Biomass/ Biofuel

By: Ashley Caines, Clay Stanley, Savannah Maa, Zach

Perry

Virgin wood is one of the biomass plant materials

that are used to produce biomass energy and this material is usually obtained from forests.If there are too many trees in the forest, there is a high risk of a forest fire and this is not good for the environment because it means that a lot of carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere.

In order to produce the heat or electricity, the biomass needs to be directly incinerated and fed fuel to keep it burning.With burning fossil fuels are drastically reducing, thereby diminishing the carbon “footprint” left behind. This also means that it can contribute to reducing the so-called greenhouse effect, as well as the production of the so-called greenhouse gasses.

Plant sources such as wood must be used for energy if the UK hopes to meet its targets to slash greenhouse gases, climate advisers have urged.Biomass could supply around a tenth of the UK's energy by 2050, the Committee on Climate Change said, including a range of small-scale uses such as old cooking oil to run buses and woodchip from tree surgery waste in wood-burning boilers, as well as for power stations and in industry.

Biofuels have the added benefit of providing a "carbon sink." As crops grow to produce the feedstock's for making the biofuel, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.Ethanol offers additional environmental advantages over fossil fuels.

A percent of biomass resource potential areas classified 5,000 or greater that are located on Federal lands. A percent of Federal lands with biomass resource potential of 5,000 or greater. A percent of U.S. electric energy generated with biomass fuels.

Impacts of using biomass for energy

• One impact of using biomass for energy, is it releases harmful gases into our atmosphere every time scientists convert the energy in a recent organism to energy we can use.

• It will also release carbon dioxide. This is the cause of global warming, and making more of it will not help.

3 ways biomass is used

• Wood has the most biomass in it, so it is used the most. The energy from the wood is converted into coal, which can power different things.

• You can also use biomass to create energy out of landfills. This is good because we have already used all that trash, but we can get even more use out of it.

• It can even make cars run because it creates ethanol.

Compared to Fossil Fuels

• Biomass is organic matter used as fuel• This organic matter can be foods we

are done eating and then use as fuel where fossil fuels have no other use than provide fuel

• Biomass can be renewable as fossil fuels are a limited supply

Advantages

• It makes se to use waste materials because when we usually have no use for something we just throw it away but now we can use it as fuel

• Cheaper $$$$$$• Not much demand on fossil fuels• Burning biomass releases carbon dioxide

and plants take in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis

• Corn, sugar cane, and plants can be fermented to become ethanol

Disadvantages

• Growing the fuels can be difficult• Greenhouse gases• Not available all year long• Area if use needs to be well insulated

Current Research on Biomass

• Biomass energy is used in many ways, and made from a lot of sources. Usually, it comes from three Main sources: wood, waste, and alcohol fuels, But it can also come from such plants as switch grass, corn, hemp, and sugarcane. Biomass energy can be made from any material that is, or was, living.

Citation Page • "Biomass Provides Renewable Energy." Biomass Provides

Renewable Energy. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2012.• "WIH RESOURCE GROUP." WIH RESOURCE GROUP. N.p., n.d.

Web. 18 Dec. 2012.• "Biomass Statistics." Explore More. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2012.• Biomass Program – About the Program. N.p., n.d. Web.• "Energy Resources: Biomass." Andy Darvill's Science site: Home.

N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2012. <http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/biomass.htm>.

• "Wood fuelled heating - biofuels, biomass boilers & systems - benefits & costs." Home (England) - Energy Saving Trust England. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2012. <http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generating-energy/Choosing-a-renewable-technology/Wood-fuelled-heating>.

• "Biomass." Institute for Energy Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Dec. 2012.