Biomass is a renewable energy resource generally found in nature in the form of agriculture and forest residuals and energy crops, though it can also come from industrial and urban wastes. Biomass as a source of energy is attractive from a greenhouse gas perspective as well, adding little to no carbon emissions on a lifecycle basis.

As a natural resource, biomass is continuously being formed with the interaction of air, water, soil and sunlight. Left alone, it is deconstructed again by microorganisms into its chemical elements: water, carbon dioxide and energy in the form of heat.

There is more than one billion tons of biomass that can be converted into fuel annually in the U.S. alone. Using the Coskata process, each of these tons can be converted into over 100 gallons of low-cost ethanol.

 

Practical Estimate of Potential U.S. Ethanol