Biomass Energy – Advantages and Disadvantages

The organic matter formed by the plants and animals that includes agricultural wastes, crop residues, wood, manure, cattle dung, sewage etc. is referred to as Biomass energy.

Types of Biomass Energy

Agricultural and Industrial Waste Biomass

Agricultural Crop Residues, Bagasse (Sugarcane Residues), Peanut hulls, Cotton stalks, Coconut shells etc. are few common agricultural wastes that produce energy by burning.

Fishery and poultry waste, animal dung, and even human refuse are also examples of biomass energy. Thirty percent (30%) electricity in Brazil is produced by burning bagasse. Animal dung cakes are used in rural India to produce heat by burning. Agricultural waste, animal dung cakes and wood account for meeting nearly 80% of rural heat energy requirements. Open furnaces called “Chulhas” that usually produce smoke and less efficient (efficiency <8%) are used to burn waste biomass. Presently smokeless chulhas with improved efficiency and a tall chimney are used. The combustion of animal wastes and plant residues produce lot of smoke thereby causing air pollution and produce lot of ash as waste residue. Essential nutrients like N and P are also destroyed when we burn dung it is therefore advisable to convert biomass into bio fuels or biogas.

Energy Plantations

Green plants manufacture their own food by trapping the solar energy trapped through the process known as photosynthesis. In this process solar energy of the sun is converted and converted into biomass energy. The energy from the energy plantations is produced either directly by burning or by converting into fuels by fermentation, or by converting into burnable gas. The examples of energy plantations are crops like sugarcane, sugar beet, sweet sorghum, aquatic weeds like water hyacinth and sea-weeds and carbohydrate rich potato, cereals and fast growing trees like poplar, cottonwood and Leucaena leucocephala, non-woody herbaceous grasses.

Petro-Crops

Some plants or algaeare rich in hydrocarbons and produce oil like substance under high temperature and pressure. This oily substance can actually act as a potential source of energy or may be refined to form gasoline and can be burnt directly in diesel engines. Examples of such petro-crops are oil palms and plants like Euphorbias.

Biomass energy
The organic matter formed by the plants and animals that includes agricultural wastes, crop residues, wood, manure, cattle dung, sewage etc. is referred to as Biomass energy.

Advantages of Biomass Energy

  1. It is sensible to use waste materials.
  2. The fuel source is cheap.
  3. Biomass doesn’t emit additional carbon dioxide (CO2), like fossil fuels.
  4. Biomass can be utilised to manufacture variety of fuels (biogas/biofuel/heat) in order to produce electricity.
  5. Biomass energy helps in reducing disposal costs.
  6. The life of the landfills is increased as a result of this.
  7. The energy generation from the biomass has negative fuel costs as it uses waste products.
  8. It reduces dependence on fossil fuels.

Disadvantages of Biomass Energy

  1. The main problem for the production of biomass energy is the gathering fuel in sufficient quantities.
  2. It is not available all year round.
  3. The value of Biocrops is more than the food so it can have detract food production that will result in food shortages and increased prices.
  4. Emission of greenhouse gases. It releases pollutants into the atmosphere causing air pollution.

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