Biomass refers to all living things on earth, including plants, animals and their remains. For using as renewable energy, it is mainly plant biomass.
What is biomass energy?
The biomass energy is produced from photosynthesis, in which plants absorb carbon dioxide from air and combine with water to form carbohydrates and oxygen by the effect of sunlight. Plants absorb more energy from the sun than they need, and the excess energy is stored in their biomass. When the plants die, their bodies that still contain energy can be used to make fuels.
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| Agricultural crops | Trees | Animal & Residues |
What is energy crop?
Energy crop refers to those plants that are planted mainly for the use of fuel or converted into other biofuels (such as biodiesel, biogas, etc.). it is mainly divided into 2 kinds: woody crops and agricultural crops.
1. Woody crops: they are primarily trees grown in forests or plantations and used for burning to get heat or electricity. Remember the principle of sustainability of forest. So nowadays people mainly use waste wood materials, like sawdust, wood chips to make biofuel.
2. Agricultural Crops: include all crops planted for grain, oil seed, nuts, beans, cotton, and grass, sugarcane, etc., usually annual crops. Their wastes, that are stalk, leaf, husk, straw, and so on are good source of biofuel making.
In recent years, scientists have found many ways to take full advantage of biomass. The most significant way is to make them into biomass pellets fuels to replace fossil fuel. And continually, the importance of biomass pellets will rise.
