Biomass+(including+ethanol)

Biomass (including ethanol) By: Tarin, Cole, Eliza, and Blake

Biomass is plant or animal material containing chemically stored energy from the sun. It is one of the most precious and abundant energy sources on earth because it can be either eaten as food or burned and used as a form of energy. Wood is an example of biomass that has many uses including shelter, warmth, tools, etc. Biomass is also more environmentally friendly than other sources of fuel such as coal because it gives off less air emissions and because biomass can be grown there is no lack of it available.
 * Introduction :**

1. BIOMASS
-What is biomass? -Definition of Biomass -Biomass sources -Uses of Biomass -Advantages of Biomass -Disadvantages of Biomass -Chemical make-up and science to Biomass -Sources of Biomass in America -The burning of Biomass and it's effects on the environment -Environmental Issues

2. BIOFUEL (Ethanol)
-What is biofuel -The process of Biofuel and how it is created -Financial incentives for future biofuel -A success story on Biofuel in Brazil -Questions


 * __BIOMASS__**

-biomass is an organic material that contains stored energy from the sun -biomass is a renewable energy, like solar is -biomass is made by living organisms that contains stored energy from the sun -Biomass is the oldest source of energy besides the sun -There are four types of biomass, wood and agricultural, solid waste, landfill gas and biogas, and alcohol fuel -Biomass helps to create biofuel, which is ethanol that is used to power our cars []
 * [|What is biomass?]**

__**Definitions:**__ __Definition__ of[| biomass] 1) The total mass of organisms in a given area or volume 2) Organic matter used as a fuel, esp. in a power station for the generation of electricity 3) [|Biomass as the solar energy stored in chemical form in plant and animal materials is among the most precious and versatile resources on earth. It provides not only food but also energy, building materials, paper, fabrics, medicines and chemicals. Biomass has been used for energy purposes ever since man discovered fire. Today, biomass fuels can be utilised for tasks ranging from heating the house to fuelling a car and running a computer.]

__Definition__ of [|cellulose] A fibrous substance that forms the main material in the cell walls of plants. It is a organic molecule, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen

Energy crops are a main source of biomass because they are environmentally helpful because they are grown specifically to be burned so as to keep populations steady and prevent deforestation. Grasses are another form of biomass that grows quickly and can be harvested quickly. Grasses such as switchgrass grow quickly so that they can be harvested for up to 10 years before the ground needs to be replanted. Switchgrass grows throughout the country and is a very hardy species that can resist floods, insects, and requires very little pesticide to thrive. While switchgrass is mainly used for feeding livestock, it also has promise to be used as a biofuel and biopower. Manure from livestock should be used for soil management; however, some manure can also be converted into biogas which can be helpful in three ways: the biogas can be used on the site to power the farm's own natural gas use, clean the biogas and inject it into natural gas pipelines, or the biogas can be burned into steam which goes through a turbine to produce renewable energy that can be used on site or fed into the energy grid. Wood; however, is the most commonly used fuel that is burned to produce energy. They are most commonly used by lumber, pulp, and paper mill factories to provide heat and power. Also shavings and pulp produced during the process can be used as biofuels. A [|chart] of Biomass sources in the United states
 * [|Biomass sources:]**

**[|Uses of Biomass]**-liquid and solid fuels are created from biomass-liquid fuels created from biomass include ethanol, which is made through a process known as fermentation. This creates the alcohol that makes the ethanol, which is made of corn.-Another form of fuel is biodiesel, which is also a product made from alcohol and vegetable oil. -biomass is also made into charcoal, which is made of wood. The wood is heated without oxygen, creating a solid form of fuel.

-"According to the Biomass Energy Resource Center in Montpelier, which is organizing the 16th annual Vermont Woodchip and Pellet Heating Conference, public schools in Vermont saved more than $1.7 million by heating with biomass during the 2009-2010 heating season. A total of 23,271 tons of wood chips were burned, the equivalent of more than 1.4 million gallons of oil." []
 * Biomass Advantages**

‍‍-"Theoretically an inexhaustible fuel source -Alcohols and other fuels produced by biomass are efficient, viable, and relatively clean-burning -Available throughout the world" ‍‍ []

The UCSUSA (the Union of Concerned Scientists: Citizens and Scientists for Environmental Solutions) stated: Most scientists believe that a wide range of biomass resources are “beneficial” because their use will clearly reduce overall carbon emissions and provide other benefits. Among other resources, beneficial biomass includes:
 * 1) energy crops that don’t compete with food crops for land
 * 2) portions of crop residues such as wheat straw or corn stover
 * 3) sustainably-harvested wood and forest residues, and
 * 4) clean municipal and industrial wastes." [|[3]]

