Modelling and evalutation of emission scenarios deriving from wood biomass in alpine valley

In recent years there has been an increasing spread of wood biomass. The use of wood biomass as a fuel for domestic and industrial heating systems allows for a reduction of CO2 emissions at a global scale, but it may also result in worse local air quality conditions, due to their emissions of particulate matter, in particular, and other pollutants. The aim of this study is to assess the trends of atmospheric pollution in a study area, assuming that all heating systems are replaced by small size biomass boilers linked to the buildings through district heating network. Ground level concentrations of PM, emitted by different heating systems, have been evaluated through numerical simulations performed by means of an atmospheric dispersion model. The impact of such a network have been analysed taking into account different emission scenarios, related to different boilers operating conditions. Results show that the environmental performances of a woodchip boilers network can be optimized by combining it with other renewable source of energy devoted to the supply of hot water. A sensitivity analysis has been done in order to observe how modification in some input data can influence the results and allow to improve the design hypothesis.