Lecture 2

Energy from Biomass

 What is Biomass in general ?
‘Bio’ means life or living things and ‘mass’ refers to the amount of matter
contained in something. The word ‘biomass’ literally means the amount of living
material.

Biomaterials (used in medical applications)

Biomass Biochemicals

Energy conversion (heat, electricity)

 Carbon cycle
• Building blocks of biomass:
Carbohydrates (sugars) in the plants
produced from photosynthesis of CO2
from the surrounding and water from
the ground

• Solar energy that drives

photosynthesis is stored in the
chemical bonds of the carbs

• When burned efficiently, oxygen

from the atmosphere react with
carbon in the plants to give CO2 and
water

• This process continues because the

CO2 is absorbed by the plants
Biomass for energy conversion

Biomass – renewable organic material that comes from plants and animals and can be burned
directly as a solid fuel or converted into a gas or liquid fuel

Biomass sources for energy

• Organic waste: Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), timber wastes, sewage sludge, animal
manure and human sewage
• Agricultural crop residues and forest wastes (dry leaves, straw, corn, wood wastes, bagasse,
rice husk etc)
• Selective cultivation of energy efficient crops depending on their fuel content (biomass
plantation)

Biomass Bioenergy
 Concept of biorefinery
• A biorefinery is a facility that integrates biomass conversion processes and equipment
to produce fuels, power and chemicals from biomass.
• Analogous to today’s petroleum refineries.
• Energy-driven biorefineries
❑Fuels
❑Power
❑Heat
• Product-driven biorefineries
❑Food/feed
❑Chemicals
❑Materials
Biorefinery
 Biofuels

• Biofuels are alternatives to fossil fuels that are made from living things or their waste
products.
• They include solid biomass (such as wood or charcoal), biogas (such as methane
produced from sewage) and liquids such as bioethanol and biodiesel.
• Various bio-fuels:
❑Bio-alcohols: bio-ethanol (from fermentation of plant starches and sugars), bio-methanol, bio-
propanol, bio-butanol
❑Biodiesel: produced from new and used vegetable oils, animal fats and recycled grease
❑Renewable Hydrocarbon Biofuels: biomass-based renewable hydrocarbon fuels
Biofuels

• First-generation biofuels: includes bio-alcohols and biodiesel (made from

sugar crops (sugarcane, sugar beet), starch crops (corn, sorghum), oilseed crops
(soybean, canola), and animal fats)
• Second-generation biofuels: made from cellulose, which is available from
non-food crops and waste biomass such as corn stover, corncobs, straw, wood, and
wood byproducts
• Third-generation biofuels: algae as a feedstock; not yet commercialized
 Uses of Biomass

• Fuel for kiln/furnaces

• Fuel for domestic use(kitchen)
• Fuel for ICE
• Burners for lighting
• Organic fertilizer (bio-slurry)
• Used to make biomaterials for medical
applications (biopolymers for example)
• Used to make various biochemicals
• Food for other animals
• To make furniture
(a) Components of a total hip replacement; (b) The components
merged into an implant; (c) The implant as it fits into the hip
 Fig: Industrial and
Fig: Agricultural waste Municipal Solid Waste
(MSW)

Fig: Animal waste

Figure: Sewage sludge
Biomass energy in context of Bangladesh

• Bangladesh is primarily an agricultural country. Hence agricultural

waste provides great source for biomass resources, in addition to
animal and household waste.

• Great potential for energy extraction from biomass in BD.

• Biomass accounts for 70% of total energy consumption.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Biomass for Energetical Use
Advantages:
1)Wastes are immediately available
2)Great potential to be used worldwide
3)Reduce greenhouse gas emissions (CO2, NO2, SO2, CO etc)
4)Preserve the carbon cycle in the atmosphere
5)Yield lower ash fraction and sulfur content as compared to coal
6)Lower decomposition temperature

Disadvantages:
1)Dispersed across the globe (low density)
2)High transportation cost and large storage space required in some cases (large
tree trunks for instance)
3)Drying wet bio-mass (with high moisture content) requires significant amount of
external energy
Physical and Chemical properties
Important physical properties: specific gravity, moisture content
Important chemical properties: calorific value, volatility etc

