Crop Residue

Crop Residue

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Biomass is a great name for crop residue and has been around for some time now. We're used to thinking of ethanol being made out of biomass but with oil prices so low, ethanol is becoming less and less viable. There is another use for biomass according to energy reporter Joanna Schroeder:" Biomass can be used in other areas and it is profitable, so you can use biomass for feed, biomass in the utility sector, they turn it into pellets. It is burned instead of coal. You can also use biomass to produce biochemicals or biomaterials and you can produce that as a fuel component which then goes to a company and that company then converts that into the chemical and turns it into other forms. You can then send that into the manufacturing industry. When you say pellets, I think of my home in a very remote area where I used a word burning stove and pellets to heat my home. Is that what you mean? It is. You are using it now on a major utility scale. Most states have a renewable energy portfolio and utility companies have to use a certain percentage of renewable energy. They are using met to meet carbon reductions and other emission reductions. Biomass in the form of biomass pellets actually fit into that category of renewable energy production.
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