Solid biomass

Solid biomass (or organic material) is made up of living material in its natural state, whether it's of animal or plant origin. It's also comprised of waste released from primary processing such as agri-food wastes, livestock manure, forestry waste, as well as some industrial and household wastes.

Solid biomass includes wood energy, green wastes (hedges, parks and gardens), and other organic materials such as straw, solid by-products of crops, corn stalks, bagasse of sugarcane, olive grounds.

Often old-timer, biomass applications are varied:

• biocombustible to produce heat and electricity
• biomaterial (wood and wood by-products, hemp or other textiles plants used as insulants, cereal starch used as component of biodegradable plastics …)
• chemical primary material (paints, solvents, resins, cosmetic…)
• biofuel (canola seed, sunflower, wheat, maize, beet, sugarcane …)