Biomass

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Bioenergy > Feedstocks > Biomass

Wood is a form of biomass.

Used in its more general sense, biomass refers to the total mass of living matter in a given area. Within the context of bioenergy, biomass generally refers to organic material from plants and animals, including agricultural and municipal waste products, but excluding food products.

• Biomass such as cow dung or wood (that is, "traditional biomass") have been used traditionally throughout the world. However, increasing use of biomass resources, especially wood, can lead to forest degradation, deforestation, and consequently desertification. For this reason, solar cookers are being promoted as an alternative to the use of firewood, such as in Africa.

Types of biomass crops

• Perennial biomass crops
  • mixed prairie grasses
• Wood ("wood biomass")
  • "Forest residues"

Technologies

Northeastern U.S. pine forest. Selectively harvested biomass from forests can be transformed into different forms of bioenergy.

Biomass can be transformed into different forms of bioenergy in a variety of ways, from the low tech to the high.

• On the simple end, biomass crops can be converted into cleaner burning biomass pellets and then burned in stoves or co-firing power plants.
• On the advanced end biomass can be converted to syngas through a gasification process and then converted to liquid fuels. See the technology section for more information.

Emerging technologies

• See the page on emerging biomass industries.

Organizations

• European Biomass Industry Association (EUBIA) (Europe)

Events

2010

• 21-22 April 2010, Amsterdam, Holland: International Biomass Valorisation Congress. (Themes: biomass, markets)

2009

• 29-30 January 2009, Brussels, Belgium: Sustainability certification for biofuels and bio-energy. (Themes: biomass, indirect land use change)

• 9-10 February 2009, Jakarta, Indonesia: BiomassWorld 2009. (Themes: biomass, palm)

• 22-23 April 2009, São Paulo, Brazil: BioPower Generation Americas. (Themes: Latin America, biomass, commercialization)

• 28-30 April 2009, Portland, Oregon, USA: International Biomass Conference and Trade Show. (Themes: technology, biomass, commercialization)

• 29-30 June 2009, Bozeman, MT USA: Ethanol Producers and Consumers (EPAC) 2009 Biofuel Conference. "Fuel, Food and the Future", the 19th annual national EPAC sponsored Biofuel Conference, will evaluate emerging technologies in first generation biofuels, recent biofuel co-product research, and the future of biofuel feedstocks. (Themes: biofuels, biomass, bioenergy, feedstocks.)

• 14-15 July 2009, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA: Biomass '09 - Power, Fuels and Chemicals Workshop (Themes: biomass, financing, technologies)

• 16-18 September 2009, Chicago, Illinois, USA: 2009 International Conference on Thermochemical Biomass Conversion Science. (Themes: biomass, gasification, pyrolysis, pyrolysis oil, technology, thermochemical conversion)

• 11-14 October 2009, Memphis, Tennessee, USA: 2009 TAPPI International Bioenergy & Bioproducts Conference (Themes: biomass, conversion pathways, demand, processing, supply, technology)

• 15-16 October 2009, Montego Bay, Jamaica: The Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum (PDF file) (Themes: biomass, Caribbean, Latin America, Renewable energy)

• 23-24 October 2009, Boulder, Colorado, USA: Energy Justice Conference (Themes: biomass, energy access, indoor air pollution)
  • From the Conference Rationale: "This conference will focus on...the energy oppressed poor (EOP) - afflicted by energy access problems....[T]he low energy world...primarily relies on biomass-based fire to meet all of its energy needs....Black soot emitted by imperfect combustion of biomass creates indoor pollution causing the annual death of a million and half persons....In addition, black soot in the atmosphere has recently been identified as a significant source of global warming."

• 2 November 2009, Berlin Germany: International Workshop - Aquatic Biomass: Sustainable Bioenergy from Algae? (Themes: biomass, algae, Bioenergy)

2008

• 6-7 December 2007, Eureka, California, USA: Woody Biomass Utilization Workshop: Techniques and Economic Considerations for the North Coast

News

• Tasmania gets Australia's first REDD deal, 27 July 2009 by mongabay.com: "A forest conservation project in Tasmania has become Australia's first Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) project to meet Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards."
  • "'The goal is to protect half a million hectares across Australia within the next 5 years...'"
  • "Recent biomass surveys have found that some old-growth forests in Tasmania store more than 650 tons of carbon per hectare, exceeding the amount of carbon stored in the vegetation of most tropical rainforests. Plantations established in place of old-growth forests after clearing store considerable less carbon." [1]

• First Biomass Pellet Mill in US to Receive FSC/Rainforest Alliance Certification, 18 June 2009 by the Rainforest Alliance/ENN: "The Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood program has certified the first biomass pellet mill in the United States to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards, a significant step in the FSC's entry into renewable energy sources."
  • "Curran Renewable Energy, LLC, based in Massena, New York, is the first FSC Chain-of-Custody certified producer and distributor of wood pellets for national and international markets."
  • "Produced by compressing pulverized dry biomass -- in this case from wood -- biomass pellets are an environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional energy sources like coal, which emits more carbon dioxide (the gas largely responsible for global warming) when burned for fuel."[2]

