Introduction to Alternative

Energies
Unit 7 - Biomass

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After completing this unit you will…
• Understand what biomass is and where it
comes from
• Be able to explain how biofuels are obtained
and various applications
• Be able to explain the amount of energy
available from various biofuels

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• What is biomass
and where does it
come from

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Biomass
With the current
concerns for the
nonrenewal of fossil
fuels and their
impact on the
environment, the
derivation of energy
from biomass has
become of interest
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• Biomass is any substance that…
originates from a living organism
• Coming from many substances including

Wood or forestry

Plants or crops

Human or animal waste

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• Biomass is a renewable resource that gets its
energy from the sun
• The stored energy is
used as we eat food,
burn wood for heat,
along with many
other mechanisms

Biomass is a form of
stored solar energy http://www.bioenergy.org/biomass.html

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• Biomass-based energy uses
captured sunlight to produce
various chemical compounds, a
process referred to as
photosynthesis
• Some of these compounds have
commercial value
• Particularly glucose, starch,
cellulose, and other sugars which
can be used for fuels in electricity
generation or automotive engines
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Photosynthesis
A process where
plants convert
solar energy into
chemical energy
which is stored in
the bonds of
sugar

http://www.caribbeanedu.com/kewl/science/science04d.asp
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From the previous diagram
• Plants use carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight
to produce the sugar
• The reaction takes place in the chloroplasts,
located between the epidermises, top and
bottom skin of the leaf
• Stomates, little holes in the lower epidermis,
take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen
• The veins in a leaf then deliver water and
nutrients to the chloroplasts where it reacts
with the solar energy and carbon dioxide
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• The process of photosynthesis has an
efficiency of around 8%
• Taking into account cultivation,
harvest, transportation, and
processing, the overall efficiency of
the biomass is typically less than 1%
• Even with extremely low efficiencies,
biomass is being looked at
commercially because of economic
and ecological reasons

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The Composition of Biomass
• The composition of biomass can be
determined by looking at the
structure of a plant
• A plant consists of the stalk or
supporting structure, roots to
collect water and nutrients, leaves
to collect sunlight performing
photosynthesis, and fruits or grains
to perform reproduction
http://www.caribbeanedu.com/kewl/science/science04d.asp
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• Sap is used to transport
materials from one part of
the plant to another
• The energy produced by
the plant is stored in the
roots, tubers, sap, and fruit
along with the stalk, and is
stored in the form of
carbohydrates,
hydrocarbons, and esters

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Stored Energy
• Carbohydrates are sugars and polymers such
as starches, cellulous, and hemicellulous
we are familiar with these when we see the
ingredients of food, used as energy (calories)

• Hydrocarbons are generally polyisoprenes

• Esters are vegetable oils which are chemically

different than the mineral oils we currently
use as fuels
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• How can biomass
be used as fuels
and what are
some applications

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Basic Organic Chemistry
• A basic overview of organic chemistry
will help explain the different
compositions of fuels derived from
biomass
• Looking at hydrogen as the most
abundant element in the universe and
carbon as the most versatile, it makes
sense that these would naturally
combine giving us hydrocarbons
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• The simplest hydrocarbon
is methane, CH4
• Methane has many
compounds derived from it
which are the basis for
organic chemistry
• When oxygen, from our
atmosphere, is added to
the hydrocarbons,
oxidation takes place

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There are three steps to oxidation
1. A hydrogen atom is replaced with an oxygen-
hydrogen group, resulting in an alcohol
2. The loss of two hydrogen atoms results in a
double bond of the oxygen to carbon,
forming aldehyde (leading to an acid with the
addition of one hydrogen atom back), or
keytone
3. The final step is then the formation of carbon
dioxide and water

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• Oxidation leads to the compounds of interest
when using biomass for fuels; esters (oils) and
carbohydrates
• When the acids are mixed with the alcohols of
oxidation, esters are formed
• Carbohydrates are the most common or at
least the compounds of most interest for
biomass
• They are the sugars or condensation of
polymers from simple sugars

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• Many of these sugars are fermentable…
they can be transformed directly into ethanol
When you think of fermentation, it is easy to use
the example of wine
There are many fruits that can be fermented into
wine, an alcohol

• Noting that this process could be used for any

plant, you can see the applicability of
producing fuel (alcohol) for generators,
vehicles, and other machines
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Biomass as Fuel
• Biomass can be used in several different
ways as a fuel generally separated into
three areas
– direct burning such as wood

– liquid fuels such as ethanol

– gas fuel such as methane

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Preferred over the traditional fossil fuels
because of less impact on the environment
• Fuels derived from biomass release much less
carbon dioxide when burning them compared
to the fossil fuels
• The amount of carbon, in the form of carbon
monoxide, is 220 million tons per year just
from automobiles in the United States alone
• This amount of carbon added to the
atmosphere has harmful effects

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• With biomass, the amount of
carbon released when burning
the fuel cannot exceed the
amount of carbon that was
initially removed from the
atmosphere to grow the original
plant, therefore, keeping the
carbon in balance
• Another advantage with
biomass fuels is the low sulfur
content reducing acid rain
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There are several different applications using
biomass for fuels or BIOFUELS including but
not limited to:
• Wood Gasifiers

