ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT Project

Biomass to Energy World Scenario

By: Anshul Gupta B023

Introduction
Biomass energy plays an important role in meeting regional energy demand in many regions of the developing world. Biomass is a major source of energy for close to (50 %) 2.4 billion people in developing countries (IEA, 1998). It is available to many of the worlds poor and provides vital and affordable energy for cooking and space heating to these people. Biomass-based industries are a significant source of enterprise development, income generation and job creation in rural areas. Currently biomass energy is largely used in many developing countries as well as in many parts of the industrialized world. With proper management and government support, backed by adherence to appropriate ecological practices, biomass can be a sustainable and cleaner source of electricity as well asgaseous and liquidfuels. Biomass, therefore, is not only a vital source of energy for many today but is likely to remain an important source of energy in the future also subject to its sustainable exploitation. The growing demand in biomass energy is driven by the following facts: It helps in poverty reduction in developing as well as developed countries. It helps to restore degraded lands and unproductive, increasing soil fertility, biodiversityand water retention. It meets domestic and industrial energy needs at all times, without expensive manufacture facilities. It doesnt emit carbon in the atmosphere and can even act as carbon sinks. It can deliver energy in all forms that human need. It can be in the form of liquid or gaseous or in the form of heat and electricity.

The total annual demand for biomass has rising steadily over recent years and currently accounts for more than 11% of global primary energy consumption. Approximately 66% of this is consumed in developing countries as non-commercial, traditional biomass for heating and domestic cooking. The current worldwide demand for biomass to provide heat and electricity for buildings and industry is around 8EJ/yr and around 1.7 EJ/yr for liquid transport biofuels. In terms of expense, currentcost of heat production comes around $4-19 per GJ,bio-electricity generation costs are around $62-185 per MWh, and transport biofuels around $10-31 per GJ (Source: IEA, 2008). The proper use of biomass as energy source will provide an excellent opportunity for reduction of greenhouse gas emission and reducing global warming through the substitution of conventional fossil-based energy sources.

Biomass resources and availability

Biomass is a renewable resource derived from agricultural or forestry sector which has been estimated to provide about one-fourthof global energy requirements [2, 3]. In addition, biomass can also be used as the starting raw materials for a lot of valuable pharmaceuticals,chemicals and foodadditives. The applications of advanced and new technologies in chemical processing provide new opportunities for converting these enormous natural resources into usable forms. The various sources of biomass resources can be grouped into the following as presented in the Figure 1.
Agriculture crops and residues

Animal Residues

Industrial residues

Biomass Sources
Sewage
Forestry crops and residues Figure 1: Sources of biomass i. Animal waste The major biomass from animal waste includes primarily waste from poultry farms,from intensive livestock operations, cattle farms,pig farms and slaughterhouses. ii. Agricultural biomass Agricultural biomass which can be used for energy production is defined as biomass residues from field agricultural crops (stalks, straw, branches, leaves, waste from pruning, etc.) and biomass from the by-products of the processing of agricultural products (residue from olive pits, fruit pits, cotton ginning, etc.)
Municipal solid wastes

iii. Forest biomass Forest biomass which can be used for energy purposes consists of forestry residues, material taken from forests to protect them from forest fires, as well as byproducts from wood industries and firewood. iv. Municipal Waste Municipal waste, commonly known as trash or garbage, consists of all of a city's solid and semisolid waste. It includes mainly domestic or household waste, but it can also contain industrial and commercial waste with the exception of hazardous wastes which are typically dealt with separately based on environmental regulations.[4] Biodegradable fractions of municipal wastes mostly include food and kitchen waste such as meat trimmings or vegetable peelings, paper and yard or green waste.

BIOMASS CONVERSION ROUTES AND TECHNOLOGIES One way of minimizing the negative effects of wastes and maximizing the value of biomass is to convert biomass into a variety of biomaterials, chemicals and energy. The following are some of the major conversion routes frequently adopted: i. Thermo- Chemical Chemical conversions refer to processes which directly convert biomass to chemicals at high pressure and temperature and in the presence of a catalyst. Some bulk chemicals, including furfural and levulinic acid , can be produced by treating biomass at high temperature for specific times in the presence of conventional mineral acid catalysts, such as hydrochloric, phosphoric and hydrosulfuric acids [3, 5, and 6]. However, significant volumes and low yield of side products, coupled with the use of corrosive chemicals, are challenges to commercialize the technology together with environmental issues ii. Biological conversions Biological conversions involve the utilization of living organisms or biological enzymes to catalyze the conversion of biomass into commodity and specialty chemicals. Overall, it is considered to be the supplest method for conversion of biomass into commercialized products [3]. Biological conversion is relatively old method, but rather some commercial chemicals, such as lactic acid, ethanol, acetone-butanol and citric acid , have been produced via yeast and bacterial fermentation processes [6]. Recently, there has been growing importance in utilization of biocatalysts to convert renewable resources into chemicals, due to selectivity and high yield, and fewer byproducts. However, due to the metabolic restriction in microorganisms, only very few bulk products currently are produced through this route [6]. Therefore, development of new technologies to broaden the product spectrum is necessary.

