Biomass handbook

Anaerobic: life or biological processes that occur in the absence of oxygen.

Anaerobic digestion: a biochemical process by which organic matter is decomposed by bacteria in the absence of oxygen, producing methane and other by products.

Biodiesel: a biofuel produced through trans-esterification, a process in which organically-derived oils are combined with alcohol(methanol) in the presence of a catalyst to form methyl ester.

Biodiversity: the relative abundance and variety of plant and animal species and ecosys-tems within particular habitats.

Bioenergy: useful, renewable energy produced from organic matter. The conversion of the complex carbohydrates in organic matter to energy. Organic matter may either be used directly as a fuel or processed into liquids and gases.

Biofuel: fuels made from cellulosic biomass resources. Biofuels include ethanol and bio-diesel.

Biogas: a combustible gas derived from decomposing biological waste. Biogas normally consists of 50 to 60 percent methane.

Biomass: organic matter available on a renewable basis. Biomass includes forest and mill residues, agricultural crops and wastes, wood and wood wastes, animal wastes, livestock operation residues, aquatic plants, fast-growing trees and plants, and municipal and indus-trial waste (biodegradable fraction).

Capacity: the maximum power that a machine or system can produce or carry safely.

Capacity factor: the amount of energy that the system produces at a particular site as a percentage of the total amount that it would produce if it operated at rated capacity during the entire year.

Capital cost: the total investment needed to complete a project and bring it to a commer-cially operable status.

Chips: Woody material cut into short, thin wafers. Chips are used as raw material for pulping and fibreboard or as biomass fuel.

Cogeneration: the sequential production of electricity and useful thermal energy from a common fuel source.

Combined cycle: two or more generation processes in series or in parallel, configured to optimise the energy output of the system.

Combined heat and power (CHP): an older term for what is now generally called cogenera-tion.

Combustion: burning. The transformation of biomass fuel into heat, chemicals, and gases through chemical combination of hydrogen and carbon in the fuel with oxygen in the air.

Combustion efficiency: ratio between the actual heat produced by combustion and the total heat potential of the fuel consumed.

Cost-effective: a term describing a resource that is available within the time it is needed and is able to meet or reduce electric power demand at an estimated incremental system cost no greater than that of the least-costly, similarly reliable and available alternative.

Demonstration: for this project, any plant or system that are considered as demo, not in the sense of size, but as devices that represent all the criteria regarding ecological, social and economic sustainability beyond the foreseen criteria of innovations, energy production, efficiency, etc.

District heating or cooling: a system that involves the central production of hot water, steam, or chilled water and the distribution of these transfer media to feat or cooling build-ings.
Energy crops: crops grown specifically for their fuel value. These include food crops such as corn and sugarcane, and non-food crops such as poplar trees and switchgrass. Currently two energycrops are under development: short rotation woody crops, and herbaceous energy crops.

Externality: a cost or benefit non accounted for in the price of goods or services. Often externality refers to the cost of pollution and other environmental impacts.

Feedstock: any material which is converted to another form or product.

Fossil fuel: solid, liquid, or gaseous fuels formed in the ground after millions of years by chemical and physical changes in plant and animal residues under high temperature and pressure. Oil, natural gas, and coal are fossil fuels.

Gas engine: a piston engine that uses gaseous fuel rather than gasoline. Fuel and air are mixed before they enter cylinders; ignition occurs with a spark.

Gas turbine: a turbine that converts the energy of hot compressed gases (produced by burning fuel in compressed air) into mechanical power. Often fired by natural gas or fuel oil.

Gasification: a chemical or heat process to convert a solid biofuel to a gaseous form.

Greenhouse gases: gases that trap the heat of the sun in the Earth's atmosphere, produc-ing the greenhouse effect. GHG include carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, chlorofluorocar-bons, and nitrous oxide.

Grid: an electric utility's system for distributing power.

Grid connection: joining a plant that generates electric power to a utility system so that electricity can flow in either direction between the utility system and the plant.

Habitat: the area where a plant or animal lives and grows under natural conditions.Heat rate: the amount of fuel energy required by a power plant to produce on kWh of electric output.

Heating value: the maximum amount of energy that is available from burning a substance.Hectare: an area equal to 2.47 acres or 10,000 m2. there are 100 hectares in 1 km2.

Hog fuel: wood residues processed through a chipper or mill to produce coarse chips nor-mally used for fuel. Bark, sawdust, planer shavings, wood chunks, and fines may be in-cluded.

Incinerator: any device used to burn solid or liquid residues or wastes as a method of dis-posal and recovering the heat produced for energy production.

Investment stimulation: direct and indirect financial incentives have the most immediate influence on pro-investment behaviour

Landfill gas: gas that is generated by decomposition of organic material at landfill disposal sites. Landfill gas is approximately 50% methane.

Mesophilic: an optimum temperature for bacterial growth in an enclosed digester (25 – 45 °C)

Methane: an odourless, colourless, flammable gas with the formula CH4 that is the primary constituent of natural gas.

Microalgae: unicellular, photosynthetic aquatic plants.

Moisture content wet basis: moisture content expressed as a percentage of the weight of wood as received.

Moisture content: the weight of the water contained in wood, usually expressed as a per-centage of weight, either oven-dry or as received.

Moisture content, dry basis: moisture content expressed as a percentage of the weight of oven-dry wood.Municipal solid waste: garbage. Refuse offering the potential for energy recovery; includes residential, commercial, and institutional wastes.

Organic compounds: chemical compounds based on carbon chains or rings and also containing hydrogen, with or without oxygen, nitrogen, and other elements.

Particulate: a small, mass of solid or liquid matter that remains individually dispersed in gas or liquid emissions. Particulates take the form of aerosol, dust, fume, mist, smoke, or spray. Each of these forms has different properties.

Pilot scale: the size of a system between the small laboratory model size (bench scale) and a full-size system.

Process heat: heat used in an industrial process rather than for space heating or other housekeeping purposes.Projects: in a broader sense meaning that not only plants are considered, but also inte-grated approaches such as “regional bioenergy systems”. These are especially important since they tend to produce the most value added for regional economies and rural areas (which of course should be verified during the project work).

Relevant: could be defined by criteria regarding ecological, social and economic sustainabil-ity. Thus projects should be selected that pay special attention to the latter named criteria.

Renewable energy resource: an energy resource replenished continuously or that is re-placed after use through natural means. Renewable energy resources include Bioenergy, solar energy, wind energy, geothermal power, and hydropower.

Sustainable: an ecosystem condition in which biodiversity, renewability, and resource productivity are maintained over time.

Site visit: site visit is when an external team goes to an institution to evaluate verbal, written and visual evidence. Site visits, which often last day/days, are part of the quality evaluation process. The purposes of site visits includes observing facilities and interacting with staff.

Study tour: a study tour is a travel experience with specific learning goals. Study tours emphasize experiential learning and offer both group and self-directed activities that enable learners to explore new facilities, systems, etc. in other countries.