The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE ) does not include the term bioenergy in your dictionary The concept, which is also often referred to as biomass energy , alludes to a class of renewable energy which is obtained from the processing of matter that is formed through a mechanical or biological process.
In general, bioenergy is produced with waste from the constituent substances of living organisms. This Energy It can be used by transforming waste into other substances or directly by combustion or other method.
Bioenergy can be used as a synonym for biofuel (the fuel that is generated with plants or with organic waste) and of biomass (the raw material of biofuels). The entire context related to the production of biofuels and the obtaining of biomass, including the scientific, economic and social situation, is also known as bioenergy.
The origin of bioenergy is found in the Sun rays , whose energy is absorbed - through the photosynthesis - for the various species of plants in the land . It should be mentioned that the volume of matter Organic that is achieved in this way is larger than the amount of energy present in mineral substances.
This energy that comes from the sun is transformed into organic matter. Biomass energy can be used to produce biofuels such as bioethanol or the biodiesel .
In more specific terms, millions of tons of dry organic matter are generated every year, which has an amount of energy equivalent to 68 billion tons of oil, five times what the entire planet needs to supply the energy demand.
Despite the enormous amount of energy present in the organic matter produced each year, only one fraction of the same because of the considerable dispersion that crosses.
Livestock residues, beets and sugarcane are among the sources of bioenergy. Biomass, therefore, can be residual (such as bones or shells) or natural (plants, trees, etc.). Another classification distinguishes between wet biomass (waste generated when producing oil) and the dry biomass (timber).
Natural bioenergy can be obtained from waste that generate forest holdings, as well as their by-products, which have considerable energy power. Since they cannot be used to make paper or furniture, they are used for energy production, so that it can be used and reduce the environmental impact.
In addition to wood waste, the remains of carpentry, sawmills and furniture factories, among other components of the woodworking industry, also serve as a source of bioenergy. transformation From the wood.
With respect to residual bioenergy, the materials used can be sawdust, manure, straw, animal remains and urban waste. It goes without saying that obtaining bioenergy is far from being an informal and sporadic process, but is based on an absolutely organized system which, for example, has plants for the use of agricultural waste, such as straw that is not used for fodder.
Transforming dry and wet biomass into bioenergy leads to different processes. In the first case, we need to apply gasification (for various types of fuels), pyrolysis (for methanol and electricity) or combustion (for electricity, heat and water vapor), among others processes thermochemicals Generally, good energy efficiency is obtained. Wet biomass requires the use of biochemical processes, which take longer and provide a lower energy efficiency; For example: through anaerobic fermentation we obtain methane, while the alcoholic gives us ethanol.
