Читать книгу Renewable Energy for Sustainable Growth Assessment - Группа авторов - Страница 74

The organic matter existing on the Earth’s surface produced by photosynthesis is referred to as biomass. They include all aquatic plants and agricultural waste, municipal solid waste (MSW), sewage, animal wastes, forestry residues, and industrial wastes [29]. Since biomass is an abundant carbon-rich natural resource readily available in the environment utilized effectively to replace fossil fuels [10, 29]. The utilization of biomass would not emit CO₂ into the atmosphere, and it is capable of consuming the same amount of carbon in growth that it releases during fuel usage [30]. Biomass has high potential in energy generation as it possesses clean, inexpensive, and renewable energy sources, mainly when derived from agricultural and forest residues [30]. In the world, China, the US, Germany, Brazil, India, Japan, and the UK are the leading countries in power generation from renewable resources [3] (Figure 3.4).

India is one of the leading energy-producing countries in which the state of Punjab was the topmost energy-producing state from biomass, waste, and bagasse (Figure 3.5). Biomass sources are classified generally into four types: first-generation (1G), second-generation (2G), and third-generation (3G), and now it also includes genetically modified biomass as fourth-generation feedstock (4G); and waste [6, 8]. All these biomasses using biochemical, thermochemical, and hydrothermal methods converted into biofuel products, viz., alcohols, biogas, bio-oil, and biodiesel [8]. Principal processes of conversion involve fermentation, transesterification, gasification.

Figure 3.4 Global renewable energy production and consumption in 2020 [3].