Ever since humans started burning wood or other organic matter to keep warm and to cook food, we’ve been using biomass energy, or bioenergy. Today we can also use biomass to fuel vehicles, generate electricity, and develop biobased products.

Here are the different ways to use biomass energy:
Biofuels
Fuel your vehicle with ethanol or biodiesel.
Biopower
Buy clean electricity generated from biomass.
Bioproducts
Use products, like plastics, made from biomass.

Biofuels
Biomass can be converted directly into liquid fuels—biofuels—for use in our vehicles. The two most common types of biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel.

Ethanol
Ethanol—an alcohol—is currently made primarily from the starch in corn grain. It’s most commonly used as an additive for petroleum-based fuels to reduce toxic air emissions and increase octane. Today, roughly half of the gasoline sold in the United States includes 5%–10% ethanol.
Ethanol is also available as an alternative fuel. E-85 is an alternative fuel blend containing 83% ethanol in the summer and 70% ethanol in the winter. Flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) have corrosion-resistant fuel systems and other modest modifications to accommodate either E-85 or regular gasoline.

Biodiesel
Biodiesel is made primarily from soybean oil and sunflower seed. Its use is currently relatively small, but its benefits to air quality are quite dramatic.
You can also visit sites like Biodiesel Centre and Biodiesel SA for more information about biodiesel in South Africa.

Biomass Energy or Biopower
Biomass electrical generation or biopower is second only to hydropower as a renewable energy source.
Most electricity generated using biomass today is by direct combustion using conventional boilers. These boilers burn primarily waste wood products generated by the agriculture and wood-processing industries. When burned, the wood waste produces steam, which is used to spin a turbine. The spinning turbine activates a generator that produces electricity. Many coal-fired power plants also add biomass to their coal-burning process (i.e., co-firing) to reduce the emissions produced by burning the coal.
Biomass can also be gasified prior to combustion. Gases generally burn cleaner and more efficiently than solids, which allows removal of toxic materials. Gasification also makes it possible to use biomass in combined-cycle gas turbines, such as used in the latest natural gas power plants. Using gasification, these natural gas power plants can achieve much higher efficiencies. Small modular biomass gasification systems are well suited for providing isolated communities with electricity.
In addition, the decay of biomass in landfills produces gas (primarily methane) naturally, which can be harvested and burned in a boiler to produce steam for generating electricity.

Bioproducts
Whatever products we can make from fossil fuels, we can make using biomass. These bioproducts, or biobased products, are not only made from renewable sources, they also often require less energy to produce than petroleum-based products.

Researchers have discovered that the process for making biofuels also can be used to make antifreeze, plastics, glues, artificial sweeteners, and gel for toothpaste.

Other important building blocks for biobased products include carbon monoxide and hydrogen. When biomass is heated with a small amount of oxygen present, these two gases are produced in abundance. Scientists call this mixture biosynthesis gas. Biosynthesis gas can be used to make plastics and acids, which can be used in making photographic films, textiles, and synthetic fabrics.
When biomass is heated in the absence of oxygen, it forms pyrolysis oil. A chemical called phenol can be extracted from pyrolysis oil. Phenol is used to make wood adhesives, molded plastic, and foam insulation.

In the future, you may see biorefineries—much like petroleum refineries—producing not only biofuels but also a variety of bioproducts. These biorefineries could also generate electricity, for their own use and for possible sale, as well as their own process heat.