Question

Where is biomass found?

Answer 1

Biomass is defined as the plant or animal material which can be used as fuels or in the production of heat and electricity. Some biomass can be used for fuels directly whereas for some it has to undergo certain modifications.

Complete answer:
Biomass is also defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change( IPCC) as a renewable source of energy and by the International Energy Agency( IEA) as the most important source of renewable energy in the present world. Biomass can be obtained from a variety of waste materials such as wood waste, agricultural waste, manufacturing waste, municipal waste etc. among them the largest source of biomass is wood waste.

Based on the source from where they are obtained biofuels can be divided into three categories- first generation biofuels that are obtained from food sources ,like corn starch and sugarcane, second generation biofuels obtained from non-food based sources like agricultural and municipal wastes and third generation biofuels that are obtained from microalgae.

Biomass can be converted into biofuel by a variety of ways such as- thermal conversion where heat is used to convert biomass into biofuel, chemical conversion where chemical processes are used for conversion, biochemical conversion where microorganisms are used for conversion process and electrochemical conversion where electrochemical oxidation is used to convert biomass into biofuel.

Note: The production of biofuels from biomass has negative effects as well, it affects the biodiversity of the surrounding area due to removal of plants and trees and also the air quality, long distance transport of it is also considered wasteful, etc.