Beneficial biomass use can be considered part of the terrestrial carbon cycle—the balanced cycling of carbon from the atmosphere into plants and then into soils and the atmosphere during plant decay. When biopower is developed properly, emissions of biomass carbon are taken up or recycled by subsequent plant growth within a relatively short time, resulting in low net carbon emissions. Beneficial biomass sources generally maintain or even increase the stocks of carbon stored in soil or plants. Beneficial biomass also displaces carbon emissions from fossil fuels, such as coal, oil or natural gas, the burning of which adds new and additional carbon to the atmosphere and causes global warming. Among beneficial resources, the most effective and sustainable biomass resources will vary from region to region and also depend on the efficiency of converting biomass to its final application, be it for biopower, biofuels, bioproducts, or heat.

-Biomass produces greenhouse gasses, like carbon dioxide, which is bad for the enviorment -Biomass takes more energy to create than it produces, for example what it takes to grow plants and collect the biomass takes more energy than it produces, like fuel -Biomass is not very effecient, meaning that biomass will not create a product like fuel without using a lot of crop -Because crops are not available year round in certain places that means that biomass is also not available whenever crops are not available
 * [|Biomass Disadvantages]**

__**Biomass chemical level [|picture]**__

An environmental non profit organization in Slovakia stated: "The chemical composition of biomass varies among species, but plants consists of about 25% lignin and 75% carbohydrates or sugars. The carbohydrate fraction consists of many sugar molecules linked together in long chains or polymers. Two larger carbohydrate categories that have significant value are cellulose and hemi-cellulose. The lignin fraction consists of non-sugar type molecules. Nature uses the long cellulose polymers to build the fibers that give a plant its strength. The lignin fraction acts like a “glue” that holds the cellulose fibers together."
 * [|What is the chemical make up of biomass?]**


 * [|Biomass Burning:]**

Biomass burning is when living and dead vegetation gets burned. Human initiated clearing land for land use is considered biomass burning, so are natural, lightning-induced fires. "Scientists estimate that humans are responsible for 90% of biomass burning. "Scientists estimate that humans are responsible for about 90% of biomass burning with only a small percentage of natural fires contributing to the total amount of vegetation burned Since fires produce carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, biomass burning emissions significantly influence the Earth's atmosphere and climate. Biomass burning has both short- and long-term impacts on the environment. Vegetation acts as a sink—a natural storage area—for carbon dioxide by storing it over time through the process of photosynthesis. As burning occurs, it can release hundreds of years worth of stored carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in a matter of hours. Burning also will permanently destroy an important sink for carbon dioxide if the vegetation is not replaced."[]

Biomass plants like any other resource burning plant will release air emissions; however, these will be less than other plants but they are still present. The main advantage that biomass has over other fuels is that if new plant life or vegetation comes up in place of what you have harvested and will burn, you are preventing net carbon dioxide emissions. This is accomplished by planting specific energy crops that are burned only for energy so that they are not taking plants that were there previously; rather, planting more plants then removing them as to prevent deforestation and so the plant population remains stable. Yet there are still disadvantages that mainly come with taking in forest vegetation. when taking vegetation from forests they are reducing biological diversity as well as destroy habitats. Also if land is converted into a biomass crop field there could be negative effects on the soil systems as well as the ecosystem.
 * __Environmental Issues__**


 * __BIOFUEL__** (Ethanol)

"The harnessing of energy from biological mass (biomass) is a simple process. The waste wood and other sources are gathered in big trucks. The waste is then transported to a biomass plant. Here, the waste is fed into furnaces where it is burned. The heat created is http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/how-biomass-energy- http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/how-biomass-energy-works.html http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/how-biomass-energy-works.html to boil water and the energy from the steam is used to rotate turbines and generators."([]) ‍‍‍‍‍‍-[|plants soak up radiant energy from sunlight and transfigure it into chemical energy displayed as glucose (sugar)] ‍‍‍‍‍‍ which is passed onto people people and animals that consume plant matter media type="youtube" key="n_I6bbc5ZT0" height="315" width="420" align="left" This is a brief video on how biomass is manufactured and turned into ethanol ([])
 * [|The Process of Biofuel]**

