Introduction to Biomass
Introduction To Biomass
What is biomass, and how can it be used to generate heat and electricity
biomass | heatingBiomass describes fuels which are made from animal and plant waste - for example wood chips, manure, and crop waste.
By
decomposing animal manure and crop waste using bacteria,
methane gas can be generated. Methane generated in this manner is called
biogas and can be used for heating, cooking, and as a fuel. It can even be burnt to heat water to generate steam to run the turbines of an electricity generating
power plant.
The
waste products from the growing of crops can be
fermented with yeast to
make alcohol fuels. This alcohol can be mixed with petrol to make a fuel called
gasohol, or it can be burnt as a fuel in its own right.
Biogas
Biogas is a
renewable fuel as animal waste and crop waste and constantly being created. Also, the generation of biogas is very simple and the fuels created are easy to use and store, and they
burn cleanly. However, burning biomass releases
CO2 into the atmosphere, and the removal of plant and animal wastes prevent them from acting as
soil fertilizer leading to lower crop yields as
soil nutrient levels drop.
There are thousands of
biogas plants in India and China where there is a large amount of animal waste.
Article Last Modified: 15:13, 19th Aug 2008Comment on this Article
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