Biomass is any organic matters that store sunlight in the form of chemical energy. Energy can be obtained by burning biomass such as waste products from animals and byproducts from agricultural field.
There are two types of biomass used: solid biomass and sewerage biomass. Solid biomass comes from recently living organisms which include plants, animals and their byproducts. Animal waste is also considered solid biomass. Agricultural products such as corn, soybean are being grown specifically for biofuel production. Sewerage biomass is the sewage waste and it can be converted into electrical energy.
Biomass energy (or bioenergy for short) is a form of renewable energy produced from plants and plant-derived materials (called biomaterial), which usually thought of as garbage. Common sources of bioenergy are wood, woody and grassy plants, oil-rich algae and industrial wastes.
Exploiting methods:
- Thermal: energy is generated in the form of heat by burning all biomaterial in furnaces. Generated heat is then used to boil water to form steam, powering steam engines by turning turbines and generates electricity.
- Chemical: biomass is processed using a series chemical reaction so as to be easily stored, transported and exploited, most noticeably biofuel.
- Biochemical: efficient method to decompose biomass using enzymes of bacterial, producing biofuel.
References
- Learning – Biomass Basic. (2015, March 20). Retrieved from National Renewable Energy Laboratory: http://www.nrel.gov/learning/re_biomass.html
- Chapter 10: Biomass energy. (2015, March 20). Retrieved from The Energy Story: http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter10.html