*I posted my 10th report a few weeks ago, but now I realize that I put it under a wrong title. To correct that, and make sure people get to read the report, I would like to belatedly post mine here.

We have come to the discussion of the last energy source: biomass. Biomass is a broad term for any type of flammable bio-derivatives, i.e. anything that comes from organisms. These include oil extracted from seeds, alcohol, and the wood you use to light your campfire. Today we will look in-depth into this "energy of life."

What counts as Biomass?

Believe it or not, all sorts of things can count as biomass – even the paper in your garbage-can. It's never clear how to categorize these various types of biomasses there are just loads out there that people are using, and one couldn't possibly enumerate them all. In this report I will mention the main four: bio-Diesel, alcohol, powdered matter, and 'some others.'

(I bet some of you are wondering if fossil fuels are counted as biomass. Your logic has merit, but sadly fossil fuels exist as a type of their own, and are often not considered as a type of biomass).

 

Bio-Diesel

This is plant-derived oil acquired from rapeseed seeds (rapeseed is the name of the plant). The seeds are ground and squashed for the fat content to be extracted this fat content is purified, and goes through a certain chemical process to become more flammable. The end result is an oily compound that burns almost as well as petroleum diesel. This is usually called bio-diesel, and used predominantly as automobile fuel.

 

Alcohol

By alcohol here I mean alcohol derived from plants. Alcohol is acquired from a process called fermentation, carried out by micro-organisms (e.g. bacteria). In order to get energy, micro-organisms break down sugar, and release carbon dioxide (CO₂) and ethanol (CH₃CH₂OH), which is a type of alcohol. This process can be used to get pure alcohol, but also to make liquor, such as wine or whiskey.

The crop most commonly used for producing pure alcohol is corn, because it is cheap, has high crop yields, grows fast, and is quite resistant to diseases. In Central and South America sugar canes and sugar beet are used as well. Any other crop or fruit would work the same, but would cost us more in producing the same amount of alcohol. Harvested corn is ground and squashed to separate the inner content (the starch) from the peels. The starch (a type of carbohydrate) is then put into giant tankers and left to ferment for some time, during which the yeast busily eats away the glucose and produces carbon dioxide and alcohol. After a few months, the starch will be gone and be replaced by alcohol (there would have been holes punched to the top of the tanker to allow the carbon dioxide to escape). Alcohol, as we all know, can be burned to release energy, and is hence an energy source. However, it is not flammable enough to be used as car fuel, and is therefore mixed with petrol gasoline or diesel before going into the fuel tank. Plant-derived alcohol can also be used in science labs (alcohol lamps), portable burners, rocket engines, and heaters.

 

Powdered Matter

This is really a loose term for a mash of any flammable garbage. It could literally be anything that can burn - bits of paper from offices, sawdust and chips of wood from carpenters and lumbers, banana peels from households, and even stuff lying around, such as dead trees or branches. All these, normally referred to as 'garbage,' are sent to biomass dumps, where they are mixed, dried, and ground into a brownish-grey powder. This powder is then sent to Biomass Power Stations, where it is fed into a furnace and burned the heat is used to heat up water and turn it into steam, which turns a turbine which turns a generator and produces electricity.

The biomass powder can also be used to produce methane, a flammable gas. If spread over a wide area of land, the powder will be decomposed by bacteria in the soil, and release methane gas in the process. This methane can be used in power stations to generate electricity, or simply be used in heaters or portable burners. The methane acquired this way is called 'landfill gas.'

Some Others

There are other forms of biomass that are used widely around the world. Wood is probably the oldest form of biomass that humans have used. Trees are cut down, dried and split into smaller pieces so that they could be carried and burned easily. Branches or dry bushes may be burned as well. Wood is still used to build campfires, and is the major form of domestic energy in many countries.

Another very common form of biomass is excrement, i.e. dung. Believe it or not, this end-result of the food we've eaten still contains a lot of energy. In many countries of Central Asia and Middle East, manure from cattle is an important source of energy for the population. In Egypt in particular, travelers daily collect the droppings from their camels to light fires (since there are hardly any trees in deserts). In India, cows are hailed as sacred animals, and hence even cow manure is sold at an expensive price.

