5 Things you should Know about Biomass

By Lanre Okanlawon

Biomass Fuel Cycle

One. Extracting energy from biomass is an ancient practice dating back to centuries ago where people first burnt wood to provide light and heat. Modern biomass is utilised to produce power for large scale facilities from solid biomass, biofuel or biogas.

Two. Biomass is all plant and animal matter on the surface of the earth. It is also anything that was alive a short time ago. All biomass get its energy from the sun. Plants store energy from the sun through a process called photosynthesis while animals eat plants and also store this natural energy.

Three. Biomass is a renewable source of energy. The use of biomass as an energy source means the carbon dioxide absorbed from the air while the plant was growing is released back into the atmosphere when the fuel is burned. Therefore this process is said to be carbon neutral. It is a sustainable and potentially environmentally-friendly energy source.

Four. Similar to petrochemical refining, plant biomass can be fractionated into several component parts which can be used to produce several varieties of fuels and chemical resources. Biomass currently supplies more than 14% of the world’s primary energy consumption.

Biomass Plant in Minnesota. Source: Raptor Tech

Five. Biomass can be applied for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes. All biomass power plants work proficiently. The efficiency rate is reported to about 70%; that’s higher than coal or gas fired stations. Like some other clean energy sources. There are presently various incentive schemes in different countries that give financial benefits for biomass energy production.