Biomass Energy

Biomass
Biomass: Renewable energy source coming from biological
matters such as
plants,

animals,

micro-organisms and municipal wastes.

Energy derived from biomass is used to generate electricity

or to produce heat.
• Biomass gets its energy from the sun.

• Plants absorb sunlight in a process called photosynthesis.

• With sunlight, air, water, and nutrients from the soil,

plants make sugars called carbohydrates.

• Thus, the photosynthesis process is responsible for the

generation of biomass energy.

• Growing plants for biomass fuel may help to reduce

greenhouse gases, since plants use carbon dioxide and
produce oxygen as they grow.
 Benefits of Biomass
• Renewable energy.
• Domestic source of energy.
• Turning a waste into a product.
• Air quality benefits.
• Greenhouse gas reduction.
• Rural economic development.
 Disadvantages

• Low conversion efficiency.

• A high quantity of locally sourced materials is
required.
• Materials have a high water content.
 Where is Bioenergy used Historically?

Wood burning steam locomotive

Wood burning stove

 Bio-energy Types
• Biofuels
• Liquids
• Methanol, Ethanol, Butanol, Biodiesel.
• Gases
• Methane, Hydrogen.

• Bioheat
• Wood burning

• Bioelectricity
 Biofuel Applications: Liquids
Ethanol and Butanol: can be
used in
gasoline engines either at low
blends (up to 10%),
High blends (up to 83%) in
Flexible Fuel Vehicles or
Pure form in adapted engines.

Biodiesel: can be used, both

blended with fossil diesel and
in pure form. Its acceptance by
car manufacturers is growing.

Blend meaning - mix (a substance) with another substance so that they combine together.
 Biofuel Applications: Gases

Hydrogen: can be used in fuel cells for

generating electricity.

Methane: can be combusted directly or

converted to ethanol.
 Bioheat Applications
 Small-scale heating systems for
households typically use
firewood or
pellets.

 Medium-scale users typically burn

wood chips in grate boilers.

Biomass Boiler

 Large-scale boilers are able to burn a

larger variety of fuels, including
wood waste and refuse-derived fuel.
 Biomass Conversion Technologies
• Biological conversion
• Fermentation - (methanol, ethanol, butanol)
It is an anaerobic process that breaks down the glucose within
organic materials. It is a series of chemical reactions that
convert sugars to alcohol or acid. Yeast or bacteria are added
to the biomass material, which feed on the sugars to produce
ethanol and carbon dioxide.
• Anaerobic digestion – methane.
It is a natural process and is the microbiological conversion
of organic matter to methane in the absence of oxygen.
• Chemical conversion
• Transesterification - biodiesel

• Thermal conversion
• Combustion
• Gasification
• Pyrolysis
 Biomass Gasification
• The word gasification implies converting solid
fuel into a gaseous fuel by thermo-chemical
method.
• Gasifier is the equipment that converts biomass
in to producer gas.
• The raw materials used are
➢ wood chips and
➢ other wastes from wood industry,
➢ coconut shells etc.
• Gasification operation involves
➢ Drying -- Pyrolysis -- Combustion (Oxidation) and -- Reduction.
Drying :
➢ Biomass fuels usually contain 10% - 35% moisture.
➢ When biomass is heated at about 100 deg. Celsius, the moisture is
converted into steam.
Pyrolysis :

➢ After drying, as heating continues, the biomass undergo pyrolysis.

➢ It involves burning biomass completely without supplying any oxygen.
➢ As a result, the biomass is decomposed or separated into solids, liquids
and gases.
➢ Charcoal is the solid part,

➢ tar is the liquid part and

➢ flue gases is the gaseous part.

Combustion (oxidation)
➢ Air is introduced into the
gasifier after the decomposition process.
➢During oxidation, which takes place at
about 1000-1200 deg. Celsius, charcoal or
the solid carbonized fuel react with the
oxygen in the air to produce carbon-dioxide
and heat.
C + O2 → CO2 + heat
➢The pyrolyzed gases burn with air to form
CO, CO2, H2 and H2O.
Reduction operation
➢ At higher temperature and under reducing
conditions, that is no enough oxygen is available,
the following reactions take place forming
carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane.

