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Essay on biomass: top 7 essays | india | bio energy | energy management.

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Essay on Biomass

Essay Contents:

• Essay on the Scenario of Biomass Energy in India

Essay # 1. Introduction to Biomass:

Biomass a renewable energy source is biological material from living or recently living organisms, such as wood, waste, (hydrogen) gas and alcohol fuels. Biomass is commonly plant matter grown to generate electricity or produce heat. In this sense, living biomass can also be included, as plants can also generate electricity while still alive.

The most conventional way in which biomass is used however, still relies on direct incineration. Forest residues for example (such as dead trees, branches and tree stumps), yard dipping, wood chips and garbage are often used for this.

However, biomass also includes plant or animal matter used for production of fibers or chemicals. Biomass may also include biodegradable wastes that can be burnt as fuel. It excludes organic materials such as fossil fuels which have been transformed by geological processes into substances such as coal or petroleum.

Industrial biomass can be grown from numerous types of plants, including miscanthus, switch-grass, hemp, corn, poplar, willow, sorghum, sugarcane and a variety of tree species, ranging from eucalyptus to oil palm (palm oil). The particular plant used is usually not important to the end products, but it does affect the processing of the raw material.

Although fossil fuels have their origin in ancient biomass, they are not considered biomass by the generally accepted definition because they contain carbon that has been ‘out’ of the carbon cycle for a very long time. Their combustion therefore disturbs the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere.

Biomass is carbon, hydrogen and oxygen based. Nitrogen and small quantities of other atoms, including alkali, alkaline earth and heavy metals can be found as well. Metals are often found in functional molecules such as the porphyrins which include chlorophyll which contains magnesium.

Plants in particular combine water and carbon dioxide to sugar building blocks. The required energy is produced from light via photosynthesis based on chlorophyll. On average, between 0.1 and 1% of the available light is stored as chemical energy in plants. The sugar building blocks are the starting point for the major fractions found in all terrestrial plants, lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose.

Biomass does not add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as it absorbs the same amount of carbon in growing as it releases when consumed as a fuel. Its advantage is that it can be used to generate electricity with the same equipment that is now being used for burning fossil fuels.

Biomass is an important source of energy and the most important fuel worldwide after coal, oil and natural gas. Bio-energy, in the form of biogas, which is derived from biomass, is expected to become one of the key energy resources for global sustainable development. Biomass offers higher energy efficiency through form of Biogas than by direct burning.

Application:

Bio energy is being used for- Cooking, mechanical applications, pumping, power generation.

Some of the devices- Biogas plant/gasifier/burner, gasifier engine pump sets, Stirling engine pump sets, producer gas/biogas based engine generator sets.

Essay # 2. Sources of Biomass:

Biomass energy is derived from five distinct energy sources:

(i) Garbage,

(iii) Waste,

(iv) Landfill Gases, and

(v) Alcohol Fuel.

Wood energy is derived both from direct use of harvested wood as a fuel and from wood waste streams. The largest source of energy from wood is pulping liquor or ‘black liquor’, a waste product from processes of the pulp, paper and paperboard industry.

Waste energy is the second-largest source of biomass energy. The main contributors of waste energy are municipal solid waste (MSW), manufacturing waste and landfill gas. Biomass alcohol fuel or ethanol is derived primarily from sugarcane and corn. It can be used directly as a fuel or as an additive to gasoline.

Biomass can be converted to other usable forms of energy like methane gas or transportation fuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Methane gas is the main ingredient of natural gas. Smelly stuff, like rotting garbage and agricultural and human waste, release methane gas – also called ‘landfill gas’ or ‘biogas’.

Crops like corn and sugar cane can be fermented to produce the transportation fuel, ethanol. Biodiesel, another transportation fuel, can be produced from left-over food products like vegetable oils and animal fats. Also, biomass to liquids (BTLs) and cellulosic ethanol are still under research.

Essay # 3. Energy Conversion Process for Biomass:

There are a number of technological options available to make use of a wide variety of biomass types as a renewable energy source. Conversion technologies may release the energy directly, in the form of heat or electricity, or may convert it to another form, such as liquid biofuel or combustible biogas. While for some classes of biomass resource there may be a number of usage options, for others there may be only one appropriate technology.

(i) Thermal Conversion:

These are processes in which heat is the dominant mechanism to convert the biomass into another chemical form. The basic alternatives are separated principally by the extent to which the chemical reactions involved are allowed to proceed (mainly controlled by the availability of oxygen and conversion temperature): Combustion, Torre faction, Pyrolysis, Gasification.

There are a number of other less common, more experimental or proprietary thermal processes that may offer benefits such as hydrothermal upgrading (HTU) and hydro processing. Some have been developed for use on high moisture content biomass, including aqueous slurries and allow them to be converted into more convenient forms.

Some of the applications of thermal conversion are combined heat and power (CHP) and co-firing. In a typical biomass power plant, efficiencies range from 20-27 %.

(ii) Chemical Conversion:

A range of chemical processes may be used to convert biomass into other forms, such as to produce a fuel that is more conveniently used, transported or stored or to exploit some property of the process itself.

(iii) Biochemical Conversion:

A microbial electrolysis cell can be used to directly make hydrogen gas from plant matter. As biomass is a natural material, many highly efficient biochemical processes have developed in nature to break down the molecules of which biomass is composed and many of these biochemical conversion processes can be harnessed.

Biochemical conversion makes use of the enzymes of bacteria and other micro-organisms to break down biomass. In most cases micro-organisms are used to perform the conversion process: anaerobic digestion, fermentation and composting.

Other chemical processes such as converting straight and waste vegetable oils into biodiesel is trans-esterification. Another way of breaking down biomass is by breaking down the carbon-hydrates and simple sugars to make alcohol. However, this process has not been perfected yet. Scientists are still researching the effects of converting biomass.

Essay # 4. Applications of Biomass Energy:

The practical application of biomass energy includes:

(i) Bio-Gas Plants,

(ii) Biomass Briquetting,

(iii) Electricity Generation, and 

(v) Bio Fuel etc.

(i) Biogas Plants:

Biogas is a clean and efficient fuel, generated from cow-dung, human waste or any kind of biological materials derived through anaerobic fermentation process. The biogas consists of 60% methane with rest mainly carbon-di-oxide. Biogas is a safe fuel for cooking and lighting. By-product is usable as high-grade manure.

A typical biogas plant has the following components:

A digester in which the slurry (dung mixed with water) is fermented, an inlet tank – for mixing the feed and letting it into the digester, gas holder/dome in which the generated gas is collected, outlet tank to remove the spent slurry, distribution pipeline(s) to transport the gas into the kitchen and a manure pit, where the spent slurry is stored.

Biomass fuels account for about one-third of the total fuel used in the country. It is the most important fuel used in over 90% of the rural households and about 15% of the urban households. Using only local resources, namely cattle waste and other organic wastes, energy and manure are derived. Thus, the biogas plants are the cheap sources of energy in rural areas. The types of biogas plant designs popular are floating drum type, fixed dome-type and bag-type portable digester.

(ii) Biomass Briquetting:

The process of densifying loose agro-waste into a solidified biomass of high density, which can be conveniently used as a fuel, is called biomass briquetting. Briquette is also termed as “bio-coal”. It is pollution free and eco-friendly. Some of the agricultural and forestry residues can be briquetted after suitable pre-treatment.

A list of commonly used biomass materials that can be briquetted are given below:

CornCob, JuteStick, Sawdust, PineNeedle, Bagasse, CoffeeSpent, Tamarind, CoffeeHusk, AlmondShell, Groundnutshells, CoirPith, BagaseePith, Barleystraw, Tobaccodust, RiceHusk, Deoiled Bran.

Advantages:

Some of advantages of biomass briquetting are high calorific value with low ash content, absence of polluting gases like sulphur, phosphorus fumes and fly ash – which eliminate the need for pollution control equipment, complete combustion, ease of handling, transportation and storage because of uniform size and convenient lengths.

Biomass briquettes can replace almost all conventional fuels like coal, firewood and lignite in almost all general applications like heating, steam generation, etc. It can be used directly as fuel instead of total in the traditional chulhas and furnaces or in the gasifier. Gasifier converts solid fuel into a more convenient-to-use gaseous form of fuel called producer gas.

(iii) Electricity Generation using Biomass:

From the ancient time to the present, the most common way to capture the energy from biomass was to burn it to make heat. Since the industrial revolution this biomass fired heat has produced steam power and more recently this biomass fired steam power has been used to generate electricity. Burning biomass in conventional boilers can have numerous environmental and air-quality and advantages over burning fossil fuels.

Advances in recent years have shown that there are even more efficient and cleaner ways to use biomass. It can be converted into liquid fuels, for example or “cooked” in a process called “gasification” to produce combustible gases, which reduces various kinds of emissions from biomass combustion, especially particulates.

Electricity Generation using Biomass Gassifier:

Biomass gasifiers convert the solid biomass (basically wood waste, agricultural residues, etc.) into a combustible gas mixture normally called as producer gas. The conversion efficiency of the gasification process is in the range of 60-70%. The producer gas consists of mainly carbon-monoxide, hydrogen, nitrogen gas and methane and has a lower calorific value (1000-1200 kCal/Nm 3 ).

The ‘Biomass Gasification – Electricity Generation’ system is a technology which converts any kind of biomass energy with low heat value (such as waste from agriculture and forest and organic waste) into combustible gas and then feeds this gas to a generator for electricity generation.

Discovering the method of biomass gasification for electricity generation, can solve both problems of effective use of renewable energy and environmental pollution from organic waste. For this reason, the technology of biomass gasification for electricity generation attracts more and more research as well as applications. Thereby, this technology is being continuously optimised.

The model of biomass gasification for electricity generation can be realized as follows:

As shown, biomass gasification for electricity generation can be realized in 3 ways:

i. Fuel gas produced in a biomass gasifier enters directly into a boiler to produce steam, which then drives a steam turbine to generate electricity.

ii. The clean gas drives a gas turbine to generate electricity.

iii. The clean gas drives a gas engine to generate electricity.

Above pathways correspond to large-scale, medium-scale generation, respectively.

Today, commercially successful technologies for biomass generation using gas engines get wide application because of their small system capacity, nimble arrangement, low investment, compact structure, reliable technique, low running cost, simple operation and maintenance and their low demand for gas quality.

Main Composition of Biomass Gasification — Electricity Generation Systems Equipped with a Gas Engine:

The system is mainly composed of gasifier, gas cleaner and gas engine:

A gasifier is a system which converts solid biomass energy into combustible gas. Biomass is combusted imperfectly by way of controlling the flow of air into the gasifier to convert solid state into gas state, generating a combustible gas which mainly consists of H 2 , CO, CH 4 and C n H m .

The gas temperature in the outlet of the gasifier is in the range 350°C ~ 650°C, depending on the type of gasifier. The gas contains impurities such as dust and uncracked tar. In order to meet the demand of reliable gas engine operation over a long period of time, it is necessary to clean the gas at temperatures below 40°C as well as to reduce the content of dust plus tar below 50 mg/Nm. After cleaning, the gas is fed into the gas engine to generate electricity.

In the gas engine, the gas is mixed with air, burns and drives the main shaft to rotate at a high speed. The latter then drives the generator to generate electricity. Through above procedure, any waste can be converted into electrical energy, thereby solving pollution problems from wastes.

Biomass Gasification Electricity Generation Systems Equipped with a Gas Engine:

Specifications of the set contain power outputs of 60 kW, 160 kW, 200 kW, 400 kW, 600 kW, 800 kW and 1000 kW with the largest power output of about 1.4 MW. For power outputs below 200 kW, down-draft fixed bed gasifier are commonly used.

A typical down-draft fixed bed gasification set for the generation of electricity is shown in the following figure:

This down-draft fixed bed gasifier, can feed in raw material continually. The inlet of raw material is located at the top of the gasifier, raw material falls into the gasifier from the silo or it is transferred to the gasifier by a screw conveyer. In the lower part, the gasifer is equipped with a rotatory grid driven by a gearcase. The grid rotates continuously to extract ashes, the latter then being removed from the gasifier.

For cooling and cleaning of the gas use, a multistep water-washing is used. It is a reliable and cheap system meeting the demand of the engine. The gas engine is designed on the basis of the ‘6250 diesel engine’ so that it meets the low pressure ratio required by the produced bio-gas. In addition, a mixer structure outside of the machine and a simple reliable electric ignition system is used.

In case of electricity generation with larger capacity, fluidized bed gasifiers are used. As the greatest power output of a single gas engine is up to 200 kW, a fluidized bed gasifier is used to drive several gas engines at the same time.

A diagram of a fluidized bed gasification electricity generation system is shown below:

The gasifier uses a cyclical fluidized bed and it has high gasification efficiency and a powerful output. Raw material is formed grain or broken biomass and impurities such as ash or particles are removed from above by a cyclone.

The temperature at the outlet of the gasifier is about 600°C ~ 650°C. Removal of dust from the gas and gas cooling is realised by means of multistep water-washing. Several gas engines with an output of 200 kW generate electricity in parallel.

Applications of Gasifier:

Water Pumping and Electricity Generation:

Using biomass gas, it possible to operate a diesel engine on dual fuel mode-part diesel and part biomass gas. Diesel substitution of the order of 75 to 80% can be obtained at nominal loads. The mechanical energy thus derived can be used either for energizing a water pump set for irrigational purpose or for coupling with an alternator for electrical power generation – 3.5 kW -10 MW.

Heat Generation:

A few of the devices, to which gasifier could be retrofitted, are dryers for drying tea, flower, spices, kilns for baking tiles or potteries, furnaces for melting non-ferrous metals, boilers for process steam, etc.

Direct combustion of biomass has been recognized as an important route for generation of power by utilization of vast amounts of agricultural residues, agro-industrial residues and forest wastes. Gasifiers can be used for power generation and available up to a capacity 500 kW. The Government of India through MNES and IREDA is implementing power-generating system based on biomass combustion as well as biomass gasification.

(iv) Bio Fuels:

Unlike other renewable energy sources, biomass can be converted directly into liquid fuels — biofuels — for our transportation needs (cars, trucks, buses, airplanes and trains). The two most common types of biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel. See Fig. 1.51.

Ethanol is an alcohol, similar to that used in beer and wine. It is made by fermenting any biomass high in carbohydrates (starches, sugars or celluloses) through a process similar to brewing beer. Ethanol is mostly used as a fuel additive to cut down a vehicle’s carbon monoxide and other smog-causing emissions. Flexible-fuel vehicles, which run on mixtures of gasoline and up to 85% ethanol, are now available.

Biodiesel, produced by plants such as rapeseed (canola), sunflowers and soyabeans can be extracted and refined into fuel, which can be burned in diesel engines and buses. Biodiesel can also made by combining alcohol with vegetable oil, or recycled cooking greases. It can be used as an additive to reduce vehicles emissions (typically 20%) or in its pure form as a renewable alternative fuel for diesel engines.

Essay # 5. Environmental Impact Due to Biomass Energy Conversion:

Using biomass as a fuel produces air pollution in the form of carbon monoxide, NOx (nitrogen oxides). VOCs (volatile organic compounds), particulates and other pollutants, in some cases at levels above those from traditional fuel sources such as coal or natural gas. Black carbon – a pollutant created by incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, bio fuels and biomass – is possibly the second largest contributor to global warming.

On combustion, the carbon from biomass is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). The amount of carbon stored in dry wood is approximately 50% by weight. When from agricultural sources, plant matter used as a fuel can be replaced by planting for new growth. When the biomass is from forests, the time to recapture the carbon stored is generally longer and the carbon storage capacity of the forest may be reduced overall if destructive forestry techniques are employed.

Despite harvesting, biomass crops may sequester carbon. So for example soil organic carbon has been observed to be greater in switch-grass stands than in cultivated cropland soil, especially at depths below 12 inches.

The grass sequesters the carbon in its increased root biomass. Typically, perennial crops sequester much more carbon than annual crops due to much greater non-harvested living biomass, both living and dead, built up over years and much less soil disruption in cultivation.

Sustainability:

Biomass energy production involves annual harvests or periodic removals of crops, residues, trees or other resources from the land. These harvests and removals need to be at levels that are sustainable, i.e., ensure that current use does not deplete the land’s ability to meet future needs and also be done in ways that don’t degrade other important indicators of sustainability.

Because biomass markets may involve new or additional removals of residues, crops or trees, we should be careful to minimize impacts from whatever additional demands biomass growth or harvesting makes on the land.

Essay # 6. Benefits of Biomass:

When done well, biomass energy brings numerous environmental benefits—particularly reducing many kinds of air pollution and net carbon emissions. Biomass can be grown and harvested in ways that protect soil quality, avoid erosion and maintain wildlife habitat. However, the environmental benefits of biomass depend on developing beneficial biomass resources and avoiding harmful resources, which having policies that can distinguish between them.

In addition to its many environmental benefits, beneficial biomass offers economic and energy security benefits. By growing our fuels at home, we reduce the need to import fossil fuels from other states and nations and reduce our expenses and exposure to disruptions in that supply. Many states that import coal from other states or countries could instead use local biomass resources.

With increasing biomass development, farmers and forest owners gain valuable new markets for their crop residues, new energy crops and forest residues— and we could substantially reduce our global warming emissions.

Essay # 7. Scenario of Biomass Energy in India:

India being an agrarian country there is easy availability of agricultural based mass which can be used to generate energy. Burning the biomass is the easiest and oldest method of generating energy and also the least efficient.

Over 70% of the population of India is in villages. Their electricity and steady supply of water are crucial for survival and for economic growth and social development.

Biomass exists in these villages and needs to be tapped intelligently to provide not only electricity but also water to irrigate and cultivate fields to further increase production of biomass (either as a main product or as a by-product), ensuring steady generation of electricity. An added bonus is the availability of waste biomass from the biomass gasified plant to be used as fertilizer.

Most common source of biomass is wood waste and agricultural wastes. In India development of biomass gasification has received serious attention with establishment of biomass research centers and gasifier action research centres at various locations spread all over the country.

These institutions have played a key role in up gradation and adaption of suitable technologies, testing, monitoring and development of biomass gasification systems. Studies reveal that the low grade of land suitable only for scrub vegetation can be turned to advantage and form an excellent source of biomass – fast growing trees and shrubs.

In India more than 2000 gasifiers are estimated to have been established with a capacity in excess of 22 MW and a number of villages have been electrified with biomass gasifier based generators. MNES has actively promoted research and development programmes for efficient utilization of biomass and agro-wastes and further efforts are on.

Biomass gasification offers immense scope and potential for:

i. Water pumping.

ii. Electricity generation: 3 to 1 MW power plants.

iii. Heat generation: for cooking gas – smokeless environment.

iv. Rural electrification means better healthcare, better education and improved quality of life.

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Fast Facts About Energy from Biomass

Principal Energy Uses: Transportation, Electricity, Heat Form of Energy: Chemical

Biomass is a semi-renewable energy resource that comes from plants and animals. We categorize this resource as semi-renewable because it has to be carefully managed to ensure we are not using it faster than it can be replenished. Biomass contains stored chemical energy from the sun that is produced by plants through photosynthesis. Biomass can be burned directly for heat or converted to liquid and gaseous fuels through various processes. Liquid biofuels and biogas are energy carriers, or currencies, that are easier to use, transport, and store.

Humans have been using biomass for heating, cooking, and lighting, for thousands of years. About 30% of the world’s population (2.4 billion people) still use “traditional” biomass by gathering wood, peat, or animal waste to burn for cooking and heating. It is simple to store, but not very energy dense, and results in severe indoor air pollution with significant human health effects (3.2 million deaths in 2020). Traditional biomass provides ~7% of total end-use energy consumed worldwide. Energy statistics generally exclude traditional biomass , because it is not bought and sold, making it difficult to track.

In contrast, the International Energy Agency labels “modern bioenergy” as commercial biomass that provides heat and electricity in homes, businesses, and industry, as well as liquid fuels for transportation . Modern bioenergy accounts for ~6% of total end-use energy consumed worldwide .

Biomass can be divided into three categories:

• Solid Biomass (energy resource) —woody material, crops, municipal solid waste (MSW), and animal and agricultural waste that can be directly burned to produce heat or to generate electricity.
• Liquid Biofuels (energy currency) —primarily ethanol and biodiesel—come from processing plant matter or waste such as cooking oil into substitutes for traditional vehicle fuels, including gasoline for automobiles, diesel for trucks and ships, and jet fuel for planes (see our Gasoline, Diesel, Jet Fuel, etc. page for more information).
• Biogas (energy currency) — also known as biomethane—can be collected from decomposing plants, animal manure, human sewage, and municipal solid waste, and burned for heat and electricity generation. 

Advocates for biomass argue it is carbon neutral because the carbon released during combustion was originally pulled from the atmosphere during photosynthesis, but the story is more complicated . Depending on the production process, some types of bioenergy increase greenhouse gas emissions, though using waste streams for bioenergy reduces climate and environmental impacts . 

There are two main ways to use waste streams from municipalities (Municipal Solid Waste, MSW) for energy. Waste-to-energy incineration plants are the most common because of the amount of electricity they generate, their capacity to reduce the volume of waste, and lower capital investment, but they can have significant air pollution impacts. The second option is to capture the methane emissions from decomposing biomass in landfills or sewage treatment plants and burn that for heat and/or electricity generation. This cleaner-burning option reduces methane emissions to the atmosphere. Bioenergy from waste has had significant growth in Asia, especially in China, in the last decade.

Note: The data in the charts below does not include traditional biomass.

Modern Bioenergy

<2% of world 🌎 5% of US 🇺🇸

Solid Biomass Dominates Global Bioenergy Supply

Solid Biomass: 81% Liquid Biofuels: 14% Biogas: 5%

Uses of Bioenergy*

Heat: 71% Transportation: 18% Electricity: 9% of total global bioenergy

* Excluding conversion losses

Bioenergy Demand

Increase: ⬆ 23% (2015-2020)

Electricity Generation

2% of world 🌎 1% of US 🇺🇸

Transportation Energy

4% of world 🌎 6% of US 🇺🇸

Heat Generation

8% of world 🌎 8% of US 🇺🇸

Use of Bioenergy in Electricity

Denmark 17% 🇩🇰 Finland 15% 🇫🇮 of country’s electricity consumption

Use of Bioenergy in Transportation

Brazil 25% 🇧🇷 Sweden 21% 🇸🇪 of country’s total transport energy

Use of Bioenergy in Heat

Denmark 28% 🇩🇰 Sweden 25% 🇸🇪 of country’s heat consumption

Solid Biomass (Energy Resource)

80% of solid biomass is used for heat.

3% of global heat comes from solid biomass

20% of Solid Biomass Is Used for Electricity

2% of global electricity comes from solid biomass

Sources of solid biomass: natural woodlands, managed forests, fuelwood plantations

Liquid Biofuels (Energy Currency)

98% of liquid biofuels are used for transportation*.

4% of global transportation energy comes from liquid biofuels

* Almost all the biofuel use for transportation is for road transport. Biofuel use for air transport and shipping is small but expected to grow in decarbonization scenarios.

Biogas (Energy Currency)

91% of biogas is used for heat and electricity.

4% of global heat comes from biogas

<1% of global electricity comes from biogas

Note: 9% of biogas is upgraded to renewable natural gas (RNG). It can then be mixed into natural gas networks or directly used as a transport fuel.

Biomass (Primarily for Electricity and Heat)

Largest biomass electricity producer.

China 20% 🇨🇳 US 11% 🇺🇸 of global electricity generated from biomass and waste

Most Biomass Heat Generation

Europe 88% of total global biomass heat

Highest Penetration

Finland 14% 🇫🇮 of country’s total electricity consumption

Highest Usage of MSW

Japan 75% 🇯🇵 Denmark 67% 🇩🇰 of MSW incinerated for energy recovery

Biofuels (Primarily for Transportation)

Largest production capacity.

US 41% 🇺🇸 of total global refining capacity

Largest Consumer

US 40% 🇺🇸 of total global biofuels consumption

Brazil 25% 🇧🇷 Sweden 21% 🇸🇪 of country’s transportation energy comes from biofuels

Biogas (Primarily for Electricity and Heat)

Largest producer.

Europe 45% of total global biogas

Germany 35% 🇩🇪 of total global biogas-based electricity

Germany 6% 🇩🇪 of country’s electricity comes from biogas

Biomass in the US (for Electricity and Heat)

North Carolina 17% Georgia 15% of total biomass production capacity

Largest Consumers

Florida 9% California 9% of total biomass consumption

970,000 households in New England (17%) use wood for space heating

Vermont 17% of state’s electricity comes from biomass

The US dominates the wood pellet export market. In 2022, it exported 8.98 million metric tons (25% of total global wood pellet exports). Most exports go to Europe and come mainly from forests in the Southeast US. Eighty percent (10 million tons/year) of the US's wood pellet manufacturing capacity is in the South, mainly in North Carolina and Georgia.

Biofuels in the US (for Transportation)

Iowa 25% of biofuels produced in the US

California 11% Texas 11% of total biofuels consumed in the US

California 6% of transport fuel is biofuels

Biogas in the US (for Electricity and Heat)

Largest installed capacity.