• Bioenergy Makes Heavy Demands On Scarce Water Supplies, 4 June 2009 by ScienceDaily: "The 'water footprint' of bioenergy, i.e. the amount of water required to cultivate crops for biomass, is much greater than for other forms of energy. The generation of bioelectricity is significantly more water-efficient in the end, however – by a factor of two – than the production of biofuel. By establishing the water footprint for thirteen crops, researchers at the University of Twente were able to make an informed choice of a specific crop and production region. They published their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of 2 June."[3]

• Biomass energy 'could be harmful', 14 April 2009 by BBC News: "Biomass power - such as burning wood for energy - could do more harm than good in the battle to reduce greenhouse gases, the [UK] Environment Agency warns."
  • "Biomass is considered low carbon as long as what is burnt is replaced by new growth, and harvesting and transport do not use too much fuel."
  • "The EA's report reiterated the belief that biomass had the potential to play a 'major role' in producing low carbon, renewable energy to help meet future energy needs and help cut greenhouse gas emissions."
  • "But the report Biomass: Carbon Sink or Carbon Sinner (PDF file) also found that the greenhouse gas emission savings from such fuels were currently highly variable."[4]

• Bacteria for Better Biofuels, 30 March 2009 by Scienceline: Scientists "have found a unique way to increase the growth of one promising biofuel source on marginal land: just add bacteria."
  • In a study, "researchers focused on improving the growth of poplar trees. These trees are known for their rapid growth and ability to survive in many different types of climates, both ideal traits for biofuel production. The Brookhaven group found that adding the right kinds of naturally occurring bacteria to the roots of poplar trees increased their biomass production by up to 80 percent over ten weeks, according to van der Lelie."[5]

• Test Project on Bioethanol Fuel from Rice Straw Starts in Akita, 28 March 2009 by Japan for Sustainability: "The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries recently announced that it has chosen Akita Prefecture...[for] a model project utilizing soft cellulose. The model project aims to conduct verification tests to establish a technology for production of bioethanol made from soft cellulose biomass, such as rice straw and husk that do not compete with food supply."
  • "Raw materials for the bioethanol production will be rice straw and husk produced in Ogata Village on the reclaimed land of Hachirogata, one of the leading rice-growing areas in Japan."[6]

• Climate Geo-engineering with ‘Carbon Negative’ Bioenergy: Climate saviour or climate endgame?, November 2008 by Biofuelwatch: Critical report on "carbon negative" biofuels and biochar released by biofuelwatch.
  • Investigates whether proposed "bio-geoengineering ‘solutions’" such as "large-scale use of biomass as a substitute for fossil fuels, whilst simultaneously drawing down atmospheric CO2 by sequestering some of the carbon in the biomass, either underground or as charcoal to be added to soil" will in fact "help to stabilise climate."
  • The report concludes that such "proposals are almost certain to exacerbate biodiversity loss, ecosystem destruction and significantly increase GHG emissions. As such they will accelerate the rate and scale at which our life support systems, including climate, are collapsing." (Executive Summary (PDF file))

• Is Biomass Harvesting Sustainable?, late August 2008 (September 2008 issue) by Biomass Magazine: "Sustainability is a buzzword in the biomass industry. But sustainable can mean many things....A collaboration of researchers studied a biomass operation...in Minnesota to look at all the different components of a sustainable biomass harvesting operation."
  • "Researchers from Minnesota and Wisconsin zeroed in on one particular system — small trees and undergrowth in the Superior National Forest — to gauge the environmental and economic costs of removing biomass from the forest."
  • The study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) found that "there are many ways to interrupt a smooth supply of biomass to a market."
  • Lead author Don Arnosti was quoted as saying, "What I have concluded is that biomass, at least woody biomass will likely forever be a coproduct....It cannot be seen as the single reason you are doing land management.[7]
  • Download the IATP study, Harvesting Fuel: Cutting Costs and Reducing Forest Fire Hazards Through Biomass Harvest.

• Farm Bill Establishes New Biomass Crop Assistance Program, 23 May 2008 press release by 25 x '25: "A program to encourage farmers to establish and grow biomass crops in areas around biomass facilities has been included in the recently adopted [U.S.] 2008 Farm Bill. The Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) would help producers willing to switch part or all of their acreage to dedicated energy crops."
  • "Agricultural producers in BCAP project areas may contract with USDA to receive biomass crop establishment payments" plus other payments to support crop harvesting, storage, and transport...."Producers are also prohibited from planting noxious or invasive plants as part of the program."
  • The bill "also sets up through the U.S. Forest Service a competitive research and development program to encourage use of forest biomass for energy....The bill encourages USDA to work closely with the Pine Genome Initiative (PGI), which proponents say would promote healthy forests and the development of new biofuels technology."[8]

Resources

• Forest Management Solutions for Mitigating Climate Change in the United States. (2009, Society of American Foresters, Bethesda, Maryland, USA). PDF copy of the Malmsheimer et al. publication (ISBN: 978-0-939970-96-4).
  • Includes chapters and figures on "Preventing GHG Emissions Through Biomass Substitution" and "Preventing GHG Emissions Through Wood Substitution".

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