 

Advantages & Disadvantages

Biomass is a great alternative to fossil fuels, since they are almost renewable, whereas there is only a limited store of fossil fuels. Biomass also generally do not emit toxic chemicals, such as sulfur dioxide, when burning, and can therefore deemed to be eco-friendly. Finally, biomass made from garbage also gets rid of it, and the end result is that land for deposition is saved.

That sounds great, but there are the downsides too. No matter how good biomass are, they are still ?fuels –? they burn and emit carbon dioxide, and on that note they?re really no better than fossil fuels. Besides, biomass do not burn as well as fossil fuels, and on same cases they are mixed with fossil fuels to burn better. So using biomass doesn't make us completely independent from fossil fuels.

Another important disadvantage is the price. For bio-diesel and plant-derived alcohol, the necessary crops first need to be planted, grown, harvested, and processed. Compared to the current price of petroleum, the money that goes into this process is far more expensive, and therefore has little market competence without governmental subsidization. No car-owner will want to buy bio-diesel at a price 2-3 times expensive, when petroleum diesel is available at a much cheaper price. Thus, unless the price of oil rises two or threefolds in the least, biofuels cannot be wide used commodity in the modern world.

However, even if massive governmental economic aid is granted, the biofuel industry still meets a great peril – name that of lack of land. It should be stressed that there simply isn't enough arable land on Earth to grow the crops necessary to make bio-fuel for every household, or even for all the cars. Focusing on Germany, for example: even if all the arable land in Germany was reserved for the production of crops for bio-diesel, the product would be insufficient for a third of all cars in Germany. Considering that droughts, desertification and insufficient labour will decrease this production even more, it is evident that biofuels cannot be the ultimate alternative to fossil fuels.

 

Case Study

Raw biomass (not the processed bio-diesel) tends to be more available and abundant compared to other energy sources, and hence are widely used in LEDCs. Wood, as well as droppings from cattle, are virtually used everywhere in the world to light fires, outdoors or indoors. In farms, the inedible stems and leaves of harvested crops may be a form of biofuel.

Biomass made by processing recycled material are used widely in both LEDCs and MEDCs. In the latter, biomass is preferably used in remote areas where power stations are too distant and power cables are difficult to reach. In east California, for example, garbage is collected from local farms and processed to create biomass fuel, which is directly fed into a biomass power station and supplies energy to the immediate surrounding area, an example of self-sustenance.

On the other hand, biomass acquired from processing crops (i.e. biofuel and bioethanol) are not as widely used. These fuels need to be processed, purified and distilled, and hence require sophisticated and industrialized facilities. They are used predominantly in the nations that are neither MEDCs nor LEDCs – namely, the nations that are agriculturally strong, but lack capita to invest in fossil fuel industries nor in innovative energy technologies. A classic example is Brazil, in which the biomass industry is highly advanced harvested sugar canes are sent to factories where they are processed to distill ethanol. Haiti and Jamaica also have such biomass industries, although in a smaller scale.

 

Areas of Future Research

If biomass is to be used as a future alternative for fossil fuels, it is important that they look attracting to customers, who must obviously consider cost as well as accessibility when choosing what to fill up their fuel tanks with. The cost of biofuels must be lowered in any way this will naturally involve researching for a cheaper method of making them. Direct governmental subsidization may immediately salvage the biomass industry however, on the long term, the biomass industry must be able to survive and sustain itself on its own. In a similar manner, biofuels must be made more accessible for the people currently, only a very small percentage of gas stations sell biofuel at all. In order for people to 'feel like' using biofuels, they should be as accessible as gasoline and diesel 'wherever you go.'

Lastly, it is important that we improve the quality of the biofuel itself. Not only must the energy efficiency be greater (so that we?re getting more energy out of the same amount), but emissions must be cut down for the biofuel to be ecofriendly. After all, biofuels are energy from life – before anything, they should be friendly to life itself.