__**How biomass energy works**__ [|"Direct combustion is the simplest and most obvious means of obtaining energy from biomass; our ancestors have been doing it since the dawn of humanity in the form of wood fires. Other methods, however, are more efficient and less likely to pollute the air. Co-firing mixes biomass with coal at coal-fired power plants, which may offer a transitional means of somewhat cleaner energy until infrastructure for truly renewable energy is in place. "Re-powering" is when coal plants are converted to run entirely on biomass.] [|When direct combustion is used both to heat a building and to produce energy, that process is called 'combined heat and power'. Biomass gasification involves heating biomass under pressure in the presence of a very small, tightly controlled amount of oxygen and converting it to a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide called "syngas;" this gas can be run through a gas turbine or burned and run through a steam turbine to create electricity.] [|Finally, anaerobic digestion utilizes microorganisms to break down biomass in a controlled environment to produce the][|greenhouse gases] [|methane][| and carbon dioxide. Used to process sewage, animal manure and landfill waste, this biomass production method uses the resulting methane for heat and power and prevents it from escaping to the atmosphere."]

The United States Department of Energy is currently running a program to support Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Within this program, the Department of Energy is financially sponsoring renewable energy funding opportunities, sponsoring selected submitted proposals, and obtaining information and guidance on the acquisition and financial assistance award process.
 * [|Financial Opportunities:]**

What are environmental and health benefits to using Biomass energy? -unlike the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, biomass energy does not contribute to the current climate change. the carbon which is stored in biomass is already part of the atmosphere, and does not release more new carbon, so it is not releasing anything harmful. -The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that a biomass-fired facility will achieve a 148% reduction in global warming potential compared to a coal facility. -cleaner air, causing less health problems compared to the burning of coal which have caused [|123,098 lost work days, 845 hospitalizations and 21,532 asthma attacks every year, 1,274 of which are so severe they require emergency room visits the EPA stated just this year. Breathing in small particles, such as coal also causes:] -encourages better forestry practices which in turn lead to increased protection of critical wildlife habitats -produces ash which can be used for soil enhancement in farmland -reduces the impact of invasive species -reduces wildfire risks -improves solid waste management by providing an outlet for land-clearing debris, diseased/infected trees and other wood wastes rather than open burning or depositing in already crowded landfills -reduce the impact of natural disasters by providing an outlet for storm debris. -the Australian government stated: ‍‍Thick smoke from biomass burning does not necessarily cause health problems for everyone exposed to it. Most healthy people recover quickly from exposure to smoke and do not suffer long-term effects. There are a number of factors that determine whether exposure to smoke results in health problems: the concentrations of the air pollutants, the length of exposure, age, individual susceptibility and whether or not there is pre-existing lung or heart disease. Smoke has a range of health effects – from eye and respiratory tract irritation to serious disorders such as breathing problems, bronchitis, increased severity of asthma, cancer and premature death. The very fine particles in smoke can go deep into the lungs and fine particles, by themselves or in combination with other air pollutants, can make pre-existing diseases of the heart and lungs worse. Where there is short-term exposure to smoke, the particles are the most significant threat to public health. High levels of carbon monoxide are poisonous to humans. However, carbon monoxide arising from smoke events does not usually reach levels that pose a risk to the general population, although firefighters and people with heart disease can be at risk. ‍‍
 * [|premature death in people with heart and lung disease, accounting for more deaths in the U.S. each year than either drunk driving or homicide (23,600);]
 * [|triggers thousands of heart attacks each year;]
 * [|worsens respiratory symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath, triggering over 20,000 asthma attacks per year in Indiana;]
 * [|increases hospital admissions, emergency room visits and clinic visits for respiratory diseases and cardiovascular diseases;]
 * [|causes lung function changes, especially in children and people living with lung diseases such as asthma;]
 * [|causes changes in heart rate variability and irregular heartbeat;]
 * [|is associated with the development of chronic respiratory disease in children.]

**Brazil's [|successful sugarcane ethanol]industry owes much to massive investment in infrastructure and research, reports //Carla Almeida//**. ‍"Thirty years ago, when one litre of ethanol was worth three times more than one litre of gasoline, most nations would not have considered investing in it as a biofuel. But Brazil took this path, and now produces the cheapest ethanol in the world. Brazil's favorable conditions and tradition for culturing sugarcane — the most efficient raw material for the production of ethanol — were essential for developing the sector. But it was the government's massive [|investment] in infrastructure and [|research] between 1975 and 1989 that allowed the country to become a leader in the ethanol market." ‍

What are types of biomass? -wood -crops -landfill gas -alcohol fuels -trash
 * __Questions:__**

Why are types of biomass grown? -To create fuel, in solid or liquid form. -waste product -grown for energy in the form of crops for example: ~hemp ~corn ~poplar ~willow ~sorghum ~sugarcane ~switchin