• Ethanol

• Disassociated Alcohol

• Anaerobic Digestion

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Wood Gasifiers
• A method using wood as a fuel source, first
used in World War II
• Process of heating wood at high temperatures
while introducing a controlled amount of
oxygen
• The chemical reaction produces carbon
monoxide and hydrogen
• The wood does not burn but produces a gas
which in turn is used for fuel
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• A good example on the following web site:
http://www.windmeadow.com/node/46
showing a small homemade wood gasifier including
pictures and a video clip of the operation

• In modern gasifiers, syngas is produced that

can be used in oil or gas furnaces or to power
electric generators and other devises
• The syngas can also be used as feedstock for
other chemical compounds

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Ethanol
• Primarily produced from
vegetable and grain products
producing sugars, starches,
and cellulose
• A good source of fuel for
countries that do not have
sufficient resources for oil
• A good substitute for gasoline
since it is capable of higher
efficiencies than gasoline
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The process to acquire ethanol requires quite a
large amount of energy input

• Starts with collecting and storing the grains,

sugar beets, or sugarcane
• The grain or vegetable is then mashed, ground
to a fine powder and water added to it to
create slurry
• The slurry is then stored for a period of time
to ferment
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• Fermentation then produces “beer” while
releasing carbon dioxide
• The “beer” is then distilled yielding ethanol
(190 proof) along with stillage
• The ethanol (190 proof) is then dehydrated
removing the water and yielding ethanol, 200
proof, ready for use as a fuel
• The stillage is sent to a centrifuge where the
moisture is removed leaving a substance high
in nutrients

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• When grains are used for the production of
ethanol, this “leftover” substance is used for
livestock and for fertilizer to increase yield of
more crops
• The production of ethanol is based on the
fermentation
– A series of chemical reactions that convert sugars
to ethanol
– The reactions start with the introduction of yeast
or bacteria that feeds on the sugars
– As the sugars are consumed, carbon dioxide and
ethanol are produced
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Dissociated Alcohols
• In order to increase the efficiencies for use in
automobiles, dissociated alcohols are
commonly used
• Both ethanol and methanol are dissociated for
use in automobiles

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• Dissociated alcohols have
Higher heats of combustion

More resistance to knocking…

Allowing higher compression ratios

And leaner mixtures to be used

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• For practical purposes, the
dissociation of the alcohol is best
accomplished in the vehicle prior
to the use as a fuel
• Dissociation occurs at 250 to 350 C
and is accomplished with a
catalytic converter
• The catalytic converter includes a
vaporizer, superheater, a reactor,
and a gas cooler

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• Alcohol is evaporated at 80 C, then
passes through the superheater,
raising the temperature to
between 250 C and 350 C
• From the superheater the high
temperature gas goes to the
reactor where it is disassociated
• The dissociated alcohol is then
cooled to 100 C prior to returning
to the engine

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Anaerobic Digestion
• Another process for the
derivation of fuel from biomass,
• A fermentation process similar
that used for the production of
ethanol
• A naturally occurring process
which uses much less energy
compared to those previously
discussed
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Anaerobic decomposition
• Occurs in swamps, water-logged
fields, deep bodies of water, and
the digestive systems of animals
• Also achieved synthetically with
“digesters”, basically air tight
tanks or covered lagoons
• The process produces useful
nutrients along with biogas, a
mixture of methane (roughly
65%) and carbon dioxide
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The process can be broken down into
three basic steps
1. Fermentative bacteria break down the
substances into fragments of lower
molecular mass
2. Further degradation is promoted by
acetogenic bacteria converting the acids
and alcohols into acetic acid, hydrogen,
and carbon dioxide
3. The acetic acid, hydrogen, and carbon
dioxide are then used to produce methane
and carbon dioxide, resulting in biogas
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• Although the process requires less energy
than those methods used for ethanol, the
process is much slower
• The process can be completed in batch
digesters which are large reservoirs or tanks
• Because of the relatively long time frame for
this process, though, many times a continuous
process is used

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• Continuous or semi continuous digesters
receive waste in one end of a tank and empty
the spent sludge at the other end
• The digestion
process is
accomplished
slowly as the
material passes
through the
digester with a
continuous flow
of biogas http://www.acres-wild.com/Gobar%20Gas.shtml

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• How can you
determine the
amount of energy
available from a
biofuel

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Energy Content
• The energy value of biomass materials is
determined by its chemical composition
• It is measured as joules of energy in 1 gram of
fuel (J/g)
for convenience, this is usually expressed
as MJ/kg or GJ/ton
• For practical matters, the volume-related
energy density is an important parameter

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Volume-related energy density
• “King size” candy bar - energy content: 2 MJ
• Standard briquettes – energy content: 16 MJ
• LPG cylinder – energy content: 460 MJ
• Oil tanker – energy content: 3,500,000,000 MJ

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Volume-related energy density
Fuel kWh/liter
Gasoline 9.0
Natural Gas (Liquid) 7.2
Propane (Liquid) 6.6
Ethanol 6.1
Liquid Hydrogen 2.6

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Volume-related energy density

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/
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Greenhouse Gas Reduction
In comparison to gasoline, ethanol made from
cellulose and produced with power generated
from biomass byproducts can result in an 86%
reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions

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Work Cited
Da Rosa, A. V. (2005). Fundamentals of Renewable Energy Processes. Burlington, MA,
USA: Elsevier Inc.

IEA Biomass, Educational Web Site on Biomass and Bioenergy:

http://www.aboutbioenergy.info/index.html

http://www.caribbeanedu.com/kewl/science/science04d.asp

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