Organic matter that can be converted to a renewable liquid, solid or gaseous fuel such as methane or hydrogen. Biomass can be derived from forest and mill residues, agricultural crops and wastes (such as corn stover, alfalfa stems, obsolete seed corn, hulls and nut shells, fibers from sugarcane, straw from rice and wheat), wood and wood wastes (sawdust, timber slash mill scrap), animal wastes, livestock operation residues, aquatic plants, fast-growing trees and plants, and municipal and industrial wastes (FCIR online July 2005). See a comparative chart of the Biomass Energy Technologies, which are direct combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion, ethanol production, biodiesel production, and methanol production, plus an extensive glossary of energy related terms at the Oregon Department of Energy, www.energy.state.or.us/biomass/FuelCell.htm. The Columbia Boulevard wastewater treatment plant in Portland, Oregon, uses biogas to generate electricity from a phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC); the biogas is a byproduct of the sewage treatment process. This is the first installation in the western United States of a fuel cell running on wastewater digester gas; the PAFC was manufactured by ONSI Corp. (now UTC Fuel Cells, www.utcfuelcells.com.) On the East Coast, in Yonkers, New York, similar UTC Fuel Cell PAFCs were the first in that state to be fueled by hydrogen produced from a methane gas byproduct at sewage treatment plants, www.nypa.gov. In July, 2004, the DOE and Department of Agriculture selected 22 projects to receive $25 million within the Biomass Research and Development Initiative, www.energy.gov. Among those selected was Technology Management of Cleveland, Ohio, for a project involving fuel cell systems operating on 100% bio-liquid fuels. For a further resource on applying biomass technology, see The Brilliance of Bioenergy — In Business and In Practice by Ralph Sims. Published in February, 2002, it is available in hardback from James and James Science Publishers, Ltd., www.jxj.com. Source : Fuel cell glossary. http://www.sanewsletters.com/FCIR/glossary1.asp |
