Brown coal Nut 2 from the Bílina mine

• It is the most frequently used coal for automatic solid fuel boilers in the Czech Republic
• Brown nut coal 2 can be burned in the BENEKOV boilers. We definitely recommend coal from the Bílina mine and the coal treatment plant located in Ledvice. This coal is prescribed for use in Benekov boilers. Use of different coal from other mines is not recommended.
• The quality of coal has a significant impact on the boiler operation, performance, furnace extinction etc.
• An important factor is the content of bitumen in the fuel. If the customer uses coal with an excessive content of bitumen, problems will arise during the operation of the boiler such as cinders appearing above the burner, fire excessive etc.
• The biggest advantage of coal is its low price. The disadvantages are the necessary handling, dustiness and the like. These factors can be significantly reduced by using packed coal which the Czech firm Ridera specializes in. While handling bags of coal, bringing it in and refilling the fuel tank, the dustiness is almost totally eliminated.
• Coal burning is suitable for customers for whom cheap heating and non-time consuming operation are the priorities. Compared to gas or electricity, coal burning can be multiple times cheaper. Compared to burning lump wood or coal in standard boilers, burning coal in automatic boilers is much less time consuming. If coal is burned in automatic boilers, very low operating costs can be reached and at the same time it is not necessary to operate the boiler 3 or more times a day as per standard boilers by manual refueling.
• To burn brown nut coal 2, all the models from C line and B line are suitable.

Wood pellets  

• Wood pellets differ by the content of bark. The whiter the pellets are, the less bark they contain. 
• While burning pellets with no bark, minimum ash is created (up to 0.5%), the operation of the boiler is very comfortable, and the boiler body may be cleaned usually once in a season.
• While burning pellets with bark, minerals start to coat the space around the burner and it is necessary to clean the boiler more frequently. There is also more ash.
• It is not suitable to store pellets more than 1 year because they can absorb humidity and can be easily crushed in the feed mechanism of the boiler. It is necessary to clean the feed mechanism.
• Pellets come in standard bags from 15 to 50 kg, or in so called 'big' bags. Approx. 1,000 kg of pellets can be loaded onto one euro pallet. With the assumed consumption of 7 tons of pellets per year in a boiler with nominal performance 25 kW, the fuel takes up 7 m2 of space in the boiler room
• The big advantages of wood pellets are their cleanness and comfort level when using them.
• Wood pellets burning is suitable for those customers who are interested in comfortable heating with low demands on operation and not wanting to pay big amounts for gas annually.
• In the long-term, it can be expected that wood pellets burning will be much more frequent than today. It is obvious that such a market is growing.
• The K line of BENEKOV boilers has the rotating fire grate, which allows constant removal of slacks created by pellets with high content of bark or other kind of alternative pellets. This saves up to 25 % of costs on fuel compared with boilers that are only equipped with simple burners for A+ pellets.
• To burn wood pellets, the K line, the R line and the S line are suitable.

Energy grain

• Grain has been used as fuel in Scandinavia for approximately 20 years.
• The trend in the whole of Europe is to burn spent grain that cannot be used for either food processing purposes or sold. It has an excessive proportion of active substances, etc. 
• When growing energy grain, it is not recommended to use nitrogenous fertilizers one year before the harvest. 
• The quality of grain intended to be burned is influenced especially by the content of minerals.
• Too much gluten causes "inflammability" of the grain.
• The heating value of grain can have great fluctuations and thus the performance of the boiler that can be reached during the burning process is influenced as well. The heating value depends most on the above-stated gluten.
• We talk about energy grain, beside other parameters, whose heating value is the minimum of 15.5 MJ/kg.
• In Europe, the most burned are wheat and oats. In the USA, corn is a common fuel.
• In terms of boiler operation it is easier to burn oats than wheat. On the other hand, oats create much more ash and it is almost a must to use deashing equipment while burning oats.
• While burning grain, an agglomerate is created in the burner. The creation of sinters can be reduced by adding an additive (for instance quicklime) into the fuel. Commonly, approx. 1 to 2 % of lime is added to lime.
• Grain dies out quickly, therefore it is necessary to adjust the parameters of the boiler settings accordingly.
• Heating up the boiler when burning grain can be 2 - 3 times longer than when burning wood pellets or coal.
• Grain burning is more difficult than wood pellets burning but it uses material which would normally end up as waste material, and without economic benefit.
• Grain burning is suitable especially for people who work in the agriculture industry.  Due to the necessary handling of fuel and protecting fuel from humidity or rodents etc. it is not common for people who burn grain to buy grain externally.
• It cannot be assumed that grain burning will become a mass affair but in certain locations and under certain conditions, for some customers, it can be an interesting alternative to gas or other expensive fuel burning options. 

Alternative pellets, alternative fuels.

• Except for standard, certified wood pellets, there are dozens of different alternative pellets on the market (straw pellets, grass pellets, pellets made from the remains of oilseed rape and the like).
• Non-certified alternative pellets have various properties. It is impossible to assess in advance how well or, if ever, they will burn.
• If standardized fuel is not added to the boiler with known basic parameters (the content of ash, heating value, the content of chloride etc.), it is not possible to ensure in advance that the boiler will always achieve the desired parameters.
• If the customer decides to burn in their boiler alternative, "home-made" pellets, it is similar to using "home-made" diesel or oil in their car. People who want their cars to run for a long time use branded oils and diesel where the producer guarantees the desired parameters of the supplied goods. Although using "no-name" oils and fuels is cheaper,  it will usually show in a shorter lifetime of the car.
• Alternative pellets can burn, the nominal performance of  boilers can be reached with them, but the producer of boilers is not able to guarantee that beforehand.
• In our firm we are able to test the supplied fuel and comment on in which boiler and with what results it is possible to use the given fuel (what performance can be obtained, how often it will be necessary to take out ash, how often it will be necessary to clean the boiler).
• We warn our customers that such various alternative fuels may or may not burn.
• It is not recommended to burn in the automatic boiler anything that is lying around. If somebody has the idea that a boiler can burn anything, they usually are deeply disappointed.
• Generally speaking, for all alternative boilers it is necessary to count on a more frequent maintenance of the boiler (cleaning the burner off the sinter). The lifetime of the boiler is reduced (alternative fuels usually contain higher content of minerals that cause corrosion during the transportation).