Reference : https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/biomass/#:~:text=Biomass%20is%20renewable%20organic%20material,gaseous%20fuels%20through%20various%20processes
Webmaster : Saksorn Choosuk M.5/3 No.44
Biomass—renewable energy from plants and animals
Biomass is renewable organic material that comes from plants and animals. Biomass contains stored chemical energy from the sun that is produced by plants through photosynthesis. Biomass can be burned directly for heat or converted to liquid and gaseous fuels through various processes
Biomass sources for energy include:
- Wood and wood processing waste—firewood, wood pellets, and wood chips, lumber and furniture mill sawdust and waste, and black liquor from pulp and paper mills
- Agricultural crops and waste materials—corn, soybeans, sugar cane, switchgrass, woody plants, algae, and crop and food processing residues, mostly to produce biofuels
- Biogenic materials in municipal solid waste—paper products; cotton and wool products; and food, yard, and wood wastes
- Animal manure and human sewage for producing biogas (renewable natural gas)
Biomass can be converted to energy in different ways
Biomass is converted to energy through various processes, including:
- Direct combustion (burning) to produce heat
- Thermochemical conversion to produce solid, gaseous, and liquid fuels
- Chemical conversion to produce liquid fuels
- Biological conversion to produce liquid and gaseous fuels
Direct combustion is the most common method for converting biomass to useful energy. All biomass can be burned directly for heating buildings and water, for providing industrial process heat, and for generating electricity in steam turbines.
Pyrolysis entails heating organic materials to between 800° F and 900° F (400° C and 500° C) in the nearly complete absence of free oxygen. Biomass pyrolysis produces fuels such as charcoal, bio-oil, renewable diesel, methane, and hydrogen.
Hydrotreating is used to process bio-oil (produced by fast pyrolysis) with hydrogen under elevated temperatures and pressures in the presence of a catalyst to produce renewable diesel, renewable gasoline, and renewable jet fuel.
Gasification entails heating organic materials to between 1,400° F and 1,700 F (800° C and 900° C) with injections of controlled amounts of free oxygen or steam into the vessel to produce a carbon monoxide- and hydrogen-rich gas called synthesis gas or syngas. Syngas can be used as a fuel for diesel engines, for heating, and for generating electricity in gas turbines. It can also be treated to separate the hydrogen from the gas, and the hydrogen can be burned or used in fuel cells. The syngas can be further processed to produce liquid fuels using the Fischer–Tropsch process.
