Biomass

Eng. Jimmy Córdova V.

1
World Markets Energy 1860-2060
100
Biomass
90 Coal
Oil
80 Gas
Water & Wind
70
Other Renewables

60
% Share

50

40

30

20

10

0
1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 2060

Source British Biogen

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 Definition
Biomass energy is:
“recent organic matter
originally derived from
plants as a result of the
photosynthetic
conversion process or
from animals, and
which is destined to be
utilized as a store of
chemical energy to
provide heat, electricity
, or transport.” (Sims
2002 p1-2) 3
 Introduction to Conversion
Processes
• 3 groups
– Thermo-chemical conversion
• Combustion
• Gasification
• Pyrolysis
– Enzymatic
• Anaerobic Digestion
• Fermentation
– Chemical
• Esterification

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Introduction to Conversion
Processes

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 High energy oil
Principal Poultry litter/straw bales, Wood High energy sugar/
crops, animal
Fuels energy crops, forest and wood Animal wastes/sewage fats
starch crops
wastes, chips/pellets sludge/biodegradable wastes

Conversion
Processes
Combustion Pyrolysis Gasification Anaerobic Digestion Fermentation Esterification

Intermediary
Products
Bio oils/ Producer gas Methane Methanol Ethanol Biodiesel
fuel gas

End Use
Technologies Wood Steam boiler/ Gas turbine Spark ignition Compression
stove/ CHP plant engine ignition engine
boiler

End
Products

Heat Electricity Motive power

for transport

Figure 1 : Energy from biomass, fuels to end-uses 6

Sources: Biomass is Forever, article in Energy Wise News April/May 2002: Power Plants - Biofuels made simple, Centre for Alternative Technology
1996: Renewable Energy Resources, Twidell and Weir, E&FN Spon 1986:
 Gasification

• Conversion of fuel by partial oxidation at

elevated temperature to gaseous energy
carrier
• Partial oxidation carried out in:
– air, oxygen, steam or mixture of the above
• Gaseous Products
– Carbon dioxide, Carbon monoxide, Hydrogen,
Methane, Traces of higher hydrocarbons (e.g.
ethane), Water, Nitrogen (if partial oxidation in air)

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Gasification

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 Pyrolysis: A Definition
‘Slow, irreversible, thermal degradation of
carbonaceous materials
between 400°C and 800°C either in the
complete absence of an oxidising agent,
or with such a limited supply that gasification
does not occur to an appreciable extent’

Products:
Gas
Liquid (bio-oils)
Char (charcoal)
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Pyrolysis

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• Anaerobic Digestion
– Under conditions without oxygen biomass is
converted with the aid of bacteria to methane in
reactor vessels. The methane can be used for heat
or converted to electricity in a gas turbine.
• Fermentation
– Short chain saccharides are converted to alcohol
(ethanol) by certain varieties of yeast fungi
• Esterification
– Oils are mixed with an alcohol, such as methanol, and
a catalyst (sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide),
resulting in a chemical reaction whose major products
are the biodiesel fuel and glycerol.
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Developed Countries
Bioenergy
Hydro
3%
6%
Nuclear
6%

Oil
36%

Natural Gas
24%

Solid Fuels
25%

Source: OU 2001 12
Developing Countries
Oil
23%

Bioenergy
35%

Nuclear
Solid Fuels 1%
28% Hydro
6%
Natural Gas
7%
Source: OU 2001
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 Income : Biomass use
100 Zambia
Nigeria
90 India
Pakistan Nepal
Percentage of Population below $2 per day

80 Bangladesh
Mozambique
70 Indonesia Senegal Zimbabwe
Guatemala Kenya
60
Ecuador El Salvador Tanzania
China
50 Mexico
Bolivia Peru Paraguay Sri
40
Lanka
30 Romania Columbia Thailand South Africa
Russia
Costa Rica Turkey Chile Panama
20 Brazil
Algeria
Morocco Uruguay Tunisia
10
Poland

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Percentage of Domestic Biomass Use

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 Opportunities for Biomass
• Co-firing with coal in large power stations
• Stand-alone Electricity plant
• Heat at all scales
• Bio-fuels for Transport
– Bio-ethanol to replace petrol
– Bio-diesel to replace diesel

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 Barriers to Biomass
• Are biomass resources available or can be produced
sustainably?
• Which technologies, that are available now or in the
future, will deliver environmentally acceptable products
and services?
• What will be the effects of increasing the use of
biomass on environmental-socio-economic systems?
• What biomass markets are readily available or need to
be established?
• What financial investments are going to be required to
establish the biomass industry?
• What risks are there associated in investing in the
biomass sector?

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 Technologies
• Mature
– Steam combustion
• Under-development
– Just about everything else
– Especially supply chains

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 Market Mechanisms
• Carbon Tax
• Climate Change levy
• Carbon Trading
• Long-term feed-in tariff
• Capital grants and subsidies
• Reduced excise tax (biofuels 20p/l)
• Increased depreciation rates

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 Risk
• Immature markets
• Lack of proven technology
• Lack of clarity in energy policy
• Uncertainty over subsidies and changes to
agricultural policies (fuel supply)

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 The cycle of life

Carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere by the

crops while they grow

The fuel is used in vehicles in the normal way Crops are processed to ethanol using natural fermentation
producing carbon dioxide

Ethanol is blended with petrol.

