Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Florida, California and New York were large users of MSW for energy.
In Canada, biomass energy equaled the energy produced by nu-
clear plants and represented about one half of that produced from coal.
Biomass made up 12% of the energy in the Atlantic area and almost 25%
in British Columbia. In Canada, biomass energy was used for green-
house heating, health-care facilities, educational institutions, office and
apartment buildings, and large industrial plants including automobile
manufacturing and food processing. Developed nations that generated
higher proportions of their energy from biomass include Ireland with
17% and Sweden with 13%.
BIOMASS FEEDSTOCKS
Biomass feedstocks can be used to create gaseous and liquid fuels.
These can be used on-site, to improve the efficiency of the process or they
can be used in other applications. Sugar, starch or lignocellulosic biomass
such as wood, energy crops, or MSW can provide alcohols such as metha-
nol, ethanol, and butanol. These fuels may be used as a substitute, or addi-
tive, to gasoline. In the biofuel process plant grains and fiber are converted
into sugar and fermented into ethyl alcohol or ethanol. Typically used as
a blending agent with gasoline, higher concentrations can reduce green-
house gasses by 80% compared to straight gasoline.
ETHANOL FUEL
Most ethanol is made from corn. Ethanol produced from corn, pro-
vides about 25% more energy than that required to grow the corn and
distill the ethanol. Ethanol from other sources includes dedicated energy
crops such as switchgrass, which may be grown and harvested with less
energy consumption. Methanol can also be produced from biomass by
chemical processes. Fermentation is an anaerobic biological process where
sugars are converted to alcohol by micro-organisms, usually yeast. The re-
sulting alcohol is ethanol. It can be used in internal combustion engines,
either directly in modified engines or as a gasoline extender in gasohol.
This is gasoline containing up to 20% ethanol.
This type of fuel comes from distilleries using corn, sorghum, sugar
beets and other organic products. The ethyl alcohol, or ethanol fuel pro-
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