Fuels plant biomass sources

Wood is one of our most important renewable biomass resources. Unlike most biomass sources, wood is available year round and is more stable on storage than other agricultural residues. In the United States, wood residues from iadustrial by-products totaled 60.8 x 10 metric tons ia 1993 (73). Increasiagly, residues are iacorporated iato manufactured wood products and are used as a fuel, replacing petroleum, especially at wood-iadustry plants (73) some is converted to charcoal but most is used ia the pulp and paper iadustry. Residues are also available for manufacturiag chemicals, generally at a cost equivalent to their fuel value (see Fuels frombiomass Fuels fromwaste). 

In the past, research activities in the field of hemicellulose were aimed mainly at utilizing plant biomass by conversion into sugars, chemicals, fuel and as sources of heat energy. However, hemicelluloses, due to their structural varieties and diversity are also attractive as biopolymers, which can be utilized in their native or modified forms in various areas, including food and non-food applications. 

Nitrous oxide has received increasing attention the last decade, due to the growing awareness of its impact on the environment, as it has been identified as an ozone depletion agent and as a Greenhouse gas [1]. Identified major sources include adipic acid production, nitric acid and fertilizer plants, fossil fuel and biomass combustion and de-NOx treatment techniques, like three-way catalysis and selective catalytic reduction [2,3]. 

Cellulose is found in nature in combination with various other substances, the nature and composition of which depend on the source and previous history of the sample. In most plants, there are three major components cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin. Efficient utilization of all three components would greatly help the economics of any scheme to obtain fuel from biomass. Hemicelluloses, lignocellulose and lignin remaining after enzymatic degradation of the cellulose in wood would require chemical or thermal treatment - as distinct from biochemical - to produce a liquid fuel. 

Electrolysis uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen by means of an electrochemical approach (see Sect. 2.1.2). Hydrogen produced via electrolytic processes can result in zero greenhouse gas emissions, depending on the selected primary source of the electricity. In addition to renewable and nuclear power, fossil fuels or biomass could be also used in stationary power plants to produce electricity for water electrolysis (see Fig. 2.1). 

Continuing the search it was possible to hit the site Plants for a future , where a variety of uses of plants is mentioned. It highlighted the use of plants as food, as medicines and for many other purposes like lubricants, fuel, for lighting, in paints and varnishes, etc. Here we will focus our discussion mainly on the possibility of using plants as sources of bioproducts and for biomass to be transformed into biofuels. 

One biomass conversion unit transforms wood chips into a methane rich gas that can be used in place of natural gas. Another biomass plant in Maine burns peat to produce power. In addition to trees, some smaller plants, like the creosote bush, which grow in poor soil under dry conditions, can be used as sources of biomass, the biological materials that can be used as fuel. These renewable sources of energy can be grown on otherwise unproductive land. 

Biomass—plant material, vegetation, or agricultural waste used as a fuel or energy source. 

In this scenario, waste plant biomass seems to be the only current renewable source of organic carbon, and fuels derived from iheir processing could be the only alternative liquid fuels to replace the conventional fossil fuels. 

The best known perennial plants are trees, which are very effective in stopping soil erosion. Wood from trees can be used as biomass fuel, as a source of raw materials, and as food (see below). There is a tremendous imrealized potential for an increase in the production of biomass from trees. For example, the production of biomass from natural forests of loblolly pine trees in South Carolina has been about three dry tons per hectare per year. This has now been increased at least fourfold through selection of superior trees, and 30 tons may eventually be possible. In Brazil, experiments were conducted with a species of eucalyptus, which has a seven-year growth cycle. With improved selection of trees, the annual yields for three successive cycles of these trees in dry tons per hectare per year were 23, 33, and 40. 

Biomass is often defined as a renewable energy source, living or recently living biological material such as wood, waste, and alcohol fuels [2]. Biomass is often associated with plant-based material but it also applies to both animal- and vegetable-derived material. 

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