Page 49 - New Trends in Eco efficient and Recycled Concrete

26 New Trends in Eco-efficient and Recycled Concrete

Natural biomass Dry biomass Wet biomass

Rise straw Livestock waste
Waste from forest cleaning works
Residual biomass

Oil crops Alcoholic crops Lignocellulosic crops

Sunflower Sugar beet Sorghum
Energy crops
Figure 2.3 Examples of biomass.

derived from waste or by-products of agricultural, livestock and forestry activities, as
well as the processes of agro-food industries and wood processing. It is usually classi-
fied into:
Dry residual biomass. It comes from agricultural activities, forestry, food industries
and wood, etc. This type of industry produces solid waste, such as sawdust, pomace,
shavings and straw, etc., with a significant energy content.
Wet residual biomass. It is biodegradable waste produced in wastewater treatment,
industrial process and livestock waste.
Energy crops. Energy can also be obtained from crops exploited with the sole objective of
obtaining biomass and called energy crops. In fact, energy crops are available in many
forms (forestry or agricultural crops) and they are characterised by their adaptation to
poor lands, resistance to diseases, drought and robustness, the predictability of their dispo-
sition, which ensures the supply, as well as a spatial concentration that allows a mechan-
ised management, not intensive in labour, vey little fertiliser input and is relatively cheap.
Energy crops may be classified into:
Oil crops. They are plants with seed or fruit used to extract oil that can have various
applications both in food and in industrial processes. Oil crops can be also used for the
production of energy directly as heating fuels or, after transformation processes, be
applied as transport biofuels, such as biodiesel ester. Some of the more common oil
crops are: oilseed rape, hemp, olive, sunflower, safflower, palm and coconut, among
others.
Alcoholic crops. They are used to produce bioethanol which can be can used directly

as a fuel. Some examples are: starch and sugar crops (e.g., sugar beet and sugarcane)
or Jerusalem artichoke.