California 17% of US biogas capacity

Massachusetts 27% of US biogas consumption for electricity

Rhode Island 2% of state’s electricity generation capacity is biogas

• Widely available resource in many settings
• Easy to store (particularly solid biomass and liquid biofuels)
• Taps waste as a fuel (e.g., landfill, forestry industry, sewage, etc.)
• Semi-renewable but must be carefully managed to ensure sustainability
• Diverse bioenergy resources, each with different characteristics
• Can replace fossil fuels, particularly for transportation and heat
• Useful byproducts, such as fertilizer
• Potential to be carbon neutral
• Potential competition with agricultural land and resources for food crops
• Planting single crops (monoculture) degrades soil and reduces biodiversity
• Use of pesticides and fertilizer harms water quality
• Can require lots of water usage
• Significant air pollution, except for biogas
• Net-carbon impact is unclear; some fuels are not carbon neutral
• Large land-use requirements that lead to deforestation
• Biomass-based power plants operate at a lower temperature than fossil fuel plants, which reduces efficiency

Climate Impact: Low to High

• Bioenergy crops have different energy yields, and some crops require significant energy inputs, reducing or eliminating their carbon savings
• Land use change such as deforestation or conversion of peat swamps to fuel crops releases carbon dioxide and methane
• Tapping waste streams for bioenergy can reduce these impacts

Environmental Impact: Medium to High

• Significant air pollution (e.g., vehicles burning biofuels deteriorate air quality and human health, particularly in urban settings)
• Bioenergy crop production may induce deforestation (e.g., in Southeast Asia, rainforests were converted to palm oil plantations to feed the EU’s demand for biodiesel)
• Agricultural processes can impact soil, water resources, and local biodiversity (e.g., increase in fertilizer use for corn ethanol has contributed to the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico)

Updated December 2023

Before You Watch Our Lecture on Biomass

We assign videos and readings to our Stanford students as pre-work for each lecture to help contextualize the lecture content. We strongly encourage you to review the Essential videos and readings below before watching our lecture on Biomass . Include selections from the Optional and Useful list based on your interests and available time.

• Growing California Video Series: Cow Power . California Department of Food and Agriculture. March 13, 2015. (4 minutes) How one dairy is using an anaerobic digester to convert cow manure into methane gas to produce electricity.
• It’s Like We Don’t Matter: Green Energy Loophole Has Devastating Impact . CNN. July 7, 2021. (6 min) How the production of biomass for Europe is affecting poor rural communities in the American South.
• How Gasification Turns Waste Into Energy . CNBC. February 9, 2020. (16 min) An explanation of how gasification works and why it could be a better alternative than incineration.
• How Rotting Vegetables Make Electricity . World Wide Waste. March 6, 2021. (5 min) How the Bowenpally market in India converts unsold vegetables into biogas that powers buildings, streetlights, and a kitchen that serves 800 meals a day.
• The Smelly, Greasy Truth About How Sustainable Aviation Fuel Is Made . Canary Media. January 12, 2023. (3 pages) A truck driver dumpster-dives for used cooking oil in an effort to reduce emissions from commercial aviation.
• Biofuels Are Accelerating the Food Crisis — And the Climate Crisis, Too . Canary Media. April 19, 2022. (4 pages) An opinion piece that provides supporting evidence that land is better used to grow food than to grow fuel.
• Stop Trying to Make Algae Biofuels Happen . Canary Media. February 1, 2022. (2 pages) This article makes the argument that using algae to produce biofuels is unlikely to succeed.

Optional and Useful

• Biomass 2021 . NEED.org. 2023. (5 pages) An excellent overview of biomass.
• Europe’s Renewable Energy Policy Is Built on Burning American Trees . Vox. March 4, 2019. (7 pages) A good overview of the complexities of biomass as an energy source.
• Algae-Based Products for a Sustainable Future . Cellana. June 29, 2012. (2 minutes) A look at how Cellana uses marine microalgae to produce Omega-3 EPA and DHA oils, animal feed, and biofuel feedstocks.
• Renewables 2023 Global Status Report - Bioenergy . REN21. 2023. (6 pages) Market and industry trends for bioenergy.
• Biomass 101 . Student Energy. June 2015. (4 min) A simple and concise introduction to biomass.
• Mapped: 30 Years of Deforestation and Forest Growth, by Country . Visual Capitalist. December 29, 2021. (4 pages) Maps of deforestation and forest growth around the world.
• Whatever Happened to Advanced Biofuels? . Scientific American. May 2016. (3 pages) An explanation of the difficulties in producing ethanol from inedible crop waste.

Our Lecture on Biomass

This is our Stanford University Understand Energy course lecture on biomass. We strongly encourage you to watch the full lecture to understand biomass as an energy system and to be able to put this complex topic into context. For a complete learning experience, we also encourage you to watch / read the Essential videos and readings we assign to our students before watching the lecture.

Presented by: Diana Gragg, PhD ; Core Lecturer, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University; Explore Energy Managing Director, Precourt Institute for Energy Recorded on: May 22, 2023    Duration: 45 minutes

Table of Contents

(Clicking on a timestamp will take you to YouTube.) 00:00 Introduction  05:26 Significance and Use of Biomass  13:06 Commercial Biomass  44:44 Concluding Thoughts

Lecture slides available upon request .

Additional Resources About Biomass

Stanford university.

• Inês Azevedo - Transition to sustainable and low carbon energy systems
• Alfred Spormann - Bioenergy
• Reginald Mitchell - Combustion and gasification of pulverized coal and biomass
• Zhiyong Wang - Biomass

Government and International Organizations

• International Energy Agency (IEA) Bioenergy
• US Energy Information Administration (EIA) Biomass Explained
• US Energy Information Administration (EIA) Today in Energy Biomass
• US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Landfills
• US Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO)
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Biomass Energy Basics
• California Energy Commission Biomass

Other Resources

• REN21 Renewables 2023 Global Status Report Bioenergy  
• National Energy Education Development (NEED) Biomass

Next Topic: Hydropower Other Energy Topics to Explore

Fast Facts Sources Share of Global Population Without Access to Clean Cooking Fuels: 2020 ( SDG7 Database, IEA, March 30, 2022 ) Impacts on Health of Indoor Air Pollution: 2020 ( Household Air Pollution, WHO, November 28, 2022 ) Share of total global final energy demand: World 2020 ( Renewables 2023 Global Status Report, Figure 13, REN21, September 2023 ). Share of Energy Mix: World 2022 ( Global Primary Energy Consumption by Source, Our World in Data ), US 2022 ( US Primary Energy Consumption by Energy Source, 2022, US EIA ). Bioenergy Supply: World 2021 ( Bioenergy, IEA, Tracking Bionenergy. Energy ) Use of Bioenergy: World 2020 ( Global Bioenergy Statistics 2022, World Bioenergy Association, Renewable Energy ). Bioenergy Demand: World 2015-2020 ( Global Bioenergy Statistics 2022, World Bioenergy Association, Renewable Energy ). Electricity Generation by Source: World 2020 ( Renewables 2023 Global Status Report, REN21,Bionergy ), U.S. 2022 ( Electricity in the United States, EIA, U.S. Electricity Generation by Major Energy Source 1950-202 2). Transportation Energy by Source: World 2020 ( Renewables 2023 Global Status Report, REN21,Bionergy ), U.S. 2022 ( Monthly Energy Review, EIA,Energy Consumption by Secto r). Heat Generation by Source: World 2020 ( Renewables 2023 Global Status Report, REN21,Bionergy ), U.S. 2022 ( Monthly Energy Review, EIA,Energy Consumption by Sector ). Use of Bioenergy in Electricity: World 2019 ( IEA Bioenergy Countries’ Report, IEA, Figure 11: evolution of renewable electricity output ). Use of Bioenergy in Transportation: World 2019 ( IEA Bioenergy Countries’ Report, IEA, Figure 17: evolution of the share of renewable energy in transport ). Use of Bioenergy in Heat: World 2019 ( IEA Bioenergy Countries’ Report, IEA, Figure 15: evolution of the share of renewable heat/fuels ). Solid Biomass Uses: World 2020 ( Global Bioenergy Statistics 2022, World Bioenergy Association, Renewable Energy ). Share of Heat Generated from Biomass: World 2020 ( Global Bioenergy Statistics 2022, World Bioenergy Association, Biomass to Heat ). Share of Electricity Generated From Biomass: World 2020 ( Global Bioenergy Statistics 2022, World Bioenergy Association, Biomass to Power ). Resources Used for Solid Biomass: World 2020 ( Global Bioenergy Statistics 2022, World Bioenergy Association, Biomass Supply ). Liquid Biofuels Uses: World 2020 ( Global Bioenergy Statistics 2022, World Bioenergy Association, Renewable Energy ). Share of Transport Energy from Biofuels: World 2020 ( Global Bioenergy Statistics 2022, World Bioenergy Association, Renewable Transport ). Resources Used for Liquid Biofuels: World 2021 (Is the biofuel industry approaching a feedstock crunch?, IEA,Total biofuel production by feedstock, main case, 2021-2027 ). Biogas Uses: World 2018 ( An introduction to biogas and biomethane, IEA, Biogas consumption by end use, 2018 ). Share of Heat Generated from Biogas: World 2020 ( Global Bioenergy Statistics 2022, World Bioenergy Association, Biomass to Heat ). Share of Electricity Generated From Biogas: World 2020 ( Global Bioenergy Statistics 2022, World Bioenergy Association, Biomass to Power ). Biogas Upgraded to Biomethane: World 2018 ( An introduction to biogas and biomethane, IEA, Biogas consumption by end use, 2018 ). Resources Used for Biogas: World 2018 ( An introduction to biogas and biomethane, IEA, Biogas production by region and by feedstock type, 2018 ). Highest Electricity Production from Biomass: World 2020 ( Electricity, EIA, Biomass and waste electricity net generation ). Highest Heat Generation from Biomass: World 2019 ( IEA Bioenergy Countries’ Report, IEA ). Highest Biomass Penetration: World 2019 ( IEA Bioenergy Countries’ Report, IEA, Figure 13: evolution of the share biobased electricity – split by fuel ), U.S. 2022 ( Electricity Historical State Data, EIA, Net Generation by State by Type of Producer by Energy Source ). Highest MSW Usage: World 2021 ( Municipal waste, Generation and Treatment, OECD ). Highest Biofuels Production: World 2021 ( Transport Biofuels, IEA, Biofuel Production 2010-2027 ), U.S. 2021 ( State Energy Data System (SEDS), EIA, Table P4B. Primary Energy Production Estimates, Biofuels, in Thousand Barrels, Ranked by State, 2021) . Highest Biofuels Consumption: World 2021 ( Transport Biofuels, IEA, Biofuel Production 2010-2027 ), U.S. 2021 ( State Energy Consumption Estimates 2021, EIA, Table C2. Energy Consumption Estimates for Selected Energy Sources in Physical Units, 2021 ). Highest Biofuels Penetration: World 2019 ( IEA Bioenergy Countries’ Report, IEA, Figure 17: evolution of the share of renewable energy in transport ), U.S. 2021 ( State Energy Consumption Estimates 2021, EIA ). Highest Biogas Production: World 2021 ( IEA Bioenergy Task 37 – A perspective on the state of the biogas industry from selected member countries, IEA ). Largest Biogas Production Capacity: U.S. 2022 ( LMOP Landfill and Project Database, EPA, Landfill Gas Energy Project Data ). Highest Biogas Consumption: World 2019 ( IEA Bioenergy Countries’ Report, IEA, Figure 8: evolution of biogas use for energy ), U.S. 2021 ( State Energy Consumption Estimates 2021, EIA ). Highest Biogas Penetration: World 2019 ( IEA Bioenergy Countries’ Report, IEA, Figure 13: evolution of the share biobased electricity – split by fuel ), U.S. 2022 ( LMOP Landfill and Project Database, EPA, Landfill Gas Energy Project Data ; Electricity Historical State Data, EIA, Existing Nameplate and Net Summer Capacity by Energy Source, Producer Type and State, 1990-2022 ). Largest Biomass Production Capacity: U.S. 2022 ( Monthly Densified Biomass Fuel Report, EIA, Table 1. Densified biomass fuel manufacturing facilities in the United States by state, region, and capacity ). Highest Biomass Consumption: U.S. 2021 ( State Energy Consumption Estimates 2021, EIA ). Highest Household Biomass Consumption for Heating: U.S. 2020 ( 2020 RECS Survey Data, EIA, Fuels used & end uses HC 1.7 and HC 1.8 ) Wood Pellet Production: U.S. 2022 ( Monthly Densified Biomass Fuel Report, EIA, Table 1. Densified biomass fuel manufacturing facilities in the United States by state, region, and capacity ). More details available on request . Back to Fast Facts

Biomass Energy

People have used biomass energy—energy from living things—since the earliest homonids first made wood fires for cooking or keeping warm. Today, biomass is used to fuel electric generators and other machinery.

Biology, Ecology, Earth Science, Engineering

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People have used biomass energy —energy from living things—since the earliest hominids first made wood fires for cooking or keeping warm. Biomass is organic, meaning it is made of material that comes from living organisms, such as plants and animals. The most common biomass materials used for energy are plants, wood, and waste. These are called biomass feedstocks . Biomass energy can also be a nonrenewable energy source. Biomass contains energy first derived from the sun: Plants absorb the sun’s energy through photosynthesis , and convert carbon dioxide and water into nutrients (carbohydrates). The energy from these organisms can be transformed into usable energy through direct and indirect means. Biomass can be burned to create heat (direct), converted into electricity (direct), or processed into biofuel (indirect). Thermal Conversion Biomass can be burned by thermal conversion and used for energy. Thermal conversion involves heating the biomass feedstock in order to burn, dehydrate , or stabilize it. The most familiar biomass feedstocks for thermal conversion are raw materials such as municipal solid waste (MSW) and scraps from paper or lumber mills. Different types of energy are created through direct firing, co-firing , pyrolysis , gasification , and anaerobic decomposition . Before biomass can be burned, however, it must be dried. This chemical process is called torrefaction . During torrefaction, biomass is heated to about 200° to 320° Celsius (390° to 610° Fahrenheit). The biomass dries out so completely that it loses the ability to absorb moisture, or rot. It loses about 20 percent of its original mass, but retains 90 percent of its energy. The lost energy and mass can be used to fuel the torrefaction process. During torrefaction, biomass becomes a dry, blackened material. It is then compressed into briquettes . Biomass briquettes are very hydrophobic , meaning they repel water. This makes it possible to store them in moist areas. The briquettes have high energy density and are easy to burn during direct or co-firing. Direct Firing and Co-Firing Most briquettes are burned directly. The steam produced during the firing process powers a turbine , which turns a generator and produces electricity. This electricity can be used for manufacturing or to heat buildings. Biomass can also be co-fired, or burned with a fossil fuel . Biomass is most often co-fired in coal plants. Co-firing eliminates the need for new factories for processing biomass. Co-firing also eases the demand for coal. This reduces the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released by burning fossil fuels. Pyrolysis Pyrolysis is a related method of heating biomass. During pyrolysis, biomass is heated to 200° to 300° C (390° to 570° F) without the presence of oxygen. This keeps it from combusting and causes the biomass to be chemically altered. Pyrolysis produces a dark liquid called pyrolysis oil , a synthetic gas called syngas , and a solid residue called biochar . All of these components can be used for energy. Pyrolysis oil, sometimes called bio-oil or biocrude, is a type of tar . It can be combusted to generate electricity and is also used as a component in other fuels and plastics. Scientists and engineers are studying pyrolysis oil as a possible alternative to petroleum . Syngas can be converted into fuel (such as synthetic natural gas ). It can also be converted into methane and used as a replacement for natural gas. Biochar is a type of charcoal . Biochar is a carbon-rich solid that is particularly useful in agriculture . Biochar enriches soil and prevents it from leaching pesticides and other nutrients into runoff . Biochar is also an excellent carbon sink . Carbon sinks are reservoirs for carbon-containing chemicals, including greenhouse gases.

Gasification Biomass can also be directly converted to energy through gasification. During the gasification process, a biomass feedstock (usually MSW) is heated to more than 700° C (1,300° F) with a controlled amount of oxygen. The molecules break down, and produce syngas and slag . Syngas is a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. During gasification, syngas is cleaned of sulfur, particulates, mercury, and other pollutants . The clean syngas can be combusted for heat or electricity, or processed into transportation biofuels, chemicals, and fertilizers . Slag forms as a glassy, molten liquid. It can be used to make shingles, cement, or asphalt. Industrial gasification plants are being built all over the world. Asia and Australia are constructing and operating the most plants, although one of the largest gasification plants in the world is currently under construction in Stockton-on-Tees, England. This plant will eventually be able to convert more than 350,000 tons of MSW into enough energy to power 50,000 homes. Anaerobic Decomposition Anaerobic decomposition is the process where microorganisms , usually bacteria , break down material in the absence of oxygen. Anaerobic decomposition is an important process in landfills , where biomass is crushed and compressed, creating an anaerobic (or oxygen-poor) environment. In an anaerobic environment, biomass decays and produces methane, which is a valuable energy source. This methane can replace fossil fuels. In addition to landfills, anaerobic decomposition can also be implemented on ranches and livestock farms. Manure and other animal waste can be converted to sustainably meet the energy needs of the farm. Biofuel Biomass is the only renewable energy source that can be converted into liquid biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel . Biofuel is used to power vehicles, and is being produced by gasification in countries such as Sweden, Austria, and the United States. Ethanol is made by fermenting biomass that is high in carbohydrates, such as sugarcane, wheat, or corn. Biodiesel is made from combining ethanol with animal fat, recycled cooking fat, or vegetable oil. Biofuels do not operate as efficiently as gasoline. However, they can be blended with gasoline to efficiently power vehicles and machinery, and do not release the emissions associated with fossil fuels. Ethanol requires acres of farmland to grow biocrops (usually corn). About 1,515 liters (400 gallons) of ethanol is produced by an acre of corn. But this acreage is then unavailable for growing crops for food or other uses. Growing enough corn for ethanol also creates a strain on the environment because of the lack of variation in planting, and the high use of pesticides. Ethanol has become a popular substitute for wood in residential fireplaces. When it is burned, it gives off heat in the form of flames, and water vapor instead of smoke. Biochar Biochar, produced during pyrolysis, is valuable in agricultural and environmental use. When biomass rots or burns (naturally or by human activity), it releases high amounts of methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere . However, when biomass is charred, it sequesters , or stores, its carbon content. When biochar is added back to the soil, it can continue to absorb carbon and form large underground stores of sequestered carbon—carbon sinks—that can lead to negative carbon emissions and healthier soil. Biochar also helps enrich the soil. It is porous . When added back to the soil, biochar absorbs and retains water and nutrients.

Biochar is used in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest in a process called slash-and-char . Slash-and-char agriculture replaces slash-and-burn , which temporarily increases the soil nutrients but causes it to lose 97 percent of its carbon content. During slash-and-char, the charred plants (biochar) are returned to the soil, and the soil retains 50 percent of its carbon. This enhances the soil and leads to significantly higher plant growth. Black Liquor When wood is processed into paper, it produces a high-energy, toxic substance called black liquor. Until the 1930s, black liquor from paper mills was considered a waste product and dumped into nearby water sources. However, black liquor retains more than 50 percent of the wood’s biomass energy. With the invention of the recovery boiler in the 1930s, black liquor could be recycled and used to power the mill. In the United States, paper mills use nearly all their black liquor to run their mills, and the forest industry is one of the most energy-efficient in the nation as a result. More recently, Sweden has experimented in gasifying black liquor to produce syngas, which can then be used to generate electricity. Hydrogen Fuel Cells Biomass is rich in hydrogen, which can be chemically extracted and used to generate power and to fuel vehicles. Stationary fuel cells are used to generate electricity in remote locations, such as spacecraft and wilderness areas. Yosemite National Park in the U.S. state of California, for example, uses hydrogen fuel cells to provide electricity and hot water to its administration building. Hydrogen fuel cells may hold even more potential as an alternative energy source for vehicles. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that biomass has the potential to produce 40 million tons of hydrogen per year. This would be enough to fuel 150 million vehicles. Currently, hydrogen fuel cells are used to power buses, forklifts, boats, and submarines, and are being tested on airplanes and other vehicles. However, there is a debate as to whether this technology will become sustainable or economically possible. The energy that it takes to isolate, compress, package, and transport the hydrogen does not leave a high quantity of energy for practical use. Biomass and the Environment Biomass is an integral part of Earth’s carbon cycle . The carbon cycle is the process by which carbon is exchanged between all layers of Earth: atmosphere, hydrosphere , biosphere , and lithosphere . The carbon cycle takes many forms. Carbon helps regulate the amount of sunlight that enters Earth’s atmosphere. It is exchanged through photosynthesis, decomposition, respiration, and human activity. Carbon that is absorbed by soil as an organism decomposes, for example, may be recycled as a plant releases carbon-based nutrients into the biosphere through photosynthesis. Under the right conditions, the decomposing organism may become peat , coal, or petroleum before being extracted through natural or human activity. Between periods of exchange, carbon is sequestered, or stored. The carbon in fossil fuels has been sequestered for millions of years. When fossil fuels are extracted and burned for energy, their sequestered carbon is released into the atmosphere. Fossil fuels do not reabsorb carbon. In contrast to fossil fuels, biomass comes from recently living organisms. The carbon in biomass can continue to be exchanged in the carbon cycle. In order to effectively allow Earth to continue the carbon cycle process, however, biomass materials such as plants and forests have to be sustainably farmed. It takes decades for trees and plants such as switchgrass to reabsorb and sequester carbon. Uprooting or disturbing the soil can be extremely disruptive to the process. A steady and varied supply of trees, crops, and other plants is vital for maintaining a healthy environment. Algal Fuel Algae is a unique organism that has enormous potential as a source of biomass energy. Algae, whose most familiar form is seaweed , produces energy through photosynthesis at a much quicker rate than any other biofuel feedstock—up to 30 times faster than food crops!

Algae can be grown in ocean water, so it does not deplete freshwater resources. It also does not require soil, and therefore does not reduce arable land that could potentially grow food crops. Although algae releases carbon dioxide when it is burned, it can be farmed and replenished as a living organism. As it is replenished, it releases oxygen, and absorbs pollutants and carbon emissions. Algae takes up much less space than other biofuel crops. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that it would only take approximately 38,850 square kilometers (15,000 square miles, an area less than half the size of the U.S. state of Maine) to grow enough algae to replace all petroleum-fueled energy needs in the United States. Algae contains oils that can be converted to a biofuel. At the Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation in New Zealand, for example, algae is processed with heat and pressure. This creates a “ green crude ,” which has similar properties to crude oil, and can be used as a biofuel. Algae’s growth, photosynthesis, and energy production increases when carbon dioxide is bubbled through it. Algae is an excellent filter that absorbs carbon emissions. Bioenergy Ventures, a Scottish firm, has developed a system in which carbon emissions from a whiskey distillery are funneled to an algae pool. The algae flourishes with the additional carbon dioxide. When the algae die (after about a week) they are collected, and their lipids (oils) are converted into biofuel or fish food. Algae has enormous potential as an alternative energy source. However, processing it into usable forms is expensive. Although it is estimated to yield 10 to 100 times more fuel than other biofuel crops, in 2010 it cost $5,000 a ton. The cost will likely come down, but it is currently out of reach for most developing economies. People and Biomass Advantages Biomass is a clean, renewable energy source. Its initial energy comes from the sun, and plants or algae biomass can regrow in a relatively short amount of time. Trees, crops, and municipal solid waste are consistently available and can be managed sustainably. If trees and crops are sustainably farmed, they can offset carbon emissions when they absorb carbon dioxide through respiration. In some bioenergy processes, the amount of carbon that is reabsorbed even exceeds the carbon emissions that are released during fuel processing or usage. Many biomass feedstocks, such as switchgrass, can be harvested on marginal lands or pastures, where they do not compete with food crops. Unlike other renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar, biomass energy is stored within the organism, and can be harvested when it is needed. Disadvantages If biomass feedstocks are not replenished as quickly as they are used, they can become nonrenewable. A forest, for instance, can take hundreds of years to re-establish itself. This is still a much, much shorter time period than a fossil fuel such as peat. It can take 900 years for just a meter (three feet) of peat to replenish itself. Most biomass requires arable land to develop. This means that land used for biofuel crops such as corn and soybeans are unavailable to grow food or provide natural habitats. Forested areas that have matured for decades (so-called “ old-growth forests ”) are able to sequester more carbon than newly planted areas. Therefore, if forested areas are not sustainably cut, re-planted, and given time to grow and sequester carbon, the advantages of using the wood for fuel are not offset by the trees’ regrowth. Most biomass plants require fossil fuels to be economically efficient. An enormous plant under construction near Port Talbot, Wales, for instance, will require fossil fuels imported from North America, offsetting some of the sustainability of the enterprise . Biomass has a lower “energy density” than fossil fuels. As much as 50 percent of biomass is water, which is lost in the energy conversion process. Scientists and engineers estimate that it is not economically efficient to transport biomass more than 160 kilometers (100 miles) from where it is processed. However, converting biomass into pellets (as opposed to wood chips or larger briquettes) can increase the fuel’s energy density and make it more advantageous to ship. Burning biomass releases carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and other pollutants and particulates. If these pollutants are not captured and recycled, burning biomass can create smog and even exceed the number of pollutants released by fossil fuels.

Balancing Biomass The Union of Concerned Scientists helped develop A Balanced Definition of Renewable Biomass, which are practical and effective sustainability provisions that can provide a measure of assurance that woody biomass harvests will be sustainable.

Fowl Play The three million chickens of the enormous Beijing Deqingyuan chicken farm, outside Beijing, China, produce 220 tons of manure and 170 tons of wastewater each day. Using gasification technology from GE Energy, the farm is able to convert chicken manure into 14,600 megawatt-hours of electricity per year.

