Biomass Resources

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Biomass Sources

Sources of biomass for conversion to energy can be obtained from agricultural crops and residues, sewage, municipal solid waste, animal residues, industrial residues and forestry crops and residues

Canada has vast renewable biomass resources and is able to use these resources to supply clean energy and materials. Our waste biomass supply, which is produced from our forestry and agriculture industries as well as municipal wastes, can be converted into bioenergy.

Biomass may be converted into solid, liquid or gaseous energy carriers. This allows for a wide range of bioenergy applications. It can be burned directly to produce heat and/or electricity and it can be converted biochemically, catalytically or thermally to produce liquid fuels (such as ethanol and renewable diesel fuel). It can be digested or gasified to produce gaseous fuel; and pyrolized to produce pyrolysis oils and high value chemicals.

Biomass Energy Conversion Technologies

CanmetENERGY analyzes the viability of innovative technologies in order to increase the use of bioenergy. We also foster the development of clean and efficient technologies and advance the development of new market applications. Key biomass energy conversion technologies we study include thermal and thermochemical, and biological and biochemical.

Thermal and Thermochemical Technologies

• Combustion — convert forestry, agricultural and municipal residues into heat and power under environmentally sound conditions
• Gasification — convert forestry, agricultural and municipal residues into syngas
• Pyrolysis — convert forestry and agricultural residues into bio-oils and value added products
• Thermal and Catalytic Processing — convert a variety of new and used vegetable oils; tall oils; waste greases and animal fats into renewable diesel fuels and diesel blending stocks

Biological and Biochemical Technologies

• Fermentation — convert the starch and cellulose components of biomass to bio-ethanol
• Anaerobic Digestion — convert manures, food processing and municipal wastes into methane rich biogas

To learn more about our work in biomass resources visit our publications section.

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