Pros And Cons Of Biomass

Biomass also generates electricity and also provides heating which is direct can be renewed into biofuels as a substitute for the fossil fuels

Biofuels are biologically derived fuels obtained in a renewable way from organic waste. These organic remains usually come from sugar, wheat, corn or oilseeds. They all reduce the total volume of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere as they absorb it as they grow and emit virtually the same amount as conventional fuels when they burn, resulting in a closed cycle process. Biofuels are often mixed with other fuels in small proportions, 5 or 10%, providing a useful but limited reduction of greenhouse gases. In Europe and the United States, legislation has been in place requiring suppliers to mix biofuels to certain levels. This legislation has been copied by many other countries that believe that these fuels will help to improve the planet through the reduction of gases that produce the so-called 'Greenhouse Effect '.

Biomass can be considered as a renewable energy resource, although burning biomass releases carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere similar to burning fossil fuel (Liu H. 2011). There is a significant difference in CO2 release between burning a fossil fuel and burning biomass. Burning a fossil fuel releases CO2 that has been locked up for millions of years in the ground, affecting the natural CO2 cycle and resulting in an increase in the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Burning biomass simply return to the atmosphere the same amount of CO2 which was absorbed from the air via the photosynthesis process while the biomass plant was growing over a relatively short period of time (a few years to decade), and there is no net release of C02 into the atmosphere, i.e., CO2-neutral, if the cycle of growth and harvest is sustained. Therefore, biomass can consider as a renewable energy resource as shown in Figure 3.1 (Li u H. 2011). If the production and transportation of the biomass fuel involve the use of fossil fuel, there would become net release of CO2 with biomass combustion (Liu H. 2011)

Biomass is another form of clean renewable energy source that can be used to lessen fossil fuel dependence. Biomass consists of organic material

The use of biomass as an alternative source of energy will provide relief to deforestation because it is environmentally friendly. Biomass is a renewable type of energy; manufactured through recycled waste products to create fuel, thus helping the environment clean by reusing waste.

As mentioned by Feng and other researchers (2007, 188) China is the World’s leader in biomass technology and its consumption. Biomass energy defines as energy that obtains by producing it from organic matters, such as crop residues, firewood, foul, industrial and bio wastes (Zhang et al. 2007, 440). So, to attain this energy there is a great deal of distinct types of contraction biomass energy: direct burning, co-firing, biomass gasification, repowering, and other types (How Biomass Energy Works 2010). The easiest and common way of converting organic matters to the energy is the direct burning: biomasses should be burned to produce a steam; consequently this steam runs turbines which generate electricity (How Biomass Energy Works 2010). Another widespread example of bio energy is biomass gasification – a production of syngas by combination a heated biomass with oxygen under pressure, which could easily produce electricity by transforming it into steam, which goes through the electricity generation turbines (ibid.). Especially, China utilizes direct burning and biomass gasification (biogas) as the main forms

Biomass is a foundation which can be converted to energy (biofuel), it is potentially able to power everything from cars to airplanes. Biomass can be converted to

MAYBE—Difficult and technical--Mill and Logging Residue Activity: Youth will do calculations associated with forest biomass and wood wastes and the transportation of those items. Access http://www.biosat.net/index.html and click on the Guided Assessment tab. Select Forest for biomass type and work with youth to answer mill residue questions on the related handout.

The disadvantages of Biomass Energy are that affect the evaluation of biomass as a viable solution to our energy problem: the effects of the farming and production of biomass and the effects of the factory conversion of biomass into usable energy or electricity. There are as many environmental and economic benefits as there are detriments to each issue, which presents a difficult challenge in evaluating the potential success of biomass as an alternative fuel. For instance, the replacement of coal by biomass could result in "a considerable reduction in net carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to the greenhouse effect. We are all aware of the problems

Biomass materials can be converted to various useful forms of energy such as heat, electricity and liquid fuels. The technologies used to convert biomass into energy ranged widely from the simple combustion of biomass used for cooking and heating in developing countries to a variety of technologies to generate modern energy carriers - electricity, gas, and liquid bio-fuels. Canada is using various materials including waste and residuals to generate electricity, heat and, bio-liquid fuels (bio-ethanol and biodiesel) (Defra UK et al. 2007). Biomass energy can be used at the household (-10 kW), community (-100 kW), or industrial (- MW) scale. Key biomass energy conversion technologies include thermal and thermochemical, and biological and biochemical.

Some organisms produce energy by photosynthesis. These organisms convert sunlight to energy that is chemical, and this energy is in the form of sugar (Freedman 2013). The sugars from these organisms can be used as biofuels by fermenting the sugars (Bourne 2007). Some photosynthetic organisms are more efficient than others. Based on our reading, I found out that algae plants are the most efficient organism for biofuel because they do not have cellulose and lignin that sugarcane and corn both possess (Bourne 2007). Biofuels could eventually replace diesel fuels that we continuously use, and will soon run out of. Diesel fuels have been proven to damage the environment, and biofuels would help this issue.

As an abundant, inexpensive, and renewable as well as environmentally-friendly (i.e. CO2-neutral) energy source, biomass energy has been a particular focus of researcher and policy makers as well as industries around the world (Chen, 2003). Renewable biomass presents an important research area for energy source, considering the current global crises of exhaustible sources of energy. Bioenergy is the 4th largest source of energy in the world, and it does not contribute to the global warming through emissions of CO2 or any other green-house gases. Biomass pyrolysis has witnessed exponential growth in its research and has been investigated extensively in the last few decades, first in the form of fixed bed reactors and later in the form of moving bed reactors (fluidized bed, auger bed etc). As the combustion of solid biomass is analogous to the combustion of other solid fuels, such as coal and waste, essentially the same technology is applicable to all solid fuels, although modifications are required to handle the high content of moisture and volatiles typically associated with biomass fuels (Duffy & Eaton, 2013). In this paper, which reviews the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of fixed/moving bed solid-gas reactors, biomass pyrolysis, gasification and combustion has been the focus of the study. Combustion of biomass in the presence of carrier gases like N2 etc has been extensively studied, with focus being on the numerical or CFD models which have

Nation’s socio-economic development leads to increased use of energy which cannot be fulfilled using renewable energy sources. Biomass energy is generated

To produce low-ash, high Btu briquettes form coal fine and timber wastes research works were done in the University of Kentucky. More than 70 million tons of coal fines are dumped at the abandoned site near the Appalachian coal fields. Combining the coal fine with the wastes from nearby timber industries briquettes were made and tested for various parameters. It was concluded that the briquettes were of premium quality and that offers near term practical solutions to generate green energy utilizing existing equipments [1]. There are works going on in designing energy management methods in biomass applications, as at least 15% of energy is wasted in drying the biomass before using in boilers or any other heating system. The typical moisture content of biomass varies from 50% to 63% by weight in most of the situations including the seasons and types of biomass. A low initial moisture level could utilize most of the energy released during combustion and it will make larger boiler unnecessary. Utilizing exhaust gases to preheat the input biomass to a lower level of moisture can conserve the energy significantly [3]. Though briquetting of biomass as a green fuel is a necessary solution, the primary importance of any biomass should be for feeding animals. In Mexico the excesses residues of corn, sugarcane, sorghum and wheat are briquetted and sent to livestock growing regions to handle dry seasons. There were other advantages like homogeneous

Biomass is a completely renewable source of energy: in addition to the energy it stores being from the sun, biomass can re-grow over a reasonably short time period.2 It is widely available and can be sourced from within the UK, and in fact every