Green Energy in the Green Mountain State The first U.S. biomass gasification plant opened near Burlington, Vermont, in 1998. The Joseph C. McNeil Generating Station uses wood from low-quality trees and harvest residue, and produces about 50 megawatts of electricityalmost enough to sustain Vermont's largest city.

World's Top Biofuel Crops ( HowStuffWorks ) 1. switchgrass 2. wheat 3. sunflower 4. cottonseed oil 5. soy 6. jatropha 7. palm oil 8. sugarcane 9. canola 10. corn

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Related Resources

A review on biomass: importance, chemistry, classification, and conversion

Document Type : Review Paper

• Antonio Tursi

Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci, Cubo 15D, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende (Cs), Italy.

Graphical Abstract

• Overview of biomass sources and related chemical composition are presented.
• Biomass conversion technologies and final products are reviewed and discussed.
• Economic and environmental analysis of biomass-derived energy production was presented.
• Challenges for further expanssion of biomass-derived energy production are presented.
• Lignocelluloses
• Pretreatment
• Sustainability

Volume 6, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2 June 2019 Pages 962-979

• PDF 12.32 M

How to cite

• Article View: 22,492
• PDF Download: 24,342

Tursi, A. (2019). A review on biomass: importance, chemistry, classification, and conversion. Biofuel Research Journal , 6 (2), 962-979. doi: 10.18331/BRJ2019.6.2.3

Antonio Tursi. "A review on biomass: importance, chemistry, classification, and conversion". Biofuel Research Journal , 6, 2, 2019, 962-979. doi: 10.18331/BRJ2019.6.2.3

Tursi, A. (2019). 'A review on biomass: importance, chemistry, classification, and conversion', Biofuel Research Journal , 6(2), pp. 962-979. doi: 10.18331/BRJ2019.6.2.3

Tursi, A. A review on biomass: importance, chemistry, classification, and conversion. Biofuel Research Journal , 2019; 6(2): 962-979. doi: 10.18331/BRJ2019.6.2.3

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Review article, an overview on the conversion of forest biomass into bioenergy.

• 1 Henan Province International Collaboration Lab of Forest Resources Utilization, School of Forestry, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
• 2 School of Psychology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China
• 3 Institute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, Vietnam
• 4 Biofuel Research Team (BRTeam), Terengganu, Malaysia
• 5 Arctic Research Centre (ARC), Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark
• 6 Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE), Institute of Tropical Aquaculture and Fisheries (AKUATROP), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
• 7 Microbial Biotechnology Department, Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII), Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran

Biomass plays a crucial role in mitigating the concerns associated with increasing fossil fuel combustion. Among various types of biomass, forest biomass has attracted considerable attention given its abundance and variations. In this work, an overview is presented on different pathways available to convert forest biomass into bioenergy. Direct use of forest biomass could reduce carbon dioxide emissions associated with conventional energy production systems. However, there are certain drawbacks to the direct use of forest biomass, such as low energy conversion rate and soot emissions and residues. Also, lack of continuous access to biomass is a severe concern in the long-term sustainability of direct electricity generation by forest biomass. To solve this problem, co-combustion with coal, as well as pelletizing of biomass, are recommended. The co-combustion of forest biomass and coal could reduce carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfide emissions of the process. Forest biomass can also be converted into various liquid and gaseous biofuels through biochemical and thermochemical processes, which are reviewed and discussed herein. Despite the favorable features of forest biomass conversion processes to bioenergy, their long-term sustainability should be more extensively scrutinized by future studies using advanced sustainability assessment tools such as life cycle assessment, exergy, etc.

Introduction

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions and other harmful gases are among the primary global concern, mainly caused by the increasing use of fossil energy carriers ( Jun-jun and Da-rui, 2012 ). GHGs have been thought of as a critical factor in global warming that plays a crucial role in climate change ( Panahi et al., 2020b ). Extensive research has shown that using other carbon sources like biomass could reduce these concerns ( Hosseinzadeh-Bandbafha et al., 2018 ). In the literature available on the application of biomass to generate energy, the relative importance of forest biomass is debated ( Vassilev et al., 2010 ; Gustavsson et al., 2015 ). Generally, the forest biomass is classified into fuelwood and industrial roundwood ( Raunikar et al., 2010 ). Fuelwood is harvested from forestlands and directly combusted for useable heat or converted into bioenergy and biofuel and used to generate heat and power. More specifically, due to the high content of macromolecular sugars such as cellulose and organic matter, fuelwood is a promising feedstock for thermochemical conversion, biological conversion, liquefaction, and gasification ( Perez-Garcia et al., 2005 ; Tan et al., 2015 ). Forest biomass can be used in co-combustion with fossil fuels or alone in boilers and other equipment of power generation ( Scarlat et al., 2011 ; Calvo et al., 2013 ). Accordingly, when countries set their macro strategies related to energy development, efficient utilization of forest biomass resources to solve environmental crises is strongly considered ( Figure 1 ). For example, among the available energy sources in China, 54.2% of forest biomass is used to generate power and fuel ( Liao et al., 2004 ).

FIGURE 1 . Distribution of research activities on forest biomass to replace fossil-based energy carriers globally and the research interrelations between different countries.

It is reported that the energy generated by forest biomass can support 15.4% of the total human energy consumption ( Welfle et al., 2014 ). During the period 2004–2015, the whole power generation from forest biomass stood at around one million kW/yr, contributing to the elimination of forest residues and achieving ecological-zero carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions ( Ince et al., 2011 ; Nunes et al., 2018 ). For instance, forest biomass application as a replacement for fossil energy in Australia reduces atmospheric CO 2 emissions by 25 million tons annually ( Zomer et al., 2008 ; Pour et al., 2018 ). Furthermore, the European Union (EU) statistics show that there is an increasing trend for total energy that forest waste can provide for human consumption from 2010 to 2030 ( Table 1 ) ( Urban et al., 2010 ).

TABLE 1 . Statistics by the EU on energy generation from different types of forest biomass in 2010 and estimated values in 2030.

In light of the significance of forest biomass in the global energy market in the future, the present work aims to briefly report on various methods of forest biomass conversion into bioenergy and biofuels.

Direct Utilization of Forest Biomass

Direct combustion of wood for energy production.

A significant advantage of forest biomass is that it could be directly combusted. Direct combustion is a thermochemical process during which biomass burns in the open air, and the photosynthetically stored chemical energy of the biomass is converted into heat ( Lam et al., 2019 ). Although direct combustion of forest biomass leads to the emissions of CO 2 , particulates (PM 2.5 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), and other harmful substances, their amounts are still less than those caused by the combustion of fossil fuels ( Karaj et al., 2010 ; Kacprzak et al., 2016 ). For example, previous research has established that the direct combustion of forest biomass generates 20% less CO 2 emissions than fossil fuels ( Froese et al., 2010 ). However, there are certain drawbacks associated with the use of forest biomass. One of these is the low energy conversion rate; moreover, direct combustion leads to soot and residues ( Hong-ru and Yi-hu, 2007 ).

Direct combustion of biomass for power generation has continued since the 1990s ( Yin et al., 2008 ). Biomass-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plants include a vibrating grate boiler, condensing steam turbine, and electric generator ( Chen et al., 2021 ). The vibrating grate boiler is mechanized combustion equipment with a simple structure and small capacity. Its grate surface vibrates under the action of alternating inertial force and prompts biomass to leap forward on it to achieve mechanized combustion. Burning forest biomass produces heat within the boiler that converts water into steam (steam Rankine cycle). After water evaporation in the boiler, steam enters the turbine to expand and perform work, afterward pressure is reduced, and steam is condensed and converted to water ( Dote et al., 2001 ). It should be noted that the steam Rankine cycle is one of the most critical thermodynamic cycles for electricity generation ( Dincer and Bicer, 2020 ).

The conversion rate of forest biomass into electricity by Rankine cycle is reported at about 39–44%; therefore, the combustion of each ton of forest biomass generates about 4.4 kWh of electric energy ( Van den Broek et al., 1996 ; Dote et al., 2001 ). One obvious advantage of using this electric energy is reducing fossil-based CO 2 emissions caused by the power generation industry. Table 2 tabulates the CO 2 emission reductions of forest biomass-based power plants compared to their fossil-based counterparts.

TABLE 2 . CO 2 emission reduction potentials of biomass-based power plants compared to their fossil fuel-based counterparts.

A significant problem with the direct combustion of forest biomass for energy production is that these waste resources are generally far from industrial and residential areas. Moreover, the forests are vast, and biomass collation is a complex problem; thus, lack of permanent access to biomass is a severe concern in the sustainability of direct electricity generation using forest biomass. Nevertheless, it is recommended that forest biomass-based industries be located within a 120 km radius of forests to solve this concern. Still, they need a lot of financial investment and storage capacity ( Hoffmann et al., 2012 ).

Co-combustion of Forest Biomass and Coal

Co-combustion is a feasible and straightforward option for solving the concerns associated with the direct combustion of forest biomass, such as permanent access to biomass, the area required for storage, and economic problems related to transportation and distribution ( Liang et al., 2017 ). The main advantage of the mixed combustion of biomass and coal vs. coal combustion is that it could reduce carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and sulfide emissions while ensuring production efficiency ( Perea-Moreno et al., 2017 ). Technically, the co-combustion of forest biomass and coal uses pulverized coal boiler and fluidized bed boiler as the reactor. In the fluidized bed boiler, when forest biomass is added, the generation of nitric oxide (NO) is reduced, and the combustion process is more efficient ( Kabir and Kumar, 2012 ). Also, compared to coal, the volatile content of biomass is higher that is a favorable parameter for rapid ignition. It has been found that 87 tons of CO 2 emission could be reduced by replacing 1 ton of coal with forest biomass during co-combustion ( Royo et al., 2012 ). It is estimated that in 2030 and beyond, biomass utilization will increase by 450,000 t/yr, and relevant CO 2 emission reduction will reach 395,000 t/yr ( Kazagic et al., 2016 ). Furthermore, alkaline ash caused by biomass combustion can block SO 2 emissions from coal and reduce global acidification ( Demirba, 2005 ; Tsalidis et al., 2014 ).

Due to reducing harmful gases and increased power generation reliability, co-combustion is considered a cheap option to utilize existing biomass resources in power generation ( McIlveen-Wright et al., 2011 ). Given this fact, thermal power plants can use biomass as clean and cost-effective combustion supporting agent to mix with coal ( Dai et al., 2008 ). However, forest biomass suffers from several significant drawbacks despite these desirable features, e.g., poor energy density, high particle emissions, unstable combustion performance, and difficulties in storage and transportation ( Kang et al., 2018 ). Hence, future research should aim at providing solutions to mitigate these obstacles.

Forest Biomass Pellets

Several techniques have been developed to facilitate the transportation and improve the conversion rate of forest biomass, like mechanical processing of biomass into granular substance (pellet). Pelleting of forest biomass improves its density and reduces water content ( Valdés et al., 2018 ). Density and moisture are two critical properties of biomass affecting combustion efficiency. Hence, direct combustion or co-combustion of pelleted forest biomass with coal could increase combustion efficiency. For instance, it has been reported that the efficiency of pellet-fired boilers ranged between 85 and 90% compared with wood-fired boilers varying from 75 to 85% ( Sandro et al., 2019 ).

Forest biomass can also be mixed with other biomass to enhance the overall properties of the mixture for pellet production ( de Souza et al., 2020 ). For instance, the water content of biomass pellets could affect their durability, a property that could be adjusted by mixing different types of forest biomass. More specifically, when the moisture content of forest biomass is reduced to 1–5%, the average durability reaches 95%, which is convenient for the storage and transportation of the product ( Pradhan et al., 2018 ).

In the manufacturing process of forest biomass pellets, the biomass needs to be dehydrated in advance ( Civitarese et al., 2018 ). A rotary dryer could be used to remove the moisture in poplar wood chips, with a moisture removal rate of about 17%. In comparison, the moisture removal rate for Robinia pseudoacacia sawdust stands at a higher rate of 31%. These differences are ascribed to the differences in the density of various types of forest biomass ( Prokkola et al., 2014 ; Del Giudice et al., 2019 ). Notably, if the rotary dryer cannot remove the moisture effectively, the pneumatic dryer would be a good choice, also increasing the drying rate by 22% ( Frodeson et al., 2013 ).

From an environmental point of view, it is reported that if biomass pellets are used instead of coal for power generation, CO 2 emissions will be reduced by 205 Mt annually ( Purohit and Chaturvedi, 2018 ). Sikkema et al. (2011) reported that through the consumption of 8.2 million tons of wood pellets, 12.6 million tons of CO 2 emissions were avoided in all EU countries in 2008.

Compared with sawdust, coal, and other traditional fuels, mixing forest biomass pellets with coal causes less harm to the environment. For example, co-combustion of forest biomass pellets and coal reportedly led to a 50% reduction in CO 2 emission, and the ash formed in the combustion process only accounted for about 1%, 15–20 times less than coal combustion ( Palšauskas and Petkevičius, 2013 ; Morrison et al., 2018 ). Ehrig and Behrendt (2013) also showed that co-firing wood pellets with coal resulted in lower CO 2 than other renewables. It is also claimed that adding eggshells in the combustion of forest biomass pellets could also absorb CO 2 through the calcium carbonate present in eggshells, further reducing GHG emissions ( Yuan et al., 2019 ). Molina-Moreno et al. (2016) also reported that CO and NO x emissions levels caused by pellets combustion were very satisfactory. Tamura et al. (2014) claimed that co-firing wood pellets with coal when wood pellets were burnt in lower row burners could prevent CO emissions.

Despite these promising results, power plants relying on forest biomass pellets also face several problems such as high energy consumption, labor-intensive process, higher prices than other solid biofuels, need for higher storage space in comparison with oil, need for ash removal, and susceptibility of pellets to moisture exposure ( Abdoli et al., 2018 ).

Conversion of Forest Biomass Into Liquid Biofuels

The pollution caused by diesel combustion in diesel engines is one of the main contributors to global air pollution ( Aghbashlo et al., 2017b ; 2018b ). The most crucial emissions released from diesel combustion are CO 2 , NO X , sulfur oxides (SO X ), CO, and PM emissions ( Aghbashlo et al., 2021b ). There is evidence that these emissions play a crucial role in damage to the environment and human health ( Hosseinzadeh-Bandbafha et al., 2020 ). To solve the problem associated with diesel exhaust emissions and to mitigate the existing environmental pressure, cleaner alternatives to diesel are widely sought ( Khalife et al., 2017 ; Aghbashlo et al., 2018a ).

Biodiesel, long-chain fatty acid methyl or ethyl esters (FAME or FAEE, respectively) is produced mainly via the transesterification reaction using short-chain alcohols, i.e., methanol or ethanol, and in the presence of a base or acid catalyst ( Chuah et al., 2017 ; Hajjari et al., 2017 ). Compared with diesel, biodiesel combustion leads to lower smoke, PM CO, and unburned hydrocarbon (HC) emissions ( Amid et al., 2020 ). Also, it contributes much less to global warming than diesel because the carbon contained in biodiesel is mainly of biogenic CO 2 origin ( Hosseinzadeh-Bandbafha et al., 2018 ). The research on biodiesel production has already reached maturity, resulting in replacing diesel with various biodiesel blends in many parts of the world. It should be quoted that neat biodiesel and its blends (up to 20%) with diesel can be used in diesel engines without requiring engine modifications ( Narasimharao et al., 2007 ).

Despite its advantages, some physicochemical properties of biodiesel limit its widespread application, including higher viscosity of biodiesel than fossil diesel and poor cold flow properties ( Aghbashlo et al., 2015 ; Pang, 2019 ). Moreover, biodiesel production from first-generation feedstock (edible vegetable oils) has led to high production costs and triggered competition between fuel and food over arable land water resources ( Aghbashlo et al., 2017a ). Fuels derived from waste biomass are classified as second-generation biofuels and are regarded as a solution to overcome the mentioned competition between food and fuel ( Laesecke et al., 2017 ). High oil content tree species are suitable raw materials for biodiesel production ( Patel et al., 2019 ).

Pyrolysis is also a promising thermochemical valorization technique for producing biofuels from forest waste at moderate temperatures (typically between 300 and 1,300°C) ( Aghbashlo et al., 2019 ; Yek et al., 2020 ) During this process, the feedstock’s chemical structure faces fundamental changes ( Foong et al., 2020 ; Ge et al., 2021 ). Generally, pyrolysis is known as the method with the ability to produce a variety of solid, liquid, and gaseous products depending on pyrolysis conditions ( Aghbashlo et al., 2021a ). Slow pyrolysis produces solid products such as biochar or charcoal, while fast pyrolysis results in the production of liquid products (bio-oil). It is reported that forest biomass is an ideal feedstock for pyrolysis ( Chireshe et al., 2020 ), and different researchers have successfully conducted pyrolysis of forest biomass to produce bio-oil ( Oasmaa et al., 2010 ; Puy et al., 2011 ; Stefanidis et al., 2015 ; Luo et al., 2017 ). It should be noted that the bio-oil produced by the pyrolysis process typically has a high oxygen and water content, and thus, it should be upgraded ( van Schalkwyk et al., 2020 ).

Another conversion pathway to valorize forest biomass is gasification. González and García (2015) converted wood biomass into bio-oil through the gasification process and subsequent liquefaction (Fischer-Tropsch). Natarajan et al. (2014) reported that the installation of five Fischer-Tropsch plants could contribute to achieving Finland’s various 2020 targets, i.e., using up to 58% of the available forest biomass for energy production, total emission reduction of 4%, and powering the transportation sector with 100% biofuel. Sunde et al. (2011) also estimated that converting forest biomass and woody wastes into liquid biofuel by the Fischer-Tropsch process as a replacement for fossil diesel could reduce the overall environmental impacts of the transportation sector in Norway. GHG savings and reductions in greenhouse impacts by production and use of Fischer-Tropsch biofuel from forest residues are estimated to amount to roughly 20–90% on a 100-year timescale ( Jäppinen et al., 2014 ). It should also be noted that in addition to reducing CO 2 emissions, biofuel production from forest biomass could also offer economic opportunities, including creating new jobs ( Natarajan et al., 2014 ).

Bioethanol production from forest biomass has also been investigated since the early 1990s ( Mabee and Saddler, 2010 ). The lignocellulosic nature of forest biomass (such as PopulusL ., Salix babylonica , and Saccharum officinarum ) and its abundance mark it as a suitable feedstock for second-generation bioethanol production ( Limayem and Ricke, 2012 ; Ko et al., 2020 ). International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the potential use of 10% of global forest and agricultural biomass in 2030 can provide 233 billion L of bioethanol, equivalent to 155 billion L of gasoline ( Morales et al., 2021 ). The bioethanol production potentials of several forest biomass are shown in Table 3 .

TABLE 3 . Potential of different types of forest biomass for second-generation bioethanol production.

Bioethanol is well known as a promising substitute for petroleum-based gasoline ( Huang et al., 2020 ; Amid et al., 2021 ), with considerably lower emissions throughout its life cycle ( Mabee and Saddler, 2010 ). For example, Becerra-Ruiz et al. (2019) reported a decrease of 99, 93, and 67% in CO, HC, and NOx, respectively, when a 5500 W portable engine generator of alternating current burned bioethanol instead of gasoline. Compared to first-generation bioethanol such as corn and sugarcane-based bioethanol, second-generation bioethanol (i.e., bioethanol produced from lignocellulosic feedstocks) has significantly lower life cycle GHG emissions ( Wang et al., 2020 ). Moreover, bioethanol yields of forest biomass are relatively higher than those of other types of biomass. In a study investigating bioethanol yields, Mabee and Saddler (2010) reported that bioethanol yields of forest biomass ranged between 0.12 and 0.3 m 3 /t (dry basis) vs. 0.11 and 0.27 m 3 /t (dry basis) for bioethanol production from agricultural residues.

The biochemical or thermochemical conversion are two primary methods used to process lignocellulosic feedstocks into bioethanol ( Soltanian et al., 2020 ). The biochemical conversion starts with pretreatment to separate hemicellulose and lignin from cellulose and is followed by hydrolysis of cellulose to obtain fermentable sugars ( Panahi et al., 2020a ). Finally, sugars are fermented into ethanol ( Anyanwu et al., 2018 ). Pretreatment is an instrumental stage of the process, and hence, its type and conditions play important roles in the overall technical viability of the whole process ( Negro et al., 2020 ; Morales et al., 2021 ). The various pretreatment methods include chemical, physical, physicochemical, and biological ( Sharma et al., 2020 ).

It should be noted that forest biomass, due to the presence of bark and juvenile wood, tends to have higher lignin contents ( Zhu et al., 2015 ). As a result, forest biomass is more recalcitrant to bioconversion into sugars than other biomass types such as agricultural residues ( Yamamoto et al., 2014 ). Although there are pretreatment processes to overcome such a high level of recalcitrance for efficient sugar/biofuel production, they are more time-consuming and costlier. One of these methods is steam explosion treatment which has been reported to increase bioethanol production of Hemp fiber by upto 70% ( Zhao et al., 2020 ). It has also been claimed that the application of surfactants, owing to their unique structure and functional properties, could improve the solubility, fluidity, bioavailability, and biodegradability of forest biomass, thereby increasing the production of bioethanol. Zheng et al. (2020) argued that tween, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and sulfonate-based surfactants could increase the conversion rate of lignocellulose by 10–20%.

Compared to the biochemical conversion, thermochemical conversion, particularly gasification, can be applied to a broader range of forest biomass ( Wang et al., 2020 ). During gasification of the lignocellulosic biomass at high pressure and in the absence of inert gases, lignocellulosic biomass is converted into syngas, which will then be converted into bioethanol through the Fischer-Tropsch process ( Laesecke et al., 2017 ). Also, syngas can be utilized by the microorganism Clostridium ljungdahlii to generate bioethanol in the presence of catalysts ( Limayem and Ricke, 2012 ).

Conversion of Forest Biomass Into Gaseous Biofuels

The gasification process of forest biomass leads to syngas production through a series of thermal cracking reactions ( Burbano et al., 2011 ). Forest biomass, including seeds, leaves, tree trunks, and fruit shells, could be pyrolyzed in a fixed bed gasifier for a long time at high temperatures (above 1,200°C) to produce hydrogen-rich syngas ( Brachi et al., 2014 ; Ozbas et al., 2019 ), which has been highlighted as one of the most promising alternative sources of energy ( Shih and Hsu, 2011 ). It is claimed that 1.3 Gt/yr of biomass can produce 100 Mt/yr of hydrogen ( Duan et al., 2020 ).

During gasification, the reaction rate can be controlled by adjusting the gas flow. Using this strategy, the decomposition rate of forest biomass into hydrogen could reach 60% ( Solar et al., 2018 ). The cost of hydrogen production from forest biomass through gasification is about 1.18 USD/kg H2 ( Sarkar and Kumar, 2009 ), almost half of the other processes ( Sarkar and Kumar, 2010 ). It should be noted that industrial gasification devices are usually connected with power generation equipment to generate electricity while providing gas; the former can be supplied to nearby households ( Sasujit et al., 2017 ; Schulzke, 2019 ).

Adding appropriate catalysts to the gasification process can improve the gas content ( Pang, 2019 ). In the catalytic gasification experiment of Eucalyptus residue with NiO as the catalyst, the total gas production increased by 30%. Corujo et al (2010) also reported that through catalytic gasification, the biochar and ash contents were decreased, and the utilization rate of biomass was improved. It has been argued that catalytic cracking is more economical than traditional biofuel production methods such as pyrolysis and fermentation ( Meerman and Larson, 2017 ).

In addition to producing hydrogen-rich syngas, forest biomass can also be used to produce biogas through anaerobic digestion ( Tabatabaei et al., 2020a ). The technology of converting forest biomass into CH 4 is relatively mature and has been used for practical production for many years ( González et al., 2006 ; Tabatabaei et al., 2020b ). The production of biogas, whose main components are CH 4 and CO 2, is largely affected by the composition of raw materials ( Dehhaghi et al., 2019 ). It should be noted that in addition to species, the composition of forest biomass could also be affected by variations in geographical location and growth environment.

One of the main challenges of anaerobic digestion is the non-degradability of lignin under anaerobic conditions ( Dehhaghi et al., 2019 ). In better words, lignocellulose-rich organic materials such as forest biomass suffer from the disadvantage of low availability of cellulose and hemicellulose as biodegradable components for microorganisms and their enzymes ( Lópe et al., 2013 ). Nevertheless, similar to other types of lignocellulosic biomass, chemical (hydrolysis with acids, alkali, or oxidants), physical (irradiation, shredding, thermal, and pressure shocks), and biological (fungi, actinobacteria, or their enzymes) pretreatments could also be employed to improve the anaerobic biodegradation of forest biomass ( Chang and Holtzapple, 2000 ; Taherzadeh and Karimi, 2008 ; Hendriks and Zeeman, 2009 ).

It was shown that forest biomass could, directly and indirectly, be used as an energy resource. More specifically, forest biomass can be directly combusted to reduce CO 2 emissions associated with conventional energy production processes. However, the energy conversion rate of forest biomass is low, and it also leads to emissions of soot and residues. Also, the lack of continuous access to biomass and the need for lots of financial investment and storage capacity are among the severe concerns in the sustainability of direct electricity generation using forest biomass.

