Treated wood combustion regulation analysis

In the latest years the European Union has started a review of the regulations about the combustion of the woody biomass, a resource widely available on the Earth with neutral impact in increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Firstly, an overview of the legal situation at global level is presented, and then a detailed explanation of the Italian regulation is the core of this article. Basically, in 2006 the introduction of the Legislative Decree n. 152 has established that virgin wood falls in the category of fuels, instead treated wood (deriving from wood-furniture industry rejects) is considered as waste: the consequence is that its combustion is subjected to more stringent restrictions in term of process monitoring and emission limit values. Finally, this paper wants to underline that the legislative framework is not completely clear, so not homogeneous interpretations by local governments (responsible for authorisations) are possible.