East West University

Department of EEE

Renewable Energy
EEE445

Report
Topic: Biomass Energy

Group No. 01

Group Member
Asraful Haque Nirjhar 2006-1-80-003
Rifat Ahsan 2006-1-80-006
Rifat Ahmed 2006-2-80-012
Rajesh Mondal 2008-1-80-065
Sultan Mahmud 2006-1-80-011
Mehrin Hossain 2006-3-80-015
What is Biomass?
Biomass, a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living
organisms, such as wood, waste, (hydrogen) gas, and alcohol fuels. Biomass is commonly
plant matter grown to generate electricity or produce heat.

Chemical composition of Biomass:

Biomass is carbon based and is composed of a mixture of organic molecules containing
hydrogen, usually including atoms of oxygen, often nitrogen and also small quantities of
other atoms, including alkali, alkaline earth and heavy metals. 

Plants in particular combine water and carbon

dioxide to sugar building blocks. The required
energy is produced from light via photosynthesis
based on chlorophyll. On average, between 0.1
and 1 % of the available light is stored as
chemical energy in plants. The sugar building
blocks are the starting point for the major
fractions found in all terrestrial plants, lignin,
hemicelluloses and cellulose.

Why biomass is a renewable

source?:
Biomass takes carbon from the atmosphere while it is growing, and returns it as it is burned. 
If it is managed on a sustainable basis, biomass is harvested as part of a constantly
replenished crop. This is either during woodland or arboricultural management or coppicing
or as part of a continuous programmed of replanting with the new growth taking up CO 2 from
the atmosphere at the same time as it is released by combustion of the previous harvest.

Block Diagram:
Resources:
There are five basic categories of material:

 Virgin wood, from forestry, arboricultural activities or from wood processing.

 Energy crops: high yield crops grown specifically for energy applications.
 Agricultural residues: residues from agriculture harvesting or processing.
 Food waste, from food and drink manufacture, preparation and processing, and
post-consumer waste

Industrial waste and co-products from manufacturing and industrial processes.

Conversion Technologies:

There are a number of technological options available to make use of a wide variety of
biomass types as a renewable energy source. Conversion technologies may release the energy
directly, in the form of heat or electricity, or may convert it to another form, such as liquid
biofuel or combustible biogas. While for some classes of biomass resource there may be a
number of usage options, for others there may only one appropriate technology.

Biomass Technology Chart

Conversion Major Biomass Energy or Fuel

Technology
Process Type Feedstock Produced

Direct Thermo chemical wood heat

Combustion agricultural waste steam
60% to 95% municipal solid waste electricity
(mainly depending
on design and kind
residential waste
of operation and
maintenance.)

Gasification Thermo chemical wood low or medium-Btu

40% to 55% agricultural waste producer gas
municipal solid waste

Pyrolysis Thermo chemical wood synthetic fuel oil

agricultural waste (biocrude)
municipal solid waste charcoal

Anaerobic Biochemical animal manure medium Btu gas

Digestion (anaerobic) agricultural waste (methane)
25% to 40% landfills
wastewater

Ethanol Biochemical sugar or starch crops ethanol

Production (aerobic) wood waste
40% to 50% pulp sludge
 grass straw

Biodiesel Chemical rapeseed biodiesel

Production soy beans
waste vegetable oil
animal fats

Methanol Thermo chemical wood methanol

Production agricultural waste
municipal solid waste

How Much It Costs:

The cost of electricity from biomass energy depends on the type of bio fuel used, how it's
converted to electricity and the size of the plant. Power plants that burn biomass directly
currently generate electricity at a cost of between 7 and 9 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Fig: Estimated Cost of Renewable Energy Options (Cents per kWh)

Advantages:

 Biomass can be found on every square meter of the earth as seaweed, trees
or dung. 
 It is easy to convert to a high energy portable fuel such as alcohol or gas. 
 It is cheap in contrast to the other energy sources.
 Biomass production can often mean the restauration of waste land (e.g.
deforested areas). 
 It may also use areas of unused agricultural land and provide jobs in rural
communities. 
  If it is produced on a renewable basis using biomass energy does not result
in a net carbon dioxide increase as plants absorb it when they grow. 
 It is very low in sulphur reducing the production of acid rain. Because
energy crop fuel contains almost no sulfur and has significantly less nitrogen
than fossil fuels -- reductions in pollutants causing acid rain (SO2) and smog
(NOx) may be realized -- improving our air quality.

Biomass Energy & Pollution:   An additional environmental benefit is in water

quality, as energy crop fuel contains less mercury than coal. Also, energy crop farms
using environmentally pro-active designs will create water quality filtration zones,
uptaking and sequestering pollutants such as phosphorus and particulates from soils
that leach into water bodies.

