What Can Replace Our Dependence on Oil and Gas?

Posted by Tony on July 21st, 2010 filed in Global Warming

Biomass can take many unlike forms, in addition to include a wide selection of potential crops and untreated matter that can potentially be used for fuel construction. Below you can see pictures of wood fuel pellets. These include pictures of wood, straw and grass pellets. These are just a few of the possible wood materials which can be used to make energy pellets. These pellets can then be used in pellet stoves and boilers.

Learn more about Wood Pellets

Typical examples of wood are biomass, including all tree’s as well as tree residues. Everyone is familiar with the standard wood fire, yet this is a very basic form of wood energy, along with not very proficient. Supplementary forms of wood include purpose grown crops for food. Here, morally the food part of the crop should always be used for food, however there is a lot of residue left over which can be used as a wood energy source. By means of wheat or barley for case, there is a lot of grass residue remaining. In the past this straw customarily was burnt in the field as there was no use for it. On the other hand do the smoke along with particulates generated because of doing this, in most countries this is now banned. On the other hand, this means there is now a large volume of straw after each harvest that has to be dealt with. This straw can be collected and processed into efficient pellet energy as you can see from the pictures below. An additional case is corn, with corn crops the waste left over is the cob as well as the stalk. Again both of these materials can be processed into fuel pellets to be used in wood pellet stoves in addition to boilers.

Read more about Pellet Mill

One of the definite advantages to using the waste from food crop manufacture is it generated a dual income from one crop. At a time when food prices are mounting along with farmers are finding it more difficult to manufacture a profit through high oil costs, extra income from the crops would be more than welcome. In fact, a dual income for food and fuel crop could even lower the cost of food along with energy. Pellet production to upgrade the biomass material in pellets, pictures seen below, can be carried out on a local small scale. What this means is that there can be a complete local cycle of crop, to pellet to consumer. This can generate a significant number of local jobs in farming, pellet production and distribution. It also keeps more money within the local community, to be spent improving local facilities. In terms of a green energy perspective there are also many benefits. However biomass itself is carbon neutral, fossil energy fuel will be involved, at this time anyway in the construction plus distribution of the fuel pellets. Therefore with a complete local resource, production plus distribution cycle, shipping which is the biggest CO2 contributor is not only reduced in raw material transport but also transport of the finished pellets to the consumer. In the future more bioenergy will be used to manufacture and transport the pellets. The construction of biomass pellets as you can see from the pictures on the right involves compression through a die. The appliance used to perform this task is known as a pellet mill, pellet machinery or pellet press. Making pellets requires the right gear as well as knowledge.

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