**
Biomass for energy conversion
Biomass conversion techniques
1. Direct combustion
2. Thermochemical conversion
3. Bio-chemical conversion
1. Direct combustion: most common method to generate heat and electricity , usage examples- cooking, space
heating, industrial process heating, boiling water or producing steam, generating electricity through steam
turbine; biomass moisture content must be below 50%

[1]
Conventional cooking stove [2]
Fuel efficiency is low, produces indoor air pollution, releases greenhouse gases Fuel efficiency is high, creates smokeless environment in the
due to incomplete combustion of biomass fuels, causes deforestation kitchen
2. Thermochemical conversion: decomposition of biomass feedstock to produce solid, liquid (liquefaction) or gaseous fuels
(gasification) under different conditions of pressure, temperature and amount of oxygen

3. Bio-chemical conversion: includes Anaerobic Digestion and Fermentation

An anaerobic is a microscopic organism that can live without oxygen (air). It extracts oxygen by decomposing biomass at low
temperature(65°C) and it generates methane CH4 and CO2. Anaerobic digestion refers to microbial decomposition of biomass.

PYROLYSIS: thermochemical decomposition(under 600°C) with little or no oxygen to produce charcoal, bio-oils and gaseous
fuels
Biogas generation

• Gaseous fuel obtained from biomass by anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis or

hydrogasification

• Mixture of Carbon dioxide(30-40%), Methane(55-65%), H2, H2S and N2 <10%

• Produced from decomposition of animal, plant and human waste

• Anything that is bio-degradable can generate biogas

• The plant that converts biomass to biogas by an anaerobic digestion is called biogas
plant.
Advantages of anaerobic digestion

• Calorific value of gas produced: one of the by-products can be used to

heat water or produce steam
• New sludge yield
• Low running cost
• Nitrogen content
• Environment friendly nature
Factors affecting biogas generation

• pH
• Temperature
• Loading rate
• Total solid content
• Carbon/Nitrogen ratio in the input
waste
• Retention time/Rate of feeding

Easier to operate in the mesophilic range !

Factors affecting site selection of biogas plant

• Distance
• Run off water
• Exposure of sunlight
• Distance from wells
• Space requirements
• Availability of water
 Biogas plant
• Consists of mainly 3 components- Digesting chamber(air-tight),
Inlet(to the digester) and Outlet(sludge)

Dung Water

Slurry

Digester Gas
(various
utilities)

Sludge
(organic
fertilizer, fish
food)
Figure: Typical biogas plant
Figure: A small-scale biogas plant in rural Bangladesh
Digester sizing

The energy (E) available from biogas digester : E = [Link]

nc= combustion efficiency of the burner (60%)
Hb= heat of combustion per unit volume
Vb= volume of biogas, OR,
E = [Link]
Hm= heat of combustion of methane gas
Fm= fraction of methane in the biogas produced
Again, Vb = Cmo, where C= biogas per unit dry mass of whole input
mo= mass of dry input in the digester
The volume of the fluid, Vf = mo/Pm, Pm= density of dry material in the fluid
So, Volume of digester , V = V. t
d f r

tr= retention time in the digester tank

Example: Estimate the volume of a family bio-gas digester and the power
available from the digester, suitable for the output of ten cows with a
retention time of 20 days at an ambient temperature of 30°C.
Assume the following:
(i) Dry matter consumed per day = 1 kg
(ii) Bio-gas yield = 0.24 m³
(iii) Efficiency of burner = 60%
(iv) Proportion of methane in bio-gas = 80%
(v) Heat of combustion of methane = 28 MJ/m³
Solution:

Mass of dry input (𝑚3 ) = 1 kg/day X 10 = 10 kg/day

mo 10 kg/day
Fluid volume (𝑉𝑓 ) = = = 0.20 m3 /day
Pm 50 kg/m3

𝑉𝑑 = Digester volume = 0.20 X 20 = 4.0 m3

Volume of bio-gas digester (Vb ) = Cmo = 0.24 X 10 = 2.4 𝑚3 /day.

Energy available from the bio-gas digester = E = n Hm Fm Vb

So, E = 0.6 X 28 X 0.8 X 2.4 = 32.25 MJ/day = 8.80 kWh/day.

Any Questions?