Biomass fuel is organic matter (plant or animal matter) that may be utilized to generate energy or as a raw material in a variety of industrial operations.
Thus, biomass includes organic stuff such as wood and other forest products, as well as waste materials from the food crop harvesting, horticulture, food processing, and animal rearing. Additionally, human waste from wastewater treatment plants.
Biomass materials are classified into three categories:
The method used to generate energy from biomass fuels varies according to the kind of biomass employed.
- Natural: Biomass that is created without the interference of humans.
- Energy crops: These are plants that are planted particularly for the purpose of generating biomass energy. They are typically cultivated in big quantities.
- Waste Materials: This sort of biomass is made up of residues and waste products from a variety of industries and agricultural activities. Olive pits, maize stover, and almond shells are all examples of this.
What is Biomass Energy?
Organic matter contains chemical molecules that have energy inside their bonds, which are broken when the plant or animal needs that energy or when it is burnt.
Biomass generates heat energy when these chemical connections are broken. This technique may be modified so that organic matter can be utilized directly or as a biofuel to generate biomass energy.
In comparison to finite fossil fuels, biomass is a renewable source of energy. Along with solar, hydroelectric, and wind energy, biomass energy is a significant alternative to fossil fuels.
As a civilization, we are anxious for sustainable energy sources, which is why we employ chemical energy to generate heat or electricity.
Types of Biomass, Bio-fuel, and their uses
Wood
Energy may be generated from any sort of wood. For instance, sawdust, wood chips, wood pellets, and logs are all examples. There are several methods for generating energy from wood biomass.
- Wood combustion:
The method of burning wood to generate energy is well-known in both history and contemporary society. The procedure entails the combustion of wood in any form.
The heat generated by burning wood is utilized to heat water in a boiler or a tank. When the water boils, it produces steam, which turns the turbine and propels the generator, generating power. The forestry sector is primarily responsible for wood burning to create power for industrial activities.
- Co-generation:
Cogeneration is defined as the process of generating both electricity and thermal energy. This method involves a significant investment, but it also has better efficiency (85%) when compared to wood combustion (55 percent ). Cogeneration results in a net decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, carbon footprint, and air and water pollution.
- Gasification Of Wood:
This method involves heating wood to extremely high temperatures in a chamber with very little oxygen. Hydrogen and carbon monoxide are pyrolysis gases that are emitted from wood.
Additionally, these gases may be combined with oxygen to generate heat.
As with previous ways, this heat is utilized to generate steam in the boiler, spin the turbines, and generate electricity.
Agricultural Commodities
This biomass-derived from plants comprises both energy crops and biological residues from agricultural activities. The organic matter is burned in order to generate heat, which is used to heat the boiler.
As with earlier systems, steam is utilized to power the turbine and the generator that generates electricity. Electricity generation is quite similar to wood processing; the difference is in the type of biomass used and its subsequent applications.
Farmers may utilize their own trash to generate energy for their farms. This would have several benefits, including cost savings, increased efficiency, and, not to mention, a self-sustaining farm.
Solid Waste
Excess waste disposal has been a source of contention across the world. It is past time for us to put it to productive use, such as generating power. This has been implemented in a number of nations, most notably Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The rubbish is burnt to generate heat. The method of generating energy is the same; boilers are heated to generate steam, turbines are spun, and the generator is pushed.
However, there is a subtle distinction. Biomass is not the only source of solid waste. Plastic, a petroleum product, accounts for 16% of municipal waste. If plastic garbage is not sorted and burnt immediately, a massive amount of hazardous air pollutants is discharged into the environment.
Biogas
When fungus and bacteria consume decomposing organic waste, biogas is produced. Biogas is a mixture of gases, one of which is methane. Due to the flammability of methane gas, it may be utilized to generate heat energy.
Additionally, decomposing animal manure produces methane gas, which is damaging to the environment as a greenhouse gas.
Industrial farming has grown significantly in recent years, as have methane gas emissions. To mitigate this environmental impact, governments have enacted legislation requiring owners of industrial farms to collect animal excrement in receptacles dubbed digesters. These digesters are connected to a pipe system that leads to a power plant.
This ensures that methane is put to beneficial use rather than causing harm to the environment.
Landfills
Landfills are locations where waste stuff is deposited underground. This form of garbage disposal has been in use for a long period of time.
However, throughout time, humans realized that the methane/biogas emitted by these landfills may also be used for beneficial purposes such as energy generation.
The procedure entails extracting gas from the waste and transporting it to a neighboring power plant through a pipe system. The gas is then used to power boilers, generate steam, spin turbines, and generate electricity.
You may believe that this industry is unpopular; nonetheless, in 2003, landfills generated 33% of the UK’s renewable energy.
Alcohol fuel
There are four types of alcohols that can be used in place of traditional fuel. There are several of them, including butanol, ethanol, propanol, and methanol. Ethanol is the most readily available of them.
Because ethanol is derived from plants, it is generated in vast amounts. Sugars and starches are extracted from the plants used to make ethanol, which ferments and generates ethanol following distillation. Any plant that includes cellulose and sugar may make ethanol. Because ethanol is flammable, it may be used as a fuel.
Modern automobile engines are capable of operating on gasoline containing up to 15% ethanol, dubbed E15. When compared to normal gas, E-15 is considered a premium-quality, high-octane fuel.
Biodiesel
Biodiesel is also a viable alternative to gasoline and a critical one. It is manufactured from vegetable and animal oils. The primary source of biodiesel is recycled cooking oil from eateries. Many modern engines are designed to run on biodiesel without modification. As a result, they are one of the greatest fuel options.
How does Biomass Energy work?
It is critical to understand how biomass truly generates energy. We’ll begin by discussing how chemical energy is generated in plants.
The first stage in generating biomass is photosynthesis, a critical process through which plants produce food in the form of chemical molecules. Solar energy enables plants to convert CO2 and H2O into chemical energy in the form of various molecules such as sugars.
These chemical molecules contain energy inside their bonds and release it when plants or an animal that consumed the plant require it.
We burn (ignite) the organic matter to generate sufficient energy to initiate a process that converts biomass to heat and air gases. The thermal energy generated by this reaction can be utilized in place of methane, as a fuel for boilers in power plants, or for a variety of other purposes that we have already covered.
When fossil fuels are burned, they release energy in a similar manner. The primary distinction between biomass and fossil fuels is that biomass generates energy from live or recently deceased organisms, whereas Fossil Fuels generate energy from biological matter that absorbed CO2 from the atmosphere millions of years ago.
