An overview of biomass technologies

Biomass energy, which is currently favored by political decision-makers and investors, is not a new idea. The combustion of traditional biomass (wood, charcoal, leaves and agricultural residues, manure) has been used since prehistoric times, and today still covers 80% of energy needs in developing countries. More than 2.5 billion people depend on traditional biomass combustion, often carried out in inefficient equipment, for domestic cooking and heating. In addition to their poor efficiency, traditional stoves emit toxic gases due to non-optimized combustion, which poses serious problems of respiratory diseases in developing countries.

This article provides an overview of existing biomass development activities and a focus on the state of biogas in France and Europe.

This rapid overview of bioenergy leads to the observation that the input resources of these sectors can be more or less expensive or even negatively priced (biomass waste), the processes used can be more or less complex, and the final products more or less "modern". For example, biogas is an energy source that is particularly suited to developing countries thanks to the fact that the basic product is virtually free, the relative ease of operation and maintenance of bio-digesters and the variety of possible production scales. In addition, the sector offers interesting synergies with the challenges of hygiene and sanitation. This is what makes the richness of bioenergy: each country, according to its financing capacity, its level of development and the technicality of its industry can find a bioenergy sector adapted to its needs.