Prasun Barua
CHAPTER-3: TYPES AND BENEFITS OF BIOMASS
Types of biomass
There are following types of beneficial biomass in this planet:
Ø Wood and forest residues which are harvested in sustainable way.
Ø Crop residues like wheat straw.
Ø Energy crops which don’t compete with food crops for land.
Ø Clean industrial and municipal wastes.
Typically, beneficial biomass sources help to maintain and increase the stocks of carbon stored in plants or soil. It also moves emissions from fossil fuels, like coal, natural gas and oil. Most sustainable and effective biomass resources may be varied from region to region. It also depends on the types of final application you wish to use. For example, you can utilize biomass as bio power, bio products, heat and biofuel.
Benefits of biomass
Ø Typically, biomass offers environmental, economic and energy security benefits.
Ø Biomass energy decreases air pollution and net carbon emissions.
Ø It contributes to protect the quality of soil, maintain wildlife habitat and avoid erosion.
Ø Biomass helps to minimize the dependency on importing fossil fuels which reduces our expenses.
Ø Rapid growth of biomass energy technology helps farmers and forest owners to obtain valuable new markets for their new energy crops, forest and crops residues.
Ø It contributes to minimize the global warming.