Biomass

Biomass refers to living and recently dead biological material that can be used as fuel or for industrial production. Most commonly, biomass refers to plant matter grown to generate electricity or produce biofuel, but it also includes plant or animal matter used for production of fibers, chemicals or heat. Biomass may also include biodegradable wastes that can be burnt as fuel. It excludes organic material which has been transformed by geological processes into substances such as coal or petroleum.

Industrial biomass can be grown from numerous types of plants, including miscanthus, switchgrass, hemp, corn, poplar, willow, sorghum, sugarcane [cite conference | author = T.A. Volk, L.P. Abrahamson, E.H. White, E. Neuhauser, E. Gray, C. Demeter, C. Lindsey, J. Jarnefeld, D.J. Aneshansley, R. Pellerin and S. Edick | title = Developing a Willow Biomass Crop Enterprise for Bioenergy and Bioproducts in the United States | booktitle = Proceedings of Bioenergy 2000 | publisher = North East Regional Biomass Program | date = October 15-19, 2000 | location = Adam's Mark Hotel, Buffalo, New York, USA | URL = http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/papers/bioen00/volk.html | accessdate = 2006-12-16 | id = OCLC|45275154 ] , and a variety of tree species, ranging from eucalyptus to oil palm (palm oil). The particular plant used is usually not very important to the end products, but it does affect the processing of the raw material. Production of biomass is a growing industry as interest in sustainable fuel sources is growing.Fact|date=February 2007

Although fossil fuels have their origin in ancient biomass, they are not considered biomass by the generally accepted definition because they contain carbon that has been "out" of the carbon cycle for a very long time. Their combustion therefore disturbs the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere.

Plastics from biomass, like some recently developed to dissolve in seawater, are made the same way as petroleum-based plastics, are actually cheaper to manufacture and meet or exceed most performance standards. But they lack the same water resistance or longevity as conventional plastics. [ [http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070404/sc_livescience/ohchickenfeathershowtoreduceplasticwaste;_ylt=AsoNp3lYLjTRmrSb25gq53vq188F Oh, Chicken Feathers! How to Reduce Plastic Waste] . Yahoo News, Apr 5, 2007.]

Processing and uses

Biomass which is not simply burned as fuel may be processed in other ways :

Low tech processes include: [Introduction to Renewable Energy Technology. 1996. John Sakalauskas. Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE / Open Training Services.]
*composting (to make soil conditioners and fertilizers)
*anaerobic digestion (decaying biomass to produce methane gas and sludge as a fertilizer)
*fermentation and distillation (both produce ethyl alcohol)More high-tech processes are:
*Acid hydrolysis (treatment of wood wastes to produce sugars, which can be distilled)
*Destructive distillation (produces methyl alcohol from high cellulose organic wastes).
*Hydrogasification (produces methane and ethane)
*Hydrogenation (converts biomass to oil using carbon monoxide and steam under high pressures and temperatures)
*Pyrolysis (heating organic wastes in the absence of air to produce gas and char. Both are combustible.)
*Thermal depolymerization (uses hydrous pyrolysis to convert biomass into liquid hydrocarbons, carbon solids, and methane)Burning biomass, or the fuel products produced from it, may be used for heat or electricity production.
*Electrification using the combustion of biomass to produce heat. This heat can be converted into electricity on a large scale with the water steam cycle. For smaller power plants with a power output up to 2 MW_el the ORC-process Organic Rankine Cycle has to be used. [ [http://www.gmk.info/electrification_biomass.548.html?/ Information to the electrification of Biomass] ] Other uses of biomass, besides fuel and compost include:
*Building materials
*Biodegradable plastics and paper (using cellulose fibres)

