Biomass and biofuel stores

Energy kept in wood piles, pellets, charcoal, ethanol, biodiesel and stored biogas.

Storage · Chemical · No. 89

• Storage
• Duration: Months

A wood chip pile is alive: microbes eat up to 2.7% of it monthly, and stored pellets can give off deadly gas.

Chart: Illustration: Biomass and biofuel stores

Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Plants store sunlight as chemical bonds; pellets are dried to about 8% moisture so they keep, while chips, charcoal, ethanol and biogas each age differently.

Three things to know

1. Covering a chip pile cuts monthly dry-matter loss from about 1.1% to 0.7%.
2. Traditional charcoal kilns keep only about 10% of the wood's energy; efficient kilns reach 30%.
3. Ethanol carries about 35% less energy per gallon than petrol (calculated), so storing it costs more per unit of energy.

The journey

1. 1 PlantsCapture sunlight in cellulose, sugar, oil
2. 2 ProcessingChipped, pelleted, charred or fermented
3. 3 StoragePiles, silos, tanks and gasholders
4. 4 LossesMicrobes, oxidation, self-heating, leaks
5. 5 UseHeat, power, transport fuel, cooking

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