Biomass and the Environment

Using biomass for energy has positive and negative effects

Biomass and biofuels made from biomass are alternative energy sources to fossil fuels—coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Burning either fossil fuels or biomass releases carbon dioxide (CO₂), a greenhouse gas. However, the plants that are the source of biomass for energy capture almost the same amount of CO₂ through photosynthesis while growing as is released when biomass is burned, which can make biomass a carbon-neutral energy source.¹

Burning wood

Using wood, wood pellets, and charcoal for heating and cooking can replace fossil fuels and may result in lower CO₂ emissions overall. Wood can be harvested from forests, from woodlots that have to be thinned, or from urban trees that fall down or have to be cut down.

Wood smoke contains harmful pollutants such as carbon monoxide and particulate matter. Modern wood-burning stoves, pellet stoves, and fireplace inserts can reduce the amount of particulates from burning wood. Wood and charcoal are major cooking and heating fuels in poor countries, but if people harvest the wood faster than trees can grow, it causes deforestation. Planting fast-growing trees for fuel and using fuel-efficient cooking stoves can help slow deforestation and improve the environment.

Switchgrass growing on a test plot for biomass production

Source: Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Burning municipal solid waste (MSW) or wood waste

Burning municipal solid waste (MSW), or garbage, in waste-to-energy plants could result in less waste buried in landfills. On the other hand, burning garbage produces air pollution and releases the chemicals and substances in the waste into the air. Some of these chemicals, which are mostly related to the combustion of non-biomass materials in garbage, can be hazardous to people and the environment if they are not properly controlled.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) applies strict environmental rules to waste-to-energy plants, which require waste-to-energy plants to use air pollution control devices such as scrubbers, fabric filters, and electrostatic precipitators to capture air pollutants.

Scrubbers clean emissions from waste-to-energy facilities by spraying a liquid into the combustion gases to neutralize the acids present in the stream of emissions. Fabric filters and electrostatic precipitators also remove particles from the combustion gases. The particles—called fly ash—are then mixed with the ash that is removed from the bottom of the waste-to-energy furnace.

A waste-to-energy furnace burns at high temperatures (1,800°F to 2,000°F), which break down the chemicals in MSW into simpler, less harmful compounds.

Disposing ash from waste-to-energy plants

Ash from waste-to-energy plants can contain high concentrations of various metals that were present in the original waste. Textile dyes, printing inks, and ceramics, for example, may contain lead and cadmium.

Separating waste before burning can solve part of the problem. Because batteries are the largest source of lead and cadmium in municipal waste, they should not be included in regular trash. Florescent light bulbs should also not be put in regular trash because they contain small amounts of mercury.

The EPA tests ash from waste-to-energy plants to make sure that it is not hazardous. The test looks for chemicals and metals that could contaminate ground water. Some MSW landfills use ash that is considered safe as a cover layer for their landfills, and some MSW ash is used to make concrete blocks and bricks.

Collecting landfill gas or biogas

Biogas forms as a result of biological processes in sewage treatment plants, waste landfills, and livestock manure management systems. Biogas is composed mainly of methane (a greenhouse gas) and CO₂. Many facilities that produce biogas capture it and burn the methane for heat or to generate electricity. This electricity is considered renewable and, in many states, contributes to meeting state renewable portfolio standards (RPS). This electricity may replace electricity generation from fossil fuels and can result in a net reduction in CO₂ emissions. Burning methane produces CO₂, but because methane is a stronger greenhouse gas than CO₂, the overall greenhouse effect is lower.

Biofuels

Biofuels are generally cleaner burning than petroleum fuels made from crude oil, but production and use of biofuels do have effects on the environment. Biofuels may be considered carbon-neutral because the plants that are used to make biofuels (such as corn and sugarcane for ethanol and soy beans and oil palm trees for biodiesel) absorb CO₂ as they grow and may offset the CO₂ emissions when biofuels are produced and burned.

¹ See Note 2: Accounting for carbon dioxide emissions from biomass energy combustion in the Environment section note of the Monthly Energy Review.

Last updated: December 7, 2021

Courtesy of EIA Gov