Environmental impact

"Biomass" is part of the carbon cycle. Carbon from the atmosphere is converted into biological matter by photosynthesis. On death or combustion the carbon goes back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO₂). This happens over a relatively short timescale and plant matter used as a fuel can be constantly replaced by planting for new growth. Therefore a reasonably stable level of atmospheric carbon results from its use as a fuel. It is accepted that the amount of carbon stored in dry wood is approximately 50% by weight. [ [http://www.uvm.edu/~jcjenkin/smith%20et%20al.%202003.pdf Forest volume-to-biomass models and estimates of mass for live and standing dead trees of U.S. forests ] ]

Though biomass is a renewable fuel, and is sometimes called a "carbon neutral" fuel, its use can still contribute to global warming. This happens when the natural carbon equilibrium is disturbed; for example by deforestation or urbanization of green sites. When biomass is used as a fuel, as a replacement for fossil fuels, it still puts the same amount of CO₂ into the atmosphere. However, when biomass is used for energy production it is widely considered carbon neutral, or a net reducer of greenhouse gasses because of the offset of methane that would have otherwise entered the atmosphere. The carbon in biomass material, which makes up approximately fifty percent of its dry-matter content, is already part of the atmospheric carbon cycle. Biomass absorbs CO₂ from the atmosphere during its growing lifetime, after which its carbon reverts to the atmosphere as a mixture of CO₂ and methane (CH₄), depending on the ultimate fate of the biomass material. CH₄ converts to CO₂ in the atmosphere, completing the cycle. In contrast to biomass carbon, the carbon in fossil fuels is locked away in geological storage forever, unless extracted. The use of fossil fuels removes carbon from long-term storage, and adds it to the stock of carbon in the atmospheric cycle.

Energy produced from biomass residues displaces the production of an equivalent amount of energy from fossil fuels, leaving the fossil carbon in storage. It also shifts the composition of the recycled carbon emissions associated with the disposal of the biomass residues from a mixture of CO₂ and CH₄, to almost exclusively CO₂. In the absence of energy production applications, biomass residue carbon would be recycled to the atmosphere through some combination of rotting (biodegradation) and open burning. Rotting produces a mixture of up to fifty percent CH₄, while open burning produces five to ten percent CH₄. Controlled combustion in a power plant converts virtually all of the carbon in the biomass to CO₂. Because CH₄ is a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO₂, shifting CH₄ emissions to CO₂ by converting biomass residues to energy significantly reduces the greenhouse warming potential of the recycled carbon associated with other fates or disposal of the biomass residues.

The existing commercial biomass power generating industry in the United States, which consists of approximately 1,700 MW (megawatts) of operating capacity actively supplying power to the grid, produces about 0.5 percent of the U.S. electricity supply. This level of biomass power generation avoids approximately 11 million tons per year of CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel combustion. It also avoids approximately two million tons per year of CH₄ emissions from the biomass residues that, in the absence of energy production, would otherwise be disposed of by burial (in landfills, in disposal piles, or by the plowing under of agricultural residues), by spreading, and by open burning. The avoided CH₄ emissions associated with biomass energy production have a greenhouse warming potential that is more than 20 times greater than that of the avoided fossil-fuel CO₂ emissions. Biomass power production is at least five times more effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions than any other greenhouse-gas-neutral power-production technology, such as other renewables and nuclear. [USA Biomass Power Producers Alliance]

Currently, the New Hope Power Partnership, owned by [http://www.floridacrystals.com Florida Crystals Corporation] , is the largest biomass power plant in North America. The 140 MWH facility uses sugar cane fiber (bagasse) and recycled urban wood as fuel to generate enough power for its large milling and refining operations as well as to supply renewable electricity for nearly 60,000 homes. The facility reduces dependence on oil by more than one million barrels per year, and by recycling sugar cane and wood waste, preserves landfill space in urban communities in Florida. Anyways, most of the time the amount of biomass available is not as big as stated in the example above. Many times, especially in Europe where such huge agricultural developments like in the USA are not usual, the cost for transporting the biomass overcomes its actual value and therefore the gathering ground has to be limited to a certain small area. This fact leads to only small possible power outputs around 1 MW_el. To make an economic operation possible those power plants have to be equipped with the ORC technology, a cycle similar to the water steam power process just with an organic working medium. Such small power plants can be found in Europe.

