According to OFTEC, the oil heating industry is keeping ahead of the game and, following manufacturer innovations, should be ready to comply with the new lower NOx emission legislation on a range of appliances before the September 2018 deadline.

New requirements on flue gas emissions, covered by the Energy Related Products (ErP) Directive, state that from September 2018, NOx emissions from oil boilers must not exceed 120mg/kWh.

To meet these new levels, burner manufacturers such as Riello and EOGB have developed a range of low NOx burners.

Riello has developed their RDB BX burner which allows for the recirculation of combustion gases within the flame tube, creating lower NOx and CO emissions. One key benefit is that the combustion head is a proven Riello design and has been re-engineered to simply fit into existing high efficiency boilers.

Ahead of time, Riello has also produced the RDB BLU, a blue flame burner which meets the more stringent NOx levels expected in 2022. New components include UV flame detection and a high-spec digital control box featuring fault diagnostics and status indications.

At the same time, UK burner distributor and manufacturer EOGB has a range of commercial burners meeting the new targets and has also developed a fully modulating low NOx blue flame burner for domestic applications with an operating range of 10-30Kw, which will be officially launched next year. The new burner is likely to already meet more challenging NOx reduction levels expected in 2022.

OFTEC ceo Paul Rose (pictured) said: “Innovation throughout the oil heating industry remains strong with improved performance condensing boilers, better controls, wireless fuel monitoring and importantly, with the new ErP legislation looming, the development of low NOx burners and boilers.

 “Manufacturers such as Riello and EOGB have risen to the challenge and not only produced burners which meet the new 2018 standards, but also developed models in anticipation of the next round of ErP regulations in 2022 which are expected to enforce even lower NOx levels. Although of course, how these standards affect the UK will be governed by our relationship with the EU in six years’ time.”

In 2014, OFTEC helped secure a major win for the industry, challenging an EU standard which would have required oil heating appliances to meet NOx levels as low as 92mg/kWh by 2018. This level can only be achieved with a blue flame burner rather than the yellow flame burners currently in use.