Since mid-2011, CLEAN Cowra Inc. has been working towards establishing a joint vision and strategic framework for the Cowra community Biomass-to-Energy project development.

Earlier this year Cowra Council indicated it would invest $80,000 into the project; this was confirmed this week at Monday night's General Council meeting.

This funding is specifically linked to a series of milestones.

"We believe there is an opportunity for Cowra to develop a sustainable energy and fuel supply from aggregated, local, residual and harvested biomass," said group spokeperson Dylan Goward in a report to council this week on the project.

"We believe a Biomass-to-Energy project can be an integral part of a broader economic development opportunity around new agribusiness and industry collaboration in Cowra and the Lachlan Valley.

"Our goal is to obtain broad community support for the project and establish an appropriate document that describes the multiple benefits of the development for the Cowra community.

Broadly, Mr Goward explained, there are two types of marketable biomass resource: "Technically contractable" such as council waste streams/intensive farming/ food processors and arborist contracting, and "Merchant-sourced" such as agricultural residue/ break cropping.

Biomass in the forms of wet waste and high valued digestate can potentially be processed to produce marketable commodities such as phosphorus/fertilisers.

"Encouragingly, we have received positive interest in the project from a mix of local and external potential investors," Mr Goward said in his report.

"Locals see the potential for 'add on' or 'value add' benefits to existing production systems."

Council was told on Monday night the project would look at using sludge from the STP plant, and possible use of green waste from the Materials Recycling Facility.

"If it works, it could reduce a lot of the costs at the STP ."

Biomass is biological material derived from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly via combustion to produce heat, or indirectly after converting it to various forms of biofuel. Conversion of biomass to biofuel can be achieved by different methods which are broadly classified into: thermal, chemical, and biochemical methods.

Wood remains the largest biomass energy source to date; examples include forest residues (such as dead trees, branches and tree stumps), yard clippings, wood chips and even municipal solid waste. In the second sense, biomass includes plant or animal matter that can be converted into fibers or other industrial chemicals, including biofuels. Industrial biomass can be grown from numerous types of plants, including miscanthus, switchgrass, hemp, corn, poplar, willow, sorghum, sugarcane, bamboo, and a variety of tree species, ranging from eucalyptus to oil palm (palm oil).

Plant energy is produced by crops specifically grown for use as fuel that offer high biomass output per hectare with low input energy. Some examples of these plants are wheat, which typically yield 7.5-8 tonnes of grain per hectare, and straw, which typically yield 3.5-5 tonnes per hectare in the UK. The grain can be used for liquid transportation fuels while the straw can be burned to produce heat or electricity. Plant biomass can also be degraded from cellulose to glucose through a series of chemical treatments, and the resulting sugar can then be used as a first generation biofuel.

Biomass can be converted to other usable forms of energy like methane gas or transportation fuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Rotting garbage, and agricultural and human waste, all release methane gas-also called "landfill gas" or "biogas."

Crops, such as corn and sugar cane, can be fermented to produce the transportation fuel, ethanol. Biodiesel, another transportation fuel, can be produced from left-over food products like vegetable oils and animal fats.

Also, biomass to liquids (BTLs) and cellulosic ethanol are still under research.

The biomass used for electricity generation varies by region. Forest by-products, such as wood residues, are common in the United States.

Agricultural waste is common in Mauritius(sugar cane residue) and Southeast Asia (rice husks). Animal husbandry residues, such as poultry litter, are common in the UK.

Source: Wikipedia