What is Biomass?

Biomass is fuel that is developed from organic materials, a renewable and sustainable source of energy used to create electricity or other forms of power.

Some examples of materials that make up biomass fuels are:

• scrap lumber;
• forest debris;
• certain crops;
• manure; and
• some types of waste residues.

With a constant supply of waste – from construction and demolition activities, to wood not used in papermaking, to municipal solid waste – green energy production can continue indefinitely.

Biomass is a renewable source of fuel to produce energy because:

• waste residues will always exist – in terms of scrap wood, mill residuals and forest resources; and
• properly managed forests will always have more trees, and we will always have crops and the residual biological matter from those crops.

ReEnergy Holdings is an integrated waste fuel/biomass renewable energy company. Our facilities collect, process and recycle items for use as fuel, as well as green energy facilities that create power from that waste.

What is biomass power?

Biomass power is carbon neutral electricity generated from renewable organic waste that would otherwise be dumped in landfills, openly burned, or left as fodder for forest fires.

When burned, the energy in biomass is released as heat. If you have a fireplace, you already are participating in the use of biomass as the wood you burn in it is a biomass fuel.

In biomass power plants, wood waste or other waste is burned to produce steam that runs a turbine to make electricity, or that provides heat to industries and homes. Fortunately, new technologies — including pollution controls and combustion engineering — have advanced to the point that any emissions from burning biomass in industrial facilities are generally less than emissions produced when using fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, oil). ReEnergy has included these technologies in our facilities.

Biomass challenges

While the process to create electricity is similar whether using a biomass fuel or a fossil fuel, the equipment needed inside the plant is different. All of ReEnergy’s power generation facilities have been outfitted — and new acquisitions are upgraded — to allow for the burning of biomass.

As with any electrical generation process, the facility needs a steady supply of fuel. In all cases, ReEnergy has suppliers to deliver a steady stream of biomass, and has engaged other suppliers to ensure the facilities have what they need. In addition, we create fuel for other biomass consumers — as well as other products — at our recycling facilities.

When anything is burned, it can create emissions and ash. Our facilities have state-of-the-art cleaning processes that keep emissions below state regulatory levels, and we reuse our ash.

Biomass and the US

Biomass fuels provided about 4 percent of the energy used in the United States in 2010. Of this, about 46 percent was from wood and wood-derived biomass, 43 percent was from biofuels (mainly ethanol), and about 11 percent was from municipal waste. Researchers are trying to develop ways to burn more biomass and fewer fossil fuels. Using biomass for energy cuts back on waste and greenhouse gas emissions.

Biomass offers other significant environmental and consumer benefits, including improving forest health, protecting air quality, and offering the most dependable renewable energy source.

You can read about how we turn biomass and other residuals into energy here.

Sources: http://biomasspowerassociation.com, http://energy.gov/, http://instituteforenergyresearch.org

A map of biomass facilities can be found here http://biomasspowerassociation.com/docs/biomass_map.pdf