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Biomass

According to the Western Regional Biomass Energy Program (www.westbioenergy.org), “biomass consists of renewable organic materials and includes forestry and agricultural crops and residues; wood and food processing wastes; and municipal solid waste." Virgin biomass refers to plants and trees, which fix solar energy as carbon via photosynthesis. Basically, biomass is anything with a chemical energy content – from sewage to rubbish to wood, paper and vegetable oils. As a rough guide, if it burns, it’s biomass! As fossils fuels are being steadily depleted and people become more aware of environmental problems such as the greenhouse effect, we need to find alternatives to fossil fuels. Biomass may be part of the answer. According to Donald Klass (2003) from the Biomass Energy Research Association, “the only other naturally-occurring, energy-containing carbon resource known that is large enough to be used as a substitute for fossil fuels is biomass.” Biomass as an energy source is readily available and virtually inexhaustible and it produces less harmful emissions than fossil fuels. Unlike solar power or wind power, it’s versatile too. Biomass can replace anything that fossil fuels can do: from generating electricity to providing fuel for cars. The BERA (www.bera1.org) says “that all of the fuels and chemicals currently manufactured from fossil fuels can be manufactured from biomass feed stocks.” And unlike fossil fuels, which are being steadily depleted and take ages to renew, biomass is all around us and is renewable too! There are a huge variety of biomass conversion technologies (described by BERA and WRBEP) which can convert biomass into energy, liquid fuels and chemicals. They include thermochemical processes, which involve converting biomass by burning it, turning it into gas, or liquefying it. Microbial conversion of biomass involves the anaerobic digestion of sewage to produce methane fuel gas or the alcoholic fermentation of corn to obtain ethanol. Oils extracted from soybean or wood pulp can be converted to biodiesel fuels. As a local example, which Susie will talk more about, the controversial Brighton waste fired power plant will operate on municipal waste, bringing economic benefits to the community and producing up to 30 megawatts of power (www.treasury.tas.gov.au) . As reported in the Mercury, the owners of Bonorong Park complain that toxic compounds will leach into the groundwater and animal feedlots and cause mutations, deformities and cancer in their animals. The same company responsible for the Brighton project is also proposing a 22MW wood waste fired plant in George Town, which will burn up to 200,000 tonnes of green waste every year. The waste wood fibre, or residue, would be obtained from the state’s forestry industries. Critics of this and the Southwood Plant, which burns wood residues from Forestry Tasmania, argue that they cause air pollution, contribute to the greenhouse effect and damage Tasmania’s clean, green image. Supporters of biomass claim that these emissions would have eventually gotten into the atmosphere anyway as the biomass decomposed. Like any new technology, there also problems with breaking into the market (Klass, 2003). Biomass energy may never be widely available or commercially viable without government subsidies or incentives. From an environmental perspective, biomass can’t really compete with clean energy sources such as solar energy or hydro power but it compares very favourably with fossil fuels. Bibliography Biomass Energy Research Association. http://www.bera1.org. Biomass Generators http://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/domino Klass, D.L (2003) An introduction to biomass energy a renewable resource. Cited at Biomass Energy Research Association http://www.bera1.org/about.html Western Regional Biomass Energy Program http://www.westbioenergy.org/

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