| Note: The Department of Energy's Office of Biomass Program has refocused its research and development portfolio and the technology on this page is no longer a research priority |
The industrial sector produces thermal output and electricity from biomass primarily from combined heat and power (CHP) facilities in the paper, chemical, and food-processing industries. Power plants that generate electricity also produce useful heat and steam using CHP technology. Utilizing this heat and steam can improve energy efficiencies by more than 35%.
The biggest industrial stakeholder is the forest products industry, which consumes 85% of all wood waste used for energy in the U.S. and they are able to generate over half of their own energy from woody waste products and other renewable sources of fuel (e.g. wood, black liquor). Gasification technologies using biomass byproducts from the pulp and paper industry improve chemical recovery and generate process steam and electricity at higher efficiencies and with lower capital costs than conventional technologies. Pulp and Paper industry byproducts include hogged wood, bark, and spent black liquor and can all be gasified.
Most of the electricity, heat and steam produced by industry are consumed on-site. However, some manufacturers sell excess power to the grid. Wider use of biomass resources will directly benefit many companies whose growth generates more residues, such as wood or animal wastes, than they can use internally. New markets for these excess materials will also support business expansion.
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