Biomass Energy R&D in the San Francisco Bay Area

摘要

Biomass is plant matter such as trees, grasses, agricultural crops or other biological material. It can be used as a solid fuel, or converted into liquid or gaseous forms, for the production of electric power, heat, chemicals, or fuels. There are a number of ways of getting energy from biomass, and a number of factors influence the efficiency of the conversion process. All biomass can be easily combusted. The heat of combustion can be used as heat, or can be used to run gas/steam turbines to produce electricity. However, most biomass combustion processes are inefficient and environmentally non-benign. The main pollutants from direct biomass combustion are tars, particulates, and VOCs. Biodiesels can be made from oils obtained from plants/crops such as soybean, peanuts and cotton. The oils from these sources are mainly triglycerides of fatty acids and not directly suitable as diesel substitutes.