Biomass, availability in Canada, and gasification: an overview

Compared with other developed countries, Canada has “green” advantage, but its vast amounts of biomass from forest resources, agricultural sources, and municipal waste streams are not effectively utilized. Effective use of this available waste biomass would improve Canada’s ability to reduce toxic air emissions, greenhouse gas, and its dependence on oil while supporting agriculture and rural economies. One way of converting biomass to energy is gasification, a thermo-chemical process. Biomass energy already provides 5% of secondary energy use by the residential sector and 17% of energy use in the industrial sector in Canada. To meet upcoming energy requirements, bio-based fuels can replace conventional fuels in various sectors, however, the feasibility and viability of biomass energy depends on technological progress, economic incentives, and institutional developments. This report compares Canada’s annual fossil fuel use and biomass carbon yield, as well as their energy contents. Different types of gasifiers and essential factors for successful gasification such as feed stock properties, and pretreatment, gasifier-operating conditions, as well as problems associated with biomass gasification and syngas conditioning are discussed.