Disadvantages of Biomass energy:

 Biomass is not carbon neutral:

Biomass generates more carbon than coal. The biggest argument against biomass is
that it produces carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Fig: Carbon Reductions of Renewable Energy Options (Carbon ton/MWh)

 Biomass energy is inefficient:

 Biomass sanitizes and mines our forests:

The dispersed nature of wood as a fuel source combined with its low energy value
means any sizeable energy plant must burn a lot of wood. For instance, 50 megawatt
biomass plant would require roughly 32,500 acres of forest each year if running at
near full capacity and entirely on wood.

 Biomass energy uses large amounts of water:

A large-scale biomass plant (50 MW) uses close to a million gallons of water a day
for cooling. Most of that water is lost from the watershed since approximately 85% is
lost as steam. Water channeled back into a river or stream typically has a pollution
cost as well, including higher water temperatures that negatively impact fisheries,
 especially trout. Since cooling need is greatest in warm weather, removal of water
from rivers occurs just when flows are lowest, and fish are most susceptible to
temperature stress.
 Unavailability of Resources:
Biomass crops are not available all year. Corn, wheat, barley and the like are
seasonal crops. They are not available all year. Trees are also a slow growing
resource even though they are renewable. This would also tend to be a negative on
the side of biomass fuels.

Biomass resources in Bangladesh.

The economy of Bangladesh depends principally on agriculture. The main crops
produced are rice, sugar cane, vegetables, wheat, jute, pulses, coconuts, maize,
millet, cotton and groundnuts. Agricultural crops generate large quantities of
residues. Such residues represent an important source of energy both for
domestic and industrial use. Other sources of biomass are farm-animal wastes
and poultry droppings, fire-wood, tree residues and saw dust from the forestry
industry. The 138.1 million citizens of Bangladesh produce huge amounts of
human waste and municipal solid waste (MSW) annually.

Agricultural residues: There are two types of agricultural crop residues: field
residues and processing residues. Studies in some neighboring Asian countries
produced useful residue-to-yield ratios for several agricultural crops. Crop
residues can be collected, mostly by bailing, either at the same time or after the
primary crop has been harvested. Not all field residues are recoverable. The
percentage of field residues of a crop to be recycled onto the land depends upon
the specific local climatic and soil conditions. No specific data is available
concerning the common practices in Bangladesh or the neighboring Asian
countries. However, in developed countries, it has been established that only
about 35% of field crop residues can be removed without adverse effects on
future yields. Crop processing residues, on the other hand, have a 100%
recovery factor. Accordingly, it is estimated that the total annual amount of
recoverable agricultural-crop residues in Bangladesh is about 42 MT of which
63% are field residues and 37% are process residues.

Animal wastes and poultry droppings: Manure from cattle, goats, buffaloes
and sheep are the common animal wastes in Bangladesh. The quantity of waste
produced per animal per day varies depending on body size, type of feed and
level of nutrition. The average amount of droppings (on air dry basis) produced
by broilers and layers are 0.02 and 0.03 kg/bird/day respectively. The
recovery/collection factors for animal waste and poultry droppings were
reported in several studies to be 60% and 50% respectively. Accordingly, it is
estimated that the total annual amount of recoverable animal wastes and poultry
droppings in Bangladesh is 20.619 MT.

Human waste and MSW: The total quantity of human waste generated in
Bangladesh has been estimated as 4.537 MT of dry matter/year (corresponding
to 0.09 kg/capita/day). The rate of generation of MSW in the urban areas of
Bangladesh is 0.4 kg/capita/day whereas the rate varies between 0.4 to 0.5 in
Indian cities. In rural areas of Bangladesh, the generation rate is only 0.15
kg/capita/day. Considering that human waste and MSW are 100% recoverable,
the total annual amount of the biomass available from these two sources in
Bangladesh is 14.793 MT.

Area distribution of Different Land use Category Table -1

Land Use Category Area (Million Hectare) Percent

Agriculture 9.57 64.9%
State Forest
Classified 1.52 10.3
Unclassified 0.73 5
Private Forest
Homestead 0.27 1.8
Tea/Rubber Garden 0.01 0.5
Urban 1.16 7.9
Water 0.94 6.4
Other 0.49 3.2
Total 100
 
Table - 2 Total Forest Land of Bangladesh
Area (Million
Category of Forests Percentage
Hectare)
Forest Department Managed
1.52 10.30
Forests
Unclassed State Forest 0.73 4.95
Village Forest 0.27 1.83
Total 2.52 17.08

Table - 3 Forest Area Managed by FD

Area (Million
Category of Forests Percentage
Hectare)
Hill Forests 0.67 4.54
Natural Mangrove
0.60 4.07
Forests
Mangrove Plantations 0.13 0.88
Plain Land Sal Forest 0.12 0.81
Total 1.52 10.30