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Biomass Fuel

What is Biomass?

The term biomass generally really applies to a fuel source rather than a specific generation technology. Biomass fuels are combustible organic materials which can vary dramatically in form. For example, agricultural by products such as wood chips, almond shell, and municipal solid waste are examples of materials which could be combusted with little processing to generate electricity. Cogeneration can utilize biomass fuels, or the material may be combusted directly in a boiler.

Biomass as a fuel source also includes "biogas' fuels. For example, methane recovered from landfills can be combusted to produce electricity. This technology reduces fugitive methane releases (a major greenhouse gas) and produces a useful commodity. Another source of biogas are farms; dairy waste products (manure and other material) can be placed into a "digester" where microbacterial decomposition produces combustible gases. This technique can also be applied at waste water treatment facilities.


Advantage and Disadvantages(Questions):

a) Is the energy source renewable?

Yes, there is a constant amount of bio matter that can be used to burn as a fuel.

b) Does the energy resource produce much power, enough for a home, village, city from one power plant?

Biomass fuel can be used to power a whole city, but it is not practical. It is usually used to power households and maybe villages.

c) Is the energy resource available all the time?

Biomass can be found anywhere and is ued a lot everywhere. It is available at any time by burning trees or manure, etc.

d) Does the energy resource need to be transported to the power plant?

The resource usually has to be taken to the plant. Tree, wood chips are taken to be burned usually.

e)Does the power from the plant have to be transported over long distances?

Biomass Fuel is usually used right in the area of the user. It usually doesn't require long power lines to transport the electricity.

f)Is the energy resource polluting (in transportation, power production or with waste products)?

The energy resource is often polluting during power production because of the fumes, sometimes there's waste that isn't very healthy either, such as burnt wood.

g)Is the energy resource plentiful?(in how many parts of the world?)

Yes, biomass fuel can be found anywhere as long as there is something living. The only place that you may not find biomass fuel is in desserts.

h)How expensive is it to produce the power?

It is usually not expensive because most people don't use it in mass proportions. Usually, it is only used in a small scale and doesn't cost a lot.

i)Is the technology for the energy resource easy to use?

Yes, biomass fuel is very easy to use and only requires basic skills to know how to burn things.

j)Can this energy resource provide power for automobiles?

Yes, some cars already use trash as a form of fuel. It does require a remodeling of the car though.

k)How much technology is currently available for this energy resource?

Most people know how to use biomass fuel and there's quite a lot of technology that can be used to implement biomass fuel.

Ratings

From 1 to 5

a)Renewable or Non Renewable 5
b)Enough power for a city, for a village or for a home? 2
c)Available all the time, part of time or seldom? 5
d)Resources shipped long, or short? 4
e)Plant can be close to users or far away. 5
f)Non-Polluting or Polluting? 2
g)Plentiful or scarce? 4
h)Expensive or cheap? 4
i)Easy to use or hard to use? 4
j)Could power automobiles. 4
k)Currently available and widespread or scarce. 5

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