An introduction to biomass energy

Renewable energy is energy that comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable (natural replenishment). Around 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is used mainly for heating, and 3.4% from hydroelectricity.

Biomass energy costs less than energy from fossil fuels like oil and natural gas. Widely available biomass fuels include wood chips, agricultural waste, and all kinds of residual products.

What is biomass?
Biomass means “natural material”. When the biomass energy is burned, heat is released, just like the wood logs in the campfire. Biomass energy uses natural materials like trees and plants to produce electricity. It can also mean waste products like garbage. It is the second most common form of renewable energy we use and provides enough electricity to power millions of homes.

Why is biomass emerging as a leading renewable energy?
For the past few years, solar and wind solutions have been the leading renewable energy option due to the huge tax benefits of government-backed schemes. The government has changed these schemes recently because a large number of farmers started exploiting such schemes for huge profit by covering their land with wind turbines and solar panels. New government-backed lean schemes to encourage people to invest in biomass boiler systems.

Another reason why biomass has become so popular is that it is a very clean and renewable source of energy and fuel. There are many advantages of using biomass. Not only is it a cheap source, but it also doesn’t add any CO2 to the atmosphere. Biomass is a sensible idea as it uses garbage and waste products in a way that helps the environment. It also helps keep the earth’s non-renewable resources available for future generations. However, it does create a small trace of greenhouse gases when it is done. It can also take time to find enough sources to convert into energy and biomass fuels.

Reduced use of landfills
A part of the landfills is made up of woody biomass from construction, sawmill activities, removal of wooden pallets, etc. Waste from food processing, paper industries, and household garbage also contain organic matter that could be turned into energy. Using these materials to create energy as biomass means less landfill space is needed, thus further protecting our environment.

How is electricity created with biomass?
Direct combustion is the simplest and most common method to capture the energy contained in biomass. In general, these facilities (boilers) produce steam to be used within an industrial process or to produce electricity directly. They can also produce heat, which is then captured for one purpose or another.

Direct combustion technology is very similar to that used for coal. Biomass and coal can be handled and burned in essentially the same way because coal is simply fossilized biomass heated and compressed over millions of years. The process that coal undergoes as it is heated and compressed deep within the earth adds elements such as sulfur and mercury to the coal, elements that produce harmful emissions when burned. Since biomass does not contain these dangerous elements, its combustion does not produce dangerous emissions.