Properly treated renewable natural gas has the same uses as fossil fuel natural gas. Researchers are working on ways to improve these methods and to develop other ways to convert and use more biomass for energy. In , biomass provided about 4, trillion British thermal units TBtu , or about 4. Of that amount, about 2, TBtu were from wood and wood-derived biomass, 2, TBtu were from biofuels mainly ethanol , and TBtu were from the biomass in municipal wastes.
The amounts—in TBtu—and percentage shares of total U. The industrial and transportation sectors account for the largest amounts, in terms of energy content, and largest percentage shares of total annual U.
The wood products and paper industries use biomass in combined heat and power plants for process heat and to generate electricity for their own use. Liquid biofuels ethanol and biomass-based diesel account for most of the transportation sector's biomass consumption. The residential and commercial sectors use firewood and wood pellets for heating. The commercial sector also consumes, and in some cases, sells renewable natural gas produced at municipal sewage treatment facilities and at waste landfills.
The electric power sector uses wood and biomass-derived wastes to generate electricity for sale to the other sectors. Biomass explained. What is energy? Units and calculators. Use of energy. Energy and the environment. Also in What is energy? Forms of energy Sources of energy Laws of energy. Also in Units and calculators explained Units and calculators Energy conversion calculators British thermal units Btu Degree days.
Also in U. Also in Use of energy explained Use of energy Energy use in industry Energy use for transportation Energy use in homes Energy use in commercial buildings Energy efficiency and conservation.
Also in Energy and the environment explained Energy and the environment Greenhouse gases Greenhouse gases and the climate Where greenhouse gases come from Outlook for future emissions Recycling and energy.
Nonrenewable sources. Oil and petroleum products. Biomass energy, or "bioenergy," is the energy from plants and plant-derived materials. Biomass has been in use since people first began burning wood to cook food and keep warm. Wood is still the largest biomass energy resource today. Other sources include food crops, grassy and woody plants, residues from agriculture or forestry, oil-rich algae, and the organic component of municipal and industrial wastes.
Even the fumes from landfills which contain methane, the main component in natural gas can be used as a biomass energy source. Biomass can be used for fuels , power production, and products that would otherwise be made from fossil fuels.
NREL's vision is to develop technology for biorefineries that will convert biomass into a range of valuable fuels, chemicals, materials, and products—much like oil refineries and petrochemical plants do. Biofuels are transportation fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, created by converting biomass into liquid fuels to meet transportation needs.
Learn more about biofuels. As it is replenished, it releases oxygen, and absorbs pollutant s and carbon emissions. Algae takes up much less space than other biofuel crops. Department of Energy estimates that it would only take approximately 38, square kilometers 15, square miles, an area less than half the size of the U.
Algae contains oils that can be converted to a biofuel. At the Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation in New Zealand, for example, algae is processed with heat and pressure. Algae is an excellent filter that absorbs carbon emissions.
Bioenergy Ventures, a Scottish firm, has developed a system in which carbon emissions from a whiskey distillery are funneled to an algae pool. The algae flourishes with the additional carbon dioxide.
When the algae die after about a week they are collected, and their lipid s oils are converted into biofuel or fish food. Algae has enormous potential as an alternative energy source. However, processing it into usable forms is expensive. The cost will likely come down, but it is currently out of reach for most developing economies. People and Biomass Advantages Biomass is a clean, renewable energy source. Its initial energy comes from the sun, and plants or algae biomass can regrow in a relatively short amount of time.
Trees, crops, and municipal solid waste are consistently available and can be managed sustainably. If trees and crops are sustainably farmed, they can offset carbon emissions when they absorb carbon dioxide through respiration. In some bioenergy processes, the amount of carbon that is re-absorbed even exceeds the carbon emissions that are released during fuel processing or usage.
Many biomass feedstocks, such as switchgrass, can be harvested on marginal land s or pastures, where they do not compete with food crops. Unlike other renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar, biomass energy is stored within the organism, and can be harvested when it is needed.
Disadvantages If biomass feedstocks are not replenished as quickly as they are used, they can become non-renewable. A forest, for instance, can take hundreds of years to re-establish itself. This is still a much, much shorter time period than a fossil fuel such as peat. It can take years for just a meter 3 feet of peat to replenish itself. Most biomass requires arable land to develop.
This means that land used for biofuel crops such as corn and soybeans are unavailable to grow food or provide natural habitats. Most biomass plants require fossil fuels to be economically efficient.
An enormous plant under construction near Port Talbot, Wales, for instance, will require fossil fuels imported from North America, offsetting some of the sustainability of the enterprise.
Scientists and engineers estimate that it is not economically efficient to transport biomass more than kilometers miles from where it is processed. Burning biomass releases carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and other pollutants and particulates. If these pollutants are not captured and recycled, burning biomass can create smog and even exceed the number of pollutants released by fossil fuels. Zutshi, S. Beaugez, M. Hendrikx, S. Heydt, M.
Oeltjenbruns, A. Munoraharjo, F. Choudhury, G. Upton, O. Siudak, M. Gunther, R. Balancing Biomass The Union of Concerned Scientists helped develop A Balanced Definition of Renewable Biomass , which are practical and effective sustainability provisions that can provide a measure of assurance that woody biomass harvests will be sustainable.
The Joseph C. McNeil Generating Station uses wood from low-quality trees and harvest residue, and produces about 50 megawatts of electricityalmost enough to sustain Burlington, Vermont's largest city. Fowl Play The 3 million chickens of the enormous Beijing Deqingyuan chicken farm, outside Beijing, China, produce tons of manure and tons of wastewater each day. Using gasification technology from GE Energy, the farm is able to convert chicken manure into 14, megawatt-hours of electricity per year.
World's Top Biofuel Crops 1. Gas molecules are in constant, random motion. Also called a primeval forest, primary forest, primal forest, or ancient woodland. Peat can be dried and burned as fuel. Pesticides can be fungicides which kill harmful fungi , insecticides which kill harmful insects , herbicides which kill harmful plants , or rodenticides which kill harmful rodents. Also called biocrude or bio-oil. Seaweed can be composed of brown, green, or red algae, as well as "blue-green algae," which is actually bacteria.
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Plants are autotrophs, which means they produce their own food. They use the process of photosynthesis to transform water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide into oxygen, and simple sugars that the plant uses as fuel.
These primary producers form the base of an ecosystem and fuel the next trophic levels. Without this process, life on Earth as we know it would not be possible.
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