BIOMASS

• Source of premium liquid and gaseous fuels.

• Biomass examples: Slurry, rotten vegetables,
municipal refuse and other wastes and
refuses.
• Application examples: World’s ancient fuel,
food and shelter, 7 million plants in china,
75000 in India.
 Bio fuels

• Dry biomass for example straw, wood etc.

– Involves direct combustion
• Wet Biomass for example: slurry, leaves, etc.
– Needs extra energy to get dried or converted into
premium fuels.
 Biofuels
• Solid
• Liquid
• Gas
 Solid
• Wood, straw, refuse. Municipal refuse
• Carry low calorific value (1/3 of coal):
– dried, shredded, and burnt.
 Liquid
• Alcohol, vegetable oil, euphorbia plants in
desert.
• Alcohol have high octane but low calorific
value.
 Gas
• Methanol and ethanol (mixed with petrol for
combustion engines).
• Mixture of methane and Co2 with traces of
Hydrogen Sulphide
• Energy content equivalent to 2/3 of natural
gas.
 Conversion Technology
• Direct combustion
• Wet process:
– Anaerobic Digestion, Fermentation
• Dry process:
– Pyrolosis, Liquefaction, Gasification
 Wet Process
A bio-chemical Conversion Process

a. Anaerobic Digestion:
b. Fermentation
 a. Anaerobic Digestion
• A natural decay process
• Process involves decomposition of wet sludge etc. in the absence of
oxygen at 25°C
• Microbial digestion: micro organism called anaerobic that live and
grow without oxygen
– (min 65 degree centigrade and moist:80%)
• Gas contains methane, CO2, Hydrogen Sulphide.
• Can be converted to synthetic natural gas. Example is Biogas plants.
• Natural process takes longer time.
• Speedy process by temperature (takes 10 days for human feces).
• 1kg gives 450 to 500 litres of gas at atmospheric pressure
• A person’s sewage/day can produce 30 litres of sludge gas.
• By products: residue fertilizers (Rich in protein supplement, fodder)
 b. Fermentation
• Involves fermentation using yeast and distillation
process.
• Materials could be sugar, grain or synthetic
• 30 hrs of fermentation contains 10% alcohol
• Gasohol (90% gasoline + 10% alcohol).
• One ton of sugar produces 520 litres of alcohol
• One ton of grain produces 350 litres of alcohol
• One ton of wood produces 260 litres of alcohol
• Residue contains high protein content used as food
supplement
 Dry Process
(A Thermochemical conversion Process)

Types:
a. Pyrolosis
b. Liquefaction
 a. Pyrolosis
• Roasting dry woody matter (straw, chip) etc. in
the absence of air
• Isolates char residue behind
 b. Liquefaction
• Converts biomass (even coal) into liquid fuel.
• Hydrogen- Carbon ratio is increased by
adding hydrogen.
• Process: heating of fuel stock at low
temperature
• Vapors condensed from gas steam which
separates into two phases: oil and alcohol
• By products: CO, H2, Carbon char
 c. Gasification
• Heating biomass with limited oxygen to
produce low BTU gas.
• Reacting it with steam and oxygen at high
pressure to form medium BTU gas.
• Treating it with higher ratio to form high BTU
gas. (Gasification, steam gasification,
hydrogenation).
Conversion Solids Liquids Gases Further Premium
process treatment fuels

Anaerobic Methane CO2 Methane

digestion CO2 Removal

Fermentation Ethanol Distillation Ethanol

Pyrolosis char

Liquefaction char Acids, oil Fuel gas Steam Methane,

or alcohol

Gasification char Fuel gas Steam do

Steam char Methane Steam do

gasification

Hydrogenation Mixture of oil Distillation Hydrocarbo

n
Liquids
POTENTIAL FOR BIOMASS
 Highlights of the resource utilization
• Extra cost involves in little.
• Existing of competing market. (e.g., straw, chips)
• Collection of material
• Seasonal variation in the availability of resource.
• Higher transport cost.
• Other alternative approach for disposal of waste exists, e.g. landfill bio
reactions (e.g. 4000 millions m3 of gas/year)
• 2/3 of gas produced in UK sewage is used for electricity & heat.
• Agricultural waste & residues: present approach, spreading, alternative
approach digestion.
• Advantages: gas availability, reduces pollution, smells gives fertilizers and
animal supplement.
 Carbon to Nitrogen Ratio (C/N)
• From a biological point of view, digesters can be considered as a culture of bacteria feeding
upon and converting organic wastes.
• The elements carbon (in the form of carbohydrates) and nitrogen (as protein, nitrates,
ammonia, etc.) are the chief foods of anaerobic bacteria.
• Carbon is utilized for energy and the nitrogen for building cell structures. These bacteria use
up carbon about 30 times faster than they use nitrogen.
• Anaerobic digestion proceeds best when raw material fed to the bacteria contains
a certain amount of carbon and nitrogen together.
• The carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N) represents the proportion of the two elements. A material
with 15 times more carbon than nitrogen would have a C/N ratio of 15 to 1 (written C/N =
15/1, or simply 15).
• A C/N ratio of 30 (C/N = 30/1, 30 times as much carbon as nitrogen) will permit digestion to
proceed at an optimum rate, if other conditions are favorable, of course.
• If there is too much carbon (high C/N ratio; 60/1 for example) in the raw wastes, nitrogen will
be used up first, with carbon left over.
• This will make the digester slow down. On the other hand, if there is too much nitrogen (low
C/N ratio; 30/15 for example, or simply 2), the carbon soon becomes exhausted and
fermentation stops.
• The remaining nitrogen will be lost as ammonia gas (NH3). This loss of nitrogen decreases the
fertility of the effluent sludge.