C + CO → 2 CO
2

C + H O → CO + H
2 2

CO + H2O → CO2 + H2
C + 2H2 → CH4
Biomass-to-Bioenergy Routes
 Types of Biomass Gasifiers
• Downdraft Type
• Updraft Type
• Crossdraft Type
Downdraft Type
• It is suited for a variety of Biomass.
• It will produce relatively clean gas.
Operation
• In steady state, heat from the combustion
zone is transferred upwards by radiation,
conduction and convention.
• It causes the wood chips to pyrolyse and lose
70-80% of their weight.
• These pyrolyzed gases burn with air to form
CO, CO2, H2 and H2O.
• The product gases from the combustion zone
further undergo reduction reaction with char
to generate combustible products like CO, H2
and CH4.
 Advantages & Disadvantages
Advantages
• Tar-free gas suitable for engine applications.
Disadvantages
• Problems associated with high ash content
fuels to a larger extent than Updraught
gasifiers.
• As compared to updraught, it has lower
efficiency.
Updraft Type (Counterflow Gasifier)
• It is simplest and the first type of
Gasifier.
• It is easy to build and operate.
• The air enters below the combustion
zone and the gas is drawn off at the
top.
• It has highest efficiency as the hot gas
passes through the fuel bed and leaves
the gasifier at a low temperature.
• The gas produced has no ash but
contains tar and water vapour because
of passing of gas through unburnt fuel.
 Advantages & Disadvantages
Advantages
• Simplicity
• High charcoal burn-out and internal heat
exchange leading to low gas exit temperature.
• High equipment efficiency.
Disadvantages
• Problems associated with disposal of the
tar-containing condensates that result from the
gas cleaning operations.
Crossdraft Type
• Air enters the gasifier through a water-cooled
nozzle mounted on one side of the firebox.
• It operates at a very high temperature and the
combustion and reduction zone near the air
nozzle.
• Because of short path length for gasification
reactions, this type of gas producer responds
most rapidly for change in gas production.
• The high exit temperature of the gas and low
CO2 reduction results in poor quality of gas and
low efficiency.
• Therefore, this type of gasifier is not in
common use.
 Biogas production from waste Biomass
• Biomass, if left to decompose in open air, is acted upon
by aerobic bacteria to produce mainly CO2 and Ammonia
(NH3).
• Biogas is produced from wet biomass with about 90-95%
water content by the action of anaerobic bacteria.
• These bacteria live and grow without oxygen.
• The process is favoured by wet, warm and dark
condition.
• The air tight equipment used for conversion is known as
a biogas plant or digester.
• The conversion process is known as anaerobic
fermentation.
 Classification of Biogas Plants

• Batch type
• Continuous type
➢ Floating-drum(constant pressure) type
➢ fixed-dome type (constant volume)
 i) Batch-type plant
• This plant is charged at 50-60
day intervals.
• Once charged, it starts supplying
the gas after 8-10 days and
continuous to do for about 40-50
days till the process of digestion
is completed.
• Afterwards, it is emptied and
recharged.

• A battery of digester are charged and emptied one by one in a synchronous manner to
maintain a regular supply of gas through a common gas holder.
 ii) Continuous-type plant
• The plant is fed daily with a certain quantity of
biomass.
• The gas produced is stored in the plant or in a
separate gas holder.
• The biomass passing through the digester is
completely digested and the digested slurry is
rejected through an outlet.

• The period during which the biomass remains in

the digester is known as the retention period.
• The plant operates continuously and is stopped
only for maintenance or for removal of sludge.
• A thin dry layer formed at the top of the slurry is known as scum.
• The scum tends to prevent the escape of gas from slurry.
• The layer is broken by slowly stirring the slurry.
• This helps in the digestion process due to better mixing.
• These types of plants are very popular in India and China.
 a) Floating drum (constant pressure) type biogas plant
• It has an inverted mild steel drum to
work as gasholder.
• The digester is an underground
masonry construction with a partition
wall.
• The bifurcation of a digestion chamber
through a partitioning will provide
optimum conditions for growth of acid
formers and methane formers as the
requirement of PH values for these
bacteria are different.
• Therefore, this plant operates very well
with good biogas yield.
Bifurcation - the division of something into two branches or parts.
b) Fixed- Dome (const. Volume) type biogas plants
• These plants are more economical as
only masonry work is required.
• Gas pressure in the dome varies
depending on the production/
consumption rate.
• The slurry enters from an inlet and the
digested slurry is collected in a
displacement tank.
• Stirring is required if the raw material
is crop residue.
• There is no bifurcation in the digester
chamber and therefore the gas
production is somewhat less as
compared to a floating-point design.
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