Current fuel standards allow 5%
Calorific Value

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Resource Base

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Miscanthus

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 Worked Example of Yield to
Energy Need
Calculate the area of short rotation coppice needed to produce an
annual thermal energy output of 9000GJ for a school
Yield 16.9t/ha/yr green wood
Equivalent 12.7t/ha/yr dry wood
Boiler thermal efficiency 78%
Calorific content of dry wood 17MJ/kg

Annual basis
Total energy output required = 9000GJ
Total energy needed 9*1012J/0.78 = 1.154*1013J
Amount of wood 1.154*1013J / 17*106 J/kg = 678733kg or
678.733t
Area 678.733t/12.7t/ha = 53.44ha

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 Advantages of biomass fuel

 Renewable source of energy

 CO2 neutral if sustainable planting and
exclude upstream energy requirements for
bringing fuel to point of consumption
 Low NOx and SO2 emissions
 Local resource and widely distributed
 Competitive with oil and solid fuel

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Disadvantages of biomass fuel

 High capital cost for boilers and plant

 Wood fuel more expensive than gas
 Supply chain needs developing
 Material is bulky
 Competition with other users

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Classification of wood-fuel
based on particle size

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Wood Pellets

 Wood residues
 Low moisture content ≈ 5%
 High energy density ≈ 18GJ/tonne
 Free flowing
 5mm: stoves, efficiency 80 – 90%
 8mm: boilers, efficiency 85 – 90%

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Logs / briquettes for heating /
cooking systems

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 Chemical reactions 1

 The chemical equation for burning of any hydrocarbon

is
 CxHy + (x+y/4)O2 xCO2 + (y/2)H2O

 For a simple example methane reacts thus:

 CH4 + 2O2 CO2 +2H2O + energy [4.1]
 The weights of reactants and products must balance
either side of the equation. Does not matter if it is
atoms or tonnes

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 Atomic weights C=12, O=16, H=1
 Thus CH4 + 2O2 CO2 +2H2O
 Can be written
 (12 + (1*4)) + 2(16*2) (12 + (16*2)) + 2(1*2) + 16) [4.2]
 16 + 64 = 44 +36 or 80=80
 So 16t of methane produce 44t CO2 and
880GJ of heat (55GJ/t)
 For every 20GJ of heat 1t of CO2 is released
or 1GJ = 50kg CO2 for CH4

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Boiler Scalability 10kW-20MW

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 Schematic of Large Biomass Combustion Plant

Source: Boyle 1998 33

 10MW rated power plant consumes 100,000t/yr
biomass at 45% moisture content. 78,000MhW/yr
energy delivered as electricity. Calorific value at 45%
moisture is 9.4GJ/t
 Energy input in GJ is fuel * calorific value =
100,000t/yr * 9.4GJ/t = 940,000GJ
 Convert to MWh for boiler energy input 940,000GJ /
3.6 = 261,111MWh/yr
 The energy conversion efficiency is energy exported
as electricity / boiler energy input * 100
 78,000 / 261,111 *100 = 30%

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 What are Biofuels?
 The term biofuels usually applies to
biomass energy that is used for transport
applications, but can equally apply to
stationary engine applications.
 Biofuels are normally considered to be
liquid fuels made from esters, alcohols,
ethers, and other biomass chemicals.
 They are renewable fuels that can be
produced in any climate using already
developed agricultural practices.
 Common biofuels include: ethanol and
biodiesel.
 Biofuels can also be gases such as
methane or hydrogen both of which can
be used to propel vehicles. Of course solid
biofuels for transport have also been used
in steam engines. However there is no
need to get hung up on this.

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 History of Biofuels: Biodiesel
 Dr. Rudolph Diesel developed an engine
in 1895

 This engine was designed to operate on

peanut oil or other vegetable-based
fuels

 Dr. Diesel demonstrated his engine at

the 1900 World Exhibition

Dr. Diesel died in 1913. After his death,

Diesel’s engine was adapted to use a
by-product of the gasoline refining
process. The petroleum industry called it
diesel fuel.
The use of vegetable oils as engine fuels may
seem insignificant today but the such oils may
become, in the course of time, as important as
petroleum and the coal tar products of the
present time.
-Rudolph Diesel, 1912

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 Vegetable oil VS Diesel
Vegetable oil differs from Fossil fuel
diesel in it viscosity due to the higher
The both have similar
molecular weight of the tri-glycerides
 Energy density

 Cetane Number This affects flow properties such as

 Heat of vaporisation
•Spray atomisation
 Air/Fuel Ratio
•Vaporisation
•Air fuel mix
•Fuel pumps

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 Methods of treating oil

 Dilution is a process of adding blends such as ethanol to lower the

viscosity
 Micro emulsification the process of mixing two liquids that are
insoluble in each other with the aid of a surfactant
 Thermal Cracking Is the thermal degradation of oils by heat in the
absence of oxygen
 Transesterification is a chemical reaction, in which mono-hydroxyl
alcohols react with try glycerides or fatty acid in the presence of a
catalyst to form alcohol ester (bio diesel) and glycerine

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 Biodiesel

Biodiesel is a renewable, biodegradable, alternative fuel or fuel

additive for diesel engines. It can be used in its pure form or it
can be mixed with petroleum-based diesel. Biodiesel can be
made from a variety of plant oils and animal fats including waste
oils by transesterification reaction

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Producing biodiesel

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 The Reaction

H H

H C COOR H C OH RCOOCH3
/ /
H C COOR + 3CH 3OH H C OH + R COOCH3
// //
H C COOR H C OH R COOCH3

H H
Oil + Alcohol Glycerol + Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (Bio Diesel)

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Reaction products

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The product

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Floreana Project

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Floreana Project

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 Anaerobic Digestion
Anaerobic digestion is a sequential process, which
relies on a synergistic consortium of different
micro-organisms for each stage. These activities
need to be closely coordinated for the successful
breakdown of biomass/sludge. The digestion of
sludge and other solid organic polymers are the
most difficult and take place in four successive
steps: hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis and
methanogenesis

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