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

Women and girls in parts of developing countries spend many hours collecting wood for cooking in the home. (Flickr Creative Commons image by Genocide Intervention Network).

2011

• 31 May – 3 June 2011, Moscow, Russia: WasteTech-2011: The 7th International Trade Fair on Waste Management, Recycling and Environmental Technology (PDF). For more information and pre-registration form visit the event website. (Themes: biogas, biomass, technologies, waste, wastewater)

2010

• 15-16 March 2010, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: BioPower Generation. Co-located with World Biofuels Markets event. (Themes: biomass, biopower, sustainability, technologies, wood-based biomass production)

• 17 March 2010, Washington DC, USA: U.S.-China Cooperation: The Co-benefits of Reducing Black Carbon. (Themes: biomass, black carbon, China, pollution)

• 18-21 March 2010, Saint-Etienne, France: Salon Bois Energie. (Themes: biomass, forestry, wood energy)

• 30-31 March 2010, Alexandria, Virginia (Washington, D.C. area), USA: Biomass 2010. Annual Department of Energy conference. (Themes: biomass, bioproducts, biorefineries, green economy, infrastructure, research, rural development, sustainability)

• 20-22 April 2010, Hot Springs, Arkansas: Smallwood 2010: Bridges, Business and Biomass. (Themes: biomass, markets, wood)

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

• 3-7 May 2010, Lyon France: 18th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition. (Themes: algae, biomass, bioproducts, gasification, liquid biofuels policies, second generation biofuels, solid biofuels, sustainability, thermochemical conversion)

• 5-6 May 2010 Bremen, Germany: Waste to Energy: International Exhibition & Conference for Energy from Waste and Biomass. (Themes: anaerobic digestion, biogas, biomass, bio-methane gas distribution, pyrolysis, sewage, waste-to-energy)

• 10-11 May 2010, Bedfordshire, UK: Non Food Uses of Crops by The Association of Applied Biologists. (Themes: biochar, biomass, crop residues, policy, pyrolysis, second-generation biofuels)

• 13-14 May 2010, London, UK: Forestry, Biomass and Sustainability. (Themes: biofuels, biomass, carbon offset, forestry, REDD, sustainability)

• 13-14 September 2010, Berlin, Germany: FAME 2010 Summit And Exhibition - Defining The Future Biofuels Market. (Themes: biodiesel, biofuel, biomass, policy, second-generation feedstocks, technologies)

2009

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

News

2010

• (U.K.'s largest power station) Drax suspends plan to replace coal with greener fuel, 19 February 2010 by Times Online: "Britain’s biggest power station has suspended its plan to replace coal with greener fuel, leaving the Government little chance of meeting its target for renewable energy."
  • "The power station, which is the country’s largest single source of CO2, has invested £80 million in a processing unit for wood, straw and other plant-based fuels, known as biomass."
  • "Drax is also one of dozens of companies delaying investments in new biomass power stations because of uncertainty over the Government’s policy on long-term subsidies. Hundreds of farmers growing biomass crops may now struggle to sell their produce."
  • "Drax’s decision will make it almost impossible for the Government to meet its commitment to increase the proportion of electricity from renewable sources from 5.5 per cent to 30 per cent by 2020."
  • "The Renewable Energy Association said that plans for more than 50 biomass projects, totalling £13 billion of investment, had been suspended because of uncertainty over policy."[1]

• Obama Announces Steps to Boost Biofuels, Clean Coal, 3 February 2010, US Department of Energy Press release: "At a meeting with a bipartisan group of governors from around the country, the President laid out three measures that will work in concert to boost biofuels production and reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil."
  • "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a rule to implement the long-term renewable fuels standard of 36 billion gallons by 2022 established by Congress. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed a rule on the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) that would provide financing to increase the conversion of biomass to bioenergy."
  • "In addition, President Obama announced a Presidential Memorandum creating an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage to develop a comprehensive and coordinated federal strategy to speed the development and deployment of clean coal technologies."[2]

• Biomass Crop Assistance Program to Spur Production of Renewable Energy, Job Creation, 3 February 2010, USDA Press Release: "[T]he U.S. Department of Agriculture today issued a proposed rule for the new Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) that intends to spur the expansion of dedicated non-food crops for renewable energy and biofuel production."
  • "BCAP is intended to reduce the financial risk for farmers, ranchers and forest landowners by providing incentive payments to those who invest in the production, harvest, storage and transportation of new first-generation energy crops that displace hydrocarbon-based materials now used for heat, power and vehicle fuel."[3]

2009

• Launching of the ‘National Biomass Cookstove Initiative’ by Indian Government, 3 December 2009 by HEDON Household Energy Network: "The Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy launched a New Initiative on Improved Biomass Cookstoves 'National Biomass Cookstove Initiative' on the 2nd of December 2009 in New Delhi."
  • "A large section of [India's] population – 75% of the rural households and 22% of the urban households, according to the National Sample Survey’s 61st survey -- still uses biomass for its cooking needs. An estimated 80% of the residential energy in India comes from biomass, much of it burnt in traditional chulhas."
  • "[P]roviding a clean cooking energy option for these households will yield enormous gains in terms of health and socio-economic welfare of the weakest and the most vulnerable sections of society. At the same time, the cleaner combustion in these devices will greatly reduce the products of incomplete combustion which are greenhouse pollutants, thus helping combat climate change." [4]

• 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." [5]

• 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."[6]

• 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."[7]

• 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."[8]

• 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."[9]

• 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."[10]

2008

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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