Biomass facts for kids

Biomass is a term used in two main ways: in ecology (the study of living things and their environment) and in the energy production industry.

Imagine all the living things on Earth, from tiny plants to huge animals. That's what biomass means in ecology – the total amount of living material in a certain area. It's usually measured by how much it weighs.

In the energy world, biomass means any biological material that can be used as fuel or to make other products. This includes plants grown specifically for biofuel, or plant and animal waste used to make things like fibres, chemicals, or heat. It can also include biodegradable waste that can be burned for energy. However, it does not include fossil fuels like coal or petroleum, because those have been changed by geological processes over millions of years.

Biomass for Energy

Biomass is a great source of energy because it comes from living things. For example, the wood in a tree is biomass, even though parts of it might not be actively growing.

Some common types of biofuels made from biomass include bioethanol, biodiesel, and biogas.

Many different plants can be grown to create biomass for fuel. These include switchgrass, hemp, corn, poplar trees, willow trees, and sugarcane. The type of plant used doesn't usually change the final product much, but it does affect how the raw material is processed.

Even though biomass is a renewable resource (meaning it can be replaced), using it can still affect global warming. This happens if we cut down too many trees or build over green areas without replacing them. This can upset the natural balance of carbon in the air.

Biomass and the Carbon Cycle

Biomass is an important part of the carbon cycle. This is how carbon moves around the Earth. Plants take in carbon dioxide from the air through photosynthesis to grow. When plants rot or are burned, the carbon goes back into the atmosphere. This process happens fairly quickly. Because new plants can be grown constantly, using plant matter as fuel doesn't add a lot of new carbon to the atmosphere over time.

Fossil fuels, like coal and oil, are different. They come from ancient plants and animals that died millions of years ago. The carbon in them has been "out" of the carbon cycle for a very long time. Burning fossil fuels adds a lot of extra carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which can contribute to climate change.

Other Uses of Biomass

Besides fuel, biomass has many other uses:

• It can be used as Building materials.
• It's used to make Paper from cellulose fibres.
• It can even be turned into biodegradable plastics.

Some plastics made from biomass can even dissolve in seawater! These plastics are often cheaper to make than those from petroleum. They also perform just as well, or even better, in many ways. However, they might not be as good at resisting water as traditional plastics.

Biomass in Ecology

In ecology, biomass refers to the total amount of living material in a specific area or group of living things. It's a way to measure how much life is present.

For example, the most successful animal in terms of total biomass is the Antarctic krill. These tiny creatures have a total biomass of over 500 million tons across the world. That's about twice the total weight of all humans!

Related pages

• Anaerobic digestion

Images for kids

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  Antarctic krill, a tiny creature with a huge total biomass.

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  Switchgrass, a strong plant used to make biofuel in the United States.

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  Rice chaff, which is the outer covering of rice grains.

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  A power plant that uses both solar energy and biomass.

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  Wood pellets

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  System boundaries for carbon accounting: Option 1 (black) limits the carbon calculation to stack emissions, option 2 (green) limits the calculation to the forest carbon stock, option 3 (blue) limits the calculation to forest and stack emissions combined (the supply chain) and option 4 (red ) includes both stack emissions, forest and the bioeconomy (carbon storage in wood products and displaced fossil fuels.)

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  Bioenergy displacement factors for substituted fossil fuels.

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  Woody materials displacement factors for substituted fossil based materials.

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  Time-dependent net emission estimates for forest bioenergy pathways, compared against coal and natural gas alternative scenarios. Plus signs represents positive climate effects, minus signs negative climate effects.

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  Net emissions from various biofuel pathways (heat production). Stippled lines show net emissions for EU coal, light fuel oil, most relevant fossil fuel alternative, and natural gas. Dotted areas show emission savings percentages compared to the most relevant fossil fuel alternative (white 70–80%, green 80–85%, blue 85–100%.

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  Net emissions from various biofuel pathways (transportation). The stippled line show net emissions for the most relevant fossil fuel alternative. Dotted areas show emission savings percentages also compared to the most relevant fossil fuel alternative (white 50–60%, green 60–70%, blue 70–100%.

• GHG emissions from pathways for the production of electricity from various biomass feedstocks.png

  Net emissions from various biofuel pathways (electricity production). Stippled lines show net emissions for EU coal (black), most relevant fossil fuel alternative (green), electricity mix (red) and natural gas (blue). Dotted areas show emission savings percentages compared to the most relevant fossil fuel alternative (white 70–80%, green 80–85%, blue 85–100%.

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  Greenhouse gas emissions from wood pellet production and transport from the US to the EU (Hanssen et al. 2017).

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  Global temperature effect from emissions and albedo between 1750 and 2005.

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  Coal port in Russia.

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  Plantation forest in Hawaii.

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  Forest area increase in the EU 1990-2020.

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  Sankey diagram that shows the flow of biomass from forest to wood products, paper and energy in Sweden.

See also

In Spanish: Biomasa (energía) para niños