. Table 1: National pellets standards for Autria, Sweden and Germany and thefinal draft for the European standard for pellets. For more details regarding the CEN-standard, please visit the webpage for CEN
Determination of the calorific value               Determination of the mechanical durability

 

Additional environmental or quality labels for pellets and pellets heating

In several countries, additional environmental or quality labels for pellets or pellet heating have been published. In some countries these quality labels functions as a substitute for the lack of a national standard, while in others they function as a supplement the national standard.

Austria: The Federal Ministry for the Environment has devised a special environment label for biomass fuels, where only raw materials from natural wood is allowed. At present no Austrian pellet manufacturer has applied for this label.

Sweden: The Swedish wood pellets trade body, Pellsam, consists of manufactures and suppliers of pellet heating equipment. Pellsam offers its member companies a competitive advantage in the form of a 6 year full cover insurance for unexpected break-down or damage to the pellet equipment.

UK: The Department of Trade and Industry have produced Codes of Good Preactice for Biofuel pellets and these codes are adopted by British BioGen members as a standard for products and services. The Codes of good practice will be superseded by the European Standards for Solid Biofuels once they are published.

France: The Association for Bioenergy Professionals has created a Pellet club, which aim is to promote the quality of fuels and have established a quality label for this puprose. It faces specific advice on determinin a quality pellet for various uses - stoves, boilers, large scale heat og power plants.

Denmark: A national standard for pellets have been in great demand for the Danish consumers and suppliers. As a substitute three quality labels from respectively FORCE Technology, Teknologisk Institut and soon the Danish environment label "Svanemærket" have entered the market and offer quality certifications for pellet manufactures and suppliers.