Solid biomass

Solid biomass

Main article: Biomass

Simple use of biomass fuel (Combustion of wood for heat).

One of the advantages of biomass fuel is that it is often a by-product, residue or waste-productof other processes, such as farming, animal husbandry and forestry.^[1] In theory this means there is no competition between fuel and food production, although this is not always the case.^[1]
Biomass is material derived from recently living organisms, which includes plants, animals and their byproducts.^[3] Manure, garden waste and crop residues are all sources of biomass. It is a renewable energy source based on the carbon cycle, unlike other natural resources such as petroleum, coal, and nuclear fuels. Another source includes Animal waste, which is a persistent and unavoidable pollutant produced primarily by the animals housed in industrial-sized farms.
There are also agricultural products specifically being grown for biofuel production. These include corn, and soybeans and to some extent willow and switchgrass on a pre-commercial research level, primarily in the United States; rapeseed, wheat, sugar beet, and willow (15,000 ha in Sweden) primarily in Europe; sugarcane in Brazil; palm oil and miscanthus in Southeast Asia; sorghum and cassava in China; and jatropha in India. Hemp has also been proven to work as a biofuel. Biodegradable outputs from industry, agriculture, forestry and households can be used for biofuel production, using e.g. anaerobic digestion to produce biogas, gasification to produce syngas or by direct combustion