What sort of plants are used as biomass fuels?
They can be fast-growing trees, grains, vegetable oils, agricultural residues or, as in the case of Brazil, sugar cane. Can you give some examples of the uses biomass fuels are put to today? With sugar cane, either the sugar or the bagasse can be used as a source of energy. The bagasse is what’s left after you squeeze the cane – and it’s very useful as fuel, animal feed, and construction material. Sugar mills use the bagasse as an energy source, to provide heat during the sugar-producing process. With modern technology the bagasse is used a lot more efficiently so there’s a lot left over that can then be used to generate electricity through a normal combustion/generation power plant. Imagine a sugar mill that uses the heat for producing sugar, but also feeds electricity to the grid, to the wires of the city. So, a food-producing industry becomes an energy-producing industry as well. They’re doing this in many countries. In Brazil they are also famous for using part of the sugar product
