A different look: Biomass

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A different look Biomass

• Presented by Joseph Attia, Julio Carrillo, Haley
  King, Johnloren Tso, Andrea Silva
• Caltech Physics

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The Road Less Traveled - Biomass

• Biomass is the process of using natural materials
  to produce energy.
• The technological advance of Biomass is one of
  mans earliest sources of energy.
• United States attains 4 of its energy from
  Biomass.
• More than 7500 megawatts of electricity are
  generated by employing Biomass techniques in the
  U.S.

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Resources and Techniques

• Biomass resources include
• wood
• waste
• gases (produced by gasification)
• food

• Techniques for producing biomass
• gasification
• fermentation/distilation
• Direct Combustion
• Pyrolysis

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Gasification

• Process in which biomass is broken down by
  bacteria and resulting gas is gathered for use.
• The gas can then be mixed with gasoline, natural
  gas, or burned to create steam and move turbines
  - producing electricity.

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Gasification
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Fermentation/ Distillation

• Fermentation can be used to create ethanol from
  yeast which feed on sugar, grapes, beer, or other
  substances.

• The ethanol, which is mixed with water is then
  distilled and the resulting ethanol can be used
  to power turbines or mixed with gasoline to power
  cars.

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Direct Combustion

• Process in which biomass is burned to produce
  steam.
• The steam enables a turbine to function.
• The turbine drives a generator which produces
  electricity.
• Only certain types of biomass are used in
  combustion, thus enabling the maintaining of
  efficiency.

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Pyrolysis

• Heat is used to chemically convert biomass into
  oil. The oil, which is easier to store and
  transport than solid biomass material can then be
  burned like petroleum to generate electricity.
• Phenol oil can also be made from biomass by
  Pyrolysis (used as a wood adhesive).

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Procedure 4

• This process is quite inefficient due to the fact
  that only 4.2 of the energy in methane affected
  the water.
• The reason for the inefficiency was because of
  the open flame. The heat from the flame was not
  completely directed to the bottom of the juice
  can, specifically, the heat was lost to the
  atmosphere.

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This procedure was an attempt to calculate the
amount of heat gained-Q, through methane gas.
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Improving the methane procedure(4)

• Do not use a tremendous flame in the process,
  thus reducing any loss in heat or energy.
• Obtain a calorimeter (in this case we used the
  juice can) that has a greater surface area where
  the flame comes in contact.
• Allow the calorimeter to be at an adequate level
  of contact with the flame in order to reduce any
  loss of energy.

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Kerosene

• Not an example of biomass
• Average energy of substance 16.02 KJ/g
• Percentage of difference 8.9
• Improvements Synchronized duration
• Better containment of flame
  

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Fermentation Failure

• Conversion of sugar to ethanol
• Our experiment was a FAILURE
• For reasons undetermined our experiment was
  unable to produce Ethanol
• Reasons Yeast inadequate
• Perhaps the specimens were
  contaminated

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Peanut Power

• Approximately 500 peanuts can power a common home
  for one hour (average power usage for one hour
  1kilowatt).
• The aforementioned is only theoretical
  considering the fact that adequate efficiency for
  this process can never be attained.
• A single peanut weighing .69grams can generate
  approximately 2 watts of power (theoretically).
• In the procedure we performed we found the energy
  content of a peanut to be 10.212KJoules/gram.

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Excrement Producing Energy

• Methane is naturally found in manure
• Feces is a great source of heat
• Burns for a very long time

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Conclusive Results
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Advantages

• Biomass is a renewable resource and is readily
  available
• Used as a fuel biomass reduces the need for
  fossil fuels
• Adds secondary value to agricultural crop
• Biomass can be converted to several forms of
  energy
• Growing biomass crops produce oxygen and use
  carbon dioxide
• The use of waste materials reduces waste in
  landfills

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Disadvantages

• Energy comes mainly from plants which must be
  harvested
• Land used to grow biomass materials is needed for
  other uses
• Biomass crops can deplete soil of nutrients
• Burning plants releases carbon dioxide
• Bi products of biomass contain less energy per
  gallon than gasoline
• Research needed to make more cost efficient

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Conclusion

• Through the entire duration of the program we
  learned a number of things pertinent to biomass.
  Specifically, we learned what biomass is, and a
  number techniques in biomass technologies.
  Furthermore, we developed a better understanding
  of other methods of producing energy. We thank
  all of the physics instructors for expanding our
  knowledge and field of vision,