In comparison, co-combustion of biomass and coal vs. combustion of coal alone could be regarded as a promising strategy to reduce emissions while ensuring production efficiency. It also partly solves issues related to biomass availability, the area required for storage, and economic problems related to transportation and distribution. Despite these desirable features, forest biomass suffers from poor energy density and high moisture, which could be addressed by pelleting forest biomass. Due to the improved density and moisture, direct combustion of pelleted forest biomass or its co-combustion with coal accelerates the combustion rate. Nevertheless, power plants relying on forest biomass pellets also face several problems such as high energy consumption, labor-intensive process, and higher prices than other solid biofuels. Forest biomass also can be converted into bio-oil, bioethanol, and biogas by biochemical and thermochemical methods, which are critically explained in the present work.

Given the growing awareness about the environmental consequences of burning fossil fuels, the future will undoubtedly shift toward the use of more biomass and biofuels. Although forest biomass conversion processes to bioenergy are well known, as mentioned, their long-term sustainability should be more extensively scrutinized by future studies using advanced sustainability assessment tools such as life cycle assessment, exergy, etc.

Author Contributions

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.

The article is supported by the Program for Innovative Research Team (in Science and Technology) in University of Henan Province (No. 21IRTSTHN020) and Central Plain Scholar Funding Project of Henan Province (No. 212101510005).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Keywords: forestry, biomass, biodiesel, biogas, energy

Citation: Yu Q, Wang Y, Van Le Q, Yang H, Hosseinzadeh-Bandbafha H, Yang Y, Sonne C, Tabatabaei M, Lam SS and Peng W (2021) An Overview on the Conversion of Forest Biomass into Bioenergy. Front. Energy Res. 9:684234. doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2021.684234

Received: 24 March 2021; Accepted: 21 June 2021; Published: 02 July 2021.

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• Biomass: Compilation of Essays on Biomass | Energy Management

Here is an essay on ‘Biomass’ for class 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Biomass’ especially written for school and college students.

Essay # 1. Introduction to Biomass:

Biomass, a renewable energy source, is biological material living or recently living organisms like wood, waste, hydrogen gas and alcohol fuels. Biomass is commonly plant matter grown to produce electricity or heat. In this sense, living biomass can also be included, as plants can also generate electricity while alive.

The most conventional way in which biomass is used, however, still relies on direct incineration. Forest residues like dead trees, branches and tree stumps, yard clipping, wood chips and garbage are often employed for this. However, biomass also includes plant or animal matter used for producing fibres or chemicals. It excludes organic materials like fossil fuels which have been transformed by geological processes into substances such as coal or petroleum.

Industrial biomass can be grown from numerous types of plants, including miscanthus, switchgrass, hemp, corn, poplar, willow, sorghum, sugarcane and a variety of topic tree species, ranging, from eucalyptus to oil palm (palm oil). The particular plant used is usually not important to the end products, but it does affect the processing of the raw material.

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Although the fossil fuels have their origin in ancient biomass, they are not considered biomass by the generally accepted definition because they contain carbon that has been “out” of the carbon cycle for a very long time. Their combustion therefore disturbs the CO 2 content in the atmosphere.

Biomass is carbon, hydrogen and oxygen based. Nitrogen and small quantities of other atoms, including alkali, alkaline earth and heavy metals can be found as well. Metals are often found in functional molecules such as the porphyrins which include chlorophyll which contains magnesium.

Plants in particular combine water and carbon dioxide to sugar building blocks. The required energy is produced from light via photosynthesis based on chlorophyll. On average, between 0.1 and 1% of the available light is stored as chemical energy in plants. The sugar building blocks are the starting point for the major fractions found in all terrestrial plants, lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose.

Biomass does not add CO 2 to the atmosphere as it absorbs the same amount of carbon in growing as it releases when consumed as a fuel. Its advantage is that it can be used to produce electricity with the same equipment that is now being used for burning fossil fuels. Biomass is an important source of energy and most important fuel worldwide after coal, oil and natural gas. Bio-energy, in the form of biogas, which is derived from biomass, is expected to become one of the key energy resources for global sustainable development. Biomass offers higher energy efficiency through form of biogas than by direct burning.

Bio-energy is being used for cooking, mechanical applications, and pumping, power generation.

Biomass energy is derived from five distinct energy sources:

(i) Garbage

(iii) Waste

(iv) Landfill gases, and

(v) Alcohol fuel.

Wood energy is derived both from direct use of harvested wood as a fuel and from wood waste streams. The largest source of energy from wood is pulping liquor or “black liquor”, a waste product from processes of the pulp paper and paperboard industry. Wood energy is the second-largest source of biomass energy. The main contributors of waste energy are municipal solid waste (MSW), manufacturing waste and landfill gas. Biomass alcohol fuel or ethanol is derived primarily from sugarcane and corn. It can be used directly as a fuel or as an additive to gasoline.

Biomass can be converted to other usable forms of energy like methane gas or transportation fuels like ethanol or biodiesel. Methane gas is the main ingredient of natural gas. Smelly stuff, like rotting garbage and agricultural and human waste, release methane gas—also called “landfill gas” or “biogas”. Crops like corn and sugar cane can be fermented to produce the transportation fuel, ethanol. Biodiesel, another transportation fuel, can be produced from left-over food products like vegetable oils and animal fats. Also, biomass to liquids (BTLs) and cellulosic ethanol are still under research.

There are a number of technological options available to make use of a wide variety of biomass types as a renewable energy source. Conversion technologies may release the energy directly, in the form of heat or electricity, or may convert it to another form, such as liquid biofuel or combustible biogas. While for some classes of biomass resource there may be a number of usage options, for others there may be only one appropriate technology.

The practical applications of biomass energy include biogas plants, biomass briquetting, electricity generation, bio-fuel etc.

Biogas is a clean and efficient fuel, generated from cow- dung, human waste or any kind of biological materials derived through anaerobic fermentation process. The biogas consists of 60% methane with rest mainly CO 2 . Biogas is a safe fuel for cooking and lighting. By-product is usable as high-grade manure.

Biomass fuels account for about one-third of the total fuel used in the country. It is the most important fuel used in over 90% of the rural households and about 15% of the urban house-holds. The types of biogas plant designs popular are- floating drum type, fixed dome-type and bag-type portable digester.

The process of densifying loose agro-waste into a solidified biomass of high density, which can be conveniently used as a fuel, is called biomass briquetting. It is pollution free and ecofriendly.

Essay # 2. Electricity Generation Using Biomass:

From the ancient time to the present, the most common way to capture the energy from biomass was to burn it to make heat. Since the industrial revolution this biomass fired heat has produced steam power and more recently this biomass fired steam power has been used to produce electricity. Burning biomass in conventional boilers can have numerous environmental and air-quality and advantages over burning fossil fuels.

For biomass power plants generating electricity, it is pretty much like a fossil fuel power plant.

Biomass can be transformed into clean energy and/or fuels by a variety of technologies, ranging from conventional combustion process to advanced biofuels technology. Besides recovery of substantial energy, these technologies can lead to a substantial reduction in the overall biomass waste quantities requiring final disposal, which can be better managed for safe disposal in a controlled manner while meeting the pollution control standards.

Biomass conversion systems reduces greenhouse gas emissions in two ways.  Heat and electrical energy is generated which reduces the dependence on power plants based on fossil fuels.  The greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced by preventing methane emissions from decaying biomass.

Moreover, biomass energy plants are highly efficient in harnessing the untapped sources of energy from biomass resources and helpful in development of rural areas.

Recommended Reading : How bioenergy can help in reaching net zero targets

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Biomass—renewable energy from plants and animals

Biomass is renewable organic material that comes from plants and animals. Biomass contains stored chemical energy from the sun that is produced by plants through photosynthesis. Biomass can be burned directly for heat or converted to liquid and gaseous fuels through various processes

• Wood and wood processing waste —firewood, wood pellets, and wood chips, lumber and furniture mill sawdust and waste, and black liquor from pulp and paper mills
• Agricultural crops and waste materials—corn, soybeans, sugar cane, switchgrass, woody plants, algae, and crop and food processing residues, mostly to produce biofuels
• Biogenic materials in municipal solid waste —paper products; cotton and wool products; and food, yard, and wood wastes
• Animal manure and human sewage for producing biogas (renewable natural gas)

Source: Adapted from The National Energy Education Project (public domain)

Source: U.S. Energy Information Adminstration (public domain)

Biomass can be converted to energy in different ways

Biomass is converted to energy through various processes, including:

• Direct combustion (burning) to produce heat
• Thermochemical conversion to produce solid, gaseous, and liquid fuels
• Chemical conversion to produce liquid fuels
• Biological conversion to produce liquid and gaseous fuels

Direct combustion is the most common method for converting biomass to useful energy. All biomass can be burned directly for heating buildings and water, for providing industrial process heat, and for generating electricity in steam turbines.

Thermochemical conversion of biomass includes pyrolysis and gasification . Both processes are thermal decomposition processes wherein biomass feedstock materials are heated in closed, pressurized vessels called gassifiers at high temperatures. The processes mainly differ in the temperatures and in the amount of oxygen present during conversion.

• Pyrolysis entails heating organic materials to between 800° F and 900° F (400° C and 500° C) in the nearly complete absence of free oxygen. Biomass pyrolysis produces fuels such as charcoal, bio-oil, renewable diesel , methane, and hydrogen.
• Hydrotreating is used to process bio-oil (produced by fast pyrolysis ) with hydrogen under elevated temperatures and pressures in the presence of a catalyst to produce renewable diesel, renewable gasoline, and renewable jet fuel.
• Gasification entails heating organic materials to between 1,400° F and 1,700 F (800° C and 900° C) with injections of controlled amounts of free oxygen or steam into the vessel to produce a carbon monoxide- and hydrogen-rich gas called synthesis gas or syngas . Syngas can be used as a fuel for diesel engines, for heating, and for generating electricity in gas turbines. It can also be treated to separate the hydrogen from the gas, and the hydrogen can be burned or used in fuel cells . The syngas can be further processed to produce liquid fuels using the Fischer–Tropsch process .

A chemical conversion process known as transesterification is used for converting vegetable oils, animal fats, and greases into fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) to produce biodiesel .

Biological conversion of biomass includes fermentation to make ethanol and anaerobic digestion to produce biogas . Ethanol is used as a vehicle fuel. Biogas, also called biomethane or renewable natural gas , is produced in anaerobic digesters at sewage treatment plants and at dairy and livestock operations. It also forms in and may be captured from solid waste landfills. Properly treated renewable natural gas has the same uses as fossil fuel natural gas.

Researchers are working on ways to improve these methods and to develop other ways to convert and use more biomass for energy .

Biomass provided about 5% of U.S. energy in 2022

• Biofuels—2,419 TBtu—49%
• Wood and wood waste—1,984 TBtu—43%
• Municipal solid waste, animal manure, and sewage—411 TBtu—8%

The industrial sector is the largest consumer of biomass for energy in the United States

The amounts—in TBtu—and percentage shares of total U.S. biomass energy use by consuming sector in 2022 were:

• Industrial —2,266 TBtu—46%
• Transportation —1,565 TBtu—32%
• Residential —539 TBtu—11%
• Electric power —413 TBtu—8%
• Commercial —147 TBtu—3%

The industrial sector accounted for the most, in terms of energy content and percentage share, of total annual U.S. biomass consumption in 2022. The wood products and paper industries use biomass in combined heat and power plants for process heat and to generate electricity for their own use.

The transportation sector accounted for the second-highest amount and percentage share of biomass (as biofuels) consumption in 2022.

The residential and commercial sectors use firewood and wood pellets for heating. The commercial sector also consumes, and in some cases, sells renewable natural gas produced at municipal sewage treatment facilities and at waste landfills.

The electric power sector uses wood and biomass-derived wastes to generate electricity for sale to the other sectors.

The United States is a net exporter of biomass energy

On an energy content basis, U.S. total biomass energy exports exceeded total biomass energy imports in 2022.

Last updated: June 30, 2023, with data from the Monthly Energy Review , April 2023; data for 2022 are preliminary.

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The Advantages and Disadvantages of Biomass Energy Essay

Introduction, advantages of biomass energy, disadvantages of biomass energy.

Biomass energy has gained massive support in recent years, due to its economic and environmental implications. As a renewable source of energy, biomass energy cannot be easily depleted.

By definition, biomass energy is the utilization of organic matter using appropriate mechanical structures to produce energy. It is doubtless that biomass energy has advantages and disadvantages, which have to be considered when selecting a source of energy. This paper discusses the merits and demerits of biomass energy.

Biomass is widely known as a renewable source of energy, which is utilized in the production of electricity and other types of energy in most parts of the world. Biomass feedstock mainly comprises of organic matter that can be renewed for energy conversion. Commonly used include animal waste, agricultural crops and industrial wood.

In discussing the benefits of biomass energy, it is important to note that it is renewable, i.e. its source cannot get depleted ( ACRE 2008). In addition, this form of energy is safe and does not pose severe environmental pollution. This is because of minimal amount of carbon compounds that are emitted when used as compared to fossil fuels.

Additionally, it reduces the concentration of methane in the atmosphere, a compound that is responsible for the greenhouse effect. Importantly, it is cost-effective since the materials used are locally available. This reduces the expenditure of importing oil and petroleum products. Its production and consumption equally provides job opportunities in homes since manpower is needed ( ACRE 2008).

Despite the fact that biomass energy is safe and renewable, it also has an array of disadvantages. The first disadvantage is the addition of dangerous gases into the air during combustion of matter. Common biomass emissions include carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides.

These emissions contribute to global warming. Due to the fact that biomass feedstock comprises of crops and residues, there is demand for land, which can be used to raise these crops ( Alternative Energy Geek 2012). This land could be utilized for food crop production to feed families with insufficient food supply. Additionally, the technology employed in biomass production is relatively new and unpopular.

As a result, the cost of installing and maintaining the infrastructure is a major challenge. Furthermore, the cost of the technology limits its usage among low-class families. Biomass energy has limited potential in terms of its efficiency and capability. For instance, the energy might not be used to run heavy industrial processes, which are effectively supported by other forms of energy.

It is worth noting that efficient production and utilization of biomass energy requires scientific research to ascertain possible hurdles. Although the energy is from a renewable source, most of the crops are seasonal. This may hinder its continuous production ( Clean Green Energy 2011).

From this discussion, it is evident that biomass energy has merits and challenges, which have to be weighed before a decision is reached. Most of the issues discussed revolve around the cost-effectiveness if the energy and its impact to environment, which has become a source of concern when using renewable sources of energy.

ACRE; Australian Co-operative Research Center for Renewable Energy. 2012. Web.

Clean Green Energy. 2011. Web.

Alternative Energy Geek. 2012. Web.

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Biomass energy: Advantages and disadvantages

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Biomass refers to any organic matter used to create energy. This could include everyday animal matter as well as different crops. It can be burned or turned into liquid for electricity generation. No energy source is perfect, biomass included. Though it's renewable, there are both benefits and downsides to generating electricity using biomass energy plants. This article will review the advantages and disadvantages of using biomass for electricity generation.

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Top pros and cons of biomass

There are both pros and cons of using biomass for energy. Here are a few to keep in mind:

Pros and cons of biomass

On the pros side, bioenergy is a widely available, reliable type of renewable energy. Harvesting biomass for electricity can also help us reduce waste. However, there are cons to consider: compared to other sources of electricity, biomass can be expensive to gather, transport, and store. Also, building biomass energy plants for large-scale electricity production can require much land space. Several environmental downsides of biomass can vary depending on the type of fuel used and how it’s collected.

Below, we'll explore these pros and cons in further detail:

Advantages of biomass

Biomass is a renewable resource.

Biomass is an abundant resource: organic matter surrounds us, from forests and croplands to waste and landfills. All biomass initially gets its energy from the sun – thanks to photosynthesis, biomass resources regrow in a relatively short timespan compared to fossil fuel resources that take hundreds of millions of years to replenish. As such, we won't run out of biomass for energy production.

Biomass helps reduce waste

Landfills have several negative impacts on the environment, including contamination of nearby air, soil, and water and the emission of greenhouse gases. 

Many products in landfills are hazardous and toxic; depending on how these materials are managed, they can contaminate our land, air, and water, eventually leading to adverse environmental and human health consequences.

Additionally, landfills significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere. When organic matter in landfills decomposes, it emits methane–one of the most potent greenhouse gases–and carbon dioxide and other compounds. 

Diverting waste to biomass energy plants instead of landfills not only helps reduce the size of landfills and alleviates these risks but also takes materials that would otherwise sit around and uses them productively.

Biomass is a reliable source of electricity

Biomass energy plants are often dispatchable, meaning they can easily be turned on or off. This allows electricity grid operators to use electricity from these plants during times of peak demand. 

Bioenergy is not intermittent or variable, unlike other renewable energy sources like solar and wind: the sun isn't always shining, and the wind isn't always blowing. Without storage technologies, you can't always use solar or wind energy when you need it. In comparison, while the availability of some biomass resources may be susceptible to seasonality, biomass energy plants can always turn on to provide power, regardless of the weather outside.

Disadvantages of biomass

Outside of the upfront costs to get the plants up and running, additional costs are associated with extracting, transporting, and storing biomass before electricity generation. This is an added cost that other renewable technologies don't need to account for, as they rely on free, onsite resources (tides, sunshine, wind, etc.) for fuel.

Costs can vary widely from biomass energy plant to biomass energy plant, and in some cases, bioenergy has the potential to be cost-competitive with solar and wind. Overall costs largely depend on the type of biomass and how it's converted to electricity. That said, even though biomass is often more expensive than alternative renewable energy options, the most expensive types of bioenergy are still on par with or cheaper than fossil fuels: bioenergy does not require drilling into the earth, which carries a high capital (and environmental) cost.

Space requirements

Biomass energy plants require a lot of space, limiting the areas where you can place a plant. Often, companies also need to put these plants near their source of biomass to cut down on transportation and storage costs. 

Additional space may also be necessary to grow the organic matter; if power companies are growing crops or trees for bioenergy rather than using agricultural waste, this contributes to a larger land footprint per unit of electricity production.

Adverse environmental impacts

Like many other forms of energy, producing electricity from biomass can come with several environmental downsides.

For one, depending on the type of biomass used to generate electricity, unsustainable bioenergy practices can result in deforestation over time. Companies that clear-cut forests to provide material for biomass energy plants harm the natural environment and disrupt the habitats of plants and animals in the process. Clearing plants and organic material from the earth can also impact the surrounding soil's health, which requires compost and fertilization biomass.

Growing crops for the sole purpose of bioenergy resources also requires a good amount of water: all plants need water to grow, and continuous irrigation of these resources can make an area more vulnerable to drought. 

Additionally, while often viewed as an environmentally friendly alternative to coal, producing electricity from biomass does release pollutants into the air, such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and more. In some cases, the emissions and pollutants from biomass can be worse than those from fossil fuel resources. These pollutants have adverse impacts on environmental and human health.

The environmental and health consequences of bioenergy can be minimized through several efforts, including more sustainable land-use practices, re-planting efforts, and technological innovation.

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Biomass Uses Essay Sample

Biomass is natural organic matter that can be used as fuel. It has been used for centuries to provide heat, light, and power. Biomass is composed of four main categories: wood, crops, wastes (including sewage), and other biomass sources like manure, animal bones, or carcasses. Biomass is an extremely important part of the energy mix in the United States with biomass providing about 40% of our renewable electricity generation capacity; it also provides significant amounts of heating and cooling in buildings across the country.

Essay Sample On Biomass Uses

• Thesis Statement – Biomass Uses Essay
• Introduction – Biomass Uses Essay
• Conventional sources of energy VS. Bio-mass
• Types of Biomass energy
• Strengths of biomass fuel
• Weakness of biomass
• Public issues related to the usage of biomass as a source of energy
• Conclusion – Biomass Uses Essay

