Bioenergy
Biomass is one of the most important renewable energy sources. There are many different kinds of biomass to be used for energy production.
The most important one is wood, some other kinds are e.g. straw, grain, agricultural waste. The potential of biomass is very large and it can be used in various ways. The most common use of biomass is wood combustion for heat production mainly for space heating and cooking but also for medium and large scale electricity production. Advanced technologies are under development, e.g. biomass gasification. Another important source is biogas from organic waste coming from agriculture and food industry. Liquid biofuels can be produced from oil-bearing plants and from ethanol produced from sugar-bearing plants and in the future from wood.
Three general origins can be classified to tab this resources:
- Solid sources: wood, agricultural bioproducts (e.g. straw), energy rich plants.
- Liquid sources: Ethanol (e.g. sugar and starch rich plants), plant oil (e.g. sun-flower).
- Gasified sources: agricultural biogas, landfill gas, biogas (from sewage plants).
For each source a range of aspects has to be considered: technologies combustion, fermentation, rafination, CO2 balance of source combined with appropriate technology, cost competitiveness of such combinations.