[ [http://www.gmk.info/ORC_biomass.548.html? use of biomass by help of the ORC process] ] [ [http://www.globaljusticeecology.org/globalwarming.php How False Solutions to Climate Change Will Worsen Global Warming] ] [ [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080209/biofuel_crops_080209/20080209 Biofuel crops may worsen global warming: study] ] [ [http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Biodiesel_Will_Not_Drive_Down_Global_Warming_999.html Biodiesel Will Not Drive Down Global Warming] ]

Despite harvesting, biomass crops may sequester (trap) carbon. So for example soil organic carbon has been observed to be greater in switchgrass stands than in cultivated cropland soil, especially at depths below 12 inches. [ [http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/Publications.htm?seq_no_115=164741, Soil Carbon under Switchgrass Stands and Cultivated Cropland (Interpretive Summary and Technical Abstract)] . USDA Agricultural Research Service, April 1, 2005 ] The grass sequesters the carbon in its increased root biomass. But the perennial grass may need to be allowed to grow for several years before increases are measurable. [ [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1999PhDT........73M, Carbon sequestration by switchgrass] . Abstract for Thesis (PhD). AUBURN UNIVERSITY, Source DAI-B 60/05, p. 1937, Nov 1999 ]

Biomass production for human use and consumption

This is a list of estimated biomass for human use and consumption. It does not include biomass which is not harvested or utilised.

[cite book | last = Whittaker | first = R. H. | authorlink = Robert Whittaker | coauthors = Likens, G. E. | chapter= The Biosphere and Man | pages = 305-328 | editor = Leith, H & Whittaker, R H | title = Primary Productivity of the Biosphere | publisher = Springer-Verlag | id=ISBN 0-3870-7083-4|year=1975; Ecological Studies Vol 14 (Berlin)Darci and Taylre are biomass specialists.]

ee also

*Anaerobic digestion
*Biochar
*Bioenergy
*Biofuel
*Biomass (ecology)
*Biomass gasification
*Biomass heating systems
*Biomass in the United States
*Biomass Research and Development Board
*Biomass to liquid
*Bioplastic
*Biorefinery
*Corn kernels
*Decompiculture
*Energy crop
*Microgeneration
*Microgeneration Certification Scheme
*Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
*Standing crop
*Thermal mass
*Wood fuel (a traditional biomass fuel)
*World Council for Renewable Energy

References

External links

General information

* [http://www.vxu.se/td/english/bioenergy/blog/what_is_biomass/ What is Biomass? - Växjö University ]
* [http://www.vxu.se/td/english/bioenergy/blog/biomass_as_an_energy_sour/index.xml/ Biomass as an Energy Source - Växjö University ]
* [http://www.everythingbiomass.org/ Everything Biomass ]

Around the world

* [http://forestbioenergy.net Forest Bioenergy]
* [http://www.rpdl-biomass.com/ Renewable Products Development Laboratories (RPDL)]
* [http://www.eubia.org/ European Biomass Industry Association (EUBIA)]
* [http://www.conference-biomass.com European Biomass Conference & Exhibition] .

In the United States

* [http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/ US Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy] site.
* [http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/biomass/biomass.html US Energy Information Administration] site.
* [http://www.michigan.gov/cis/0,1607,7-154-25676_25753---,00.html Michigan Biomass Energy Program]
* [http://www.seco.cpa.state.tx.us/re_biomass-crops.htm Texas State Cons. of Energy Office Biomass Article]
* [http://biomass.age.uiuc.edu BioMASS Laboratory at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ]
* [http://www.calbiomass.org/history.htm California Biomass Energy Alliance] .
* [http://www.risiinfo.com/risi-store/do/product/detail/emerging-biomass-industry-study.html 2008 study; Emerging Biomass Industry: Impact on Woodfiber Markets] .