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Biomass Energy

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Tawfeeq Wasmi Mohammed Salih

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 Biomass Energy
Tawfeeq W. Mohammed, Oct. 2021

Definition
Biomass is an organic material that comes from living organisms, such as plants and animals. The most
common biomass materials used for energy are plants, wood, and waste products. Biomass is one of the
renewable energy sources. The energy from these organisms can be transformed into usable energy
through direct and indirect means. Biomass can be burned to create heat (direct), or processed
into biofuel (indirect). Different types of energy are created through several ways such as: direct firing,
co-firing, pyrolysis, gasification, and anaerobic decomposition. All these ways involve thermal
conversion. Thermal conversion involves heating the biomass feedstock in order to burn, dehydrate, or
stabilize it. The most familiar biomass feedstocks for thermal conversion are raw materials such as
municipal solid waste (MSW) and scraps from paper or lumber mills. Before burning the biomass, it
must be dried. This chemical process is called torrefaction. During torrefaction, biomass is heated to
about 200 °C or more. If the biomass dries out completely it loses about 20% of its original mass, but
retains 90% of its energy. Briquettes of dried mass have high energy density levels. Biomass can also
be co-fired, or burned with a fossil fuel. Biomass is most often co-fired in coal plants. Co-
firing eliminates the need for new factories for processing the biomass. This reduces the amount of
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released by burning fossil fuels only.
 Biomass Energy Tawfeeq W. Mohammed

Sources of biomass
1. Wood: Wood biomass as any timber-derived product (softwood or hardwood) capable of being
converted to energy through direct combustion or gasification. Wood may converted to solid
fuel through pelletizing, or to liquid fuel through myriad processes. While wood biomass may
include any part of the tree, cost differential in the various components is a primary limiting
factor.
2. Agricultural crops: Wheat, rice, rapeseed, sunflower, soybeans, corn, sugarcane, and sugar
beets are all examples of this type of agricultural bio-mass products. The sugar from corn, sugar
beets, and sugar cane are commonly fermented to produce ethanol. Oilseed crops such as
rapeseed, sunflower, and soy-beans can be refined into biodiesel.
3. Animal waste: One of the renewable energy sources is biomass of animals such as cow dung, in
which converted into energy via gasification process. In some cases, cow dung is so abundant
that is easily fed to bio-digester to produce biogas.
4. Algae: These organisms have enormous potential as a source of biomass energy. The most familiar
form of algae is seaweed, where it can be grown in ocean water so it does not deplete freshwater
resources. It also does not require soil, and therefore does not reduce arable land that could
potentially grow food crops. Algae contain oils that can be converted to a biofuel. Algae can be
processed under certain heat and pressure creating “green crude” which has similar properties to
crude oil, and can be used as biofuel.
5. Sewage sludge: Treatment of sewage results in another sources of biomass. The major part of
the dry matter content of this sludge consists of nontoxic organic compounds, which is a
combination of primary sludge and secondary (microbiological) sludge. The sludge also
contains a substantial amount of inorganic material and a small amount of toxic components.
Therefore, there are many options to produce energy (heat, electricity, or biofuel) as one of the
key treatment steps.
6. Industrial residues: Include waste materials that generated from many sectors of industry,
especially food industry such as meat production, solid wastes from peeling of fruit and
vegetables as well as food that does not meet quality control standards. All that waste can be
used as biomass energy sources. The potential for these industrial wastes to be anaerobically
digested to produce biogas, or fermented to produce ethanol, and several commercial examples
of waste-to-energy conversion are already exist.

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Advantages of biomass
Biomass is a clean, renewable energy source. Its initial energy comes from the sun, where plants or
algae biomass can regrow in a relatively short amount of time. Trees, crops, and municipal solid waste
are consistently available and can be managed sustainably. If trees and crops are sustainably farmed,
they can offset carbon emissions when they absorb carbon dioxide through respiration. In some
bioenergy processes, the amount of carbon that is re-absorbed even exceeds the carbon emissions that
are released during fuel processing or usage. Many biomass feedstocks, such as switch grass, can be
harvested on marginal lands or pastures, where they do not compete with food crops. Unlike other
renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar, biomass energy is stored within the organism, and can
be harvested when it is needed.

Disadvantages of biomass
If biomass feedstocks are not replenished as quickly as they are used, they become non-renewable. A
forest, for instance, can take hundreds of years to re-establish itself. This is still a much shorter time
period than a fossil fuel such as peat. It can take 900 years for just a meter (3 feet) of peat to replenish
itself. Most biomass requires arable land to develop. This means that land used for biofuel crops such
as corn and soybeans are unavailable to grow food or provide natural habitats. Most biomass plants
require fossil fuels to be economically efficient. Biomass has a lower “energy density” than fossil fuels.
As much as 50% of biomass is water, which is lost in the energy conversion process. However,
converting biomass into pellets (as opposed to wood chips or larger briquettes) can increase the fuel’s
energy density and make it more advantageous to ship. Burning biomass releases carbon monoxide,
carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and other pollutants and particulates. If these pollutants are not
captured and recycled, burning biomass can create smog and contribute to the pollutants released by
fossil fuels.

