2. Brief history of Biomass
Fire, unquestionably the most important discovery in the history of
mankind, it was discovered thanks to the accidental combustion of wood.
Fire has illuminated, heated, protected and fed mankind for thousands of
years. Briefly, fired fostered the birth of civilization. Wood, on the other hand,
remained the most widely used raw material for many centuries, not only to
burn wood, but also as building material. The invention of the steam engine
allowed mankind to obtain mechanic energy from the combustion of wood,
whereas up to the 18th century wind and water where the only mechanic
energy sources available. During the Industrial Revolution wood started to
become scarce owing to the massive deforestation carried out to produce
energy. Mankind had to look for alternative energy sources and found them
in coal and oil, which at the time were abundant albeit not renewable. Only
recently, energy need and the possible disappearance of fossil fuels and the
pollution produced by the combustion led man to “re-discover” the
usefulness of wood and biomass as energy sources.
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3. What is Biomass?
Biomass is any organic matter, wood, crops, seaweed, animal
wastes that can be used as an energy source. Biomass is probably our
oldest source of energy after the sun. For thousands of years, people
have burned wood to heat their homes and cook their food
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4. How did Biomass gets its energy?
Biomass gets its energy from the sun. All organic matter contains
stored energy from the sun. During a process called photosynthesis,
sunlight gives plants the energy they need to convert water and carbon
dioxide into oxygen and sugars. These sugars, called carbohydrates,
supply plants and the animals that eat plants with energy. Foods rich in
carbohydrates are a good source of energy for the human body. Biomass
is a renewable energy source because its supplies are not limited. We can
always grow trees and crops, and waste will always exist.
Bioenergy is a renewable energy source made from biomass
(which is organic materials such as plants and animals).
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6. Did you Know?
Worldwide, Biomass is the fourth largest energy resource after Coal,
Oil, and Natural gas - estimated at about 14% of global primary energy (and
much higher in many developing countries).
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7. Difference between Fossil fuel and Biomass?
Fossil fuels are hydrocarbon deposits, such as petroleum, coal,
or natural gas, derived from organic matter from a previous geologic time.
They are essentially fossilized biomass and differ from present-day
biomass in that they come from organic matter created millions of years
ago, which has been stored below ground. In other words, the key
difference between biomass and fossil fuels is age!
Fossil fuels contain carbon that was removed from the
atmosphere, under different environmental conditions, millions of years
ago. When burned, this carbon is released back into the atmosphere.
Since the carbon being released is from ancient deposits, and new fossil
fuels take millions of years to form, burning fossil fuels adds more carbon
to the atmosphere than is being removed.
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8. Biomass, on the other hand, absorbs atmospheric carbon
while it grows and returns it into the atmosphere when it is consumed,
all in a relatively short amount of time. Because of this, biomass
utilization creates a closed-loop carbon cycle. For example, you can
grow a tree over the course of ten or twenty years, cut it down, burn it,
release its carbon back into the atmosphere and immediately start
growing another tree in its place. With certain fast-growing biomass
crops such as switch grass, this process can occur even faster.
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11. Biomass conversion process to useful energy
Thermal conversion
Thermal conversion processes use heat as the dominant
Chemical conversion
mechanism to convert biomass into another chemical form.
Chemical conversion
Biochemical conversion
Chemical conversion used catalysts to transform
biomass into other type of fuels which are more convenient to be
used in applications. In most cases, the first step involves
gasification, which step generally is the most expensive and
involves the greatest technical risk.
Biochemical conversion
Biochemical conversion makes use of the enzymes of
bacteria and other microorganisms to break down biomass.
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12. Types of Biomass
ƒ Wood and Agricultural Products
Solid Waste
Landfill Gas and Biogas
Alcohol fuels
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13. Did you Know?
The term Biomass was first introduced by Congress in the
Power plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-620) as a type
of alternate fuel. Biomass was first defined in the Energy Security Act
of 1980 (P.L. 96-294, as “any organic matter which is available on a
renewable basis, including agricultural crops and agricultural wastes
and residues, wood wastes and residues, animal wastes, municipal
wastes, and aquatic plants.”
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14. Wood and Agricultural Products
Type of Biomass that is home grown like wood - example logs, chips,
bark, and sawdust. This also includes agricultural waste products like fruit pits
and corn cobs. This accounts for about 46 percent of biomass energy in US.
