How Forestry Can Benefit From Biomass Gasification

Forestry businesses produce large volumes of organic waste, and most of it is burned, left to decompose, or trucked to landfill. Biomass gasification offers a third option: turn that waste into energy and biochar, cut CO₂ emissions, and open new revenue streams in the process.

This post walks through how the process works and what it can do for a forestry operation.

What Is Biomass Gasification?

Most people have never heard of biomass gasification, yet the process offers a concrete tool for reducing atmospheric CO₂. Let’s start by defining a few terms.

What Is Biomass?

Biomass refers to all sorts of organic materials, from forest and agricultural residues to plants, seaweed, and even animal wastes. Some examples include rice husks, corn stover, wood chips, bark, and organic components of household waste, just to mention a few (National Energy Technology Laboratory).

Trees use a chemical process known as photosynthesis to absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water from the atmosphere and produce oxygen and glucose. During this process, trees store carbon in their trunk and leaves. When leaves fall on the ground or trees die, microbes decompose them, releasing the stored CO₂ back into the atmosphere. That natural cycle is nearly balanced. Biomass gasification breaks the cycle by trapping the carbon before it escapes.

What Is Biomass Gasification And How Does It Work?

Biomass gasification is the process through which biomass can be converted into a combustible gas mixture known as syngas, composed of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen. It consists of applying heat and pressure in a controlled environment at high temperatures (>700°C) in the presence of steam and small amounts of oxygen so that combustion doesn’t occur (US Department of Energy).

This matters because, despite what some people suggest, burning wood is not environmentally friendly. In just a few minutes, combustion releases all the carbon that trees stored over decades. For the same amount of heat produced, burning wood releases more CO₂ than burning gas, oil, or coal (The Guardian, 2018). Biomass gasification is an efficient way to turn organic waste such as old trunks into renewable energy. It also captures the CO₂ and stores it in biochar for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years.

But what are the benefits of biomass gasification for the forestry industry? Implementing this technology offers businesses two key benefits: environmental sustainability and financial gains.

Environmental Benefits of Biomass Gasification For The Forestry Industry

Biomass gasification processes can help companies working in the forestry sector in three main ways: by helping them create clean energy that can then be reused in their business or sold for a profit, limiting their CO₂ emissions, and reducing the risks of wildfires.

Creating Clean Energy

Biomass gasification turns biomass into syngas, a gas with several uses. It can drive gas engines or turbines, generating electricity that feeds the grid. It can be burned to produce industrial heat. It also feeds biofuel production (methanol, ethanol, synthetic diesel), chemicals like ammonia (a key ingredient in fertilizers) and synthetic natural gas, and hydrogen production (Britannica).

Carbon Capturing: Limiting CO₂ Emissions

Carbon capturing, the process of storing CO₂ for centuries and even millennia before releasing it back into the environment, is an efficient way to deal with the current climate crisis. As we mentioned earlier, this often happens in nature, for instance, in trees capturing CO₂ in their trunks. However, when trees die and decompose, the CO₂ is released into the environment again. So, we now need materials that can store CO₂ for longer periods. One of the solutions is biochar, which can be produced through biomass gasification.

This fine-grained, highly absorbent material locks in the CO₂ contained in biomass, preventing it from being released into the environment. Farmers can use biochar to improve soil health, limit methane emissions, and reduce water usage. According to a study published in 2023, when crops are exposed to water shortage, biochar can increase the plants’ readily available water (RAW), namely the amount of water a plant can extract from the soil. This supports crops during droughts, something crucial given the current climate crisis (Ghazouan, 2023).

Besides its benefits for agriculture, biochar is often used in durable materials including asphalt and cement, keeping CO₂ stored for hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of years (International Biochar Initiative).

Reducing The Risk Of Wildfires

All people working in the forestry industry know how dangerous wildfires can be and how they can destroy years of work in just a few hours. This is why prevention is key. Biomass gasification can help these companies lower their fire hazards.

Wildfires are more frequent where biomass accumulates on the ground. That is why biomass extraction is a useful tool for wildfire prevention. Today, most forest residue harvesting focuses on dead-standing trees, yet those do not really reduce fire hazards. Dead trunks, branches, leaves, and other dry organic materials are highly flammable. They raise the risk of fires starting and help them spread faster (Pinto, 2022).

Biomass gasification can help reduce biomass in forests, keeping wildfires at bay.

Why Industries Need To Go Green

Green practices are becoming a baseline expectation. Research consistently shows that customers favor brands that work to cut their CO₂ emissions.

In 2017, 87% of consumers had a more positive opinion of companies supporting social and environmental issues, with 88% being more loyal to such brands (Forbes, 2018).

In addition, a 2022 Google Cloud report stressed that customers were more interested in a company’s values than ever before (Google, 2022). The report showed that the vast majority of consumers (82%) preferred to buy from a brand aligned with their values.

What is even more interesting is that 24% of shoppers would break ties even with their favorite brands, at least temporarily, if they were to adopt measures unaligned with their values. And this is not all. 15% of them would also share their concerns on social media, while 28% would talk about it with friends and family.

In light of this data, it’s evident that all companies need to implement green practices if they care about their customers’ opinions. This leads us to one of the main economic benefits of choosing biomass gasification: better earnings.

Economic Advantages of Biomass Gasification For The Forestry Industry

There are three main ways in which biomass gasification can help the forestry industry boost earnings: attracting more clients, turning waste into extra revenue streams, and increasing the chances of getting government incentives.

More Clients

As the 2022 Google report mentioned above showed, consumers are now interested in purchasing products from brands that align with their values. The document also showed that 55% of shoppers were willing to pay more for a sustainable brand. This means that companies can increase their prices without losing customers!

Turning Waste Into Extra Revenue Streams

Once biomass that would otherwise be left to decay is turned into syngas, forestry companies can use it to power their industry processes, eliminating the need to purchase energy.

Alternatively, businesses may decide to sell their syngas, energy, or biochar to other companies as an additional income stream.

Another great way of generating additional profit is by selling carbon offsets. For instance, let’s say your company removed a unit of carbon from the atmosphere, you can then sell this ‘carbon offset voucher’ to another company, allowing them to meet government regulations.

A Growing Market

It’s important to point out that the biomass gasification market is growing fast! As of today, this market is worth a total of USD 55.49 billion, but it is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.6%. According to current estimations, the biomass gasification market will be worth USD 143.35 billion by 2029, making this the perfect moment to start investing in this technology (Yahoo, 2024).

Interested In Trying It Out?

If you want to try biomass gasification in your forestry business, get in touch. Loopura provides forestry businesses with a mobile biomass gasification system that turns their waste into energy while keeping profits up. Email us at sales@loopura.com or reach out through our contact form.