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| What is Biomass |
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Biomass is all plant or organic matter of recent origin. Harvesting biomass such as crops, trees or dung and using it to generate energy such as heat, electricity or motion. It doesn't include fossil fuels, which have taken millions of years to evolve. The CO2 released when energy is generated from biomass is balanced by that absorbed during the fuel's production. We call this a carbon neutral process.
Biomass is often called 'bioenergy' or 'biofuels'. These biofuels are produced from organic materials, either directly from plants or indirectly from industrial, commercial, domestic or agricultural products. Biofuels fall into two main categories:
- Woody biomass includes forest products, untreated wood products, energy crops, short rotation coppice (SRC), e.g. willow.
- Non-woody biomass includes animal waste, industrial and biodegradable municipal products from food processing and high energy crops, e.g. rape, sugar cane, maize.
For small-scale domestic applications of biomass the fuel usually takes the form of wood pellets, wood chips and wood logs.
Biomass is a very broad term which is used to describe material of recent biological origin that can be used either as a source of energy or for its chemical components. As such, it includes trees, crops, algae and other plants, as well as agricultural and forest residues. It also includes many materials that are considered as wastes by our society including food and drink manufacturing effluents, sludges, manures, industrial (organic) by-products and the organic fraction of household waste.
Biomass can further be divided into more specific terminology, with different terms for different end uses: heating, power (electricity) generation or transportation. We tend to use the term 'bioenergy' for biomass energy systems that produce heat and/or electricity and 'biofuels' for liquid fuels for transportation. Bioenergy can also be used for cooling using absorption chillers that work on the same principle as your refrigerator.
In many ways biomass can be considered as a form of stored solar energy. The energy of the sun is 'captured' through the process of photosynthesis in growing plants.
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. The primary source is miscanthus, a large fibrous grass and wood which is produced in a pelletised form.
Sources of biomass include; woody products, wood waste, tree lopping. Agricultural waste, crop residue, processing waste and animal waste. All of which can be processed in to a fuel that can replace the use of coal for heating and power generation. Biomass products and variants tend to produce better heat value, less smoke and pollution and the end result is less ash to dispose of.
Biomass encourages:
- Additional planting and management of woodland
- Reduction in carbon dioxide
- Reduction in global warming
- Reduction in waste to the landfill
- An alternative source of energy to fossil based fuel, such as coal.
Woodchip, pellet and briquette are a form of biomass that is ideal for housing and commerical use, as a replacement for coal. |
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