Thesis Statement – Biomass Uses Essay Biomass energy is a clean form of renewable energy that can be used to power homes, cook food, and produce heat. Biomass is a plant-based material that can be grown in intense situations without taking away from the farmland or food production. Introduction – Biomass Uses Essay In today’s scenario, there are several issues in front of the world’s society that are very crucial. Availability of sources of energy is one of the important issues. The world is facing a strong threat related to the production of energy and sources of energy. As technology is progressing rapidly, the need for energy is increasing is also at a fast pace. But the source of energy is very limited. The conventional sources of energy, for example, coal, petroleum, firewood, and many more. But the main disadvantage related to these types of sources is that the conventional sources of energy are limited and non-renewable. Because of this reason, the excessive usage of these sources presents a major threat of scarcity of energy in the future perspective. This threat related to energy sources calls for serious attention from scientists and researchers. About this, scientists and researchers are trying to search for new, innovative, and non-conventional sources of energy. There are several non-conventional sources of energy which is generally used in today’s scenario. These non-conventional sources are including solar energy, wind energy, hydro energy, bio-energy, etc. There are several different advantages and disadvantages related to the usage of these sources. As these sources are new for international society, several different issues are also engaged with these types of sources of energy. These sources are renewable and reusable. Furthermore, in the list of non-conventional sources of energy, bio-energy is one of the most prominent types of energy which is generated by biomass. The usage of biomass as the source of energy has emerged as an important topic for debate in front of scholars and researchers across the globe. There are several important issues related to the topic. There are various strengths of this source of energy because of which the source is recommended and preferred to conventional sources of energy by researchers and scientists. Vis-a-Vis, there is also some weakness of this source of energy which is making use of this source of energy more complex and difficult (Biomass, 2010). The paper is aimed to present an analysis of the bio-mass as the source of energy. For this purpose, various strengths and weaknesses of bio-fuel are detailed in the paperwork. The paperwork is also trying to make it clear that whether the usage of bio-mass will be beneficial for international society or it is just a wastage of time and money, which is spending heavily in the research and development of biomass as a source of energy. Further, the strengths and weaknesses of the bio-mass are detailed in the context of the conventional sources of energy, so that a clear comparison between the conventional sources of energy and the bio-mass energy can be carried out, clearly. The paper is also aimed to detail some of the important issues related to the usage of bio-mass as non-conventional sources of energy. The paperwork is providing some important insight information related to bio-mass and concerned issues so that the reader can get comprehensive knowledge about the topic. Get Non-Plagiarized Custom Essay on Biomass Uses in USA Order Now Main Body – Biomass Uses Essay Conventional sources of energy VS. Bio-mass Conventional sources of energy are the sources of energy, which are used by human society traditionally. These are the sources that are provided by nature and are limited in quantity. These are the non-reusable sources of energy which implies that once these sources get over, there is no possibility of regaining these sources. These conventional sources of energy include coal, lignite, peat, petroleum, and natural gas. These sources have been primarily used for obtaining energy to provide heat, light, and power for many years. On the other hand, Bio-mass is an inevitable form of non-conventional source of energy. This is a renewable source of energy. Basically, through this type of source, biological energy is primarily used for the production of heat or the generation of electricity. For this purpose, different biological matter from living and recently dead biological organisms are extracted in various forms such as wood, alcoholic fuel, biological wastage, hydrogen gas, etc. Fundamentally, the Bio-mass is recognized as various matters extracted from the living plant. These plant-driven materials which are then used as the source of energy are mainly the product of the photosynthetic reaction. Besides it, woody plants, remainders of farming, residues of forestry such as dead trees, dry leaves, dry branches of the tree, etc. which can be used for burning as fuel, various organic compounds from the living organism, and industrial wastes. Earlier, biomass was used in the form of firewood but in today’s scenario, the other forms of biomass such as wood, dugs, forestry, and agricultural wastage are also used widely as an important source of energy. Biomass is actually the form of all the organisms on the earth. Biomass is also included as the wastage of living plant and animal organisms. Biomass converts solar energy into chemical energy. The biomass collects and stores the energy from the sun i.e. solar energy. When the Biomass is used, this solar energy is subjected to conversion in the form of chemical or thermal energy. In the case when the biomass is subjected to burn, eat and digest, the energy of the biomass is subjected to release. The energy which is released from the biomass is known as bio-energy. This form of energy can be used in various general and specific usage such as heating, cooking, generation of electricity, lightning. But now in today’s scenario, the span of Biomass energy is subjected to increase. Earlier, Biomass energy was used primarily in rural areas. Because of several advantages of biomass energy, the usage of biomass energy is significant, increasing in urban areas, small and medium scale industries (Biomass, 2010). Types of Biomass energy As it is mentioned earlier, the span of Biomass energy has become much broader and the number of different forms of Biomass energy is also available. Biomass energy primarily can be divided into five different and important classes which are detailed below: Virgin Wood –  Basically, Virgin wood is known as the woods and other woody matters of plants such as branches, barks and trunks, wood chips, and sawdust. In this type of wood, there is no kind of chemical treatments exposed to finishing. This type of wood contains only natural substances. Various physical and chemical characteristics of this type of wood vary according to their source plant. Physically, virgin wood is natural, untreated, and clean. Because of the harvesting and growing process, various physical inclusions such as mud, stones, etc are also included with these types of woody materials. Further, in the absence of any external treatment, there are various internal chemical kinds of stuff from the soil, water, air, and various pesticides in the form of heavy metals, halogens, and minerals that are also found in this type of wood. But the level of these types of chemical agents in the wood is very low. Energy crops –  Energy crops are the crops that are cultivated to obtain biological fuel in the form of biological petrol. Several different crops are farmed because of their fuel value. These energy crops are also including various food crops such as sugarcane, corn, and many other non-food crops, for example, various popular woody trees and switch grasses such as Miscanthus and Pennisetum purpureum (elephant grass). The farming of various energy crops requires low investments and maintenance. These energy crops contain a higher amount of carbohydrate content. Because of these reasons, various energy crops including maize, Sudan grass are used for the production of Biogas. Agricultural residues –  In this category, various remainders, from agriculture are included. There are two different types of residues of Agriculture namely dry residues and wet residues. In the dry residues category, various substances that have a minimum content of water such as straws, dry crops, where the wet residues consist of substances that are having water contents such as animal slurry. Food waste –  These are the wastes of food that take place in hotels, restaurants, and individual houses. Again, this type of biomass can be differentiated into two different categories namely dry and wet wastage. These wastages have a higher degree of carbohydrate contents. For this reason, this can be used primarily for the production of biogas. Industrial waste and co-products –  There are various woody and non-woody materials that are produced as the byproducts of various industrial processes and manufacturing operations. These co-products are the industrial wastages that can be used as biomass fuel (What is BIOMASS? 2008). Strengths of biomass fuel The usage of biomass as a prominent source of energy is increasing rapidly day by day. There are several prominent strengths of biomass fuel because this biomass is preferred over conventional sources of energy. These strengths are detailed below: Less Pollutive source of energy – the Increasing rate of pollution is the major reason for worry in front of world society. Because of the increasing pollution, several environmental problems such as the greenhouse effect, increasing temperature of the earth, and climate change. The usage of fossil fuel or petroleum products is the main reason for air pollution. When fossil fuel is used, it leaves a higher amount of carbon footprint in the air. The usage of biomass sources of energy leads to fewer carbon prints in the environments as compared to conventional sources of energy. Further, the biomass sources of energy emit less harmful gases in the environment. Especially less emission of sulfur, which is very harmful to human society from the health perspective, in the environment, takes place in the case of biomass energy. For this prominent reason, biomass energy is used widely.   Cost efficiency –  The biomass sources of energy are comparatively more cost-efficient than conventional sources of energy. A less expensive setup is required for the production of energy from biomass sources. Furthermore, when biomass is oxidized for the production of energy, it produces less ash in comparison to coal. Less production of ash leads to less disposal cost. It also helps the industries to cut down their requirements of land where this ash can be dumped. Due to this reason for industrial purposes, bio-mass is now preferred and recommended in place of coal. Further, the ash produced because of the combustion of biomass is not as harmful as ash from coal combustion. Moreover, biomass ash is also having various recycled benefits, because of which the ash is used for the amendment of soil in farmland. Effective and efficient use of wastes –  Various biological wastes are the prominent source of biomass energy. This implies that for the production of biomass energy there is no need for specific raw material. Various biological products which are generally considered as garbage and wastes can be used for the production of energy. In today’s environment, million-ton garbage is produced from livestock, agriculture, industrial or manufacturing processes, and households. Dumping this waste or garbage is a complex problem. This garbage is used for the production of biomass energy. There is plenty of availability of this type of biological wastes, thus the production of biomass has become easier in comparison to various conventional sources of energy such as fossil fuel, natural gas, etc. which are available in a limited amount. Support of government –  Biomass energy contains several different advantages. These are also providing several different benefits to the government and society. For this purpose, this type of energy source is promoted by the government. The government is making a lot of efforts for making biomass energy popular. For encouraging the cultivation of energy crops, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is running a Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Through this program, the government is also trying to control soil erosion and chemical runoff. The government has marked the land under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) which is specially reserved for the energy crops on which the crop other than energy crop will not be permitted. Because of the strong support of the government, biomass energy sources have plenty of opportunities for the future perspective. In conditions where the world is facing severe threats related to the scarcity of conventional sources of energy such as petroleum products, the sources of biomass energy can be proved as the important and most economic sources of energy for the government. Social and political supports –  Various sources of biomass energy are also backed by the social and political environment of the country. As climate change has emerged as a serious issue in front of international society, there is a kind of political pressure on every country for decreasing the level of pollutions. In this scenario, the countries are supporting the means of non-conventional energy such as biomass. From the social perspective also, the usage of biomass energy sources contains greater strengths. Biomass energy sources are more popular in rural areas than conventional sources of energy. These sources are supported by socialists also because these sources create and retain more jobs in the rural economy. It also encourages agricultural practices which lead to providing full-time employment to people of rural areas. Furthermore, the agriculture of the energy crops provides a sort of diversity to the farmer, because of which the dependency of a farmer over a particular type of crop decreases. The agriculture of these types of crops is relatively cheaper. These types of crops also have high resistance against diseases. All these reasons impose farmers to farm these types of energy crops (Environmental and Social Benefits/Costs of Biomass Plantations, n.d.). In this way, these all presented strengths of biomass over conventional sources of energy provide a broad scope of non-conventional sources of energy. Weakness of biomass In the above section of the paper, several different strengths of biomass are described. But as every coin has two different parts, biomass energy is also having certain disadvantages which become the prominent weakness of this type of non-conventional source of energy. Because of these disadvantages, despite having several different advantages over conventional sources of energy, the biomass sources of energy are not as much as popular as other sources of energy. Some of the prominent weaknesses of biomass energy and its sources are listed below: Availability of biomass crops –  The biggest and utmost weakness of biomass is that various energy crops which are the major sources of biomass energy can not be available for the whole year. As with the other crops, a particular energy crop can only be grown in a particular season of the year. Further, various woody trees are very slow growing by nature. Because of these reasons, availability has become one of the most prominent weaknesses of biomass energy sources. Whereas the conventional sources of energy such as petrol, natural gas, and coal are not seasonable and can be retrieved at any season of the year however the quantity of these types of sources is limited. Collection of biomass –  as is mentioned earlier that animal and industrial waste and garbage can be used for the production of biomass energy, it is necessary to collect this waste and garbage. But the collection of this type of waste is not an easy task. It demands a lot of effort from the government and people. For the collection of the waste, the administration of cities must employ pre-specified drainage and sewerage system, which leads to extra expenses of government. The requirement of agricultural land – For farming of the energy crops there is a requirement of the land. In today’s scenario where it becomes difficult to provide adequate living space due to the increasing population, it is very hard to provide adequate space for farming such types of crops. For replacing fossil fuel with biofuel there is a need for vast agricultural land. This agricultural land can also be used for feeding a large population of the world. The extra cost for processing the waste – Not only a collection of wastes and garbage is a critical task, but the further process and recycling of this waste is also a complex task. There is a need for installing various new technologies for compacting, splintering, and shredding biomass which is available in huge quantities. These new technologies are costly. Because of this reason, the establishment of the biomass energy project is not an easy task.  Unawareness about the source –  In the present scenario, the level of awareness among common people about biomass energy sources is very is low. Although, the government is employing various projects for encouraging the usage of biomass energy still people prefer to use conventional sources of energy because these sources are easily available and ready for use.  Low energy density –  various researchers and studies have shown the energy density which is provided by biofuel is less than the energy density which is provided by conventional sources of energy such as coal, petroleum products, and natural gas. This implies that a higher amount of biomass is needed for the production of energy.  Emission of greenhouse gases –  Biomass is an organic matter which is used for the production of energy and when an organic compound burns, it emits the carbon-di-oxide. Which is a greenhouse gas? Because of this reason the biomass is also a source of air pollution. For avoiding this problem, there is a need for a special kind of technology which is known as Exhaust gas cleaning technology. But such type of technologies is not as much efficient and economically viable in the case of small energy plants. Transportation –  Furthermore, the transportation of biomass energy sources is not as much easy as conventional sources of energy such as coal (Biomass Energy Disadvantages, n.d.). These are some important weaknesses of biomass fuel which are the main cause of the less popularity of these types of energy sources In comparison to various conventional sources of energy. Public issues related to the usage of biomass as a source of energy There are a lot of advantages and disadvantages related to biomass energy sources. There are different public issues are also engaged with the use of biomass energy source which is needed to be considered by the government of the country. First of all, the issue related to the sustainability of these types of energy sources. There is a need for a higher and well-diversified biological ecosystem and a high level of forestry and agricultural production so that adequate stock of organic matter can be available. For this reason, the deforestation and degradation of the forest are growing rapidly. This scenario raises an important issue related to the management and governance of forests, especially in developing countries. The excessive usage of the land is also put an important issue in front of the international society. For increasing the usage of biomass sources of energy, there is a need for vast agricultural land. This requirement calls for the deforestation and use of agricultural land for the production of various types of energy crops in place of crops that are necessary for feeding a large population. The excessive usage of the land for the production of energy crops also results in the decreased productivity of the land which is very harmful to the farmer. The government needs to take some steps for addressing this issue in the most efficient manner (Sustainability of Biomass: Report, 2010). Furthermore, identifying the role of biomass sources in the country’s future energy projects is also an important point that needs a lot of considerations and effort from the government. How much investment will be adequate for biomass energy products, how much benefit, the country can have with help of these sources, which entity will be benefited the most by the employment of these projects, what will be the outcomes and problems related with projects how it can be overcome? These are some questions which are needed to be answered by the government of the country (Lynd, 2007). Buy Customized Essay on Biomass Uses At Cheapest Price Order Now Conclusion – Biomass Uses Essay Biomass sources of energy are an important type of non-conventional source of energy. The paper has presented various aspects related to this type of source of energy. Based on the review of the paper, it can be concluded that biomass energy sources can be an important means for answering various environmental challenges which are presenting a major threat in front of the international society. In the present situation, because of the increasing need for energy, the usage of conventional sources of energy is also subjected to increase rapidly. But these conventional sources such as petrol, natural gas, coal, and fossil fuel are found in limited quantity in nature. Because of this, there is a need for a more sustainable source of energy. For accomplishing this need, biomass energy sources can be a prominent option. Biomass energy is produced with the help of various organic matter which is extracted from a living or dead organism. For this purpose, the waste and garbage of living animals and industries are also very important raw materials for the production of biomass energy. In the paper, there are several advantages and strengths of this type of source of energy also described. These strengths are the characteristics of the biomass sources of energy which make the sources more valuable and unique. Further, there are certain shortcomings and weaknesses of this type of source of the energy such as availability, transportation, collection, and many more also detailed in the paper. For making the sources more viable and feasible, it is necessary to find a solution to these problems. There are several public-related issues also engaged with the usage of this type of source of energy. For the better and efficient usage of this type of energy, the government should address these issues in a well and efficient manner. References Biomass Energy Disadvantages. (n.d.). Retrieved, November 25, 2010, from http://www.alternative-energy-resources.net/biomass-energy-disadvantages.html BIOMASS. (2010). Retrieved, November 25, 2010, from http://www.climate.org/topics/clean-energy/biomass.html Environmental and Social Benefits/Costs of Biomass Plantations. (n.d.). Retrieved, November 25, 2010, from http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/reports/fuelwood/chap4.html Lynd, L. (2007). Testimony Before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Retrieved, November 25, 2010, from http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/biomass/LyndSenateAg07-3.pdf Sustainability of Biomass: Report. (2010). Retrieved, November 25, 2010, from http://www.euissuetracker.com/en/focus/Pages/Sustainability-of-Biomass-Report.aspx What is BIOMASS? (2008). Retrieved, November 25, 2010, from http://www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk/portal/page?pageid=75,17304&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL Hire USA Experts for Biomass Uses Essay Order Now  

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Official Journal of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS)

• Research Letter
• Open access
• Published: 24 May 2018

Bioenergy production and environmental impacts

• Yiping Wu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5163-0884 1 ,
• Fubo Zhao 1 ,
• Shuguang Liu 2 ,
• Lijing Wang 1 ,
• Linjing Qiu 1 ,
• Georgii Alexandrov 3 &
• Vinayakam Jothiprakash 4  

Geoscience Letters volume  5 , Article number:  14 ( 2018 ) Cite this article

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Compared with the conventional fossil fuel, bioenergy has obvious advantages due to its renewability and large quantity, and thus plays a crucial role in helping defend the energy security. However, the bioenergy development may potentially cause serious environmental alterations, which remain unclear. The study summarizes the environmental impacts of bioenergy production based on the compilation and published data. Our analysis shows that more and more attention is being paid to the environmental protection as the development of bioenergy, and among the influencing terms of bioenergy production, water issues (i.e., water quantity and quality) gain the greatest concern, whereas the least attention has been given to soil erosion. Although we recognize that the bioenergy production can indeed exert negative effects on the environment in terms of water quantity and quality, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity and soil organic carbon, and soil erosion, the adverse impacts varied greatly depending on biomass types, land locations, and management practices. Identifying the reasonable cultivation locations, appropriate bioenergy crop types, and optimal management practices can be beneficial to environment and sustainable development of bioenergy. In this field, Chinese bioenergy production has lagged behind and does not match its rising energy consumption, but it has a great potential of and demand for biomass-based energy especially under its urbanization, in spite of the negative environmental impacts. Therefore, this article is expected to serve as a reference and guideline on what has been done in the bioenergy-oriented countries that might stimulate development of more effective and environmentally sound guidelines for promoting bioenergy production in China and other developing countries as well.

Energy is the basic requirement of the development in almost every aspect of a society in the world, and it is also needed by the existence of ecosystems, life itself, and human civilizations (Jiang et al. 2014 ; Ozturk et al. 2017 ). However, the utilization of conventional energy sources can yield a series of problems. First, the conventional energy (i.e., fossil fuel) is not renewable, and its excessive use will lead to serious energy crisis, which is now a big concern of the world. Second, the utilization of the traditional fossil fuels can also be polluting sources that accelerate global warming, such as the increase of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Third, the emitted nitrogen oxides due to fossil fuel combustion compromise air quality and do harms in human health (Hoekman et al. 2018 ). Unfortunately, the world energy consumption depends heavily (80%) upon fossil fuels and will also increase by more than 50% in the next 20 years (Ozturk et al. 2017 ; USEIA 2011 ). Therefore, bioenergy, the powerful renewable substitution of fossil fuel, has been developing during the past decades especially in North American and Europe, aiming to meet the growth of the world population, safeguard the energy security and mitigate the global warming (Hoekman et al. 2018 ).

Feedstocks of biofuel production include the grains (e.g., corn kernel and soybean), cellulosic materials such as crop residue (e.g., corn stover), and dedicated energy crops (e.g., switchgrass and Miscanthus) (Sang and Zhu 2011 ; Wu et al. 2015 ). Thus, bioenergy has attracted much attention and occupied a significant status in the world’s energy consumption and in the fight against climate change (Jiang et al. 2012 ). Although bioenergy accounts for only 14% of global energy consumption currently (World energy resources 2016, https://www.worldenergy.org/publications/2016/world-energy-resources-2016/ ), the potential of bioenergy will be tremendous in the near future (Souza et al. 2017 ). In addition, sustainable bioenergy production can efficiently reduce the risk of energy poverty and contribute to the economic development, especially in developing countries (Schroder et al. 2018 ; Wicke et al. 2011 ). Governments around the world are thus trying to promote the bioenergy production as well as seeking appropriate policies or laws to regulate its development. For instance, the US implemented the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) in 2007, aiming to increase availability of renewable energy through biofuel production (US Congress 2007 ). The Malaysia government has introduced the Fifth Fuel Policy in the Eighth Malaysia Plan 2001–2005 to encourage the bioenergy production (Tock et al. 2010 ). The European Commission has set mandatory targets for an overall share of 20% renewable energy in EU’s transport consumption in 2020 (Van Dam and Junginger 2011 ). China, as the largest developing country and the second largest economic entity in the world, has a great inherent demand for the bioenergy production in meeting the fast-growing economy, preventing the energy crisis, and meeting the target of greenhouse gas emission reduction. In fact, China has a great potential of bioenergy crop cultivation due to its high profit and environmental benefits in replacing the slope cropland by perennial grass (switchgrass), especially considering the occurring urbanization and accompanied mass migration in China.

Although the bioenergy is projected to be of great importance for energy security, the expansion of bioenergy feedstocks production can potentially cause some adverse environmental alterations. For example, the land conversion from native grass to bioenergy plants or growing bioenergy plants (switchgrass or Miscanthus) on the low-productive land in the Mississippi River Basin can indeed decrease water yield, surface runoff, and streamflow, and increase the evapotranspiration (ET) and nitrogen loss (Hejazi et al. 2015 ; Kim et al. 2013 ; Wu and Liu 2012 ). In addition, the corn-ethanol expansion may cause conflict between food and energy and impact the food security and market; utilizing the corn residue could also induce various implications for soil and water conservation and soil fertility (Hoekman et al. 2018 ; Warren Raffa et al. 2015 ). Scientists around the world have paid much attention to the balance between bioenergy production and environmental protection by considering multiple approaches, including the best management practices (BMPs) (Guo et al. 2018 ; McCalmont et al. 2017a ; Wu et al. 2012 ). Yet the knowledge of the overall environmental effects of bioenergy production remains less clear because of the complexity of the bioenergy production system and the lack of information. The present study is, therefore, to give an overview of the current situation of bioenergy production and its environmental impacts. The first section describes the overall condition of bioenergy production and the related environmental issues. The second section is to describe the environmental issues in detail, and then highlights the potential of bioenergy development in the largest developing country—China.

Bioenergy research overview

A survey based on publication results related to bioenergy production and its environmental impacts was carried out using the on-line Scopus-Elsevier database ( https://www.scopus.com ). Principally, studies containing the key words of the present study (listed in Fig.  1 ) were examined within the reference period (2000–2017). The papers related to ‘bioenergy’ kept continuously increasing since the year of 2000; however, the number of bioenergy environmental effects study (e.g., water quantity and quality, GHG emissions, biodiversity and SOC and soil erosion) increased gradually since 2000 with a very slight growth rate (see also the inserted figure in Fig.  1 ). Of the cumulative publications related to environmental impacts of bioenergy production, the ‘water quantity and quality’ term ranked first (16%) in the year of 2017, followed by GHG emissions (6%), biodiversity and SOC (5%), and soil erosion (0.8%), indicating the bioenergy production is more closely related to water resource and water pollution. In addition, the continuous increase of publications related to environmental impacts suggests that more and more attention is being paid to the environmental protection when promoting the bioenergy development.

Publications related to bioenergy production and its environmental effects (water quantity and quality, biodiversity and SOC, soil erosion, and GHG emissions) since the year of 2000. The inserted figure indicates the annual change of publications within the reference period (2000–2017)

Environmental issues

Water quantity and quality.

The effects of bioenergy production on water quantity are mainly through the potential water consumption of bioenergy crops and conversion of land use. For example, the wide expansion in corn ethanol production (first-generation biofuel) in US, encouraged by EISA in 2007, was projected to generate potential water stress at regional and local scales (Gasparatos et al. 2011 ; Hoekman et al. 2018 ; Zhou et al. 2015 ), because the corn requires more water compared to other crops (e.g., wheat and soybean) due to the additional water consume in almost every growing stage, especially the joining stage. Particularly, it is estimated that a typical corn-ethanol plant (with a production capacity of 100 million gal/year) uses as much water as a community of 5000 people (Service RF 2009 ), demonstrating the relatively larger potential water consumption of corn cultivation. In addition, the corn stover removal can also cause increased ET and reductions of water yield at the watershed scale (Cibin et al. 2016 ; Wu and Liu 2012 ), though the magnitude of which varied with watershed and harvest rate. The land use conversion, mainly from the native agricultural land or grassland to perennial grasses (e.g., switchgrass and Miscanthus) can also significantly and directly influence the hydrological processes such as ET, surface runoff, water yield, and soil water storage at regional scale. For instance, the modeling results by Kim et al. ( 2013 ) illustrated that wide plantation of bioenergy crops will increase the amount of ET, decrease annual surface water and water yield in the Yazoo River Basin of Mississippi River—the major corn production region in US. Similar results were also concluded by Wu and Liu ( 2012 ) and Guo et al. ( 2018 ), who predicted that the land conversion to bioenergy crops can cause reduction of water resource at the watershed scale.

A significant water quality concern with respect to increasing cultivation of bioenergy crops is nutrient pollution resulting from surface runoff and infiltration to groundwater. The most important polluting source of nutrient pollution is nitrate. As reported by EPA ( 2011 ), corn has the highest fertilizer use and low nutrient use efficiency compared to other bioenergy crops. Therefore, increasing the frequency of corn plantation in the corn and soybean rotation system or replacing it with continuous corn would significantly lead to more nitrate to waterways and decrease soil nitrogen content (Wu et al. 2014 ; Wu and Liu 2012 ). Nevertheless, there are substantial benefits in land use transition from arable to perennials. Growing perennial grasses reduces 30–40% of the total nitrogen loss compared with conventional cotton cropping system at the watershed scale (Chen et al. 2017 ). Guo et al. ( 2018 ) simulated that growing bioenergy crops in marginal or erodible areas can not only reduce the streamflow but also the nutrient losses using the scenario analysis with Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Additionally, growing perennial grasses needs almost no pesticide, which is helpful for the water quality improvement (Hoekman et al. 2018 ). Moreover, the above-mentioned water-related concerns can be controlled through proper crop species selection and optimal management (e.g., harvest rate, irrigation, appropriate fertilization, and filter strip) (Qin et al. 2018 ; Wu et al. 2012 ), indicating the possibility of balance between bioenergy production and water resource protection.

GHG emissions

Reduction of GHG emissions is one of the most important terms considered in the bioenergy production. Among the GHGs, CO 2 and N 2 O are two primary components because of their large quantity and multi-approaches of production (Dunn et al. 2013 ; Qin et al. 2016 ). Theoretically, net CO 2 emissions resulting from the direct use of biofuels are far less than the utilization of fossil fuel, which has been proven by many studies (Dunn et al. 2013 ; Fu et al. 2014 ; Wang et al. 2012 ). By replacing fossil fuel, Liu et al. ( 2017 ) quantified that the maximum potential switchgrass production on marginal land would reduce emissions by 29 million tons CO 2-eq /year. The model results also suggest that for transportation use in the US, 40–85% of GHG emissions can be reduced using ethanol relative to gasoline on a per megajoule (MJ) energy basis, though the magnitude of GHGs reduction varied greatly among different feedstocks. Nevertheless, the indirect effects of bioenergy production on CO 2 emissions are also important concerns (Dunn et al. 2013 ; Searchinger et al. 2008 ), such as the disturbance of CO 2 emissions due to the land use transitions (Hill et al. 2006 ; Sang and Zhu 2011 ). In a recent review of potential biofuel impacts, Harris et al. ( 2015 ) stated that the land transitions from arable to the second generation bioenergy crops can result in slight reduction of CO 2 emissions, and the land conversion from native grassland to first generation bioenergy crops and short rotation coppice (SRC) showed a pronounced increase in CO 2 emissions. Therefore, it is necessary and significant to consider the appropriate bioenergy crop types and management practices when considering the mitigation of CO 2 emissions.

Compared with CO 2 , the N 2 O is another important greenhouse gas due to its large potential in global warming (298 times that of CO 2 ), and agriculture is the largest producer of this gas (Williams et al. 2010 ). Similar to CO 2 emission, the land transitions are the major factors influencing N 2 O emissions. For example, Harris et al. ( 2015 ) summarized that the effect of conversion from arable to SRC and perennial grasses was a very small reduction of − 0.2 t/ha y for N 2 O, but the land conversion from grassland to SRC can cause slight increase in N 2 O emissions. In addition, by replacing fossil fuel, Liu et al. ( 2011 ) asserted that the use of biomass produced on marginal land for energy could result in a positive environmental impact on national GHG emissions. However, the corn expansion, driven by the demand for ethanol, may also stimulate the N 2 O emission. The corn cultivation need much more fertilizer compared with other crops, especially the nitrogen fertilizer, which is the substrate for soil denitrification process, aggravating N 2 O emission directly. Therefore, the reasonable choice of bioenergy plant type and planting locations is also very important in controlling the N 2 O emission.

Biodiversity and SOC

Biodiversity is a key indicator related to the food production and ecosystem services (Qin et al. 2018 ). The impact of biofuel production on biodiversity depends on the initial land use condition, the type of bioenergy production system, and the landscape configuration (Correa et al. 2017 ; Immerzeel et al. 2014 ). Land use conversion is the most important factor that affects biological abundance through the direct change of land use condition and production system, which also depends on the plant type and planting locations. For instance, it has been approved that the direct replacement of grassland by several biofuel crops could enhance the local productivity and help maintain the ecosystem functions due to the change of production system (Correa et al. 2017 ; Sang and Zhu 2011 ). In addition, many studies emphasized that growing Miscanthus had much less negative impact on biodiversity than annual crops mainly because perennial cultivations provide relatively stable habitats for supporting wild life (Rowe et al. 2009 ; Werling et al. 2013 ). In addition, growing energy crops on either low-productive or marginal lands can improve the landscape design, and better management practices can reduce the risk of biodiversity loss at locations, although this requires further studies (Manning et al. 2015 ; Sang and Zhu 2011 ).

