INTRODUCTION: SOCIOECONOMIC ASPECTS OF BIOMASS CONVERSION - Biomass as a Sustainable Energy Source for the Future - page 29

practice improvements, and residue usage. The study, though, does not point toward
substantially opening up large nonland energy supply schemes based on the cultiva-
tion of (macro)algae, which is currently seriously considered.

1.5 A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO MULTIPRODUCT BIOMASS
CONVERSION TECHNIQUES

Biomass is a complex, heterogeneous, and versatile fuel source (see Chapter 2), so
not surprisingly, the technology chain from source (Part I of this topic) to multiple
possible end uses (Part IV of this topic) is quite complicated as can been seen in
Figure 1.10. This integrated schematic also reflects the topics related to conversion
technologies dealt with in this topic (Part III with fundamentals of chemical engineer-
ing and process design dealt with in Part II).
The research, development, deployment, and implementation in society of bioen-
ergy solutions thus comprise a broad, complicated, and challenging working field and
are therefore fascinating to work on.

Oil from
crops

Sugar/starch
from crops

Lignocellulosic
biomass and
residues

Biodegradable
wet wastes

Cultivated
algae (micro/macro)

Trans-
esteriication
(Chapter 15)

Physical
pretreatment
(Chapter 8)

Torrefaction
(Chapter 12)

Hydrolysis
fermentation
(Chapter 13)

Anaerobic
digestion
(Chapter 14)

Combustion
(Chapter 9)

Gasiication
(Chapter 10)

Liquefaction
(Chapter 11)

Combined heat & power
(Chapter 16)

Bio-transportation fuels
(Chapter 17)

(Platform) chemicals
(Chapter 18)

Bioreineries
(Chapter 15)

FIGURE 1.10 Overview of source to end use of biomass for energy supply; the dark
gray boxes represent thermochemical conversion technologies, and the light gray boxes
(bio)chemical conversion technologies.