The Pros And Cons Of Biomass

Biomass is biological material derived from organisms. Usually biomass is used to describe plant based materials.The important thing to know about biomass, is the energy stored within it. Biomass can be from several sources like dead trees, yard clippings, landfills and garbage. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly through combustion, or indirectly after converting it to various forms of biofuel. Conversion of biomass to biofuel can be achieved by different methods which are broadly classified into: thermal, chemical, and biochemical methods.

Industrial scale biomass production is now readily being grown after an increased popularity for biofuels. Biomass is now being grown from numerous types of plants sources, including sugarcane, grasses, switchgrass, hemp, corn, pine, bluegum, poplar, willow, and sorghum. There is little difference in the source that the energy is extracted from.

Biomass is a foundation which can be converted to energy (biofuel), it is potentially able to power everything from cars to airplanes. Biomass can be converted to energy in many different ways, including direct combustion, gasification, combined heat and power, anaerobic digestion and aerobic digestion.

This has come with the increased need for biofuels as fossil fuels become more and more rare. Fossil fuel is a term for buried combustible organic materials, formed from decayed plants and animals that have been converted to oil, coal, and natural gas after intense exposure to heat and pressure in the earth's crust over millions of years. “The past few decades, however, have experienced many valuable uses for these complex chemical substances and manufacturing from them plastics, textiles, fertilisers and the various end products of the petrochemical industry.” (Omer)Fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource that we used to power cars, give us electricity, and in