POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS OF ENERGY SUPPLY FROM BIOMASS

摘要

During the history of mankind until the middle of the last century biomass, primarily wood, was the most important source of energy and raw material. The gradual transition to fossil energy sources - coal, mineral oil and natural gas - ushered in theage of industrialization, and interest in using biomass for non-nutritional purposes was confined to special areas. Now that the end of fossil raw materials is in sight, however, the world-wide search for alternative raw materials for industrial and energy purposes has intensified. Besides water, wind and solar energy and hydrogen production, the question of the possibilities of and the limits to the use of vegetable raw materials - mostly subsumed under the heading of regenerative raw materials -has come to the fore (Dambroth, 1989 and 1991).