ENERGY FROM BIOMASS: SOURCES, CHARACTERISTICS AND APPLICATIONS
1. ENERGY FROM BIOMASS
SOURCES, CHARACTERISTICS, CLASSIFICATION,
PROPERTIES, CRITERIA FOR CHOOSING TREE
SPECIES FOR ENERGY PLANTATIONS
2. BIOMASS
• Biomass is material derived from plant and
animal sources.
• Forestry, Agriculture, Urban and Industrial
Waste Disposables are sources of biomass that
may be converted into biofuels.
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3. On a global basis
• Biomass contributes about 14% of the
world's energy (55EJ or 25 M barrels oil
equivalent). This offsets 1.1 Pg C of net
CO2 emissions annually.
• Biomass based energy in developing
countries:
About 90% in countries such as Nepal,
Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda
About 45% in India, 28% in China and
Brazil
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4. In European industrial countries / EU /USA:
14% in Austria, 20% in Finland and 18% in
Sweden.
•It represents about 4% of the primary energy use
in both the EU and USA.
• In the EU this is equivalent to 2 EJ/year of the
estimated total consumption
54 EJ. Estimates show a likely potential in
Europe in 2050 of 9.0-13.5 EJ depending on land
areas, yields, and recoverable residues,
representing about 17-30% of projected total
energy
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5. Share of bio-energy in primary
energy consumption in India
In India, the share of bio-energy was
estimated at around 36 % to 46 % of the
total primary energy consumption in 1991
[Ravindranath and Hall, 1995], and has come down
to around 27 % in 1997 [Ravindranath et al., 2000].
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6. Rural India & bio-energy
• Before the advent of fossil fuels, energy needs for all
activities were met by renewable sources such as
solar, biomass, wind, animal and human muscle
power.
• It is interesting to note that in rural India, traditional
renewables such as biomass and human and animal
energy continue to contribute 80 % of the energy
consumption [MNES, 2001].
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7. Fuelwood alone accounts for about 60% of the total fuel in
the rural areas. In urban areas, the consumption pattern is
changing fast due to increased availability of commercial
fuel (LPG, kerosene, and electricity). During 1983–1999,
the consumption of traditional fuel declined from 49% to
24% and LPG connection to households increased from
10% to 44%. Developments in the petroleum sector
facilitate the availability of LPG and kerosene, the two
most important forms of energy preferred as substitutes
for fuelwood in households for cooking.
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10. Problems in use of bio-fuels
Traditional biomass use is characterized by
• low efficiency of devices, scarcity of fuelwood,
drudgery associated with the devices used,
• environmental degradation (such as forest
degradation) and low quality of life.
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11. India has over two decades of experience of implementing
bioenergy programmes. The Ministry of Non-conventional
Energy Sources (MNES), the prime mover of the
programmes in India, has now responded with a
comprehensive renewable energy policy to give a
further fillip to the evolving sector. The need for climate
change mitigation provides an opportunity for promoting
the renewable energy (RE) sector. This calls for an
assessment of the policy barriers to the spread of
bioenergy technologies (BETs) in India.
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12. • The experience shows that despite several financial
incentives and favourable policy measures, the rate of
spread of BETs is low because of the existence of
institutional, technical, market and credit barriers.
• These barriers are by and large known, but what still
remains to be understood is the type and size of barriers
from the stakeholders’ perspective, which varies for a
given technology and the stakeholder.
• Policy options suggested to overcome such barriers
include:
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13. Barriers:
(1) rational energy pricing,
(2) incentives to promote private sector participation,
(3) institutions to empower and enable community participation,
(4) financial support for large-scale demonstration programmes and for
focused research and development on BETs for cost reduction and
efficiency improvement, and finally,
(5) favourable land tenurial arrangements to promote sustained
biomass supply.
The global mechanisms for addressing climate change such as the
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the Global Environment
Facility (GEF) provide additional incentives to promote BETs.
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14. Modern Bio Energy Technologies
•Offer opportunities to conserve biomass
through efficiency improvements, and for
conversion to electricity and liquid and
gaseous fuels.
• Bio-energy technologies based on
sustained biomass supply are carbon
neutral and lead to net CO2 emission
reduction if used to substitute fossil fuels.
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15. Sources of bio-fuels
Primary:
• Forestry-Dense, Open; Social Forestry
• Agriculture, Animal Husbandry,
• Marine
Secondary:
• Industry,
• Municipal Waste
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16. Forest resource base-India
• 1 % of World's forests on 2.47 % of world's
geographical area
• Sustaining 16 % of the world's population and
15 % of its livestock population
• Forest area cover—63.3 mill. hectares, is
19.2% of the total geographical area of India.
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17. Causes of tremendous pressure on
Forest resource base
• Exponential rise in human and livestock
population
• increasing demand on land allocation to
alternative uses such as agriculture, pastures
and development activities.
• Insufficient availability, poor purchasing power
of people in rural areas for commercial fuels
like kerosene & LPG
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18. The National Forest Policy
• A minimum of 33 % of total land area under
forest or tree cover from present 19.2%
cover.