Main biomass processes

Pyrolysis: Pyrolysis is a method of heating the biomass for energy purposes. During pyrolysis,
biomass is heated to 200-300 °C without the presence of oxygen. This keeps it from combusting and
causes the biomass to be chemically altered. Pyrolysis produces dark liquid called pyrolysis oil,
synthetic gas called syngas, and a solid residue called biochar. All of these components can be used for
energy purposes. Pyrolysis oil, sometimes called bio-oil or bio-crude, is a type of tar. It can be
combusted to generate electricity and is also used as a component in other fuels or plastics. Scientists
and engineers are studying pyrolysis oil as a possible alternative to petroleum. Syngas can be converted
into fuel (such as synthetic natural gas). It can also be converted into methane and used as a
replacement for natural gas. Biochar is a type of charcoal which is used for heating and cooking.
Biochar is a carbon-rich solid that is particularly useful in agriculture. Biochar enriches soil and
prevents it from leaching pesticides and other nutrients into runoff.
Gasification: Biomass can also be converted to energy through gasification. During the gasification
process, a biomass feedstock is heated to more than 700 °C with a controlled amount of oxygen. The
molecules break down, and produce syngas with an amount of slag. The syngas is a combination of
hydrogen and carbon monoxide. During gasification, syngas is cleaned of sulfur, mercury, and other
pollutants. The clean syngas can be combusted for heating or electricity production, or processed into
transportation biofuels, chemicals, and fertilizers.

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 Biomass Energy Tawfeeq W. Mohammed

Anaerobic decomposition: In this process, microorganisms such as bacteria break down the material
in absence of oxygen. Anaerobic decomposition is an important process in landfills, where biomass is
crushed and compressed, creating an anaerobic system or oxygen-poor environment. In an anaerobic
environment, biomass decays and produces methane, which is a valuable energy source. The producing
of biogas in an anaerobic environment is called “anaerobic digestion”. Anaerobic digestion is a natural
form of waste-to-energy process that uses the fermentation to break down organic matter. Animal
manure, food scraps and sewage are all examples of organic matter that can produce biogas by
anaerobic digestion. Due to the high content of methane in biogas (typically 50-75%) biogas is
flammable, and therefore produces a deep blue flame.
In general, biogas digesters receive organic matter, which decompose in a digestion chamber. The
digestion chamber is fully submerged in water, making it an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment. The
anaerobic environment allows for microorganisms to break down the organic material, and convert it
into biogas. Because the organic material decomposes in a liquid environment, nutrients present in the
waste dissolve into the water, and create a nutrient-rich sludge, typically used as fertilizer for plants.
This fertilizer output is generated on a daily basis, and therefore is a highly productive by-product of
anaerobic digestion. Four stages of fermentation move the organic material from their initial
composition into their biogas state, as following:
1. In the first stage, hydrolysis stage, insoluble organic polymers (such as carbohydrates) are broken
down, making it accessible to bacteria called “acidogenic bacteria” to work.
2. The acideogenic bacteria convert sugar and amino acid into carbon dioxide, hydrogen, ammonia, and
organic acids.
3. Then, the acetogenic bacteria convert the organic acids into acetic acid, hydrogen, ammonia, and
carbon dioxide, allowing for the final stage, the methanogens.
4. The methanogens convert these final components into methane and carbon dioxide- which can then
be used as a flammable, green energy.

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 Biomass Energy Tawfeeq W. Mohammed

Further techniques by biomass

Biofuel: Biomass can be converted into liquid biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. Biofuel is used to
power vehicles, and is being produced by gasification in countries such as Sweden, Austria, and the
United States. Ethanol is made by fermenting biomass that is high in carbohydrates, such as sugar cane,
wheat, or corn. Biodiesel is made from combining ethanol with animal fat, recycled cooking fat, or
vegetable oil. Biofuels do not operate as efficiently as gasoline. However, they can be blended with
gasoline to efficiently power vehicles and machinery, and do not release the emissions associated with
fossil fuels. Ethanol requires wide areas of farmland to grow bio-crops (usually corn). About 1,515
liters (400 gallons) of ethanol is produced by an acre of corn.

Hydrogen fuel cells: Biomass is rich in hydrogen, which can be chemically extracted and used for
energy purposes. Hydrogen fuel cells can be used to provide electricity, hot water for buildings, or as
fuel for vehicles. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that biomass has the potential to produce
40 million tons of hydrogen per year. This would be enough to fuel 150 million vehicles. Currently,
hydrogen fuel cells are used to power buses, forklifts, boats, and submarines, and are being tested on
airplanes and other vehicles. The processes of: isolate, compress, package, and transport the hydrogen
are still difficult for practical use.