Biomass to energy prospective- worldwide Nearly half of all people in developing countries are dependent for fuel on dung, wood and crop residue, collectively known as traditional biomass. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecast that use of traditional biomass will decrease in many developed countries, but is likely to increase in developing countries like sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia alongside population growth. Overall, the IEA forecasts that by 2030, the total number of people dependent on biomass will not change significantly. While the use of traditional biomass as energy source is not necessarily undesirable in itself, concerns have been raised on how it is currently being used. Modern energy sources, such as petroleum and electricity-based fuels, generally provide only a small part of the energy use of rural people. This happen because they are too costly and because it is difficult to achieve regular supplies to isolated rural communities. Worlds electricity production as at 2008 is shown in the Figure 1:

World electricity production 2008

Gas, 21% Coal, 41%

Hydro, 16%

Nuclear, 13%

Total = 20, 269 TWh

Others, 3% Oil, 6%

Figure: Worlds electricity production as at 2008 Source: IEA Electricity information, 2010 Distribution is also a big problem, particularly in South Asia and Africa, where the majority of the worlds energy-poor live. Supply chains and infrastructure are poor or non-existent, particularly in these rural areas. Training and recruiting manpower, and educating consumers of the benefits of switching away from traditional biomass, must be paid for somehow [1].

Biomass has lot of potential that could ensure the future supply of fuel for energy. Worldwide most of the biomass resource is relatively unexploited, except for Asia and Africa, which use more biomass than the actual annual regional potential [7,8] and is located outside Europe. Estimates done by United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report in 2005 shows that total global forest to be just less than 4 billion hectares (ha) or 30% of total land area which corresponds to an average of 0.62 ha of forest per capita [8 ]. The report indicates that the five most forest-rich countries (Russian, the United States, Brazil, Canada, and China) account for more than half of total forest area. Multiples studies on global bio-energy potential use a marginspanning from a few hundred to more than 1000 EJ depending on the assumptions they makeon yield, agriculture, population, etc.[7,8,9]. The majority of this potential is found in most developing countries of Caribbean and South America (47221 EJ/year), sub-Saharan Africa (31317 EJ/year) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Baltic States (45199 EJ/year).[9]. The bio-energy potential from logging and processing residues and waste was estimated to be equivalent to 28 EJ/year wood, based on a medium demand scenario [9].There is an enormous biomass potential that can be tapped by increasing plant productivity and by improving the utilization of existing resources. Bioenergy can be modernized through the application of advanced technology (chemical or biological) to convert raw biomass into modern, easy-to-use form (such as electricity, gaseous or liquid fuels, or processed solid fuels). Therefore, greater amount of useful energy could be extracted from this precious source than at present. This could bring very significant economic and social benefits to both urban and rural areas. The present lack of access to convenient and clean sources limits the quality of life of millions of population throughout the world, particularly in villages of developing countries. Growing biomass is a labor-intensive job, and can, therefore, create job opportunity in rural areas and help to control migration from rural-tourban areas, whilst, at the same time, providing convenient resource to help promote other rural industries.

Reference:
1. Birka W., E. Smeets, H. Watson and A. Faaij, 2011. The Current Bioenergy Production Potential of Semi-Arid and Arid Regions in Sub-Saharan Africa, Biomass and Bioenergy 35: 2773-2786. 2. Briens, C., J. Piskorz and B. Franco, 2008. Biomass Valorization for Fuel and Chemicals Production - A Review, International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering, Vol 6:R2 3. James, H. C. and I.D. Fabien, 2008. Introduction to Chemical from Biomass. John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., United Kingdom. 4. Amanda B.An Overview of Municipal Waste and Landfills;How Cities Deal With Garbage, Recycling, Landfills, and Dumps http://geography.about.com/od/geographyintern/a/amandabio.htm 5. Xu,Y., M.A. Hanna and L. Isom, 2008. Green Chemicals from Renewable Agricultural Biomass A Mini Review, The Open Agriculture Journal, 2: 54-61. 6. Brown, R.C., 2003. Biorenewable Resources: Engineering New Products from Agriculture., Ames, Iowa: Iowa State Press 4. 7. McMillan, J. D., August 3-4, 2004. Biotechnological routes to biomass conversion.USDOE/NASULGC-Biomass and Solar Energy Workshops.

8.

Energy in Developing Countries, January 1991, OTA Project: OTA-E-486 NTIS order #PB91- 133694. 9. Hoogwijk,M., A. Faaija, R. van den Broek, G. Berndes, D. Giele and, W. Turkenburg 2003. Exploration of the Ranges of the Global Potential of Biomass for Energy, Biomass and Bioenergy 25: 119 133. 10. http://ec.europa.eu/research/energy/eu/research/bioenergy/background/index_en.htm