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the most important index of soil quality, and high content of SOC benefits the soil water retention, soil biodiversity, and crop productivity. Bioenergy production influences SOC with three major pathways—residue removal, tillage, and land use change. In general, harvesting residues from dead plants that are originally returned to croplands can directly accelerate the SOC loss due to reduced carbon input (Hoekman et al. 2018 ). Nonetheless, the SOC loss might be controlled, to a certain degree, through an appropriate residue management such as the limited amount of residue removal and additional organic matter inputs (e.g., manure application) (Robertson et al. 2014 ; Sheehan et al. 2014 ; Wu et al. 2015 ). The crop residue is the major source in producing biochar, utilizing the crop residue with an appropriate technique can produce vast biochar with the available crop residues. The application of biochar can help improve the function in the carbon sink of agricultural sector because it can not only aggregate the SOC but also absorb the inorganic carbon (i.e., CO 2 ) that exists in the air (Li et al. 2017 ) and improve the air quality (e.g., mitigation in nitrogen oxides, methane, and PM2.5) (Pourhashem et al. 2017 ). The second trigger of SOC loss is management practice as well as soil disturbance. For example, Drewniak et al. ( 2015 ) simulated the impacts of tillage practices on SOC using a biogeochemical model and found that tillage could always cause SOC loss. Similarly, the field experiments also concluded that the SOC can be highly reduced through the disturbance (e.g., tillage practices) (Cheng 2009 ; Ouyang et al. 2015 ; Warren Raffa et al. 2015 ). In addition, the land conversion is also an important factor causing SOC change. The bioenergy-oriented land use change always refers to conversion from arable to perennial grasses or growing bioenergy crops on marginal croplands, which has positive effects on the SOC sequestration. A recent review also asserted that growing Miscanthus on the arable land will sequester carbon with an accumulation rate ranging from 0.42 to 3.8 Mg C/ha year (McCalmont et al. 2017a ). In addition, the biochar application is important to the enhancement of organic carbon in soil because of an organic aggregate with electronegativity that can absorb CO 2 from the air and can be beneficial to both the carbon sink of agricultural soil and the protection of air quality (e.g., mitigation in nitrogen oxides, methane, and PM2.5) (Pourhashem et al. 2017 ). In summary, it is necessary to identify the most suitable areas, plant types, and management measures when considering the biodiversity and carbon sequestration in developing bioenergy.

Soil erosion

Soil erosion, a very common but severe problem, is also a major point of concern in the bioenergy production, because erosion diminishes soil quality and thereby reduces the productivity of natural and agricultural ecosystems. The soil erosion is also triggered in three main pathways—the corn acreage expansion, residue removal, and land use change. The corn acreage expansion due to the rising demand for ethanol could have serious adverse consequences in soil retention due to its relatively looser planting space. It was estimated that the benefits of conservation measures on soil retention would be diminished further if increased corn cropping occurred on these lands, and cultivating the existing corn crops with appropriate tillage practices would also reduce soil erosion (Hoekman et al. 2018 ). The crop residue left on the soil surface can buffer wind and water erosive forces (Blanco-Canqui and Wortmann 2017 ), thus harvesting crop residue can increase the erosion risk due to the less physical protection of soil surface (EPA 2011 ; Lal 2005 ), leading to both nutrient and SOC losses. However, according to Cibin et al. ( 2016 ), soil erosion induced by high-rate residue removal may be mitigated by appropriate management options, such as the direct input of organic matter and other protecting measures. Additionally, land use conversion might exacerbate erosion or protect soil from erosion. For instance, conversion from forest to perennial bioenergy crops could increases the risk of soil and water loss (Liu et al. 2012 ), whereas the conversion from the grain crops to perennial grasses may generate positive effects on the soil and water retention because of the erect and ridged stems with sods that are generated by perennials (Cooney et al. 2017 ). In addition, the perennial grass, especially the switchgrass, could reduce the sediment yield in streamflow and soil erosion and increase the water use and infiltration regardless the climate conditions in the loess gully areas of the Chinese Loess Plateau, indicating the advantage in soil and water conservation of perennials compared to the traditional crops in such regions (Brown et al. 2000 ; Cooney et al. 2017 ). Therefore, growing perennial grasses especially in erosion prone areas or slope arable land has a greater potential than corn ethanol production.

Life cycle environmental impact assessment of bioenergy production

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a widely used method for quantifying environmental impacts associated with all stages of a product’s life from cradle to grave (that is, from raw material extraction through processing, distribution, use, and end-of-life) (Pennington et al. 2004 ). The LCA has been extensively applied to analyze the pros and cons towards the surrounding environment of bioenergy production in different regions of the world (Boschiero et al. 2016 ; Cherubini and Stromman 2011 ; Dias et al. 2017 ; Homagain et al.et al. 2015 ), especially in the field of GHG savings and SOC sequestration. Fazio and Monti ( 2011 ) evaluated the cradle-to-grave environmental impacts of perennial energy crops cultivation, and they hold that considerable amount of GHG emissions, up to 5 Mg/ha of fossil-C, could be reduced with the cultivation of perennial crops. In addition, the perennial grasses could be beneficial to the reduction of N 2 O emission (about 40–50% less emissions compared to fossil fuels). The LCA results obtained by Schmidt et al. ( 2015 ) also indicate that the cultivation of perennial grasses on marginal land and their use for heat and power generation can achieve substantial greenhouse gas savings, ranging up to 13 t CO 2 eq ./(ha year) with Miscanthus, in spite of the negative environmental impacts. According to Escobar et al. ( 2017 ), the switchgrass cultivation in the Mediterranean region of Spain, aiming to generate electricity power, could significantly decrease the GHG emissions. Qin et al. ( 2018 ) stated that substituting fossil fuels with biofuels could also significantly reduce the air pollution (e.g., particulate matter) in China. Moreover, LCA studies have also demonstrated the environmental benefits of agro-residue based bioenergy production (Guerrero and Muñoz 2018 ; Soam et al. 2017 ; Tonini et al. 2016 ). Soam et al. ( 2017 ) reported that the electricity production from rice straw produced a higher GHGs emission reduction than the traditional way in India. Tonini et al. ( 2016 ) reported that biofuel production from the agricultural residues without involving land use change is a promising emission reduction option from the perspective of life cycle. According to Parajuli et al. ( 2017 ), cultivating willow and alfalfa as feedstocks for bioenergy can potentially sequestrate more soil organic carbon and thus lead to a lower carbon footprint. The bioenergy crops cultivation (e.g., Miscanthus) has also been regarded as the effective CO 2 sink in UK (McCalmont et al. 2017b ), indicating the bioenergy production can be a good choice for capturing more carbon in soil. Overall, based on the above discussion, it can be concluded that bioenergy production can be beneficial to both the mitigation of GHG emission and the SOC sequestration. However, limited reports have been conducted on the other environmental issues based on LCA, such as the water depletion and water quality dynamics during the bioenergy crops’ life cycle, because the impacts of bioenergy production on such problems vary greatly among biomass types, land sources, and management practices. The future study should extend to more environmental fields using LCA to quantify the environmental cost in bioenergy development.

China’s bioenergy potential and environmental impacts

With one-fifth of the world’s population, China is a fast-growing economic entity accompanied with increasing energy consumption. Developing bioenergy to displace the conventional fossil fuels for reducing carbon emission and protecting our earth village is great of interest and urgency for China and the world as well. In fact, China’s potential of bioenergy production is tremendous. China is one of the largest agricultural countries in the world and has approximately 130 million hectares (Mha) farmland, yielding above 600 million tons (Mt) of crop residues, which is the potential biofuel production feedstock (Jiang et al. 2012 ; Liu et al.et al. 2012 ; Sang and Zhu 2011 ). However, as reported by Sang and Zhu ( 2011 ), about 200 Mt of crop residues were combusted at low conversion efficiency and above 100 Mt were burned directly in field, releasing more carbon that are already stored in the system and absolutely causing air pollution. If more crop residues are utilized at a higher efficiency, the magnitude of bioenergy would be larger and the energy consumption would be more reasonable. In addition, the application of biochar produced using residue is important to the enhancement of organic carbon in soil because of an organic aggregate with electronegativity that can absorb CO 2 from the air and can be beneficial to both the carbon sink of agricultural soil and the protection of air quality (Pourhashem et al. 2017 ). Therefore, it is significant to develop more efficient techniques to make full use of the crop residues. China has a huge area of low-productive or slope arable lands that can be utilized for growing bioenergy crops (Fu et al. 2014 ; Lu et al. 2014 ; Sang and Zhu 2011 ). It was estimated by Sang and Zhu ( 2011 ) that China has above 100 Mha of land potentially suitable for growing bioenergy crops, and the crops can achieve 1 billion tons of biofuel feedstock if converting all the degraded land to Miscanthus. In addition, China possesses rich plants species as well as genetic resource, especially for Miscanthus, thus it has a great potential to derive appropriate bioenergy crop types for balancing the bioenergy production and environmental protection. The lag in bioenergy development and declining share of renewable energy consumption (Table  1 ) as contrasted with the US and European Union efforts calls for more efficient policies on promoting the bioenergy production to safeguard energy security and climate change mitigation. Scientific research should be aimed to gain more knowledge and derive optimal management for guiding bioenergy development and environmental protection in China and other developing countries as well.

The significant concerns of bioenergy production in China are mainly the agricultural production and the water resource problem. It has to be acknowledged that China has been feeding about 22% of the world’s population with just 7% of the globe’s agricultural land, and ensuring the food production is the eternal topic. According to Sang and Zhu ( 2011 ), China has little cropland that can be converted for bioenergy crops cultivation, thus, the food production should be the national priority when we planning the bioenergy production (that is, the bioenergy development cannot compromise food production). Conversely, China has large areas of marginal lands, which are always located in the arid and semi-arid region and suffered from severe water deficit and are not suitable for farming. It has been previously suggested that the marginal lands hold a great potential for the production of perennial herbaceous energy crops (Liu et al. 2012 ; McCalmont et al. 2017a ; Sang and Zhu 2011 ). However, the biofuel is certainly to have a high water footprint on the basis of per unit energy production. As described above, growing the bioenergy crops (e.g., switchgrass or Miscanthus) will increase the amount of ET, leading to the reduction of water resource. According to Yaeger et al. ( 2013 ) and Liu et al. ( 2012 ), there may be potentially large negative impacts on the total water resource where the bioenergy crops plantation size is mismatched to water resource carrying capacity. This may exacerbate the water deficit of the marginal land and aggravate the water scarcity of China. Therefore, the appropriate size and selection of planting location should be taken into account seriously when planning the bioenergy crops cultivation in China. Clearly, we need to deeply understand how the large-scale production of bioenergy could affect the agriculture, water availability and quality, soil quality, and other environmental issues when developing bioenergy in China and other parts of the world.

Bioenergy has obvious advantages compared to the traditional fossil fuel, because of their large quantity and renewability, and thus plays a crucial role in defending the energy security of the globe. However, it is significant to take the resource and environmental cost into account when implementing the bioenergy production. The study summarizes the environmental impacts of bioenergy development based on published results, and our analysis indicated that bioenergy-oriented environmental studies were not given as much attention as bioenergy itself in spite of their increasing trend. Among the influencing terms of bioenergy production, water issues (i.e., water quantity and quality) gain the greatest concern, whereas the least attention has been paid to the soil erosion. Although the bioenergy production can indeed exert negative effects on the surrounding environments, consisting of water quantity and quality, GHG emissions, biodiversity and SOC, and soil erosion, the adverse impacts on environment varied greatly among plant types, land sources, and management practices. Identifying the appropriate cultivation areas, suitable bioenergy crop types, and optimal management practices can be beneficial to both bioenergy production and environment. China has a large potential of bioenergy production, but Chinese bioenergy production has lagged behind and does not match its rising energy consumption. The future research should learn from the leading countries in this field, gain more knowledge, and derive optimal decision support for guiding the development of bioenergy in China and other developing countries. Overall, this study could give a big picture on and be informative in planning the bioenergy development as well as environmental protection.

Abbreviations

greenhouse gas

soil organic carbon

evapotranspiration

European union

energy independence and security act

United States environmental protection agency

best management practice

soil and water assessment tool

short rotation coppice

million hectares

million tons

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YW and FZ contributed to study design, data collection and interpretation, manuscript preparation, and literature search. All other authors contribute to data analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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This study was funded by the National Thousand Youth Talent Program of China (122990901606), the Hundred Youth Talent Program of Shaanxi Province, the Young Talent Support Plan of Xi’an Jiaotong University.

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Department of Earth and Environmental Science, School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, Shaanxi, China

Yiping Wu, Fubo Zhao, Lijing Wang & Linjing Qiu

National Engineering Laboratory for Applied Technology of Forestry & Ecology in South China, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, 410004, Hunan, China

Shuguang Liu

A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119017, Russia

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Wu, Y., Zhao, F., Liu, S. et al. Bioenergy production and environmental impacts. Geosci. Lett. 5 , 14 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40562-018-0114-y

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Bioenergy is one of many diverse resources available to help meet our demand for energy. It is a form of renewable energy that is derived from recently living organic materials known as biomass, which can be used to produce transportation fuels, heat, electricity, and products.

BENEFITS OF A ROBUST BIOENERGY INDUSTRY

Abundant and renewable bioenergy can contribute to a more secure, sustainable, and economically sound future by:

• Supplying domestic clean energy sources
• Reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil
• Generating U.S. jobs
• Revitalizing rural economies.

The U.S. Department of Energy's  2016 Billion-Ton Report: Advancing Domestic Resources for a Thriving Bioeconomy  concluded that the United States has the potential to produce 1 billion dry tons of non-food biomass resources annually by 2040 and still meet demands for food, feed, and fiber. One billion tons of biomass could:

• Produce up to 50 billion gallons of biofuels
• Yield 50 billion pounds of bio-based chemicals and bioproducts
• Generate 85 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to power 7 million households
• Contribute 1.1 million jobs to the U.S. economy
• Keep $260 billion in the United States. [1]

Learn more about  Bio-benefits .

BIOMASS: A RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCE

Biomass is a renewable energy resource derived from plant- and algae-based materials that include:

Biomass is a versatile renewable energy source. It can be converted into liquid transportation fuels that are equivalent to fossil-based fuels, such as gasoline, jet, and diesel fuel. Bioenergy technologies enable the reuse of carbon from biomass and waste streams into reduced-emissions fuels for cars, trucks, jets and ships; bioproducts; and renewable power.

Learn more about  Biomass Resources .

BIOFUELS: ENERGY FOR TRANSPORTATION

Biomass is one type of renewable resource that can be converted into liquid fuels—known as biofuels—for transportation. Biofuels include cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel, and renewable hydrocarbon "drop-in" fuels. The two most common types of biofuels in use today are ethanol and biodiesel. Biofuels can be used in airplanes and most vehicles that are on the road. Renewable transportation fuels that are functionally equivalent to petroleum fuels lower the carbon intensity of our vehicles and airplanes.

Learn more about  Biofuels .

BIOPOWER: ENERGY FOR HEAT AND ELECTRICITY

Biopower technologies convert renewable biomass fuels into heat and electricity using processes like those used with fossil fuels. There are three ways to harvest the energy stored in biomass to produce biopower: burning, bacterial decay, and conversion to a gas or liquid fuel. Biopower can offset the need for carbon fuels burned in power plants, thus lowering the carbon intensity of electricity generation. Unlike some forms of intermittent renewable energy, biopower can increase the flexibility of electricity generation and enhance the reliability of the electric grid. 

Learn more about  Biopower .

BIOPRODUCTS: EVERYDAY COMMODITIES MADE FROM BIOMASS

Biomass is a versatile energy resource, much like petroleum. Beyond converting biomass to biofuels for vehicle use, it can also serve as a renewable alternative to fossil fuels in the manufacturing of bioproducts such as plastics, lubricants, industrial chemicals, and many other products currently derived from petroleum or natural gas. Mimicking the existing petroleum refinery model, integrated biorefineries can produce bioproducts alongside biofuels. This co-production strategy offers a more efficient, cost-effective, and integrated approach to the use of U.S. biomass resources. Revenue generated from bioproducts also offers added value, improving the economics of biorefinery operations and creating more cost-competitive biofuels.

Learn more about  Bioproducts .

[1] Rogers, J. N., B. Stokes, J. Dunn, H. Cai, M. Wu, Z. Haq, H. Baumes. 2016. “An Assessment of the Potential Products and Economic and Environmental Impacts Resulting from a Billion Ton Bioeconomy.” Biofuels, Bioproducts, and Biorefining,  11: 110–128.  https://doi.org/10.1002/bbb.1728 .

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• Published: 26 October 2021

The current status, challenges and prospects of using biomass energy in Ethiopia

• Natei Ermias Benti 1 , 2 ,
• Gamachis Sakata Gurmesa 3 , 5 ,
• Tegenu Argaw 4 ,
• Abreham Berta Aneseyee 6 ,
• Solomon Gunta 1 ,
• Gashaw Beyene Kassahun 3 , 7 ,
• Genene Shiferaw Aga 3 , 8 &
• Ashenafi Abebe Asfaw 1  

Biotechnology for Biofuels volume  14 , Article number:  209 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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Despite enormous challenges in accessing sustainable energy supplies and advanced energy technologies, Ethiopia has one of the world's fastest growing economies. The development of renewable energy technology and the building of a green legacy in the country are being prioritized. The total installed capacity for electricity generation in Ethiopia is 4324.3 MW as on October, 2018. Renewable energy accounts for 96.5% of total generation; however, despite the county's enormous biomass energy potential, only 0.58% of power is generated using biomass. Ethiopia has surplus woody biomass, crop residue and animal dung resources which comprise about 141.8 million metric tons of biomass availability per year. At present the exploited potential is about 71.9 million metric tons per year. This review paper provides an in-depth assessment of Ethiopia's biomass energy availability, potential, challenges, and prospects. The findings show that, despite Ethiopia's vast biomass resource potential, the current use of modern energy from biomass is still limited. As a result, this study supports the use of biomass-based alternative energy sources without having a negative impact on the socioeconomic system or jeopardizing food security or the environment. This finding also shows the challenges, opportunities and possible solutions to tackle the problem to expand alternative energy sources. The most effective techniques for producing and utilizing alternate energy sources were also explored. Moreover, some perspectives are given based on the challenges of using efficient energy production and sustainable uses of biomass energy in Ethiopia as it could be also implemented in other developing countries. We believe that the information in this review will shed light on the current and future prospects of biomass energy deployment in Ethiopia.

The global energy demand is increasing and is expected to continue to increase with predicted population growth and the expansion of energy-dissipative economic activities in the coming decades [ 1 ]. Despite significant advances in renewable energy technology, fossil fuels still control the bulk of the energy market [ 2 ], which are directly linked to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change. However, the trend of primary energy sources indicates that renewable energy will be the fastest-growing energy source over the next two decades [ 3 ]. Biomass accounts for more than one-third of primary energy. Concerns about global climate change, acid rain, air pollution from the use of fossil fuels, and advancements in biomass technology have revived interest in biomass energy as a renewable and sustainable energy sources. The use of biomass, along with other renewable energy sources, can help to meet the world's growing energy demand.

Biomass energy, or bioenergy, is created when biomass is converted into electricity, heat, power, or transportation fuels. Because trees and plants can be grown, harvested, and re-grown in a short period of time, biomass is a renewable energy resource. Furthermore, this process generates residues, wastes, and gases continuously [ 4 ]. For basic cooking and lighting, more than 80% of the sub-Saharan African (SSA) population relies on solid biomass, such as firewood, charcoal, agricultural by-products, and animal waste [ 5 ]. These biomass fuels are burned in unventilated kitchens using smoky and inefficient conventional stoves with poor combustion, resulting in a significant concentration of hazardous pollutants, primarily carbon monoxide and particulate matter, as well as nitrogen oxides and polyaromatic hydrocarbons [ 6 ]. Furthermore, exposure to indoor air pollution increases the incidence of acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) in children and adult chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in adults [ 6 , 7 ].

In 2010, bioenergy accounted for 12% of the world's total final energy consumption, with 9% coming from traditional sources and 3% from modern bioenergy [ 8 ]. Therefore, to meet international goals to double the global share of renewables by 2030, a rapid increase in the use of modern biomass is necessary. Solid biomass is the most common source of energy in SSA, accounting for around 70% of the continent's total energy consumption. Approximately 280 million tons of oil equivalents of solid biomass are now utilized in SSA, accounting for 90% of household energy [ 5 , 6 ]. Almost all of this is wood, straw, charcoal, or dried animal and human waste, which is largely used as cooking fuel. Of the approximately 915 million inhabitants in SSA in 2012, an estimated 730 million (about 80%) have no access to clean cooking facilities [ 5 , 6 ]. While biomass offers many benefits for the worldwide mix of renewable energy, it is inefficiently exploited in most SSA nations, resulting in a significant degradation of forest resources and a slew of negative consequences for the climate, human health, and social well-being. As a result, utilizing biomass to deliver modern energy services to the world's poor in a sustainable and efficient manner remains critical for community development.

Ethiopia has one of Africa's fastest growing economies, but it has one of the world's poorest access to modern energy supplies. The majority of Ethiopia's population lives in rural areas and is heavily reliant on agriculture; the primary source of energy for this rural population is biomass (biomass of wood, solid, and agricultural wastes) (Table 1 ), accounting for approximately 87% of total energy supply [ 9 ]. Nevertheless, there are significant differences in the current energy systems in rural and urban areas. Almost all rural households rely on traditional biomass for cooking and baking, whereas approximately 90% of urban populations rely on electricity for lighting. Ethiopia has enormous biomass energy potential, but it is not being utilized efficiently and effectively. Ethiopia's estimated exploitable biomass potential and currently exploited biomass potential are 141.8 and 70.9 million tons per year [ 5 ], respectively (see Table 1 ).

Despite its heavy reliance on traditional energy sources, the country is gradually transitioning away from non-renewable energy sources and toward a clean and renewable energy supply. Because of the fast-growing economy and flourishing infrastructures, energy demand is currently increasing at an alarming rate [ 9 ]. Therefore, finding an alternative energy source to overcome the issues associated with traditional biomass energy sources could be advocated at its best.

This review paper provides an in-depth assessment of biomass energy sources in Ethiopia, along with remarks on its availability, potential, opportunity, and challenges. The review also discusses the current and future prospect of biomass energy deployment in Ethiopia and their conversion processes are also presented briefly.

Energy context in Ethiopia

Access to energy.

Nearly 1.06 billion people in the world do not have access to electricity [ 10 ] and 2.5 billion people still use traditional energy to meet their cooking requirements. Moreover, its accessibility varies widely across regions and the situation is dismal in the least developed countries (LDCs) and SSA. According to WEO 2017, the rate of electrification in SSA has nearly tripled since 2012, compared to the rate between 2000 and 2012. East Africa, in particular, has made significant progress, with the number of people without access dropping by 14% since 2012 (see Fig.  1 ) [ 10 ]. Despite this turn-around, 590 million people roughly 57% of the population remain without access in SSA, making it the largest concentration of people in the world without electricity access as efforts have often struggled to keep pace with population growth. Over 80% of those without electricity live in rural areas, where the electrification rate is less than 25%, compared with 71% in urban areas [ 10 ].

a Populations relying on biomass and those who live without access; b rate of electrification and populations without access of clean cooking in East Africa as of 2016 [ 10 ]

In 2016, approximately 45% and only 6% of Ethiopia's total population had access to electricity and clean cooking, respectively (Fig.  1 b) [ 10 ]. About 85% of Ethiopia's urban population has access to public electricity. This figure is only 29% for the rural population (Fig.  2 ). In Ethiopia, approximately 93 million people rely on solid biomass for cooking [ 11 ]. Over 90% of domestic energy needs are met by biomass, which contributes to deforestation, soil nutrient loss, and organic matter loss. In any case, Ethiopia is one of the countries that places a high value on biomass (Fig.  1 ) [ 10 ].

Urban and rural access to electricity in Ethiopia (1990–2018) [ 11 ]

Overall energy production and consumption

There are three main sources of energy in Ethiopia. These are biomass, petroleum, and electricity of which, only petroleum products have been imported. From 37,357 ktoe of total energy supply in 2014, the share of biomass was 33,645 ktoe (90%) and energy supplied from Petroleum products and Electricity is 3712 ktoe which accounts for 10% of the total (3047 ktoe from petroleum product and 665 ktoe is from electricity, accounting for 8.2% and 1.8%, respectively) [ 12 ] (Fig.  3 a). In the same year, the energy consumption of Ethiopia was 35,192 ktoe from which, the share of biomass was 90% (31,699 ktoe) and 8.5% (2973 ktoe) and 1.5% (520 ktoe) was fulfilled by petroleum products and electricity, respectively [ 12 ].

a Energy supply in Ethiopia by type. b Energy consumption by sector

Households, transport, industry and construction and commercial sectors are identified as the more energy-consuming sectors in Ethiopia. The final energy consumption of Ethiopia was grown to 35,583 ktoe in 2014. Households and transportation sectors were the two largest energy-consuming sectors, accounting for 32,323 ktoe (90.8%) and 2213 ktoe (6.2%) of energy consumed, respectively. They were followed by industry and construction 656 ktoe (1.9%) and commercial 391 ktoe (1.1%) in 2014 (Fig.  3 b) [ 12 ]. In Ethiopia, like many developing countries, non-commercial biomass plays a big role in energy supply, especially in the household sector. The transport, agriculture, commercial and industrial sectors rely mainly on commercial energy, especially petroleum fuels and electricity.

In general, the energy profile of Ethiopia can broadly be defined by biomass energy specifically the traditional use of biomass for cooking. Most of the biomass energy is used for cooking in the household sector. Being dependent on the traditional use of biomass, the energy utilization of the country is inefficient and unsustainable. The largest portion of biomass energy is lost as waste energy to the environment due to the use of very low energy efficiency traditional cooking technology; consequently, only a very small portion of it becomes useful energy.

