Evaluation of Environmental Compatibility for a Biomass Plant

The aim of this work was to determine the local compatibility of a biomass plant to be constructed in a small town located in Piedmont, northern Italy, to produce both electricity and heat. In order to study both the local critical impacts (on air quality) and the overall environmental benefits (decrease of GHG generation), we performed an evaluation of the emissive flow modification for the hypothesis of activating the biomass plant in the municipal area, by considering introduced and eliminated pollutant loads. The evaluation was conducted using the tools of mass and energy balances, evaluating the pollution fluxes with an external costs methodology and pollutant dispersion models. These conclusions, numerically defined for the specific situation studied, can be considered to be fairly representative as a methodological approach to studying the effects of biomass energy plants.