Biomass is considered a renewable source of energy because it replenished more quickly when compared to the millions of years required to replenish fossil fuels. Malaysia is blessed with a rich resource of biomass particularly from the palm oil industry as well as residues from timber and rice industry.
Energy in the biomass can be converted to steam, heat, electricity and fuels through various conversion methods such as direct combustion boiler and steam turbines, anaerobic digestion, co-firing, gasification, and paralysis. This technology outlook report looked at direct combustion of biomass in biomass steam boiler and thermal oil heater as well as biomass fuel substitution in cement kiln.
A furnace is the simplest form of combustion technology. In a furnace, biomass fuel burns in a combustion chamber, converting biomass into heat energy. As the biomass burns, hot gases are released. Commercial and industrial facilities use furnaces for heat either directly or indirectly through a heat exchanger in the form of hot air or water or steam.
Steam then can be used for electricity, mechanical energy or heat. A boiler's steam output contains 60 to 85 percent of the potential energy in biomass fuel. The most common biomass combustion boilers are grate combustors and fluidized-bed combustors.