What is Biomass

Biomass is a fuel developed by organic materials. It is a sustainable and renewable source of energy that
helps in creating electricity or other power forms. The materials that make up biomass fuels are:

Scrap lumber

Forest debris

Some crops

Manure

Waste residues such as:

1. Wood not used in papermaking
2. Municipal solid waste
With a constant supply of waste green energy production can continue indefinitely

The reason as to why Biomass is a renewable source of fuel to produce energy are:

waste residues will always exist in terms of scrap wood, mill residuals and forest resources.

properly managed forests will always have more trees, and we will always have crops and the
residual biological matter from those crops.

Biomass Pros

1. Renewable: The best part about biomass is that it creates power by using up renewable assets.

2. Dependency on Fossil Fuels is Reduced: It replaces other fuel sources. In all cases, the fuel might
be immediately replaced. By utilizing natural materials to deliver power, there is less interest for power
created by non-renewable assets.

3. Carbon Neutral: The difference while using biomass fuel rather than coal or gas is that the carbon that
is released was already part of nature because of the plant. When coal or gas is utilized it is being
depleted from the reserves that took a large number of years to occur.

4. Widely Available: Organic waste in the form of dead leaves, grass and trees, animal carcasses are
available in abundance and can be used to produce biomass energy. As long as organic matter from
plants and animals are going to be present until then we are never going to run out of biomass energy.

5. Can be Used in Many Forms: Biomass can be used to create different products from different forms
of organic matter. It can be used to produce methane gas, biodiesel and other biofuels. It can also be
used directly as heat or to generate electricity using a steam turbine.

6. Helps Reduce Waste: This waste involves biodegradable waste, recyclable waste. Biomass energy
uses this very waste which concludes it to be no longer sitting in landfills.
Biomass Cons

1. Not Totally Clean When Burned: It creates pollution while burned, sometimes to be as dangerous as
the pollution from coal and other energy resources.

2. Can Lead to Deforestation: Wood being the major source of biomass energy, large amount of wood
has to be burned leading in the destruction of the homes of plants and animals.

3. In-efficient: Biodiesel product like Ethanol which is produced by biomass is relatively inefficient as
compared to gasoline. Also, long term usage can be harmful to the engines.

4. Requires Lot of Space: Its hard to find a plant that is in a convenient place. Many times, biomass
energy plants are found in urban areas, which means that they are causing more traffic in those areas
and they are causing more pollution, which seems to be more of a problem than an actual help.

5. Expensive: The last problem that often comes up is how expensive this process is. The production of
biomass plants is incredibly expensive and, in some cases, the costs are not worth the benefits. Transport
and resource gathering expenses are high and will be continually needed every day. When you compare
the process of biomass energy to fossil fuels, you find that the cost is actually much higher.

Biomass as power

Biomass power claims to be carbon neutral electricity created from renewable organic waste that would
otherwise have been dumped in landfills, openly burned, or left as fodder for forest fires. When burned,
the energy is released as heat. Hence, if you own a fireplace you technically are already participating in
the use of biomass as the wood burned in the process is a biomass fuel.
At biomass power plants, wood waste or other waste is burned to create steam that runs the turbine
leading to the making of electricity, or provides heat to industries and homes. With newer technologies
such as pollution controls and combustion engineering the emissions produced from burning of biomass
are generally less than the emissions of fossil fuels.
Biomass in Malaysia
Malaysia is blessed with abundance of biomass resources as it is one of the countries with active
agricultural activities and the largest palm oil. However, even though government policies and market
incentives have been put in place to support the use of green technology in the industry, the uptake of
biomass commercialization needs further intervention.
A minimum of 168 tons of biomass waste is generated in Malaysia annually. With palm oil accounting for
94% of biomass feedstock while the remaining are wood residues, rice and sugar industry wastes.
Roughly up to 4.5 million hectares of land is cultivated with oil palm, which translates to 13.6% of the
countrys total land area. The palm oil industry generates an abundant amount of by-products, especially
through its processing. With more than 423 mills in Malaysia, this industry generated around 80 million
dry tones of biomass back in 2010.
Out of palm oil processing yield, only 10% are finished products i.e. palm oil and palm kernel oil, and the
remaining 90% are harvestable biomass waste in the form of empty fruit bunches, palm kernel shell, palm
oil mill effluent, and palm kernel cake. However, there is also the potential to utilize a share of this
biomass for a variety of additional end uses, including, pellets, bioenergy, biofuels and bio based
chemicals, without depleting the soil
Barriers in the utilization of Biomass in Malaysia

Policy barriers limited incentives on biomass utilization

Supply & demand perspectives no reliable data on actual potential of biomass
slow implementation of 5th Fuel Policy
limited effort to regulate and enforce biomass programs
Environmental perspective current technologies are inefficient and polluting
Financial & technical barriers high initial investment
limited local technologies and equipment
poor financial support, no record on biomass industry
Institutional barrier limited coordination among the local agencies
Unwillingness of the industry to change and to be proactive