BIOMASS POWER STATIONS

Biomass power plants are thermal power plants which use biomass as fuel, i.e., power is obtained from the thermal energy obtained by burning biomass. Biomass id the organic matter produced in natural processes; biomass energy is the one obtained from vegetation, forests, and agricultural waste. Biomass can be treated by means of various natural physical and chemical processes (decomposition, fermentation, ...) in facilities called digesters, in order to obtain fuels such as charcoal, biogas or alcohol.

The heat obtained from the combustion of biomass is used to produce steam which is able to drive the turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.

It is interesting how in these plants wastes, that would otherwise be useless, are used as an energy resource. However, they also emit CO2 to the atmosphere, as convetional power plants do, even though they do not pollute as much.