Circular and the Biomass Industry
Biomass Types
There are four types of biomass plants: wood and agricultural products like feedstock (anaerobe biomass), solid waste, landfill gas and biogas, and alcohol fuels (like Ethanol or Biodiesel).
Most biomass used today is homegrown energy. Wood logs, chips, bark, and sawdust accounts for about 44 percent of biomass energy.
Circular Solves the Environmental Problem by “Green” Recycling
Circular uses its own produced energy to process and convert feedstock, and is thereby 100% green energy and organic fertilizer.
Manure processing is originally used for processing the surplus of phosphate, a big problem in the Benelux where the high number of cattle and other farm animals is larger than what the soils can take in with regard to acidity, phosphates and more. At the same time, there is a shortage of nutrients for crops, plants and trees to grow. Feedstock, a combination of manure and agricultural waste, like crop waste, offers a smart solution by processing it and retaining the nutrients of the soils. For example, nitrogen from animals’ manure provides about 60% (350 million kilos of the in total 600 million kilos) of the total requirement of nitrogen for plant and crop growth in the Netherlands and Belgium. A part of unprocessed manure is used in the Netherlands agriculture or exported, which causes the soil nutrients to be exported. Much of that manure consists of water. It is better to keep nutrients in the Belgian and Dutch soil, because otherwise these must be supplied via fertilizer and need to be brought back from the outside.
The Circular Benefit is
Green Energy and Organic Fertilizer
The overview in the process flow shows that biogas is produced after organic materials (plant and animal products) are broken down by bacteria in an oxygen-free environment, a process called anaerobic digestion.
Biogas systems use anaerobic digestion to recycle these organic materials, turning them into biogas, which contains both energy (gas), and valuable soil products (liquids, nutrients and solids).
Only fter biogas is captured, can it produce heat and electricity for use in engines, microturbines, and fuel cells. Biogas can also be upgraded into biomethane, which is also called renewable natural gas or RNG [Renewable Natural Gas from Biogas], and can be injected into natural gas pipelines or used as a vehicle fuel.
Green Energy
Sustainability
Biomass facilities contribute to a green environment to fully recycle waste organically to the benefit of the land, the farmer and the environment.
The environmental benefit solves a large waste problem, and is also the reason why these installations receive all the support from the agricultural ministries in many countries around the world, with subsidies and favorable green regulation put into law.