Biomass is a combination of organic and biological materials usually composed of both plants and animals. It is composed of stored energy derived from the sun, and can release a new source of energy when physical and chemical processes are applied to it.

Most biomasses materials come from wood, trees, grasses, agricultural crops, garbage and other urban wastes. Human and animal wastes are sources for biomass energy too.

• The most well known source of biomass energy is by burning of wood. This produces heat, light, electricity and steam which are also forms of energy to be used for household and industrial purposes.

• There is another simple way of how biomass energy works. Decaying plants, animal and human wastes produce biogas or landfill gas. This is more known as methane gas and is used as fuel for industrial purposes. Similar to this is the use of decayed organic contents, which is used to fertilize soil and plants.

• Agricultural crops like corn and sugarcane undergo the fermentation process to produce fuel like ethanol, which is used for trucks, cars and other means of transport.

• Vegetable oils and animal fats can be converted to produce biodiesel which is also used in vehicles and other kinds of transportation.

• The more complicated methods and high end technology of using biomass is by hydro gasification, which is the process of adding hydrogen gas to carbon in biomass, the end result of which is the production of highly flammable methane gas. This converts biomass into fluid oil, a more combustible form of gas used in vehicles like trucks and cars.

• Biomass energy also works by anaerobic digestion which involves the process of using microorganisms to break down biodegradable wastes and convert them into fuel. This process helps in reducing gas going into the earth’s atmosphere and captures the gas to be converted into fuel. This is a more extensive and expensive process, but it has its benefits to be used for future biomass technology.

• Then, there are also the so called energy crops or power crops which are specifically planted for energy use such as trees, crops like corn, grasses like switch grass, which are planted in different parts or regions of the country to be harvested in a scheduled time of the season. The left over parts of these crops can grow again after some years and be reused again for biomass energy.

• Oil plants such as soybeans and sunflowers produce oil which can be processed into biomass energy to make oil, which in turn can be converted into fuel.

Biomass energy comes from practically almost everything around us like trees from forests, different agricultural crops, garbage and other organic and biological materials. It just helps to know the proper methods on how to make use of these so called wastes to be converted into beneficial usage. The use of biomass energy in turn helps save our environment, saves costs in importation of oil from other countries and makes use of our own natural resources more than relying on industrial methods.

Jonathan Pitts

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