What is biomass?
The term “biomass” refers to organic material that is derived directly from plants. It is produced through photosynthesis, the process used by plants to convert the sun’s energy into chemical energy. This chemical energy can then be extracted from the biomass through combustion to produce energy that can be used as heat or power.
Biomass is a class of renewable fuels that includes woody and herbaceous crops and residues, solid waste, sewage, and liquid fuels (such as alcohol and biodiesel) derived from agricultural products. Woody biomass comes from forest thinnings and residues. For example, the MDC forest at the Quabbin Reservoir is routinely thinned to promote healthy growth. The harvested logs are then sent to wood burning power plants in Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts. Outstanding examples of wood burning power plants include the 58-megawatt McNeil Station of the Burlington (VT) Electric Department and the 18-megawatt Pinetree Resources plant in Westminster, MA. Modern day forest practices are quite positive. For example, today, more than two-thirds of Massachusetts is covered with forests — that’s up from 30% 150 years ago. Agricultural biomass, such as soybeans and rapeseed, provide the resource for the manufacture of biodiesel fuels. A successful replacement for conventional diesel fuel, biodiesel re
Biomass is a fuel from any recently living organism, the form most readily available in the U.K. is chipped wood. This can be from woodland lop and top, purpose grown coppice or green wood residues from sawmills etc., beyond this, the primary source is miscanthus, a large fibrous grass and wood which is produced in a pelletised form. The use of biomass as an energy source has huge potential to reduce the climate change problems caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Fossil fuels are a form of ancient biomass. Burning these fossil fuels causes a release of CO2 that for millions of years has been fixed underground and transfers it to the atmosphere creating a carbon imbalance. Using biomass as an energy source creates a closed carbon cycle. As a biomass energy source grows CO2 is absorbed from the atmosphere, when it is burnt the CO2 stored by the biomass as is released, making biomass fuel carbon neutral. Most biomass fuels are clean, containing no noxious metals, chemicals or other pollut
Biomass is any sort of vegetation – trees, grasses, plant parts such as leaves, stems and twigs, and ocean plants. From biomass a wealth of stored energy can be extracted. During photosynthesis, plants combine carbon dioxide from the air and water from the ground to form carbohydrates, which form the building blocks of biomass. Solar energy that drives photosynthesis is stored in the chemical bonds of the structural components of biomass. If biomass is burned efficiently, carbon that is stored in biomass reacts with oxygen from the atmosphere. Thereby carbon dioxide and water are produced. Biomass can be used for several purposes: for the generation of electricity, heat, liquid fuels, gaseous fuels, and a variety of useful chemicals, including those currently manufactured from fossil fuels. Whether cultivated or growing wild, biomass represents a huge renewable energy source.
Biomass is a scientific term for living matter, but the word biomass is also used to denote products derived from living organisms – wood from trees, harvested grasses, plant parts and residues such as twigs, stems and leaves, as well as aquatic plants and animal wastes. All the Earth’s biomass exists in a thin surface layer called the biosphere. This represents only a tiny fraction of the total mass of the Earth, but in human terms it is an enormous store of energy – as fuel and as food. More importantly, it is a store which is being replenished continually. The source which supplies the energy is of course the Sun, and although only a tiny fraction of the solar energy reaching the Earth each year is converted into biomass, it is nevertheless equivalent to over five times total world energy consumption.