•Recognize the requirements of local people
for timber, firewood, fodder and other non-
timber forest produce-- as the first charge on
the forests,
• The need for forest conservation on the
broad principles of sustainability and
people’s participation.
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19. Joint Forest Management system.
15.5 m. ha of degraded forest land has natural root
stock available, which may regenerate given proper
management under the JFM
•Another 9.5 m. ha is partially degraded with some
natural rootstock, and another six m. ha is highly
degraded. These last two categories together
constitute another 15.5 m. ha, which requires
treatment through technology-based plantation of
fuel, fodder and timber species with substantial
investment and technological inputs.
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20. The emphasis will be on:
• Fuelwood and fodder plantations to meet
the requirements of rural and urban
populations.
•Plantations of economically important
species (through use of high-yielding clones)
on refractory areas to meet the growing
timber requirement.
• Supplementing the incomes of the tribal
rural poor through management and
development of non-timber forest products.
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21. The emphasis will be on cont…
• Developing and promoting pasture on suitable
degraded areas.
• Promoting afforestation and development of
degraded forests by adopting, through micro-
planning, an integrated approach on a watershed
basis.
• Suitable policy initiatives on rationalization of tree
felling and transit rules, assured buy-back
arrangements between industries and tree
growers, technology extension, and incentives like
easy availability of institutional credit etc.
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22. Forestry in the New Millenium:
To sum up, tropical India, with its adequate
sunlight, rainfall, land and labour,
is ideally suitable for tree plantations.
With the enhanced plan outlay for
forestry sector and financial support
from donor agencies, the country will
be able to march ahead towards the target
of 33 percent forest cover.
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23. Agro-forestry
Integrates trees with farming, such as lines
of trees with crops growing between them
(alley cropping), hedgerows, living fences,
windbreaks, pasture trees, woodlots, and
many other farming patterns.
Agro-forestry increases biodiversity,
supports wildlife, provides firewood,
fertilizer, forage, food and more, improves
the soil, improves the water, benefits the
farmers, benefits everyone.
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24. Energy Plantation: Growing trees for their fuel
value
• ‘Wasteland’-- not usable for agriculture
and cash crops, useful for a social forestry
activity
• A plantation that is designed or managed
and operated to provide substantial amounts
of usable fuel continuously throughout the
year at a reasonable cost-- 'energy
plantation'
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25. Criteria for energy plantation
• 'Wasteland‘--sufficient area, not usable for
agriculture and cash crops, available for a social
forestry activity
• Tree species favorable to climate and soil conditions
• Combination of harvest cycles and planting densities
that will optimize the harvest of fuel and the
operating cost--12000 to 24000 trees per hectare.
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26. Criteria for energy plantation-continued
• Multipurpose tree species-fuel wood supply &
improve soil condition
• Trees that are capable of growing in
deforested areas with degraded soils, and
withstand exposure to wind and drought
• Rapid growing legumes that fix atmospheric
nitrogen to enrich soil
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27. Criteria for energy plantation-continued
• Species that can be found in similar ecological
zones
• Produce wood of high calorific value that
burn without sparks or smoke
• Have other uses in addition to providing fuel -
- multipurpose tree species most suited for
bio-energy plantations or social forestry
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29. Leucaena leucocephalaCrop Use:
Forage legume = vegetable,
• Regeneration of earthworm populations in a
degraded soil by natural and planted fallows under
humid tropical conditions
• Use of Leucaena leucocephala: Fodder,
fuelwood, erosion control, nitrogen fixation,
alley cropping, staking material
• Ntrogen fixation legume: Due to Leucaena
leucocephala crop wasteland is reclaimed
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30. HYDROCARBON PLANTS, OIL
PRODUCING SHRUBS:
• Hydrocarbon-- Euphorbia group
• & Euphorbia Lathyrus
• OIL Shrubs-- Euphorbia Tirucali
• Soyabean
• Sunflower
• Groundnut
• Jatropa
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31. Classification of biomass based on
physicochemical properties:
• WOODY,
• NON-WOODY(cultivated),
• WET [AQUEOUS] ORGANIC WASTE
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32. Physical Properties of Solid Biomass :
• Moisture Content,
• Particle Size and Size distribution
• Bulk Density & Specific gravity
• Higher Heating Value
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33. Chemical Composition of Solid
Biomass :
• Total Ash %,
• Solvent soluble %,
• Water Soluble %,
• Lignin %,
• Cellulose %,
• Hemi-cellulose %
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38. The promotion of energy using biomass available
in form of natural waste such as agricultural
residue, sugarcane bagasse, banana stems,
organic effluents, cattle dung, night soil, fuelwood
and twigs holds considerable promise. A National
Programme on Biomass Power/Cogeneration was
launched to optimise the use of a variety of
forestry-based and agro-based residues for power
generation by the adoption of state-of-the-art
conversion technologies. 38
