Content – Other fuels
Biomass includes all living matter and the remains of this.
In the context of energy and fuels, biomass often is used as a common expression for raw material used for biofuel production or even as a fuel itself.
Examples of biomass used for biofuel production would include:
- Wood and forestry residues
- Agriculture products, various food and animal feed crops
- Cereal straw
- Oil palms
- Algea
- Sewage
- Vegetable oils, fish oils and animal fats.
Biomass may be used directly for combustion or as basis for production of biofuels.
For direct combustion that would be burning of wood, sawdust, grass, etc.
Biomass as raw material for producing biofuels would include various forms of processing and refining such as fermentation, the “Biomass to liquid” (BTL) process, biogas (methane) generation by decomposition or anaerobic digestion or production of oil from plants, vegetables or fish and animal fat.
Palm oil is the crop that currently is the most commonly used raw material for biofuel and also the crop that counts for the highest amount of green house gas emissions (from Land Use Change, ILUC/DLUC)) per unit of fuel or energy produced.
Second generation or advanced biofuels often are produced from waste containing vegetable oils or animal fats, or residue from forestry and do not cause any land use change.
Biofuels and biofuel feedstock derived from biomass
The most common biofuels and biofuel feedstock derived from biomass are: