Processing Technologies Employed For Biomass Conversion

The shortness of energy is fast becoming a large economic threat to the development of nations across the globe.

Thankfully, an increasing number of countries, cities, and individual corporations are striving towards reducing their emissions in an attempt to limit the rise in the world’s temperature.

At present, more than 100 cities worldwide have reported that at least 70 percent of their energy production is from renewable sources.

Biomass energy, in particular, is becoming more popular every day as an increasing number of global entities choose to veer away from fossil fuel consumption as a whole towards renewable energy sources.

Today, there are a number of processing technologies, including biochemical conversions and thermal technologies, that can be employed to turn biomass into sources of renewable energy.

Biochemical Conversions

The biochemical conversion of solid biomass makes use of a variety of enzymes bacteria, and microorganisms to break the mass down into various liquid or gaseous fuel sources.

Of these technologies, the most prevalent are biomethanation and fermentation.

Biomethanation is the process through which organic material gets converted under anaerobic conditions into
biogas. The fermentation of biomass yields liquid fuels such as cellulosic ethanol, which is a suitable replacement for petroleum-based fuels.

The ability to scale up microbial fermentation processes can significantly increase the amount of these biofuels that are produced from organic waste.

Thermal Technologies

At the moment, there are three primary methods of thermo-chemical conversions that are used to produce biomass energy namely combustion in surplus air, gasification in diminished air, and pyrolysis in the complete
absence of air.

Direct combustion is the method that is most frequently used when biological waste needs to be converted into heat.

In order to produce the heat, the biomass is burnt in a surplus of air during the combustion process.

Gasification is the process that converts various organic carbonaceous materials into hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide.
The conversion is achieved by creating a reaction at extremely high temperatures without combustion and with the use of a regulated amount of steam and/or oxygen.

What About Pyrolysis?

Pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of biomass that typically occurs in the absence of oxygen.

There are two pyrolysis processes that can be employed. It takes several hours for slow pyrolysis to complete with biochar being the main product that results from the process.

Fast pyrolysis, on the other hand, only takes seconds to complete and yields 60% bio-oil, 20% bio char, and 20% syngas.

One of the greatest appeals of pyrolysis is that it can be performed on both small and larger scale including at remote locations which not only improves the energy density of the resources but also significantly reduces handling and transport costs.

What Does the Future of Biomass Energy Look Like?

There are constant developments taking place to not only refine the various conversion technologies, but also the areas in which biomass energy can be utilised.

The main purpose of the development is to continuously streamline all processes, rendering them more efficient and cost-effective.

One current development involves the thermal processing of biofuels that will produce a more effective pellet that boasts a substantially higher energy value.

Although, the biomass conversion industry faces numerous obstacles, and it is important to persist in finding viable alternatives to fossil fuel consumption.

The economic and environmental benefits of biomass energy alone are enough to encourage greater utilization of the processes available to us.