A cost-benefit analysis of a pellet boiler with electrostatic precipitator versus conventional biomass technology: A case study of an institutional boiler in Syracuse, New York

The incremental investment in a lower-emitting staged combustion pellet boiler with an electrostatic precipitator was well justified by the population health improvements over the conventional wood chip technology with a multicyclone, even given the focus on only primary PM2.5 within a small spatial domain. Our analytical framework could be generalized to other settings to inform optimal strategies for proposed new facilities or populations.