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Gasification process
Gasification is a thermochemical process that converts a solid or liquid substance of carbonic
composition into a gaseous fuel by providing it with a gasifying agent. It differs from typical burning
by keeping the amount of oxygen present in the process at lower quantities than those needed for
combustion. In its raw form, the gas generated is known as producer gas but by ridding it of its
impurities, synthesis gas is formed, ideally comprised of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The process
is characterized by four different sub-processes: drying, pyrolysis, combustion or oxidation and
reduction.
1. Drying: The first step in gasification process is the heating of the fuel particles up to 200 ºC to
decrease the water content in the material. Water presents in the biomass chore or surface evaporates
thus the moisture content in biomass reduced below 5%.

2. Pyrolysis: Pyrolysis is required for the degradation of material which caused by heat. It is an
intricate process that depends on temperature, pressure and heat losses. Below 200ºC, only water is
driven off. From 200ºC to 280ºC acetic acid and water are produced. In the 280-500ºC range, real
pyrolysis occurs and producing large quantities of volatile gases, CO and CO2. In the range 500-700ºC,
gas production is small and contains Hydrogen mostly. Some of the volatile gases cool down and
condensate forming a liquid material that is comprised of two phases, an aqueous phase with organic
compounds of low molecular weight, and a non-aqueous phase containing organic compounds of high
molecular weights, known as tar. The overall process is generalized by the equation:

Solid fuel → CO + CO2 + CH4 + H2 + H2O + Tar + Charcoal

3. Combustion or oxidation: At this phase, an externally supplied oxidation agent reacts with the
volatile gases and charcoal generated in the pyrolysis stage. The typical oxidation agents could be: air, pure
oxygen, and water vapor. Combustion is the net exothermic process of all processes in gasification.
Meaning it is the main energy source of the system. It constitutes the part of the gasifier with highest
temperatures, with particular designs reaching values of up to 1700ºC. It is important, in this stage, to
get a good mixing and high enough temperature so that the tar and gases from pyrolysis can be used to
generate heat. The following reactions may occur in the combustion stage:

C + O2 → CO2 - 392 kJ/mol

C +1/2 O2 → CO - 110 kJ/mol
CH4 + 2O2 → CO2 + 2H2O - 803 kJ/mol
2H2 + O2 → 2H2O - 242 kJ/mol

4. Reduction: In the stage, a series of mostly endothermic reactions take place creating fuel rich in
combustible gases such as carbon monoxide, methane and hydrogen. This fuel, when compared to solid
fuels, allows for cleaner combustion, thus it is more environmentally friendly as less pollutant gases are
set free into the atmosphere. At temperatures above 725ºC it is common for carbon to react with carbon
dioxide. The water gas reaction usually occurs if the environment has a high temperature and a low
pressure. An increase in temperature may also give place to an unbalance between CO, CO2, H2 and
H2O resulting in the water-gas shift reaction. It does nonetheless incur an alteration in the gaseous
mixture, having a significant toll in the ratio between H2 and CO. The tars formed in the pyrolysis stage
also undergo secondary cracking in this stage.

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 Biomass Energy Tawfeeq W. Mohammed

The main equations that occur in this stage are:

Types of gasifiers
Gasifiers may be differentiated according to many factors including gasyfing agent, heat supply,
pressure profile or design. In spite of this, four major types of gasifier dominate the industry: updraft or
downdraft as a fixed bed category and bubbling or circulating as a fluidized bed category.
A. Fixed bed gasifiers: These are the simplest types and are classified according to the direction of
fuel flow relative to the direction of gasifying agent flow. Normally the fuel is fed from the top
of the gasifier, and hence, when the gasifying agent is supplied from the bottom, the gasifier is
called counter-current or updraft (gas is withdrawn from up), whilst if the agent is supplied
above the reduction zone, the gasifier is called co-current or downdraft (gas is withdrawn from
down). Generally, downdraft type produces less tar thus it is cleaner but less size and efficiency
comparing to the updraft type. The reason behind that is due to the difficulty in controlling the
temperature profile between the processes, which makes the gas exit at very high temperature
thus less heat value.

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 Biomass Energy Tawfeeq W. Mohammed

B. Fluidized bed gasifiers: These types are cylindrical columns containing free passages for
gaseous, liquids or particles to flow. At a certain fluid velocity, the particles become suspended.
This happens when the fluids ascending force equals the particles weight, at which point the
particles are deemed fluidized and the velocity is called “minimum fluidization velocity”. The
outcome is a high surface area to make contact with the fuel, this being the highest advantage of
this category. Due to the intense mixing of the difference zones, no distinction between the
phases of the gasification process can be recognized and the temperature along the bed is
uniform. Comparing them to fixed bed gasifiers, they have higher heat exchange rates, flexible
biomass properties and relatively low ash melting points. The difference between the bubbling
and circulating types is the fluid’s velocity being higher in the circulating type which also
requires the inclusion of a cyclone separator to bring elutriated bed material back to the gasifier.
This makes the circulating type has higher gasification rate, conversion rate of tar and more
suitable for large scale applications.

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