BIOMASS ENERGY

WHAT IS BIOMASS ?
• Biomass is organic material that comes from plants
and animals, and it is a renewable source of energy.

• Biomass contains stored energy from the sun.

• Plants absorb the sun's energy in a process called

photosynthesis. When biomass is burned, the
chemical energy in biomass is released as heat.
• Biomass can be burned directly or
converted to liquid biofuels or biogas that
can be burned as fuels.
• Examples of biomass and their uses for
energy:
– Wood and wood processing wastes—burned to heat
buildings, to produce process heat in industry, and to
generate electricity
– Agricultural crops and waste materials—burned as a fuel or
converted to liquid biofuels
– Food, yard, and wood waste in garbage—burned to
generate electricity in power plants or converted to biogas
in landfills
– Animal manure and human sewage—converted to biogas,
which can be burned as a fuel
ENERGY CYCLE
BIOMASS CONVERSION
 PHYSICAL CONVERSION
• SQUEEZING.
• The physical conversion is essentially a process of
mechanical pressing of crops with high oil
content(sunflower rapeseed, soyabean).
• The end results are some edible squeezing oil and
protein panels containing higher percentage of oil, used
by the animal feed industry.
• The vegetable oil thus obtained, which is a mixture of
methyl esters of fatty acids,can be used directly as fuel
for diesel engines.
• Or chemically treated to make it similar to diesel
fuel(biodiesel).
 Thermochemical Conversion
by Combustion
• Common way of converting organic matter into
energy.
• In Italy there are about 40 large system
generating biomass electricity by combustion.
• It requries a reduction of water content of the
biomass, obtained by drying the products to the
sun .
• Before biomass can be burned, it must be
dried.This chemical process is called torrefaction.
• It is heated to about 200 to 320 celsius.It loses
about 20% of its original mass, but retains 90% of
its energy.
• During torrefaction, biomaa becomes a dry
blackened material.It is then compressed into
briquettes.
• Most briquettes are burned directly.
FLOW DIAGRAM
COMBUSTION
 PYROLYSIS
• Decomposition of organic materials, called as
dry distillation.
• Based on transformation of biomass through
heat.
• Applied to any organic materials with low
water content(<15%).
• Temperature range 200-7000 C.
PYROLYSIS
 GASIFICATION
• Solid fuel is transformed to gaseous fuel.
• Gas obtained can be used directly to power
internal combustion engines.
• Obtained gas mixture contains CH4, CO, N2, H2
GASIFICATION
 FERMENTATION
• A biochemical process.
• Biomass containing high amount of sugars are
directly converted to ethanol by means of high
concentration of zymase enzyme.
• Very costly(high production cost, even
gasoline is cheaper than it).
 ANAEROBIC DIGESTION
• Biomass rich in cellulose is converted by
action of bacteria.
• Process allows to obtain biogas with about
65% methane.
• Digested residual components are used as
fertilizers.
• Very common in Europe.
ANAEROBIC DIGESTION
 Bio-diesel
• Alternative fuel for diesel engines.
• Made from vegetable oil or animal fats.
• Bio-diesel is a non-toxic , clean burning
domestically produced fuel , derived from
100% renewable resources extracted from
vegetable oil , seed crops such as soybean ,
peanut , canola etc.
 Bio-diesel from Algae.
• Algae are photosynthetic organisms that live
under water .
• This microorganisms thrive in warm water
with source of sunlight and carbon dioxide
(co2).
• Algae based bio-diesel is new energy source
with huge potensial.
 Algae bio-diesel production.
• Algae are circulated through photobioreactors that
are made for sole purpose of photosynthesis and
rapid groth.
• The water is recycled & minimal amount are needed
compared to bio-diesel production from land plant.
• When the algae are grown the water is drained and
the rest sent through high speed centrifuge to
separate the crude oil.
• By-products of this process can be used as animal
feed.
 Algae bio-diesel.
• Bio-diesel is carbon nutral.
• This means that the amt. Of carbon dioxide
that is released when the fuel is burnt is
exactly the same as amt. That is absorbed
when the fuel is grown.
• Cost is the main problem with bio-diesel from
algae.
 Bio-beetle
• Eco rental cars began
their environmental
conscious business
endeavour in 2003 with
only a single car.
• The company utilizes
100% vegetable oil
based bio-diesel.
• In fact most of the bio-
diesel is actually made
from used cooking oil.
 ADVANTAGES:
 Biomass used as a fuel reduces need for fossil fuels for the production
of heat, steam, and electricity for residential, industrial and
agricultural use.
 It’s a renewable form of energy.
 Widely available.
 Biomass fuel from agriculture wastes maybe a secondary product that
adds value to agricultural crop.
 It’s cheaper compared to fossil fuels and Less money spent on foreign
oil for burning.
 Growing Biomass crops produce oxygen and use up carbon dioxide.
And Carbon Dioxide which is released when Biomass fuel is burned,
is taken in by plants.
 The use of waste materials reduce landfill disposal and makes more
space for everything else.
 Minimizes overdependence on traditional electricity
 Can be Used to Create Different Products
 DISADVANTAGES:
 Agricultural wastes will not be available if the basic crop is no
longer grown.
 Requires a great deal of water
 Additional work is needed in areas such as harvesting methods.
 It’s very expensive ,hence research is needed to reduce the costs
of production of Biomass based fuels.
 Inefficient as Compared to Fossil Fuels
 Require More Land which leads to risk of deforestation.
 Affecting the biodiversity
 Not entirely clean because it leads to release of
Methane gas.
 APPLICATIONS:
 Biomass systems range from small stoves used in homes for
heating or cooking to large power plants used by centralized
utilities to produce electricity.
 In residential applications, biomass can be used for space heating
or for cooking. Wood is the most common source of fuel, although
many different materials are used.
 Industry and businesses use biomass for several purposes
including space heating, hot water heating, and electricity
generation.
 Biomass gasifier for captive power generation.
 More than 66,000 jobs are supported by the biomass producing
industry in the US alone.
 BIOMASS IN INDIA :
 India produces about 450-500 million tonnes of
biomass per year. Biomass provides 32% of all the
primary energy use in the country at present.
 The current share of biofuels in total fuel
consumption is extremely low and is confined
mainly to 5% blending of ethanol in gasoline,
which the government has made mandatory in 10
states.
 Government of INDIA is also providing subsidies
for encouraging for biomass production .
 Maharashtra (1112.78 MW),UP (936.70 MW),
Karnataka ( 737.28 MW),Tamil Nadu (662.30 MW)
are leaders in the production of biomass in INDIA
, while in West Bangal , Uttrakhand ,Odisha ,
Madhya Pradesh and Bihar the production is < 50
MW .
THANK YOU...