Electricity generation

Ethiopia is endowed with renewable and sustainable energy sources. These include hydropower and, to a lesser extent, wind, geothermal and solar as well as biomass. The approximate potential for hydropower is around 45 gigawatts (GW), for wind is 10 GW and for geothermal is 5 GW, and solar irradiation ranges from 4.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh)/m 2 /day to 7.5 kWh/m 2 /day [ 13 ]. Only a small amount of the renewable energy potential is harnessed today. Grid electricity is the main source of modern energy in Ethiopia. Today electricity in the country is produced from hydro, geothermal, wind, biomass (Reppie Waste-to-Energy) and diesel. The total installed electric power generation capacity as of October 2018 was 4324.3 MW (Fig.  4 ), comprising a mix of hydropower, wind generation, diesel, geothermal and waste-to-energy from municipal solid wastes. The interconnected system (ICS) and self-connected system (SCS) are the two power supply systems in the country. ICS consists of 13 hydropower plants (3810 MW), 3 wind farms (324 MW), Reppie Waste-to-Energy (25 MW) and 3 diesel generators (112.3 MW) (see Fig.  4 ). The diesel generators in this system served as an emergency power plant, which is mainly used to mitigate the effect of fluctuations in hydropower due to poor rainfall during dry seasons. Diesel power plants rely on expensive imported petroleum fuel, which leads to a high cost of electricity. The high cost has hurt economic activities in the agriculture, manufacturing and transport sectors. The other system is SCS, which consists of diesel generating units and three small hydropower plants that operate in remote areas. Generation in this system is mainly by diesel power plants having an aggregate capacity of 39.55.7 MW by the end of 2016. The contribution from the small hydropower plants is only 6.15 MW (Yadot, Sor and Dembi hydro, 0.35, 5 and 0.8 MW, respectively) despite the availability of many small rivers and waterfalls that could be used for electricity generation to supply many off-grid rural areas in Ethiopia.

Existing power plants installed capacity (MW) to the national grid of Ethiopia

Looking at the share of total installed capacity of the country's power plants, only 3.51% of the total generated electricity comes from diesel; the rest is from clean renewable energy resources with 88.25% from hydropower plant, 7.49% from wind power, 0.58% from biomass (Reppie Waste-to-Energy) and 0.17% from a geothermal plant (Fig.  5 ), which makes Ethiopia’s electricity among the most sustainable in the world.

Ethiopian electric power generation by source

Petroleum supply and consumption

Ethiopia does not have oil deposits and relies entirely on imported petroleum products, either refined or in crude form. The various petroleum products required for end-use purposes mainly in transport, agriculture, commercial and industrial sectors are; liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), kerosene, jet/turbo fuel, petroleum gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, and lubricating oils and greases. The country spends a huge amount of foreign currency to import petroleum products. Petroleum consumption had shown increasing by 1.6% from 2010 (2158 ktoe) to 2014 (2972 ktoe) which is driven by economic growth (see Fig.  6 ) [ 12 ]. Petroleum fuels are mainly used in the transport sector (80% of the total consumption of petroleum products) with a smaller share of the demand from the household sector (kerosene for cooking and lighting) and industrial sector (fuel oil for thermal energy), the total petroleum consumption in 2014 was 2972 ktoe (Fig.  6 ).

Trend in petroleum supply and consumption from 2010 to 2014

Renewable energy policy in Ethiopia

Biomass energy's sustainability will depend on the successful management of biomass resources and government policy. Examining the implications of biomass energy use in Ethiopia, it was noted that deliberate policies are required to improve the quality and sustainability of biomass energy in Ethiopia. The need for the policies would be to make clean commercial energy more accessible and relatively cheaper.

Ethiopia has released many policy and strategic documents to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are accomplished. The leading ones are the Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy (CRGE), Ethiopia's National Energy Policy, and the Biomass Energy Strategy. Among these policies and strategies: (a) The Green Economy Strategy has prioritized programs that could help to develop sustainable forestry and reduce demand for fuelwood (i.e., by reducing demand for fuelwood by distributing and using fuel-efficient stoves or by using alternative-fuel cooking and baking techniques such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), electric or biogas stoves) that contribute to forest management, enhanced carbon sequestration, reduction of forest degradation, afforestation and reforestation of woodlands [ 14 , 15 ]. (b) The purpose of the National Energy Policy is to increase sustainable and renewable energy sources (i.e., bioenergy supply) and to increase the efficiency of the use of bioenergy. Its main objective is to improve the efficiency of the use of biomass fuel, promote the move towards greater use of modern fuels, resolve household energy problems by promoting agroforestry, and incorporate environmental sustainability into energy production and supply systems [ 14 ]. The policy also states that to increase the availability of electricity, the country will not only rely on hydropower, but will also benefit from other renewable and sustainable energy options, such as solar panels, geothermal energy and wind power. Also, in major energy-consuming sectors, such as transport, industry and others, the country needs to promote energy conservation while ensuring that energy production is environmentally friendly and sustainable and to provide sufficient encouragement to the private sector [ 16 ]. (c) The Government of Ethiopia has also developed its sustainable bioenergy policy as an important component of the National Development Program Strategy, with decent legal provisions for the promotion of environmentally friendly energy sources, the distribution and use of biofuels throughout the country, and the replacement of fossil fuels for use in transport sectors and mitigation of climate change.

Current status of biomass energy potential and utility

Biomass is a natural resource used for various purposes, including energy, all around the globe [ 17 , 18 ]. In developing countries, especially sub-Saharan countries such as Ethiopia, it is regarded as the backbone of energy sources [ 19 ]. Examples of biomass include woody biomass (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, lipids, proteins, and simple sugars), residues of crops, animal waste, dung, sewage, agricultural waste, and municipal waste. In Ethiopia, wood, agricultural, animal waste and human waste are the commonly used biomass energy resources. It is estimated that the overall energy that can be produced annually from these resources is around 101,656.77 Tcal. Of this, it is estimated that the share of woody biomass is 73% (wood 69% and charcoal 4%), followed by dung (14%) and residue (13%) (Fig.  7 ) [ 20 ]. The majority of rural society relies on the free collection of woody biomass, residues of crops and animal dung. However, utilization is still being unbalanced, and consumption is greater than re-plantation.

The share of different biomass resources as fuel in Ethiopia, 2013 [ 20 ]

Different biomass feedstock and their potential for biofuel production

Wood and charcoal.

Almost all African countries still rely on wood to meet basic energy needs [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Wood fuels account for 90–98% of the energy consumption in most sub-Saharan Africa [ 22 , 25 ] Firewood is the cheapest source of energy available that most people use widely [ 26 , 27 ]. Consisting mostly of fallen sticks or branches, prunings of living or dead branches removed from standing trees, and wood from cut or felled trees, it is sourced from forests, woodlands, shrub lands and in some cases from trees on farms (scattered trees, agroforestry, or energy woodlots. Between 2013 and 2017, the total volume of wood fuel produced globally was about 9.44 billion m 3 with an average annual production of 1.88 billion m 3 [ 22 , 28 ]. Three-quarters of global wood fuel production and consumption is in Africa (35%) and Asia (39%). The tropics and subtropics (i.e., Africa, Latin America, and Asia) hold 88.3% of the global share of wood fuel production. In many developing countries, it is the most dominant source of energy [ 29 ]. The percentage of biomass fuels in the total energy consumption in Ethiopia is one of the highest in the world, accounting for over 90% of the total energy consumption in the country and about 99% in the rural areas [ 21 , 30 ]. It was claimed that the shortage of biomass fuels has been one of the major causes of deforestation and subsequent, land degradation in Ethiopia.

In rural areas, most of the wood demand is fulfilled by collecting, whereas the urban households fulfill most of their wood demand by purchasing. According to the CSA welfare monitoring survey (2011), about 87.2% of the rural households used collected wood and 3.6% purchased wood. Whereas, 18.6% of the urban households consumed collected wood and about 44.7% purchased wood [ 31 ]. The standing stock of woody biomass of the country is estimated at 1,150 million tons [ 31 ]. Demand for fuelwood is growing rapidly while its supply is shrinking and increasing access distance which leads especially women and children to travel a long distance for collecting it. The principal drivers of wood fuel demand are population growth, lack of access to biomass energy substitutes and the growing rate of poverty among the population. The wood fuel energy supply and demand imbalance is exerting considerable pressure on the remaining forest and vegetation stocks, thereby accelerating the processes of land degradation and deforestation, which is the largest source of GHG emissions in Ethiopia.

In 2010, about 17% of the country’s GHG emission is caused by deforestation for fuelwood [ 31 ]. On the other hand, charcoal is an important fuel, particularly for urban dwellers. Its production is however associated with the increasing levels of deforestation. It is a process of carbonization of wood by partial combustion or application of heat from an external source. In Ethiopia charcoal is produced in a very small scale which is about 100 to 300 kg per batch using the earth mound kiln. To produce 1 kg of charcoal about 8 kg of wood is consumed which results in a great deal of waste in this traditional process (i.e., earth mound kiln). Ethiopia has a world share of 8.5% charcoal production and about 47% of the Ethiopian households use charcoal, with 82% of the usage in the urban households, and 34% in the rural households. The total charcoal production in the year 2016 was estimated to be 4.32 million tons [ 32 ]. The demand for charcoal has grown faster because of increasing urbanization, increasing monetization of charcoal, and increasing competitiveness of charcoal with kerosene [ 31 ].

Household air pollution (HAP) exposure from traditional cooking practices is one of the major killers worldwide among environmental risk factors [ 33 ]. Almost 600,000 Africans die annually and millions more suffer from HAP-induced diseases [ 34 ]. Improved cook stove (ICS) adoption is key to addressing this public health problem, which mainly affects developing countries where traditional cooking practices are used by many families [ 35 ]. In sub-Saharan Africa countries including Ethiopia, adoption of ICS has the potential to generate a variety of health, social, economic, and environmental benefits [ 10 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. The adoption of ICS has significantly contributed to improvements in living conditions through wood savings, reduced women's workload by reducing the time required for fuel collection, reducing indoor air pollution, reducing particulate matter (PM) and carbon monoxide (CO), and created self-employment for the stove producers [ 40 ]. Among the adopted ICS, Merchaye and Lakech cooker stoves are the popular ones in Ethiopia with differential emissions and fuel use efficiency [ 40 , 41 ].

Agricultural crop residues

Agriculture is the predominant and important economic sector in Ethiopia. The agricultural sector accounts for roughly 43% of GDP, 90% of exports and 80% of total employment in the country. Cereals dominate Ethiopian agriculture, accounting for about 70% of agricultural GDP. Scarcity of wood leads to greater use of agricultural residues and animal dung for cooking which could otherwise have been used to enhance the nutrient status and texture of the soil and contribute positively to agricultural production. Agricultural residues are mostly used by the rural household for cooking and baking, using very low-efficiency cooking stoves. Agricultural residue supply is seasonal and hence its use as fuel is also seasonal. Agricultural residues are seasonal, therefore, collection and storage of residues during the months of availability will be necessary; and alternatively, different residues could be sourced at different times of the year to fill the gap of scarcity [ 42 ]. The typical agricultural residues densification process has to undergo several stages including collection, storage, cleaning, drying, and size reduction. Depending on the types of residue, each of the above stages will require a certain expenditure on equipment, materials and labor [ 42 ].

Animal dung

Animal dung in the form of dung cake is one of the most common traditional biomass used by households for cooking. According to CSA (2009/2010) survey, the country’s livestock population is about 150 million [ 42 ]. It is seen that about 42 million tons of dry weight dung is annually produced from the total livestock from which, cattle (cows and oxen) are accounted for the highest share of dung production about 84% of the annual total dung production [ 42 ]. Cow dung is the primary source of the substrate for domestic bio-digesters. Over 77% of the rural households in Ethiopia own cattle; hence, they are eligible for bio-digester installation. Rural households lead an integrated crop-livestock agricultural system. Consequently, the integration of the biogas technology with an adopter animal husbandry is central to the adoption process in Ethiopia [ 43 ]. In Ethiopia, even if the production of biogas started in the last long year, still there are too much need to optimize the biogas resources, adoption, and technologies that will ease the burden for women and children who spend up to 10 h a week gathering wood in some rural areas to reduce indoor pollution and improve prospects for small farmers [ 44 ].

Municipal solid waste

Municipal waste can be used to produce methane gas, which is then used to generate electricity. The technology for the conversion of waste into electricity is mature and is used in various parts of the world. The amount of municipal solid waste depends on the population of the cities. It is also one of the potential bioenergy resources of Ethiopia accumulated in cities in the form of landfills. The current global generation of waste is approximately 2.01 billion tons per year and is projected to grow to 3.4 billion tons per year by 2050 [ 45 ]. It is estimated that total waste generation in Ethiopia is between 0.6 and 1.8 million tons per year in rural areas and between 2.2 and 7 million tons per year in urban areas. The major cities of the country are highly populated; for instance, the population of Addis Ababa was increased from 2.96 million in 2007 to about 6.6 million in 2017 (estimated). With this population increase and economic growth, the municipal solid waste is highly increasing. In Ethiopia, there is an annual rise in waste generation by 5%, according to Ali and Eyasu [ 46 ]. The municipal solid waste generation rates for the main cities of Ethiopia are depicted in Fig.  8 .

Current waste generation in kg/capita/day of some cities in Ethiopia [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ]

Considering the daily average municipal solid waste generation rate at 0.45 kg per capita per day (Fig.  8 ) [ 46 ], the daily and annual solid waste output of Addis Ababa would be about 2970 and 1,084,050 tons, respectively, in 2017 (estimated). Municipal solid waste is becoming a threat to the major cities of Ethiopia, as only less than 50% of the waste produced per day was properly collected and disposed of, leaving half of the waste created uncollected or disposed of in unauthorized areas (Fig.  9 ). In Ethiopia, the efficiency of solid waste management, recycling and disposal systems remains very low [ 45 , 47 ]. Informal, unregulated, and unhealthy forms are used to recycle a very limited proportion of waste [ 46 ]. Waste is frequently burned in open and unregulated ways by households to get rid of the waste. The African Development Bank Group has estimated that more than 50% of the population in Ethiopia is widely involved in the open burning of waste. Recycling is not well-practiced and, because of the absence of formal structure and control, it is at a primitive stage in Ethiopia.

Waste collection in major cities of Ethiopia, 2010 [ 45 , 49 ]

For half a century, the Koshe dump site (37 hectares) has been the only landfill in Addis Ababa (see Fig.  10 ). In 2017, a landslide on the Koshe dump site killed 114 people, prompting the government to declare three days of mourning. But a new Reppie waste-to-energy (WTE) plant is set to transform the site and revolutionize the entire city’s approach to dealing with waste. WTE describes a variety of technologies that convert garbage or municipal solid waste (MSW) into either heat or electricity. Incineration processes have taken place in the presence of air and at the temperature of 850 °C and waste is converted to carbon dioxide, water and non-combustible materials with solid residue (Bottom ash) [ 50 ]. Reppie waste-to-energy is said to be African’s first waste-to-energy facility, which is inaugurated in August 2018, expected to incinerate 1400 tons of waste every day, that’s roughly 80% of the city’s rubbish, all while supplying Addis Ababa with 30% of its household electricity needs and meeting European standards on air emissions (Fig.  10 b) [ 50 ] . The project is the result of a partnership between the Government of Ethiopia and a consortium of international companies: Cambridge Industries Limited (Singapore), China National Electric Engineering and Ramboll, a Danish engineering firm and constructed for US$95 million [ 50 ].

a ‘Reppi’, solid waste disposal site and compaction; b ‘Reppi’ waste-to-energy power plant

Biofuel is a fuel derived from biomass. It is an organic matter taken from plants and animals. It comprises mainly wood, agricultural crops and products, aquatic plants, forestry products, wastes and residues, and animal wastes. In its most general meaning, biofuel is all types of solid, gaseous and liquid fuels that can be derived from biomass [ 51 ].

Biodiesel and ethanol are the two most commonly used biofuel types. Biodiesel products are potentially trusted substitutes for fossil fuels because they are clean and renewable fuels that can be used without the need to redesign the existing technology in any direct-injection engine [ 52 , 53 ]. Bioethanol (ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, CH 3 –CH 2 –OH, or ETOH) is a liquid biofuel that can be produced from various biomass feedstocks and conversion technologies. Bioethanol is an attractive alternative fuel because it is a renewable bio-based resource and it is oxygenated hereby provides the potential to reduce particulate emissions in compression–ignition engines [ 54 ]. Bioethanol is a renewable alcohol-based fuel that can be produced from starches, sugars, and cellulosic biomass. Traditional feedstock, which is used for ethanol production, includes crops such as corn, wheat, and sorghum. With recent advances in cellulosic technology; ethanol can also be produced from agricultural waste products like sugar cane bagasse, rice hulls, potato waste, and brewery waste; from forestry and paper wastes; and from municipal solid waste [ 54 ]. The raw materials for bioethanol production can broadly be classified as (i) sucrose-containing feedstock (sugarcane, sugar beet, and sweet sorghum), (ii) starch-containing feedstock (wheat, corn, and cassava), and (iii) cellulosic feedstock (straw, grasses, wood, agricultural wastes, paper, etc.) [ 55 ]. A summary of the opportunities and challenges of using biofuels is given in Table 2 .

By investing over 80% of foreign earnings annually, Ethiopia imports its entire petroleum fuel requirement [ 57 ]. In general, the transport sector, which accounts for approximately 52% of the country in particular, is one of the most key sectors, consuming the majority of the petroleum imported and contributing more CO 2 to the environment [ 57 ]. Since the economy of the country is growing, demand for petroleum fuel is expected to increase. It is therefore important to look for locally available alternative fuels, such as biofuels, to ensure the country's sustainable development and fuel security. Therefore, the production of biofuels has the potential to meet a significant proportion of national energy needs, minimize reliance on imported fossil fuels, generate new business opportunities and contribute to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Taking the aforementioned challenges, Ethiopia is currently assessing its biofuel potential and is now in the process of implementing an ambitious biofuel strategy, which was approved in 2007 [ 58 ]. Due to the favorable air condition and suitable soil type for biodiesel development, the country grows various types of plant species that can be used for the production of biodiesel. Jatropha, which is a very important biodiesel feedstock, grows in many parts of the country and is also used as a hedge and medicinal plant [ 58 ].

In a country like Ethiopia that relies heavily on imported fossil fuels, there are also apparent reasons for promoting biofuels. Biofuels are regarded as an opportunity to ensure domestic energy security, rapid economic growth and wealth creation. There are high expectations that biofuels will contribute to solving the country's main development challenges today [ 58 ]. In Ethiopia, almost all the feedstocks needed for the production of bioethanol (sugarcane, sugar-beet, cereals, and maize) are grown. In light of the national policies that discourage the use of food crops as feedstock for food security reasons, the current production of bioethanol is only a byproduct from sugar estates [ 59 ]. Ethanol production in Ethiopia is linked with sugar factories and aimed for import substitute of petroleum products, enhance agricultural development and agro-processing, job creation, and export earnings. However, only a small fraction of the potentials are utilized yet and an alternate 5% and 10% ethanol blend has been accessed in the capital city of the country. Moreover, Finchaa and Metehara are the only two sugar factories producing bioethanol in the country [ 58 ]. In 2014/15 about 20.5 million liters of ethanol were supplied to the energy system of the country (8 million liters from Fincha sugar factory, whereas about 12.5 million liters per year were from the Metahara sugar factory) and all used in the transport sector [ 12 , 60 ].

Currently, there are three bioethanol blending stations in the country namely, Nile Petroleum, Oil Libya and National Oil Company [ 42 , 61 ]. On the other hand, bagasse is the byproduct of sugar industries; and from one ton of crushed cane, about 27% to 33% of bagasse can be produced [ 42 , 61 ]. Bagasse is used for steam production and electricity generation to fulfill the requirement of the mills. Most of the sugar factories contribute bagasse energy for the energy sector of the country, in addition to bioethanol. Among these factories, Tendaho, Wonji/showa, Fincha and Metehara sugar factories produce electricity for their own consumption and contribute to the national grid. These sugar factories have a capacity to produce 60 MW, 31 MW, 31 MW and 9 MW of electric power, respectively. Metehara sugar factories produce 9 MW of electric power and satisfy its own power demand by itself, but Tendaho, Wonji/showa, Fincha sugar factories are contributing to the national grid about 38 MW, 20 MW and 10 MW of electric power, respectively, after they satisfy their own needs (Fig.  11 ) [ 60 , 61 ].

Bagasse energy generation capacity of sugar factories in Ethiopia and their contributions to national grid [ 60 ]

Globally, the awareness of energy issues and environmental problems associated with burning fossil fuels has encouraged many researchers to investigate the possibility of using alternative sources of energy instead of oil and its derivatives. Among them, biodiesel seems very promising for several reasons: it is highly biodegradable and has minimal toxicity, it can replace diesel fuel in many different applications such as boilers and internal combustion engines without major modifications, only a small decrease in performances is reported, results in almost zero emissions of sulphates, aromatic compounds and other chemical substances that are destructive to the environment, has only a small net contribution of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) when the whole life cycle is considered (including cultivation, production of oil and conversion to biodiesel), and it appears to cause a significant improvement of rural economic potential [ 62 ]. The invention of the vegetable oil fuelled engine by Sir Rudolf Diesel dated back to the 1900s. However, a full exploration of biodiesel only came into light in the 1980s as a result of renewed interest in renewable energy sources for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and alleviating the depletion of fossil fuel reserves. Biodiesel is defined as mono-alkyl esters of long-chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats and alcohol with or without a catalyst [ 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 ]. Compared to diesel fuel, biodiesel produces less sulphur, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, smoke and hydrocarbons emission and more oxygen. More free oxygen leads to complete combustion and reduced emission [ 67 ]. Biodiesel has been in use in many countries such as the United States of America, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, Germany, France, Italy and other European countries.

Ethiopia is endowed with natural resources suitable for biodiesel development and at the national level, an estimated area of 25 million hectares of suitable land is available for the development of biodiesel [ 59 , 68 ]. Biodiesel production is necessary for energy security especially in the transport sector which will be achieved by blending biodiesel with diesel so that to decrease consumption of diesel as well as GHG emissions. Electricity generation and cooking fuel are other applications of biodiesel. The byproduct of biodiesel production could also be used to produce soaps and cosmetic products [ 59 ].

Biogas is a combustible mixture of gas. It consists mainly of methane and carbon dioxide and is made from biodegradation of organic material under anaerobic conditions. It is a methane-rich fuel gas produced by anaerobic digestion of organic materials with the help of methanogenic bacteria. Some of the biogas-producing materials (substrates) range from animal dung to household, agricultural and industrial wastes [ 69 ]. Biogas technology offers a very attractive route to utilize certain categories of biomass for meeting partial energy needs [ 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 ]. It provides an alternative energy source to the use of traditional fuel sources, which is dominantly used in most developing countries. Biogas technology serves two major purposes, biogas and bio-slurry. Biogas energy could replace the use of firewood, charcoal and kerosene for cooking, heating and lighting while bio-slurry could replace the use of chemical fertilizer for agricultural production [ 74 ]. However, key informants and user households viewed that the cooking and bio-fertilization perspectives of the technology have been overlooked due to the unavailability of efficient biogas cooking stoves for baking and inadequate training for bio-slurry management. Findings from previous studies show that the African continent utilizes very little of the potential of biogas technology due to the inability to exploit its full potential [ 75 , 76 ].

An ambitious goal to install two million domestic bio-digesters by 2020 is set by the African Biogas Initiative [ 77 ]. With the support of this initiative, in Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Benin and Burkina Faso, national biogas programs in Africa have been implemented [ 78 ]. By the end of 2009, nearly 300,000 fixed-dome bio-digesters with volumes ranging from 4 m 3 to 15 m 3 had been built in Africa [ 61 ]. The National Biogas Programme of Ethiopia (NBPE) is part of the SSA's implementation of biogas technology that is gaining momentum due to the African Biogas Initiative [ 79 ]. The NBPE was implemented with the participation of various development partners, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, SNV, GIZ (German Technical Cooperation), HIVOS, the Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development (US NGO) and the Biogas Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture of China [ 61 , 70 , 76 , 80 , 81 , 82 ].

It was launched in 2008 and planned to install over 30,000 bio-digesters in two phases. The first phase was implemented between 2008 and 2012 and the second phase was between 2013 and 2017. It was planned to develop 14,000 family-sized biogas digesters in the first phase, but only 8161 biogas digesters were built during this phase, including 2480 bio-digesters in Oromia, 1992 in Tigray, 1892 in Amhara and 1699 in SNNPRR [ 70 , 80 , 81 , 83 ]. During this phase, only 58% of the planned targets were achieved. Factors such as economic uncertainty, cement crisis, poverty and illiteracy, among others, influenced the dissemination of the first phase. The goal of the second phase of the NBPE was to construct 20,000 additional biogas digesters. In this phase, a total of 12,071 biogas digesters were built [ 80 ] (Fig.  12 ).

Yearly distribution of biogas digesters in Ethiopia [ 70 , 80 , 81 , 83 ]

Only about 70% of the planned target was accomplished in two phases, with the second phase improving significantly. The slight improvement in the second stage may be attributed to lessons learned from the first phase. The reasons for the failure to achieve the planned goals and the low adoption rate were identified by key informants as technical, financial and institutional challenges [ 70 , 80 ]. According to Sime (2020), these challenges include the limited technical skill of installation and maintenance service masons, weak institutional responsibilities of implementation units, insufficient and high maintenance service, poor and malfunctioning success stories, and the unwillingness of users to own and maintain installed digesters. In addition, the major obstacles constraining the implementation of the NBPE are high initial investment costs, inflation in the cost of raw materials for the construction and installation of bio-digesters, and limitations in the size of loans [ 70 , 80 , 84 , 85 , 86 ]. Similarly, in SSA, inadequate distribution strategies, lack of project monitoring and follow-up by promoters, poor ownership responsibility by users, are major challenges to biogas technology domestication programs [ 87 ]. Cost consequences, lack of coordination and the negative image of the technology caused by past failures are important challenges for biogas technology programs [ 80 , 88 ]. Meanwhile, key informants stated that the Government of Ethiopia aims to develop a private biogas sector that is autonomous, sustainable and market-oriented. A National Biogas Dissemination Scale-up Program (NBPE+) is currently being introduced by the NBPE, which will continue to 2022 and covers all regional states of the country [ 80 ].

