What is Biomass Energy?

The Biomass is an organic matter that can be used as a source of energy. It is

derived from the energy crops to agricultural residues and waste and from the
living organisms. Examples of biomass sources are wood products, dried vegetarians,
crop residues, aquatic plants, and much more. These are used to create a biofuel.
Biofuel, however, is categorized as first generation or second generation. Examples
of first generation biofuel are fuels that come from sugarcane and cornstarch while
second generation fuels are fuels that come from the sources of agriculture and
municipal waste.

The heat produced by these fuels undergo combustion which is now ready to provide
energy for heating and cooking, of electricity, chemicals, and liquid fuels. About
14 percent of the energy supply in the world comes from the use of biomass energy.
Some developing countries have been using biomass energy such as Kenya (75%), India
(50%), China (33%), and Brazil (25%). Aside from that, industrialized countries
also make use of it as an energy source, like Finland (18%), Ireland (16%), Sweden
(9%) and USA (3%).

Biomass is a carbon-based mixture of organic molecules containing hydrogen, oxygen,

nitrogen and other small quantities of other atoms such as alkali, alkaline earth,
and heavy metals. The conversion of the Biomass to biofuel is achieved by different
methods such as thermal, chemical, and biochemical conversions. In thermal
conversion, heat is used as a dominant mechanism to convert into another chemical
form. In chemical conversion, the conversion of biomass into another form is by
using the coal-based processes such as Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, Methanol
production, Olefins, and chemical or fuel feedstocks. On the other hand, the
biochemical conversion makes use of the enzymes of bacteria and other
microorganisms to break down the biomass.

ADDITION

Biomass includes all of the earth's living matter, plants and animals, and the
remains of this living matter. Plant biomass is a renewable energy source that is
produced through photosynthesis when plants capture carbon dioxide from the air and
combine it with water to form carbohydrates and oxygen under the influence of
sunlight. The chemical energy in plants gets passed on to animals and people that
eat the plants. Biomass does not include plant or animal matter that has been
converted by geologic processes to create fossil fuels such as oil or coal.

Biomass is fuel that is developed from organic materials, a renewable and

sustainable source of energy used to create electricity or other forms of power.

Some examples of materials that make up biomass fuels are:

scrap lumber;
forest debris;
certain crops;
manure; and
some types of waste residues.
What Wastes Are Used for Energy Production?

A wide variety of wastes can be used to generate energy in the same way that energy
crops can. These include residues from forestry operations, wastes from the
construction and furniture making industries, agricultural wastes such as corn
stover and animal wastes, municipal solid waste, food waste, and commercial and
industrial waste.

With a constant supply of waste from construction and demolition activities, to

wood not used in papermaking, to municipal solid waste green energy production
can continue indefinitely.

Biomass is a renewable source of fuel to produce energy because:

waste residues will always exist in terms of scrap wood, mill residuals and
forest resources; and
properly managed forests will always have more trees, and we will always have crops
and the residual biological matter from those crops.