Biomass Power & Biomass Energy
Biomass is an energy source that is made from biological sources, which makes it renewable and cost effective. Typically created from plant matter, such as living plants or dead trees and branches, biomass is most often produced by direct incineration, but can plants that are still alive can produce some electricity.
Yard waste, tree branches and stumps, and organic plant and animal waste are all used to create biomass. Fossil fuels are not considered biomass as they contain carbon that has not been a part of the carbon cycle for an extended period. This means that when fossil fuel is used, it disturbs the atmosphere's carbon dioxide content.
Biomass is made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are commonly trace elements such as nitrogen, heavy metals, and alkali in the biomass as well. Biomass is energy that is created from essentially only five sources. Alcohol fuels, garbage, landfill gas, waste and wood.
Wood is a major energy supplier. Black liquor is a waste product of wood, coming from the pulp of paper production. Waste energy is produced from manufacturing waste, solid waste, and landfill gases. This constitutes the second largest source of biomass.
Ethanol is created mostly from sugarcane and corn. It is considered an alcohol based fuel and is used as a fuel for motor vehicles as well as a fuel additive to enhance performance. Rotting garbage and human waste produces landfill gas, or methane gas. Ethanol gas can be used for transportation fuel, and biodiesel, which is produced from used cooking oils and animal fat.
Sugar cane and recycled wood are used to create energy at the largest biomass power plant in the United States. This single facility produces enough energy to not only power its own operations, but also to supply renewable energy to almost 60,000 houses and reduce oil dependence by over a million barrels each year.
There are other biomass power stations in existence in North America, which produce biomass energy with crops, forest residue, and agricultural and human waste streams. About one and one half percent of all American energy is supplied by biomass energy, and this helps preserve landfill space as well as reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
Biomass does create carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, which are air pollutants. The use of biomass energy is perhaps the second biggest factor in global warming. Another consideration about the use of biomass as a fuel is the cost associated with transporting the bulky fuel source. Many power plants are installed in a way that will cut down on the cost of transportation by building them in an area close to the source of the energy.
When wood is used to create biomass, replanting is undertaken to prevent deforestation and encourage greater carbon storage capacity within the forest. Perennial crops are less of an interference on the carbon process as there is less disruption on the soil during cultivation and there is a greater amount of living biomass that is not cultivated each year. The amount of carbon that is held within these perennial crops is released by the roots of the plant.