Biofireplaces are becoming more popular every day. There are many reasons for this. This and the absence of the need for a chimney, small dimensions, original design and the ability to create a unique atmosphere in your home, generated by the magnificent play of light and shadow, the dance of a living flame. But we must not forget about safety measures. It is necessary to create good ventilation and use only high-quality biofuel for the fireplace - a special type of liquid fuel. This is the only way you can guarantee safety.
Fuel for a biofireplace
Biofuel is a type of combustible material that is obtained by processing waste products of plant and animal organisms. It is a liquid without color and odor. The initial raw material for its production is ethanol - alcohol obtained by fermentation of plant crops containing a large amount of sugar.
Pure ethanol is banned for sale. It is not intended "for oral administration", this is unacceptable due to its high toxicity. Therefore, manufacturers went to the trick and upgraded pure alcohol, making it uninteresting for lovers of alcoholic beverages.
Modern biofuel for the fireplace is denatured ethanol. The alcohol processed in this way during combustion does not release substances harmful to living organisms into the atmosphere, but decomposes into water, carbon monoxide with the release of heat.
Biofuel Features
During combustion, denatured ethanol practically does not emit carbon monoxide into the atmosphere, which completely eliminates the formation of soot and soot during the operation of the fireplace. This is due to the lack of need to arrange a chimney.
To maintain combustion, natural air circulation is sufficient, and there is no need to create air draft. Due to these properties, a biofuel home fireplace is small in size.
But due to the fact that only carbon dioxide and water are formed in the process of ethanol combustion, the color of the flames is unnatural - there is no orange tint. To solve this problem, manufacturers add special additives to the composition of the fuel, thereby achieving the natural appearance of the flame.
Types of liquid fuel
The main global supplier of biofuels is Brazil. Fuel production is established in Europe, as well as in India and China, and even in Africa. Everywhere biofuels for a fireplace are made according to their own technology using various raw materials. This is due to the wide variety of renewable energy sources.
All world biofuels are divided into several dozen species, among which the most popular are:
- biodiesel - obtained by processing fats of vegetable or animal origin, as well as waste from the food industry, is the most popular in European countries;
- bioethanol is an alcohol without color and odor, which is obtained by "distillation" of sugar-containing crops (beets, potatoes, corn), followed by denaturation.
New developments by scientists will soon allow biofuels for the fireplace to be obtained from algae, as well as from waste from the wood processing industry and waste paper, that is, from a pulp and paper mixture.
Biofuel burning
When one liter of ethanol is burned, more than 6 kWh of heat is released, which corresponds to the hourly operation of an electric heater with a power of 3 kW. At the same time, the consumption of combustible material is only 500 ml per one hour of operation. In addition, energy is not “lost” in the chimney, but remains indoors, due to which the efficiency is about 95%.
But for heating rooms it is impractical to use only biofuel for the fireplace. The price per liter of such combustible material begins to rise from 500 rubles. It all depends on the type and composition. So, some manufacturers offer customers biofuels in gel form with sea salt content, which creates not only a pleasant aroma, but also allows you to enjoy the imitation of the sound of crackling logs.
Self-made biofuel
We have already found out that biofuel for fireplaces is alcohol, during the combustion of which only carbon dioxide and water are released. Therefore, to establish their own production of fuel is not difficult. To do this, you can use the usual home-made or purchased moonshine. Preference should be given to commercial specimens, since in them the liquid goes through several degrees of purification.
To make biofuels for the fireplace with your own hands when burning illuminate the room with a pleasant orange flame, it is necessary to add gasoline to it. It is best to use AI-100 or AI-116 sports fuel. But to get it is not easy, so you can take AI-95, the main thing is to make sure of its quality.
Alcohol with gasoline is mixed in a ratio of 20: 1. The resulting composition must be used immediately, because the components are very quickly separated. Such biofuels can be used not only in the fireplace, but also in kerosene lamps, icon lamps .
Safety precautions
When using biofuels, you must be extremely careful and careful. Careless handling will certainly cause a fire. Therefore, when operating fireplaces on biofuels, follow the rules:
- Do not add liquid to a burning fire. Extinguish the flame and allow the structure to cool completely.
- Do not store biofuels near open flames or heaters. Use a room protected from light for this.
- Only use special metal lighters to light the fluid.
In every corner of our country you can buy biofuels for fireplaces. Yekaterinburg, Moscow, Samara, Rostov, St. Petersburg - in any major city you will surely find a specialized store.