Feasible Biomass Energy Conversion Technologies In Developing Countries

Abstract

Biomass energy refers to energy produced from organic materials. It is the only renewable energy sources that can provide all forms of energy as solid, liquid and gas and furthermore, other essential chemical products from its biorefinery processes. It can be converted into liquid transportation fuel, in the form of bioethanol and biodiesel, as methane and hydrogen gas, and solid form as fuel wood, charcoal and briquettes. Thermo-chemical, biochemical and physical processes involving different conversion technologies are some of the technologies converted biomass into different forms of energy carriers. While there is a growing interest to use biomass as one of the promising renewable energy sources, its production is limited to inefficient process due to inapplicability of most of the conversion technologies. Particularly lignocelluloses based conversion technologies are still limited to lab scale and has not been yet commercialized. However, some of the conversion technologies are applicable in developing countries to convert available biomasses to efficient form of energy carriers. Anaerobic digestions, densification, fermentation and extraction are some of them applicable to convert biomass into biogas, briquettes, bioethanol and biodiesel. Because these technologies are well matured, requires less technical personnel to operate and they are easily adaptable to any areas where the biomass resources are available.