Biomass
Biomass is a large class of burnable materials that
come from edible or inedible plant parts and human or animal waste; the term specifically
excludes geologically transformed organic matter (e.g. natural gas, coal or petroleum)
that was essentially removed from the carbon cycle. Types of biomass burned to
produce energy include wood waste, wood or paper pellets, sawdust, landscape
trimmings, garbage, agricultural waste, non-food “energy crops,” (e.g.
switchgrass), plants targeted for invasive species removal projects (e.g. Arundo); and animal or human waste (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomass ). Biomass may either be
burned in its solid form (e.g. scrap wood, pellets or manure) to produce heat
and steam power, or refined to produce a suite of liquid and gas biofuels (see
“Biofuels”). Electricity-producing
generators that run on biomass (pellets, wood chips, or waste) instead of
gasoline or other fossil fuels are becoming available; some are scaled down for
use at home or a place of business (e.g. http://www.gocpc.com/
), providing fossil fuel-free power from waste. See “Biomass Plant Network.”
Existing commercial biomass power generation in the US accounts for 0.5 percent of US supply and avoids approximately 11 million tons per year of carbon dioxide emissions and two million tons per year of methane emissions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomass). The use of waste biomass (versus “virgin” sources like downed wood) to produce energy can reduce GHG emissions and waste management problems at the same time (EEA 2006, Marshall 2007). Pyrolysis of biomass produces “biochar” charcoal, a form of carbon capture and storage (“Carbon Sequestration”). Burning biomass-based fuel has the potential to be “carbon negative,” provided the harvested plant biomass is replaced with new plantings and source materials do not originate from deforestation or urbanization of green sites. Burning biomass produces the same air-pollution challenges as other carbon-based fuels (e.g. particulates and PAHs; Gustafsson et al. 2009) and its production consumes orders of magnitude more water than any other alternative or conventional fuel type (Jones 2008). In the North Coast, biomass pelletizing or processing plants exist or are planned for seven counties.
Biomass plants process raw plant and waste materials into useable biofuels like wood or paper pellets (see “Biomass”). Transporting waste or crop biomass over long distances to large, widely distributed biomass processing plants can overcome its actual value as fuel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomass ). It is therefore preferable to collect biomass and process it locally, distributing energy via a network of small biomass plants located strategically throughout the region. In the North Coast region, a lack of localized or mobile pellet or other biomass processing plants has been identified as hampering the local development of biofuel technologies as a source of energy independence. Biomass pelletizing/ processing plants are planned for or operate in Del Norte, Trinity, Modoc, Siskiyou, Humboldt, Mendocino, and Sonoma (a biodiesel plant) counties. See “Rural Electrification.”
Citations:
European Environment Agency (EEA). 2006. How Much Bioenergy Can Europe Produce Without Harming the Environment? EEA Report no. 7.
Gustaffson, O., M. Krusa, Z. Zencak, R.J. Sheesley, L. Granat, E. Engstrom, P.S. Praveen, P.S.P. Rao, C. Leck, and H. Rodge. 2009. Brown clouds over South Asia: biomass or fossil fuel combustion? Science 323(5913):495-498.
Jones, W.D. 2008. . How much water does it take to make electricity? IEEE Spectrum white paper. http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/apr08/6182
Marshall, A.T. 2007. Bioenergy from waste: a growing source of power. Waste Management World Magazine, April: 34-37.
