by Kyle Framsburger
This article explains how biomass materials can be used as power and heat sources without the global warming effects of fossil fuels. Governments such as the UK government may support this change to new fuel types with grant aid. We see an example of how this may help new local industries develop in those countries. In Somerset a small company invests in a wood pellet machine to set up production of a biomass fuel.
Using energy from biomass materials results in a closed carbon cycle. In theory there should be no net increase in atmospheric CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels. This is of course critical to national and international attempts to contain the threat of global warming.
This becomes clearer by understanding the carbon cycle. While plants grow they absorb carbon from the air (from carbon dioxide), and energy from the sun. This creates what is known as biomass.
The plants eventually die, and the carbon returns to the atmosphere. If the plant rotted the decay processes release methane and/or carbon dioxide (CH4 and CO2). If the plant is burnt as a fuel then just carbon dioxide is returned.
This carbon cycle is a completely natural process which has existed as long as there have been plants (and animals) on the earth.
Scientists concerned about global warming are interested in the slightly different processes which occur when fossil fuels are burnt. Fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) are also derived from plants, or from animals which ate plants. When fossil fuels are burnt carbon dioxide is also returned to the atmosphere exactly as if a plant was burnt. However the difference is one of timescale. The carbon in the fossil fuels was absorbed by plants over long periods of geological time (tens of millions of years). That carbon has remained locked in the earth for all that time.
If we now burn those fossil fuels in our cars and power stations we are releasing lots of carbon into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. This is carbon which has been locked up for a very long time. The plant life on earth now cannot absorb that carbon quickly enough. The carbon dioxide levels in the earth’s atmosphere grow and the earth becomes warmer (CO2 is a greenhouse gas).
As governments have become concerned about global warming they wish to encourage forms of energy which are carbon neutral. That means favoring the closed carbon cycle resulting from burning plant material (biomass) rather than releasing the stored up carbon contained in fossil fuels.
In the UK government grants are available such as the Bio-Energy Capital Grant Scheme which promote the efficient use of biomass material for energy. The scheme supports the development of biomass heating, and biomass combined heat and power (CHP) in industrial, commercial, local authority, schools, hospitals, social housing etc.
This will likely lead to opportunities for businesses to produce biomass fuels. For example in the UK there are an increasing number of centers of production (both large and small scale) for wood pellets. In the South West of England the Somerset Pellet Mill has imported a 300 kg/hour wood pellet machine from Sweden. In this way a small scale industry develops in an area not noted for its timber resources.
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