Different technologies of biomass conversion to bioenergy production

There are various conversion technologies available, from biomass to electricity. Thermochemical conversion, biochemical conversion and physicochemical conversion have been generally categorized [ 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 ]. This section reviews the advancement of Biomass Conversion Technologies in Ethiopia.

Thermochemical conversion of biomass

Energy is created by the application of heat and chemicals in the processes of thermochemical conversion. The four current thermochemical conversion processes are combustion, pyrolysis, gasification, and liquefaction [ 89 ].

This conversion technology generates approximately 90% of the total biomass capacity. In this method, biomass is burned at high temperatures in a combustion or furnace to produce hot gas, which is then fed into a steam producing boiler, which is expanded to generate mechanical or electrical energy via a steam turbine or steam engine (Fig.  13 ). The technology is capable of operating on various biomass types, i.e., wood, dry leaves, hard vegetable shells, rice husk, dried animal dung, etc. The combustion process is an exothermic chemical reaction, i.e., the biomass is burned in the presence of air with the resulting release of chemical energy that could be transformed into mechanical and electrical energy [ 89 , 94 , 95 ].

Biomass combustion scheme

The majority of biomass energy generation in Ethiopia is obtained through combustion processes, but the efficiency of these processes is very low, resulting in energy waste. In the country, biomass combustion is primarily used in rural poor communities to provide energy for cooking. This method is characterized by slow, inefficient three-stone stoves with high specific fuel consumption. Other processes include the use of charcoal stoves.

Pyrolysis is the heating of biomass at temperatures within the 500 °C–900 °C range in the absence of oxygen in a closed vessel [ 94 ]. It produces liquid (bio-oil), solid (charcoal), and gaseous (combustible gas). High temperatures cause the volatile components of the biomass producing gases to be vaporized, the vapors of which are condensed by liquefaction into liquids (Fig.  14 ). The liquid fuel resulting from this process can be stored and subsequently used for different applications for heating and generating electricity [ 89 , 95 ]. Biomass pyrolysis has only been limited in Ethiopia at the research and development level and plant evaluation. There were also a few feasibility studies on the potential for cogeneration from wood residues and agricultural residues.

Biomass pyrolysis scheme

Gasification

The gasification process is carried out by heating solid biomass with minimal oxygen/air (O 2 and air deficient) to produce gas of low heating value or by reacting with steam and oxygen to produce medium heating value, called synthesis gas or syngas, mainly composed of CO, hydrogen (H 2 ), CH 4 and nitrogen (N 2 ), at high pressure and temperature. Syngas can be used as an electricity-generating fuel or as a source for a large range of petrochemical and refining products, such as methanol, ammonia, synthetic gasoline (Fig.  15 ), etc. [ 96 ]. Like pyrolysis, biomass gasification in Ethiopia has also been limited only at the R&D and plant evaluation level, and a few feasibility studies have also been conducted on the potential for cogeneration from wood residues.

Biomass gasification scheme

Liquefaction

Liquefaction is a method of biomass conversion performed at moderate temperatures between 280 and 370 °C and high pressures (10–25 MPa in water). Liquid bio-granulates, similar to crude oil, are also produced, as are other gaseous, aqueous and solid by-products (Fig.  16 ). The products obtained have a high heating content and low oxygen content, making it a chemically stable fuel. The main purpose of liquefaction is to produce oil that has a high H/C ratio [ 89 , 97 , 98 , 99 ]. This biomass conversion technology in Ethiopia is still in its infant stage and is still under research and development as the other technologies.

Biomass liquefaction scheme

Biochemical conversion of biomass

To break down biomass, biochemical conversion processes use enzymes from bacteria and other microorganisms. Biochemical conversion processes for biomass include anaerobic digestion and fermentation.

Anaerobic digestion

In the absence of oxygen, anaerobic digestion creates biogas from wet organic substrates. Hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis, and methanogenesis are the four basic stages of this process. Throughout the process, microorganisms in an oxygen-free environment enable a series of chemical reactions to take place via natural metabolic pathways (Fig.  17 ) [ 89 , 100 ]. Sewage sludge, agricultural residues, MSW, and animal manure are some of the feedstocks commonly used in this type of process. To utilize a biogas technology in Ethiopia some scientific, engineering, and economic-based research works have been carried out at the institutional level. The NBPE was introduced in 2008 and over 18,000 bio-digesters were able to be installed in two stages. The NBPE has designated a diverse group of actors within this evolving biogas sector to contribute to the implementation of biogas technology [ 61 , 70 , 76 , 80 , 81 , 82 ].

Biomass anaerobic digestion scheme

Fermentation

Fermentation is the mechanism where a number of microorganisms transform carbohydrates, such as starch and sugar, into ethanol (Fig.  18 ). The biomass is ground down and the starch is converted to sugars by enzymes, with yeast then converting the sugars to ethanol. Saccharomyces cerevisiae are the most common microorganisms used in the process, and the feedstock used for this type of process is divided into three categories: sugars, starch, and lignocellulosic substrates. Distillation is an energy-intensive step that produces approximately 450 L of ethanol from 1000 kg of dry corn. The solid residue from this process can be given to cattle, and the bagasse from sugarcane can be used for subsequent gasification or as a fuel for boilers [ 90 , 100 ]. About 8 million liters of bioethanol is produced annually in Ethiopia using molasses as feedstock. The country also aims to blend 5% ethanol into its gasoline pipeline. The feasibility of using ethanol for domestic purposes such as cooking and heating is being investigated by a UNDP project in the region.

Biomass fermentation scheme

Physicochemical conversion of biomass

Biomass processes of physicochemical conversion lead to the production of high-density biofuels (Fig.  19 ). More specifically, through esterification and/or transesterification processes, different forms of vegetable oil and animal fats are converted to biodiesel. Rapeseed oil and sunflower oil constitute 80–85% and 10–15% of total biodiesel production worldwide, respectively, are major vegetable oils used to manufacture first-generation biodiesel [ 89 ]. For the production of second and third generation biodiesel, waste oils, including waste cooking oil (WCO) and microbial oil, including algal oil, may also be used. It's worth noting that oils are mostly composed of triglycerides, which aren't usable fuels. In fact, the transformation of crude vegetable oil is required because otherwise, problems such as incomplete combustion and subsequent residue accumulation in engines are likely. As a result, the raw material must be processed further, primarily through transesterification, in order to separate the triglyceride molecules into their constituents, fatty acids and glycerol. The triglycerides are converted into methyl or ethyl esters (biodiesel) by using methyl or ethyl alcohol (in excess) in the presence of mostly an alkaline catalyst during the transesterification reaction [ 100 , 101 ]. The production and use of liquid biofuels as alternative fuels to fossil fuel is a recent phenomenon in Ethiopia. Generally, the main interest has been in biodiesel derived from Jatropha curcas , palm oil, and castor bean. Some initiatives on biofuel development have already been taken by the government, the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the UNDP.

Biomass physicochemical conversion scheme

Life-cycle analysis, economic perspective, and bio-refinery approach

The potential of biomass to produce high-value-added products has sparked the interest of various research groups involved in biofuels, food and feed, and pharmaceuticals [ 102 , 103 ]. These characteristics make biomass feedstocks, particularly microalgae, a viable candidate for bio-refinery exploitation. However, before further research into potential industrialization is conducted, a comprehensive life-cycle analysis (LCA) is required. LCA quantifies all of the resources required for biomasses planting/cultivation, harvesting, extraction, and purification, as well as the emissions and environmental impact of the same process. Furthermore, an economic analysis of the entire bio-refinery approach is required to understand the viability of biomass as a feedstock. These tools help to understand current scenarios and generate different paths to commercial industrialization of biomass bio-refineries. LCA is evaluated using two indicators: global warming potential (GWP) and net energy ratio (NER). The amount of CO 2 emitted per unit of energy is used to calculate the GWP. Ideally, all greenhouse gases would be considered for this quantification, but the literature data are limited to CO 2 emissions. NER is calculated using the process's total energy flow. It is the ratio between the energy required to obtain the final products from biomass and the total energy stored in the final product [ 102 ].

Aside from the Life Cycle Assessment, the economic feasibility of biomass-based bio-refineries is also critical for commercialization. For example, Hoffman et al. [ 104 ] conducted a cost–benefit analysis of biodiesel production using Algal Turf Scrubber (ATS) and Open Raceway Ponds (ORP). Their findings revealed that the cost of producing biodiesel from ATS and ORP is $8.34 and $6.27 per gallon of biodiesel, respectively, despite the fact that these prices do not provide positive economic feasibility. Dasan et al. [ 105 ] used three different cultivation systems to obtain biodiesel and other by-products from a different fraction of microalgae feedstock (open pond/raceway pond, bubble column PBR, and tubular PBR). The capital cost of tubular and bubble column PBRs is higher than the operation cost, accounting for nearly 47.5–86.2% of the total cost, according to an economic feasibility analysis based on the production of 100,000 kg of biomass for 340 days of the year. However, operation and maintenance account for 45.73% of the total cost in an open ponds cultivation system. The production of bioethanol as a byproduct was examined in this study, but the complex and expensive processes involved in bioethanol production do not favor economic profitability. In contrast, Lam et al. [ 106 ] predicted that the highest total revenue generated from microalgae biomass is around €31 per kg of dry weight, compared to a production cost of €6–7 per kg of dry weight. However, these figures can only be achieved if the cost of downstream processing is kept to a minimum. Developing simpler and cost-effective downstream processing techniques appears to be critical for achieving the economic feasibility of biomass bio-refinery systems.

Opportunities, challenges and prospects of biomass energy

• Opportunities

Biomass for waste water treatment: among the challenging environmental problems owing to their toxic effects and possible accumulation throughout the food chain and hence in the human body are pollution leaked by organic and inorganic contaminants. Besides, many hazardous compounds (metals, dyes, phenolic compounds, etc.) have found widespread use in industries such as metal finishing, leather tanning, electroplating, nuclear power, textile, pesticide and pharmaceutical. Thus, water pollution by these contaminants is of considerable concern around the world [ 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 ]. Conventional methods (bioaccumulation, precipitation, reverse osmosis, oxidation/reduction, filtration, evaporation, ion exchange and membrane separation) used for the removal of hazardous compounds from wastewater are expensive and/or inefficient in reducing the effluent concentration to the required levels. The search for new and low-cost techniques is therefore of great importance for the removal of organic and inorganic contaminants from drinking water and wastewater [ 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 ].

Biosorption, which represents a biotechnological innovation as well as a cost-effective and excellent tool for sequestering hazardous compounds from aqueous solutions, is becoming a potential alternative to traditional treatment processes used for the removal of hazardous metals and organic compounds. It is a term that describes the property of some biomolecules or types of biomass to remove and concentrate by passive binding, selected metallic ions or other molecules from aqueous solutions [ 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 ]. This implies that the removal mechanism is not metabolically controlled. Biomass exhibits this property, acting just like a chemical substance, for example, an ion exchanger of biological origin. The cell wall structure of certain algae, woody biomass, mosses, fungi and bacteria, in particular, are found to be responsible for this phenomenon [ 107 , 112 , 113 , 114 ]. In addition, bacteria, fungi, seaweeds, agricultural waste and raw plants can also produce biomolecules having coagulating/flocculating activities. Indeed, the use of biological materials for the treatment of wastewaters containing organic and inorganic contaminants is growing. This relatively new technology has received considerable attention in recent years as it has many advantages over traditional methods. It uses inexpensive and abundant renewable materials with good ability for the recovery of metal pollutants. Thus, studies on the use of biomass such as agricultural wastes, mosses, fungi, bacteria or seaweeds, as a raw material for the production of sorbents is progressively increasing.

Biosorbents including algae, fungi, bacteria and yeasts are investigated for their ability to sequester contaminants; algal biomass has proven to be highly effective as well as reliable and predictable in the removal of hazardous compounds from aqueous solutions [ 107 ]. Marine algae are renewable natural biomass and are very abundant in the coastal world. Using as new supports to concentrate and adsorb hazardous compounds, these biomasses have attracted the attention of many investigators as organisms to be tested.

Biological waste gas treatment: there are strong arguments for the development and use of new and original processes to control waste gas emissions from agricultural, industrial, or domestic activities to protect human health and welfare, and also the environment at large. Thus, international treaties for environmental protection (Rio, Kyoto) have been transcribed and applied in many countries. For instance, local legislation particularly for solid waste management, water and wastewater treatment, and air quality has been written based on these ratifications of international agreements. Air pollution control regulations reflect the concern of governments for the protection of people and the environment. The two fundamental reasons for cleaning up the waste gas stream are profit and protection. This is practically when upgrading of biogas, cleaning of waste incinerator flue gas [ 115 ], or treating of industrial process emissions.

To remove non-particulate pollutants from a gas stream different processes involving different mechanisms [ 116 , 117 ] could be achieved based on the nature of the contaminants and/or the complex mixture of pollutants in the gaseous phase, for example, their concentrations and the flow to be cleaned. These processes can be classified into three categories: (1) thermal and/or catalytic oxidation, biological transformation; (2) transfer into a liquid phase (absorption) or onto a solid phase (adsorption) with or without chemical reactions such as acid–base interaction, oxidation, complexation, physisorption or chemisorption and (3) phase change (condensation).

One of these technologies will be chosen with the aim of achieving the required performance for the lowest investment and operating costs depending on the emission characteristics in terms of concentrations and flow. These processes are widely used in industrial applications to remove single toxins or a mixture of contaminants. Many activities including chemistry, petrochemistry, pharmacy, cosmetics, surface cleaning, polymer production, printing, painting, mechanical and car manufacture, and waste and wastewater treatments are concerned.

Biological treatments of gas streams are relatively recent technologies compared with thermal destruction or mass transfer systems. However, researchers have been paying attention to these promising and interesting processes for several years and indeed bioprocesses appear to be a very competitive way to treat the waste gas stream before its discharge into the atmosphere. The removal of a large number of soluble and biodegradable volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or odorous molecules has been the subject of many previous studies and industrial applications [ 118 ] 119 . The optimal range of pollutant concentration goes from a much diluted pollutant present in the gas stream (from some mg m −3 to mg m −3 ) to above 1 g m −3 . The installation designs cater for an airflow from a few m 3 h −1 to 100,000 m 3  h −1 , or even more in some systems.

Hydrogen production from biomass derivatives over heterogeneous photocatalysts: hydrogen storage energy is among the recent development of environmentally benign, renewable and sustainable energy production for the near future. Hydrogen is a storable energy carrier with a high energy content and non-polluting nature, which can be effectively converted into electricity by a fuel cell or into motive power by a hydrogen-fueled engine without any emission other than water. Even though hydrogen is an attractive alternative energy source, about 96% of the hydrogen supplied currently is derived from fossil fuels such as natural gas (49%), crude oil (29%) and coal (18%) using thermal chemical processes and gasification at high temperature [ 120 ]. Hydrogen produced from fossil fuels cannot be regarded as really an environmentally benign fuel because it takes a very long time to regenerate fossil fuels and the consumption of fossil fuel increases the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere contributing to global warming. For the realization of a sustainable society, hydrogen needs to be produced from renewable resources and natural energy like biomass energy.

Biomass (e.g., plants, starch and oil) and its derivatives (e.g., ethanol, glycerol, sugars and methane) have attracted much attention as the best candidate for hydrogen sources among the renewable resources. If the biomass and its derivatives are consumed for hydrogen production with carbon dioxide formation, the produced carbon dioxide from biomass and its derivatives can be converted again into biomass through plant photosynthesis. This means that the carbon dioxide produced from the biomass should not, in principle, contribute to global warming (i.e., it is carbon–neutral) when the consumption of the biomass does not exceed the natural capacity for conversion of carbon dioxide to biomass.

Thermal gasification and biological hydrogen production by fermentation are the two major approaches extensively studied as methods to convert biomass into hydrogen. Although these are promising hydrogen production methods, there are major problems to be solved for practical appreciation. For instance, thermal gasification requires high reaction temperatures at 1073–1273 K and thus consuming considerable amounts of energy while the reaction rate of biological hydrogen production is quite low that results in low productivity. Photocatalytic hydrogen production from water and biomass derivatives is another possible hydrogen production method from biomass [ 121 , 122 ]. This system is very attractive since hydrogen can be produced at room temperature using sunlight and a photocatalyst. Research on photocatalytic hydrogen production from biomass began in the early 1980s. Since then various attempts have been made to achieve efficient hydrogen evolution.

Some challenges need to be considered in the effort to use biomass energy in Ethiopia, which includes:

Lack of comprehensive national biomass policy and regulation: there is a lack of well-thought and comprehensive policies that direct activities in the biomass energy sector. When there is a requirement to promote the growth of particular renewable energy technologies, policies might be declared that do not adhere to the plans for the development of renewable energy. There is no defined framework for the biomass sector [ 31 ].

Weak Institutional coordination: There is an absence of competent institutions with strong mandates and long-term oriented action plans. Institutes, agencies stakeholders who work under the development of biomass energy show poor inter-institutional coordination. Progress in the production of biomass energy is limited by this lack of collaboration, coordination, and delays. Owing to weak coordination, the delay in implementing policies has limited investors' interest in investing in this field. There are some shortcomings in the pre-feasibility reports prepared by the concerned states, which could affect small developers, i.e., local developers, who are willing to undertake projects in the field of biomass energy, in particular biogas. For the creation of renewable infrastructure, proper or well-established research centers are not available and also customer service centers are not available to guide developers concerning renewable projects [ 31 ].

Air pollution: a major cause of air quality deterioration and health risks is the smoke that is created from the burning of wood fires. Many women who use firewood as cooking fuel are exposed to smoke, posing a health risk that can lead to respiratory diseases.

Food insecurity: the crops used as energy crops, such as sugar cane, corn, maize, etc., are primarily food crops. Using them for energy production, therefore, results in competition with food production, especially at a time when there is a need to grow more food to feed the population and bring down rising food prices [ 51 ].

Forest degradation: the country's rapidly increasing population creates increased demand for firewood and charcoal from a decreasing supply that results in the degradation of forest hectares and other vegetation types [ 123 ].

Inadequate transfer of technology and localization: the majority of energy technology hardware is imported due to insufficient technology transfer and underdeveloped manufacturing industries, leading to high foreign exchange spending. There is, for example, a lack of equipment and infrastructure for the storage of biogas for cooking purposes and its conversion into electricity for the population's use, particularly in rural areas [ 31 ].

Land availability and right: the bioenergy industry requires large land for the energy corps to plant. Current communal land ownership, with pockets of private ownership, would be an obstacle to large-scale cultivation, which could impact the supply of raw materials for the production of bioenergy [ 31 ].

Prospect of using biomass

Despite these problems, Ethiopia has prospects for the use of biomass resources, including:

Integrative policy and strategy: even if the country has a bioenergy development unit, but so far the formulated national bioenergy policy and strategy are not available. Therefore, it should be formulated and responsible for this unit. Agricultural, forestry, water, food protection, environmental, rural development, financial and other aspects that are important to bioenergy production should be incorporated into the bioenergy policy and strategy. Policies will be more successful if they are specifically related to the target and should be competitively directed towards technological change and the use of biomass. In the long run, policies should reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote rural development and decrease poverty. In order to encourage bioenergy access, policy and strategies should contribute to the decentralization and devolution of powers to the locals. In developing the bioenergy sector, the government should collaborate with civil society, the private sector and the international community. To ensure market development for bioenergy, it is necessary to promote public–private partnerships and incentives-based bioenergy policies. It is also very important to establish action plans, followed by implementation and monitoring and evaluation.

In addition to the direct effects of bioenergy development, bioenergy policy should deal with indirect environmental and social effects. The formulation of the bioenergy policy is a cross-cutting topic and should include policies on agriculture, forestry, the atmosphere and land use. Adequate consultation and assessment of the environmental impacts of the value chain of the bioenergy type must be carried out. It should be a broad participatory process involving all stakeholders. The policy should be broad-based and promote and encourage the production of bioenergy, education and training, research and development, transport and infrastructure, as well as incentives for producers, distributors and consumers.

Dissemination of information, institutional coordination and stakeholder engagement: Government should disseminate to farmers, investors and lending agencies, planning authorities, forest owners and local communities information and tools for implementing bioenergy projects. Such information and tools may include business models, models of ownership and financing. Such data and resources may include business models, models of ownership and financing. Priorities should be given to institutional coordination and inclusive stakeholder participation. Ministries such as the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Technology should participate in all matters relating to the development of bioenergy in the country. It is important to engage and consult stakeholders, such as chiefs and their local communities, local municipal authorities, civil societies, farmers and forestry associations, local and foreign investors with an interest in bioenergy.

Bioenergy and feedstock value chains: a comprehensive analysis on bioenergy value chains, the availability of feedstock for bioenergy production and food security needs to be performed. It is important to decide exactly how much can be tapped from each bioenergy form and from which feedstock and in which area. The need for foliage, animal feedstock and bioenergy feedstock be assessed and compared. It is important to accurately determine the competing needs for food, bioenergy production and other needs. It is also worth evaluating the relevant technology and its prices.

Research and development: to identify environmental and social risks such as soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, water resource stress, tradeoffs in food supply and impacts of land use change, the government should conduct research through different stakeholders like, universities, scientific and industrial research institutes, agricultural, livestock, and soil. It is very important to communicate and report research outcomes to stakeholders and the general public. To assess direct and indirect effects, complete life-cycle analyses should be performed. The government should not hurry to develop bioenergy, but first, take the appropriate steps to assess the risks involved in the bioenergy sector growth. Prioritize the mitigation of climate change, enhancement of energy security and research and development. This would make it possible to have a sustainable bioenergy sector. Some of the research-requiring areas include but are not limited to, land-use reform, feedstock capital, feedstock transformation technologies, financial schemes and marketing frameworks, mandates and blending targets, and an integrated holistic national strategy with clear bioenergy roles.

Conclusions

Biomass energy has been the oldest kind of energy utilized by humans as a source of fuel for many years. It is considered as renewable energy source because, unlike carbon-emitting fossil fuels, it is a carbon–neutral energy source. This is why there are breakthroughs and advancements in biomass energy, particularly in the current usage of biomass as a source of energy in many countries. It is an important source of energy, providing more than 80% of Ethiopia's energy consumption. Forest residues, agricultural crop residues, livestock manure, and municipal solid wastes are Ethiopia's primary biomass resources. Electricity access is limited in Ethiopia because the majority of the population lives in rural areas, owing to the country's dispersed population distribution, despite the fact that Ethiopia has a large potential for various alternative energy sources. Furthermore, because national grids were located far from the residents of rural communities, the majority of rural communities lacked daily access to electricity. The majority of rural societies rely on the free collection of woody biomass, crop residues, and livestock dung. As a result, they rely on traditional biomass energy sources for cooking, heating, and lighting, such as burning wood, dung, and agricultural waste. Currently, the demand for energy is increasing, while the supply of power generation must be balanced with the demand. Therefore, this review describes the current dependence on traditional biomass energy types, its impact, and the biomass resources currently available in Ethiopia, as well as their potential for use in the production of various biofuel types. This would help to solve the gap between demand and supply of energy and encourage sustainable delivery of renewable energy to rural communities. Moreover, wastewater treatment, biological waste gas treatment, and hydrogen generation from biomass derivatives over heterogeneous photocatalysts are highlighted among the various prospects for utilizing biomass energy at a big scale and developing biomass energy. We sincerely hope that our contributions to this review will be of great value to researchers, instructors, decision-makers, practicing professionals, senior undergraduate and graduate students, and others who are interested in pollution remediation and energy production and storage using renewable and low-cost bio resources.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Abbreviations

Acute lower respiratory infections

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy

Greenhouse gases

Household air pollution

Inter-connected system

Least developed countries

Liquefied petroleum gas

National Biogas Programme of Ethiopia

Self-contained system

Sustainable Development Goals

Sub-Saharan African

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Acknowledgements

Author information, authors and affiliations.

Department of Physics, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Wolaita Sodo University, P.O. Box 138, Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia

Natei Ermias Benti, Solomon Gunta & Ashenafi Abebe Asfaw

Center for Environmental Science, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P. O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Natei Ermias Benti

Department of Physics, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P. O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Gamachis Sakata Gurmesa, Gashaw Beyene Kassahun & Genene Shiferaw Aga

Department of Physics, Collage of Natural and Computational Sciences, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia

Tegenu Argaw

Department of Physics, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Mettu University, P. O. Box 382, Mettu, Ethiopia

Gamachis Sakata Gurmesa

Department of Natural Resource Management, College of Agriculture and Natural Resource Management, Wolkite University, P. O. Box 07, Wolkite, Ethiopia

Abreham Berta Aneseyee

Applied Physics Program, Adama Science and Technology University, P. O. Box 188, Adama, Ethiopia

Gashaw Beyene Kassahun

Department of Physics, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Debre Birhan University, P. O. Box 445, Debre Birhan, Ethiopia

Genene Shiferaw Aga

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Correspondence to Natei Ermias Benti or Ashenafi Abebe Asfaw .

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Benti, N.E., Gurmesa, G.S., Argaw, T. et al. The current status, challenges and prospects of using biomass energy in Ethiopia. Biotechnol Biofuels 14 , 209 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-021-02060-3

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Received : 22 July 2021

Accepted : 18 October 2021

Published : 26 October 2021

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-021-02060-3

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