Bamboo Biomass as Efficient Source of Alternative Energy
More and more developments have been made for bamboo biomass. The great thing about using bamboo for energy production is that it grows fast. It is easy to maintain and care for. Once it is established on the soil, it can even tolerate drought.
Bamboo is the typical term which refers to a type of woody grass. It is a type of perennial evergreens from the family Poaceae. It is the largest member of the grass family and there are also different types of it.
Growing bamboo is a great option if the purpose of planting is to produce energy. It is considered among the wood biomass that we now utilize for alternative energy production. Actually, the power plants which are focused on using biomass for power find it more efficient to use bamboo than other type of wood biomass. It is considered as the best option. It does not take much care to grow bamboo and the time span needed for its growth is not too long. There are certain species of bamboo that is capable of growing 100 cm or 39 inches or even more in a single day. This is because of the rhizome dependent system in bamboo. It has to be considered though that the growth of bamboo is also greatly affected by the climate and the type of soil where it is planted.
The gestation period is happens in just a matter of three years. Technically, from a one acre yield, there will be 20 tons of biomass produced. This only contains 8 to 10 % moisture and 1% ash. Because of that bamboo as fuel is very efficient and it is great for producing alternative energy.
There are certain aspects that make bamboo biomass a very good source of biofuel. It is also a convenient option because of how easy it is to make bamboo grow compared to other woods in the forest. Yet, there are also certain things that can hinder the progress of using bamboo biomass fuel. Yes, it is easy to grow bamboo trees but the recorded place where there is an abundance of bamboo trees is in Asia. Other continents may still encounter difficulty growing these trees. On the other hand, transportation of bamboo to other places would mean making the expenses higher too.
When processed and converted properly, bamboo trees can be efficient thermal energy source especially if it is already transformed as bamboo fuel pellets. Production of these pellets is preferred by a lot of people because of the easy process and gives efficient results.
Harvesting bamboo biomass is not difficult. Compared to other wood biomass, bamboo biomass is more consistent and uniform so the process can be done much faster. Once harvested, it is then broken down and then processed so that moisture can be drawn out. Another advantage of bamboo is that it has less moisture than wood. The entire method of processing and conversion results to the creation of bamboo pellets which can be used for combustion.