4. Plan
I. Introduction to Biomass Energy
II. The Concept of Bioenergy
III. Advantages and Disadvantages
IV. Perspectives
5. I. Introduction to biomass energy
• Energy context
Energy and environment form up a binomium that can hardly be separated?
Our world is facing several problems nowadays such as accelerated
demographic growing, lack of sufficient food and health for all the inhabitants,
environmental disasters including global warming, energetic crisis, some among
all. From this group, energy and environment problems are quite considerable
and are linked in many ways. For example the use of fossil-derived energetics
has become in a serious problem due to the prodction of greenhouse gases and
the subsequent global warming effect. From the other hand, production of
goods for human life has led to the generation of liquid, solid and gaseous
residues which contaminate all kind of matrixes (water, air, soil pollution ).
Many of these residues are biomass and can be employed to produce energy.
6. • Biomass
People have used biomass energy—energy from living things—since the
earliest “cave men” first made wood fires for cooking or keeping warm.
Biomass is organic, meaning it is made of material that comes from living
organisms, such as plants and animals. The most common biomass
materials used for energy are plants, wood, and waste. These are
called biomass feedstocks. Biomass energy can also be a non-renewable
energy source. Biomass contains energy first derived from the sun: Plants
absorb the sun’s energy through photosynthesis, and convert carbon
dioxide and water into nutrients (carbohydrates).
7. II. The concept of bioenergy
Producing bioenergy consists of transforming the energy contained in organic
matter to facilitate its use as a source of energy. The energy from these organisms
can be transformed into usable energy through direct and indirect means.
Biomass can be burned to create heat (direct), converted into electricity (direct),
or processed into biofuel (indirect).
The energy exploitation of biomass can lead to the production of bioenergy in
many forms:
solids : wood pellets, densified logs, wood chips and biochar;
liquids : ethanol, pyrolytic oil, cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel;
gas : biogas and renewable natural gas.
9. Mobile biomass power unit based on Rankine
cycle 50 kWe in the Amazon region
Mobile biomass power unit based on Rankine
cycle 50 kWe in the Amazon region
12. III. Advantages and disadvantages
1. Advantages of biomass
Its renewability
Many biomass fuels can grow back after usage. As such, if we maintain resources
through replanting and replenishment programs, it is possible to make biomass
last longer than any current fossil fuels.
It is carbon neutral
Biomass only rejects in the atmosphere what was absorbed by plants during their
lifecycles. Later, new plants can re-absorb that same quantity of carbon causing a
neutrality.
Very accessible
Just like sun and water, biomass fuels can nearly be found anywhere on Earth and
thus we have less risks of running out of this fuel, unlike fossil fuels which are
today starting to become rarer and will be unavailable in a few decades. However,
we must use biomass with responsibility to preserve that abundance.
13. Waste reduction
Since a lot of our wastes are plants and biodegradables, biomass can make a
use of it and allow us to get rid of it in a productive and benefice way.
Furthermore, due to the fact that those wastes that would usually sit in landfills
and potentially endanger local wildlife, biomass offers a way to protect
environment.
It is not expensive in comparison to fossil fuels
Products like oil and gas require equipment’s such as pipes, drills, as well as
experts, scientists and technologies that at the end elevate the cost to new
levels whereas biomass is a lot less expensive. It is because of its accessibility
and easiness of production. This also applies to clients who see their energy
bills reducing with the use of biomass energy.
It is versatile
Biomass fuels can be used for many things: we can produce biodiesel for cars
and other vehicles, wood can produce heat, also the steam that we can obtain
from some biomasses can power energy turbines.
14. We are less dependent of fossil fuels
Fossil fuels are majorly responsible for climate change and other pollutions. By
replacing them with biomass, which far surpasses them in terms of abundance,
we reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Even better, if some of them, like oil,
are not used for fuel, they can serve another purpose.q
15. 2) Disadvantages of this source of energy
As it has advantages, biomass energy also has disadvantages.
-First, biomass production plants need a very large area to operate and store
which is limiting for any urban areas. When biomass plants grow their own
matter they require even more space which means a higher cost food surrounding
landscape. That said, these technologies for creating biomassenergy is improving
all the time, so the need for such a lot of space could change.
-Biofuel isn’t as efficient as fossil fuels and in some cases uses more energy to
actually burn the organic matter that it ends up producing. It often has to be
blended with petrol and diesel to bring its efficiency up to speed. This alone
means that biomass isn’t available to use in a large scale as it is.
-In addition, thanks to methane gases that are contained within animal waste,
biomass isn’t squeaky clean, in fact far from it. Methane is arround 30 times more
potent for global warming than carbon dioxyde. Burning natural materiel like
wood also emit un-encironmentally friendly pollutions such as nitrous oxide and
carbon monoxide into yhe atmosphere. Despite biomass being carbon neutral,
16. it is still releasing carbon dioxide into the air which puts it behind carbon zero
technologies like wind.
-Using wood to create biomass means increased demand, which in turn
can lead to deforestation. Despite waste wood being,in plentifful supply,
there’s concerns about the requirement for more being met by deforestation .
When biomass production plants grow monoculture crops, which streaps
nutrient from the soil and removes biodiversity. When algae is used to
produce biomass, it relies upon phosphors fertilizers that damage water
supply for the surrounding area.
-Biomass construction plants don’t come cheap. The harvest :
transportation and storage of organic matter can be costly and go beyond
what other renewable sources need such as solar power. Regardless, biomass
is still less expensive to harvest than it is to mine for fossil fuels.
17. IV. Perspectives
Senegal
The ministry of mines and geology organized in corporation with ministry of
petroleum and energy, the permanent secretariat of COS-PETROGAZ, the
COROPES and the ECP an event called “Conference-Exposition MSGBC OIL, Gaz
and Power “. It was a way to promote renewable energies and investments in
sector of energy. This event made in place 1,2 and 3 December of the 2021 year in
a Mondial context of energetic transition. Also, we had good returns about the
domain of clean energies. It is One of the first conference energy in Africa that is
reunited the whole energy chain.
Partners like Europe, north America and Asia will be standing up at this meeting.
NB: MSGBC= Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry.
Subjects like Biomass and other types of clean energy are brought up in this
meeting.
18. Senegal is aiming to boost the availability of biofuels for SMEs active in sub-
Saharan Africa’s agro-industry sector, following the launch of its BioStar project
earlier this year.
The goal of the project is to expand energy access in rural areas by generating
energy from residual biomass produced by agribusiness companies. The project
involves financing in excess of $12.7 million (7.2 billion CFA francs) from the
European Union and French Development Agency, and is being implemented in
both Senegal and neighboring Burkina Faso.
“BioStar is a project geared towards research and development, capacity building
and professional diploma-based training on priority issues, such as access to
energy, innovation in agribusiness transformation, the profitability of SMEs, the
circular economy, climate change and rural employment,” noted Younoussa
Mballo, Technical Counselor at Senegal’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development.