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15. Use of Wood and Agricultural Products
Wood and wood waste, along with agricultural waste, are used to
generate electricity. Much of the electricity is used by the industries making
the waste; it is not distributed by utilities, it is cogenerated. Paper mills and
saw mills use much of their waste products to generate steam and
electricity for their use. However, since they use so much energy, they
need to buy additional electricity from utilities. Increasingly, timber
companies and companies involved with wood products are seeing the
benefits of using their lumber scrap and sawdust for power generation. This
saves disposal costs and, in some areas, may reduce the companies’ utility
bills. In fact, the pulp and paper industries rely on biomass to meet 63
percent of their energy needs. Other industries that use biomass include
lumber producers, furniture manufacturers, agricultural businesses like nut
and rice growers, and liquor producers.
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16. Briquettes and Briquetting machine
Biomass briquettes are made from agricultural waste and are a
replacement for fossil fuel such as oil or coal, and can be used to heat
boilers in manufacturing plants, and also have applications in developing
countries. Biomass briquettes are a renewable source of energy and
avoid adding fossil carbon to the atmosphere.
Briquetting Machine is the machine that transforms powdery or granular
product into a larger more convenient size. This is accomplished by
compacting the product with a roller press sometimes in the presence of a
binder material. The briquettes can be produced with high or low pressure
and can undergo mechanical or thermal treatment according to the
characteristics of the processed material, the binder used and the desired
end product.
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17. Solid Waste
Solid waste Solid refers to non-soluble material such as
agricultural refuse, industrial waste, mining residues, demolition waste,
municipal garbage or even sewage sludge. Most of these kind of wastes
cannot be recycled or rehabilitated for further use.
ƒMunicipal Solid Waste
Municipal solid waste is the solid waste, or garbage, collected from
the residents of a city. It is composed of mostly paper, plastic, food scraps
and other household wastes.
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18. Use of Solid Waste
Burning trash turns waste into a usable form of energy. One ton (2,000
pounds) of garbage contains about as much heat energy as 500 pounds of coal.
Garbage is not all biomass; perhaps half of its energy content comes from
plastics, which are made from petroleum and natural gas.
Power plants that burn garbage for energy are called waste-to-energy
plants. These plants generate electricity much as coal - red plants do, except
that combustible garbage - not coal - is the fuel used to fire their boilers.
Making electricity from garbage costs more than making it from coal and other
energy sources. The main advantage of burning solid waste is that it reduces
the amount of garbage dumped in landfills by 60 to 90 percent, which in turn
reduces the cost of landfill disposal. It also makes use of the energy in the
garbage, rather burying it in a landfill, where it remains unused.
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19. Incineration
Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves
the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials.
Incineration and other high temperature waste treatment systems are
described as "thermal treatment". Incineration of waste materials converts
the waste into ash flue gas, and heat. The ash is mostly formed by
the inorganic constituents of the waste, and may take the form of solid
lumps or particulates carried by the flue gas. The flue gases must be
cleaned of gaseous and particulate pollutants before they are dispersed
into the atmosphere. In some cases, the heat generated by incineration
can be used to generate electric power.
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20. Biomass gasification
Biomass gasification is a process of incomplete combustion of
biomass resulting in production of combustible gases consisting of a
mixture of Carbon monoxide (CO), Hydrogen (H2) and traces of Methane
(CH4), which is called producer gas. Gasification is a two-stage reaction
consisting of oxidation and reduction processes. These processes occur
under sub-stoichiometric conditions of air with biomass.
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21. Biogas and Landfill gas
Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the breakdown
of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. It is a renewable energy
source, like solar and wind energy. Furthermore, biogas can be produced
from regionally available raw materials and recycled waste and is
environmentally friendly.
Biogas is produced by the anaerobic digestion with anaerobic
bacteria
or fermentation of
biodegradable
materials
such
as manure, sewage ,municipal waste, green waste, plant material, and
crops. Biogas
comprises
primarily methane (CH4)
and carbon
dioxide (CO2) and may have small amounts of hydrogen sulphide (H2S),
moisture and siloxanes.
Landfill gas is also a type of biogas produced from landfills(dumpsites).
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22. Used of Biogas and Landfill gas
Methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, is a good energy source.
Most gas furnaces and stoves use methane supplied by utility companies
Methane can also be produced using energy from agricultural and
human wastes. Biogas digesters are airtight containers or pits lined with steel
or bricks. Waste put into the containers is fermented without oxygen to produce
a methane-rich gas. This gas can be used to produce electricity, or for cooking
and lighting.It is a safe and clean burning gas, producing little carbon monoxide
and no smoke.
Biogas digesters are inexpensive to build and maintain. They can be
built as family-sized or community-sized units. They need moderate
temperatures and moisture for the fermentation process to occur. For
developing countries, biogas digesters may be one of the best answers to many
of their energy needs. They can help reverse the rampant deforestation caused
by wood-burning, reduce air pollution, fertilize over-used fields, and produce
clean, safe energy for rural communities.
