Energy from Biomass

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Biomass
Biomass is biological material
derived from living organisms. It
most often refers to plants or
plant-derived materials

As an energy source, biomass can

either be used directly via
combustion to produce heat, or
indirectly after converting it to
various forms of biofuel
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Biofuels
 Biofuels are a class of renewable energy derived from living materials.
 The most common biofuels are corn ethanol, biodiesel, and biogas from
organic byproducts.
 Energy from renewable resources puts less strain on the limited supply
of fossil fuels, which are considered nonrenewable resources
 The biomass can be converted to convenient energy containing
substances in three different ways: thermal conversion, chemical
conversion, and biochemical conversion.
 The biomass conversion can result in fuel in solid, liquid, or gas form.

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First Generation Biofuels
 First generation biofuels are derived from food-based sources, such as
sugarcane and corn starch etc., usually via fermentation process
 Utilizing food-based resource for fuel production magnifies food shortage
problem
 Examples:
 Ethanol, Methanol, Other bioalcohols
 Biodiesel, Green diesel
 Biofuel gasoline
 Vegetable oil
 Bio ethers
 Biogas
 Syngas
 Solid biofuels

Second Generation Biofuels

 Second generation biofuels utilize non-food-based biomass sources such
as agriculture and municipal waste.
 It mostly consists of lignocellulosic biomass which is not edible and is a

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 Agricultural waste

Rice husk from rice mills

Bagasse from sugar mills

Residue from palm oil extraction plants

Wood residue from pulp and paper industry

Wood residue from sawmills.

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 Biomass - Examples
Barley (grains, straw) Sun flowers
Canola (seeds, stalks) Sweet potatoes
Corn (grains, stalks & Wheat (grains, straw)
stover) Coconuts
Oats (grains, straw) Oil palm
Potatoes (tubers, tops) Pine
Soybeans Poplar
Sugar beets
Sugar cane

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Advantages of biofuels:
 It makes sense to use waste materials where we can.
 The fuel tends to be cheap.
 Less demand on the Earth’s resources

Disadvantages of biofuels:
 Collecting the waste in sufficient quantities can be difficult.
 Some waste materials are not available all year round.

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 Biomass Characteristics
Biomass is a renewable source and its application, as fuel, provides zero
overall CO2 emissions to environment.
Most of the biomass present low-ash content, which decreases the
problems related to residual disposal, equipment cleaning, and various
other operational aspects. However, rice hulls and straws, among others,
are exceptions to that characteristic.
Biomass allows flexibility regarding location of power plants because, in
several situations, energy forests may be set near the power plant, and not
the other way around, as it happens with most coal-based units.
Existing industrial units employ biomass for other main purposes and can
generate electric power for their own consumption or even as a sub-
product.
On the other hand, if compared with coal, biomass presents some
disadvantages, such as high moisture, alkali (K, Na), and chlorine contents
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 Biomass Conversion

Conversion of biomass to biofuel can be achieved by

different methods which are broadly classified as:

1. Thermal
2. Chemical
3. Biochemical

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  Thermal Conversion
 Thermal conversion processes use heat as the dominant mechanism to
convert biomass into another chemical form.
 Combustion
 Pyrolysis
 Gasification
 Chemical Conversion
 A range of chemical processes may be used to convert biomass into
other forms
 Fischer-Tropsch process (Conversion of CO and H2 to ‘HC fuels’)
 Transesterification (Reaction of esters with alcohols to form ‘HC fuels’)
 Biochemical Conversion
 Biochemical conversion makes use of the enzymes of bacteria and
other microorganisms to break down biomass
 Anaerobic digestion
 Fermentation (Consumption of sugar in the absence of oxygen)
 Composting(Composting is the biological decomposition of organic waste such as
food or plant material by bacteria, fungi, worms and other organisms under
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 Biochemical Conversion

Biochemical conversion of biomass involves use of bacteria,

microorganisms and enzymes to breakdown biomass into
gaseous or liquid fuels, such as biogas or bioethanol.
The most popular biochemical technologies are anaerobic
digestion and fermentation.
Anaerobic digestion is a series of chemical reactions during
which organic material is decomposed through the metabolic
pathways of naturally occurring microorganisms in an oxygen
depleted environment.
Biomass wastes can also yield liquid fuels, such as cellulosic
ethanol, which can be used to replace petroleum-based fuels.

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 Anaerobic Digestion

Anaerobic digestion is the natural biological process which

stabilizes organic waste in the absence of air and transforms
it into biofertilizer and biogas.
Anaerobic digestion is a reliable technology for the treatment
of wet, organic waste.
Organic waste from various sources is biochemically
degraded in highly controlled, oxygen-free conditions
circumstances resulting in the production of biogas which can
be used to produce both electricity and heat.
Biogas can be used for producing electricity and heat, as a
natural gas substitute and a transportation fuel.

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 Fermentation
Fermentation, as we know, is the process used for brewing
wine and beer.
It involves the conversion of sugar rich biomass plants
(sugarcane, corn) into alcohol through the addition of bacteria,
yeasts and enzymes.
The same process is further extended to include distillation to
obtain Ethanol (ethyl alcohol).
Ethanol is used as a green substitute for gasoline or as a fuel
enhancer.
Research suggests that Biobutanol, a derivative of ethanol,
can eliminate the use of gasoline in petrol engines.
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 Methane Production in Landfills
Every city or town has its own landfill(s) where all the garbage of
the locality is dumped.
Inside these landfills, bacteria naturally decomposes and
consumes the organic matter in the mounds of dumped waste and
releases gases that are rich in methane content (around 50%).
This methane from the landfills can be properly channeled to
generate electricity, fire boilers, and transferred through pipelines
to renewable natural gas plants.
Otherwise, if emitted in the atmosphere, methane can cause
serious environmental damage. With the ongoing urbanization
and industrialization around the world, methane from landfills
can serve as a viable source of bioenergy and result in effective
waste management as well.
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Transesterification
The chemical process that converts plant and animal oils into
biodiesel is called Transesterification.
During this process, vegetable oils and animal fats are forced to
react with a catalyst (sodium hydroxide and methanol or ethanol),
resulting in the production of glycerol and fatty acid esters. These
fatty acid esters are what we call biodiesel.
Biodiesel can be sourced from plants like soybeans, rapeseed,
palm, corn, sunflower and animal fats, poultry fats and fish oils
and even used cooking oils from restaurants.
Recent developments have resulted in the generation of biodiesel
from algae and bacteria stains.
Biodiesel is widely produced and consumed in the European
28 Union as a substitute for petrol and diesel.
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 Thank You

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