AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Contribution of Biomass Use for Renewable Energy to Particulate Matter Formation
MARC CARRERAS-SOSPEDRA, Donald Dabdub, Jack Brouwer, Rob Williams, University of California, Irvine
Abstract Number: 144 Working Group: Urban Aerosols
Abstract Biomass contributes to 19% of California’s instate renewable power, which is nearly 2% of full California power mix. Current operating biopower capacity is about 900 Megawatt (MW), including approximately 550 MW of woody biomass solid fuel combustion, 280 MW of landfill gas-to-energy and 75 MW from wastewater treatment biogas. It is estimated that there is sufficient in-state 'technically' recoverable biomass to support another 2,800 MW of capacity. While most biomass energy is derived from woody material from urban wood waste, forest and agricultural residue, there is a growing interest in using municipal solid waste, food processing waste, increased use of animal manures and applying co-digestion techniques at wastewater treatment facilities to generate electricity and renewable fuels. Increasing production of bioenergy contributes to energy sustainability while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and could affect direct pollutant emissions, and secondary particulate formation.
This study assesses the emissions from a variety of pathways for biomass utilization, from direct use for biopower generation, to processing to produce biofuels. The resulting emissions from the various biomass use pathways are used as input to the Community Multiscale Air Quality model (CMAQ) to predict regional and statewide temporal impacts on particulate matter formation from the biopower scenarios. This investigation provides a consistent analysis of increasing electricity generation from biomass in California. The findings will help inform policy makers and industry with respect to further development and direction of biomass policy and bioenergy technology alternatives needed to meet energy and environmental goals in California.