BIOMASS ENERGY

Energy has always been the integral part of mankind but with modernization it has gained more importance.
Owing to environmental friendly nature of renewable energy sources, their use is becoming essential [Kothari,
2010]. Biomass is organic matter on earth, obtained from earth’s living matters and their recent remains,
mainly produced by photosynthesis process. It includes wood, manures and different kinds of wastes [Jinfeng,
2016]. Sunlight energy stored in chemical bonds is released in form of chemical energy when bonds in biomass
matter are broken by combustion, decomposition or digestion [Peter Mckendry, 2002]. Biomass is available in
abundance; moreover its growth rate is greater than its usage hence it is regarded as renewable energy
source. It is the fourth largest energy source which provides approximately 14% of world’s energy [Kamal,
2014]. Biomass can be converted by direct combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, digestion and fermentation into
three main products which are: transparent fuel, chemical feedstock and electricity or heat energy [Yilmaz,
2013].Heating Value of biomass ranges from 15 MJ/kg to 25 MJ/kg and its efficiency is dependent upon
internal structural and external environmental factors [Sergio, 2013].Biomass to electricity conversions
efficiency ranges from 20% to 25% but with the use of direct conversion technique it is 23% to 25% .When
biomass is burnt with the coal the electricity production efficiency can go up to the range of 30% to 40%
[Kumar, 2105].Biomass conversion efficiency with combined heat and power plants ranges from 75% to 80%
and biomass operated heat plants efficiency can now possibly reach the value of 85% [BERC Report,2009].
After Paris Agreement implementation, renewable energy sources has to provide more energy and biomass
energy is estimated to provide 150 EJ of energy to energy supply in 2017 [Remigijus, 2017].According to Global
Status Report 2016, an estimated five percent increase in global biomass power capacity resulted in 106.4 GW
in 2015 and this is expected to be approximately 118 GW in 2017 [Global Status Report, 2016]. In 2015 the
total biomass generated global energy was 464TWh and due to more utilization of installed capacity it is
expected to be approximately 545TWh in 2017 [Amina, 2015].According to World Energy Council, United
States is the top leading country in terms of biomass generated electricity generation [World Energy
Council,2016]. There is around thirty thousand biomass operated power plants around the globe. The biggest
biomass power plant is in Severn Gorge, UK named as Iron Bridge power plant with the capacity of 740 MW
[Kata, 2015].
Pakistan is an agrarian country hence possessing a great potential for biomass sources. Major sources of
biomass in Pakistan are: Agricultural Residue in which sugarcane is mainly contributing through bagasse
production; Municipal Solid Waste and Animal Waste [Salman, 2014]. Bagasse and municipal solid waste are
two mainly used resources to produce electricity. About 84 sugar mills in Pakistan produce 17.1 million tons of
bagasse annually which is then used to produce electricity. 1844MW power capacity can be obtained by these
mills with 4944GWh annual generated energy. If additional feedstock of 12.9 million tons is utilized annually
with bagasse then generated energy can go to value of 10759/year. Solid municipal waste produced daily is
around 27,000 tons/day at twelve surveyed waste dumps across country which has a potential power capacity
of 360MW. These Solid municipal waste based power plants can contribute around 2,687GWh/year to the
national grid. Total installed capacity of biomass power in Pakistan is 580MW [The World Bank, 2016]. Like
other renewable sources of energy biomass energy also offers certain economical and environmental
advantages. Biomass is easily available, cheap, abundant, renewable and secure source of energy; it can utilize
the same equipment for electricity generation that is used for fossil fuels and its usage reduces the
dependency upon expensive fossil fuels hence providing the economical benefits. It is clean and
environmental friendly which does not emit additional carbon dioxide in air; moreover their burning does not
add additional pollutant hence it does not put adverse impact on environment. Many biofuels are generated
by biomasses which are viable, clean burning, efficient and can be used in place of fossil fuels [Nisha,
2005].The current scenario of electricity generation by different sources and estimated future electricity
generation by different sources in Pakistan are given in the following figure1 and figure2 respectively [Samad,
2016].

References:

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[2] Jinfeng, Wang, et al. "The development and utilization of new clean energy." Power and Renewable Energy (ICPRE),
IEEE International Conference on Power, IEEE, 2016.
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2014 International Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering. IEEE, 2014.
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design." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 25 (2013): 420-430.
[6] Capareda, Sergio. Introduction to biomass energy conversions. CRC Press, 2013.
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Sustainable Energy Reviews 45 (2015): 530-539.
[8] BERC Report, Biomass Energy: Efficiency, Scale and Sustainability, 2009.
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[11] Europe from Amina Lang, International Passive House Association, “Passive House: An International Solution for a
Sustainable Energy Future,” presentation at the UN Economic Commission for Europe Sustainable Energy Conference,
Yerevan, Armenia, 30 October 2015.
[12] World Energy Council, 2016, op. cit. note 11. Figure 44 from idem.
[13] Kata Tüttö, “Cities can play a key role in combating climate change,” The Parliament Magazine, 12 October 2015.
[14] M. Salman Nasir, M. Waqar Akram, Abid Sarwar, M. Shafeeque, Biomass energy resources potential in Pakistan, 28th
December, 2014.
[15] BIOMASS [PHASES 1-3] – PAKISTAN, The World Bank, 2016.
[16] Sriram, Nisha and Mohammad Shahidehpour. "Renewable biomass energy." Power Engineering Society General
Meeting, 2005. IEEE, 2005.
[17] Samad, Prince Abdul, Fu Xiumei, and Naveeda Sangi. "CURRENT POWER GENERATION AND ALTERNATIVE TRENDS IN
PAKISTAN (A CASE STUDY)." Science International 28.3 (2016).