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23. Biogas Fermentation
Biogas fermentation is a series of processes where
microorganisms break down biodegradable materials (usually in the
absence of oxygen), thus it is often attributed as anaerobic digestion. The
break-down of these biodegradable materials (such as biomass) will
produce simpler molecules, where some of these products are in the form
of bio-gas. The detailed mechanism of how biogas fermentation occurs
depends on the microorganisms involved, as well as types of feedstock
(biomass) used and operating conditions (temperature, pH, etc).
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24. Did you Know?
Humans can produce Methane gas. It is made when food is
broken down in the large intestine, and we release these gas in terms of
FART!!!
The major components of the FART by percentage are:
Nitrogen - 20% - 90%
Hydrogen - 0% - 50%
Carbon Dioxide - 10% - 30%
Oxygen - 0% - 10%
Methane - 0% - 10%
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25. Biofuel
A biofuel is a fuel that uses energy from a carbon fixation. These
fuels are produced from living organisms. Examples of this carbon
fixation are plants and microalgae. These fuels are made from
a biomass conversion.
There are two kinds of biofuel namely:
Ethanol
Biodiesel
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26. Ethanol
Ethanol is an alcohol fuel (ethyl alcohol) made by fermenting the
sugars and starches found in plants and then distilling them. Any organic
material containing cellulose, starch, or sugar can be made into ethanol.
More than 90 percent of the ethanol produced in the United States comes
from corn. New technologies are producing ethanol from cellulose in woody
fibers from trees, grasses, and crop residues. Today nearly all of the
gasoline sold in the U.S. contains 10 percent ethanol and is known as E10.
In 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the
introduction of E15 (15 percent ethanol, 85 percent gasoline) for use in
passenger vehicles from model year 2001 and newer. Fuel containing 85
percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline (E85) qualifies as an alternative
fuel. There are about seven million flexible fuel vehicles (FFV) on the road
that can run efficiently on E85. However, only six percent of these vehicles
use E85.
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28. Biodiesel
Biodiesel is a fuel made by chemically reacting alcohol with vegetable
oils, animal fats, or greases, such as recycled restaurant grease. Most
biodiesel today is made from soybean oil. Biodiesel is most often blended with
petroleum diesel in ratios of two percent (B2), five percent (B5), or 20 percent
(B20). It can also be used as neat (pure) biodiesel (B100).
Biodiesel fuels
are compatible with and can be used in unmodified diesel engines with the
existing fueling infrastructure. It is one of the fastest growing alternative
transportation fuels in the U.S. Biodiesel contains virtually no sulfur, so it can
reduce sulfur levels in the nation’s diesel fuel supply, even compared with
today’s low sulfur fuels. While removing sulfur from petroleum-based diesel
results in poor lubrication, biodiesel is a superior lubricant and can reduce the
friction of diesel fuel in blends of only one or two percent. This is an important
characteristic because the Environmental Protection Agency now requires that
sulfur levels in diesel fuel be 97 percent lower than they were prior to 2006.
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29. Used of Biodiesel
Biodiesel can be used as a fuel for vehicles in its pure form, but it is
usually used as a diesel additive to reduce levels of particulates, carbon
monoxide, and hydrocarbons from diesel-powered vehicles. Biodiesel
exceeds diesel in octane number (performance rating of diesel fuel), resulting
in superior ignition. Biodiesel has a higher flashpoint, making it more versatile
where safety is concerned. Horsepower, acceleration, and torque are
comparable to diesel. Biodiesel has the highest Btu content of any alternative
fuel, though it is slightly less than that of diesel. This might have a small
impact on vehicle range and fuel economy.
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30. Did you Know?
The discovery of fermentation is attributed to the Egyptians, who
also invented baking ovens
Ale(beer) is one of the oldest beverages humans have produced,
dating back to at least the 5th millennium BC and recorded in the written
history of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
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31. Environmental Impact of Biomass
The most obvious environmental benefit of biomass is the
displacement of fossil fuel usage, and the corresponding reduction in air
pollution and acid rain. Another beneficial environmental impact is the
recycling of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The environmental impact
of biomass systems, however, can be negative as the amount of CO2
removed from the atmosphere by the photosynthesis of biomass becomes
less than the amount produced during combustion and energy production.
Deforestation is vital to the harvest of woody feedstock and
its sustainability. However, clear-cutting of trees leads to massive
deforestation and erosion across the United States and other parts of the
world where clear-cutting occurs. Also, terrestrial biomass is the largest
sink known for the removal of atmospheric CO2 via photosynthesis, and by
removing plant biomass for fuel, we decrease the CO2 fixation capacity of
the earth.
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