Biomass energy industry

Gasification. Conversion of biomass to gaseous fuels can be accompHshed by several methods only two are used by the biomass energy industry (ca 1992). One is thermal gasification in which LHV gas, ie, producer gas, is produced. The other process is anaerobic digestion, which yields an MHVgas. 

An interminable number of studies have been performed to predict future energy consumption patterns, resources, imports, and prices. If the predictions of higher oil prices had been accurate in the late 1970s, or if the oil price had stabilized at its peak in 1981, the biomass energy industry would have exhibited much greater growth than it has (128). 

In the United States about 3 percent of all electricity produced comes from renewable sources of this a little more than half comes from biomass. Most biomass energy generation comes from the lumber and paper industries from their conversion of mill residues to in-house energy. Municipal solid waste also is an important fuel for electricity production approximately 16 percent ot all municipal solid waste is disposed of by combustion. Converting industrial and municipal waste into bioenergy also decreases the necessity for landfdl space. 

The heatpipe reformer process concept for hydrogen-rich syngas production. (Reproduced from Karellas, S., Metz, T., Kuhn, S., and Karl, J., Online analysis of the tar content of the product gas from biomass gasification. Application on the BIOHPR. 14th European Biomass Conference Exhibition, Biomass for Energy, Industry and Climate Protection, ETA-Renewable Energies, Paris, 2005. With permission.)... 

Zanzi, R. Tito Ferro, D. Torres, A. Beaton Soler, P. Bjornbom, E., Biomass torrefaction. In 2nd World Conference on Biomass for Energy, Industry and Climate Protection, Vol. 1, Van Swaaij, W. R M., Fjallstrom, T., Helm, R, Grassi, A., Eds., ETA-Florence, Rome, 2004, pp. 859-862. 

Hofbauer, H. Rauch, R. Loeffler, G. Kaiser, S. Fercher, E. Tremmel, H., Six years experience with the FICFB-gasification process. 12th European Conference and Technology Exhibition on Biomass for Energy, Industry and Climate Protection, Amsterdam, 2002. 

Royal Dutch Shell has invested in cellulosic ethanol company Iogan and Germany s Choren Industries, which is building a demonstration bio-mass-to-liquids plant using wood feedstock. Royal Dutch Shell has also partnered with Codexis in exploring biomass energy production. 

Developing biomass energy can provide economic, political, social and environmental advantages. The energy potential of biomass has been estimated at almost 42 quadrillion Btus which is about 1/2 of the total energy consumption in the United States. Biomass provides the U.S. with about the same amount of energy as the nuclear industry. 

Hoogwijk et al. (2005) assume the biomass energy potential in Western Europe from energy crops, agricultural residues, forest residues and industrial biogenic residues to be of the order of 10000 PJ/year and 16000 PJ/year by 2050. The analysis is based on the IMAGE 2.2 model using the four scenarios from the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES), (Nakicenovic, 2000) as main assumptions for the included food demand and supply. 

S. R.A., Strategies for the future of biomass for energy, industry and climate protection. In W.P.M. van Swaaij, T. Fjallstrom, P. Helm, A. Grassi (Eds.), Second World Biomass Conference Biomass for Energy, Industry and Climate Protection, 2004, ISBN 88-89407-04-2, published by ETA-Florence and WIP-Munich, Italy. 

Second World Biomass Conference. Biomass for Energy, Industry and Climate Protection, ISBN 88-89407-04-2, ETA-Florence (Florence) and WIP-Munich (Munich), p. 777. 

Cameron, J., Kumar, A., and Flynn, P. C. (2002), in Proceedings of the 12th European Biomass Conference for Energy, Industry and Climate Protection, vol. 1, June 17-21, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pp. 123-126. 

Shakya, B. (2000), Directory of Wood Manufacturing Industry of Ohio, Ohio Biomass Energy Program, The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Cols, OH. 

Walter, A. (2000), in Industrial Uses of Biomass Energy, Rosillo-Calle, F., Bajay, S. V., and Rothman, H., eds., Taylor Francis, London, New York, pp. 200-253. 

Bartolelli, V., Mutinati, G., and Pisani, F., Microeconomic aspects of energy crops cultivation, in Biomass for Energy, Industry and Environment, 6th EC Conference, Athens, Elsevier Applied Science, Amsterdam, 1991, p. 233. 

Rosa, M.F., Bartolemeu, M.L., Novais, J.M., and Sa-Correia, I., The Portuguese experience on the direct ethanolic fermentation of Jerusalem artichoke tubers, in Biomass for Energy, Industry, and Environment, 6th E.C. Conference, Grassi, G., Collina, A., and Zibetta, H., Eds., Elsevier Applied Science, London, 1992, pp. 546-550. 

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