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Asked by bobsyouruncle to Michael on 20 Nov 2013.
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Michael Nolan answered on 20 Nov 2013:
Hi Bob’s uncle…
Biomass itself is not used directly, instead you can convert it into useful fuels using catalysis. There you take the feedstock and do chemistry over a catalyst to generate, say, CO2 and Hydrogen (called syn gas) which can then be used to make methanol (CH3OH) which is a great fuel, or ethanol.
You might also get CO and water which can be transformed into CO2 (a feedstock) and hydrogen for fuel cells.
So biomass is a bit like oil – you have to use it as a starting point to obtain the fuels you want.
But it is easier to produce and process and more sustainable. We are starting a big European Union funded project next week to work on this topic!M
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Comments
bobsyouruncle commented on :
thanks for answering is there a biomass station in northern Ireland?
Michael commented on :
Not as far as I am aware to be honest. Perhaps there would be some information publically available.
I think this may be a bigger deal in continental Europe