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Bio Energy
Dominating the world energy scene...
The use of biomass has dominated the world energy scene since the beginning of mankind, and continues to do so for a large part of the rural population in many developing countries. Photosynthesis provides 120 billion tonnes of biomass every year, corresponding to about five times the total world's energy need.
Approximately 14% of World’s Energy supply today is from biomass. There are several routes of converting biomass into useable energy form. Most conventional form is to burn it to produce heat. Bio-ethanol and bio-diesel are now produced which can be used to fuel cars.
A more promising route is gasification and/or burning it in fluidised bed boilers. Briquetting route for using bio-coal in conventional boilers is also gaining ground. Biomass briquettes are equivalent to ‘B-grade’ coal (3800 kCal/kg) in terms of heat value. Energy plantation with a predicted crop yield of 15 tonnes of dry poplar per ha per year can lead to an electricity production of about 30,000 kwh/ha/year. India generates a vast amount of biomass material which can be utilised for power generation. Agricultural waste itself is estimated around 400 million tonnes per year. Programmes are also being developed for direct combustion and grid interactive gasification using woody biomass or agricultural residues such as crop straws, stalks and husk.
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