National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
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AIST TODAYNo.21 Summer 2006 [ PDF:4MB ]

Contents List Biomass Energy Research Hot Line In Brief

Biomass Energy
Curbing Global Warming by Increasing the Economic Value of Forests
Feature
The Significance of Liquid Fuel Production from Woody Biomass [ PDF:548KB ]
Biomass Technology Research Center Actively Working with Having Its Base of Operations in the Chugoku Region
Production of Synthetic Diesel Fuel from the Gasification of Woody Biomass [ PDF:444KB ]
Production of Wood-based Ethanol for Automobile Fuel [ PDF:560KB ]
Creating a Data Base (DB) to Promote the Utilization of Biomass [ PDF:425KB ]
Development of Biomass Utilization in Asia [ PDF:497KB ]

The Significance of Liquid Fuel Production from Woody Biomass
Masayuki Kamimoto
Research Coordinator for Environment and Energy
Biomass - Carbon Neutral

Japan is a country poor in energy resources and has flourished by consuming large quantities of cheap fossil fuels. However, with the emergence of global warming as a serious concern in the late 1980’s, we entered into a new era when it is necessary to use a balanced combination of fossil fuels, atomic and renewable energy. The need is evident to increase renewable energy as a middle/long term measure in order to attain a low-level emission of greenhouse gases.

Biomass is a renewable energy derived from animal and plant organic matter. Though it generates carbon dioxide when utilized, the biomass was created from solar energy, water, and carbon dioxide, and so does not increase the earth's net volume of carbon dioxide. In this respect, biomass is said to be "carbon neutral" (Fig. 1).

Figure 1

Fig.1 : The utilization of biomass energy
Woody Biomass with High Carbon Fixation

There are enough biomass resources in the world, 1.2 x 1010 kL/year (crude oil equivalent), to cover the world's demand (1 x 1010 kL/year) (World Energy Assessment: http://stone.undp.org/undpweb/seed/wea/pdfs/chapter5.pdf). Owing to rich forests, Japan's biomass has the potential to meet a part its primary energy needs. Biomass can generate not only electric power and heat directly by burning, but can also be efficiently converted to gas and liquid fuels. On this merit, biomass is considered a more appropriate energy to transport if compared to other renewable energies.

Biomass from waste, such as black liquor (the liquid waste produced after fiber extraction), food and agricultural waste, and sewage sludge, are the types of biomass used most in Japan at present (Fig. 2). Up to now, one had to pay for the disposal of waste, so this method is very economical too.

Ethanol is produced from corn in the United States and from sugar cane in Brazil, 8 million kL and 12 million kL respectively, and mixed with gasoline for wide use in automobiles. It is now being investigated to use ethanol or ETBE (Ethyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether), an octane-boosting agent, to mix with gasoline in Japan.

Woody biomass, such as forests, will be important in the future. If we can better manage the forests, more biomass can be utilized and carbon fixation will be increased.
Sustainable Growth of Forests and the Utilization of Woody Biomass

In the beginning, first firewood and charcoal, then coal and oil, were the principal energy sources of mankind. The reason why firewood and charcoal was replaced by coal and oil is because the energy density of the former is low, a lot of energy is needed to collect them, and so it became economically infeasible.

At the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the production of fuels from woody biomass is an important theme of our second term research strategy. If we can establish the technology to utilize woody biomass by converting it into fuels with high added value, rather than simply burning it, a large quantity of woody biomass from unused trees, sawmill wood waste, and the discarded lumber from construction, can be effectively utilized.

If we can elevate the economic efficiency of woody biomass, the economic value of the forest will also increase. As a result we can achieve a real carbon neutral where there is a cycle of tree felling, tree planting, forest thinning, etc., which will contribute substantially to the prevention of global warming.

Figure 2

Fig.2 : Examples of utilization amount and potential amount estimations of biomass energy in Japan
Utilization rate = Utilized amount (electric power generation + heat)/Potential amount (Source: Agency for Natural Resources and Energy)

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