Chemical Conversion of Biomass to Synthetic Fuels

One approach to biomass gasification begins with combustion of part of the biomass (represented by the formula CH2O ) with pure molecular oxygen oxidant (to avoid diluting the product gas with N2 from air) 

Elemental hydrogen can be used as an end product of biomass gasification directly as a fuel in gas turbines and other heat engines or to generate electricity in fuel cells. And Hj can be used to synthesize ammonia, NH3, an important industrial chemical and fertilizer. A mixture of CO and H2 can be reacted over a catalyst in a methanation reaction 

A similar reaction can also be used to make ethanol and methanol, CH3OH, which can be used as a fuel, gasoline additive, and to produce H2 for fuel cells in vehicles. 

An interesting possibility for increasing the amount of hydrocarbon fuel that can be obtained from biomass is to use H2 and O2 produced by the electrolysis of water with electricity generated by wind power 

A significant source of clean-burning methane can be obtained from the anoxic (oxygen-free) bacterial fermentation of biomass of a variety of kinds. Representing biomass as CH2O, the biochemical reaction is the following  

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