Biomass is a general term referring to biological matter that is living or recently dead that can be converted to or used for fuel (i.e., biofuel). Biomass typically refers to plant matter, such as corn, but it also encompasses animal products, including fat (tallow, lard, fish oil, even whale fat), animal waste, human waste, and even the offgases of waste in landfills. Biomass is contrasted to organic material which has been transformed by geological processes into petroleum or other oil sources (in other words, long-dead biological matter).
In addition to fuel and electricity, plastics can also be made from biomass, in much the same process petroleum-based plastics are made. These plastics dissolve in sea water but do not last nearly as long as traditional plastics. An example of biomass-based plastic is corn plastic.
Yes, that's biomass, too
Biomass is such a broad description that it includes everything from rainforest trees to desert scrub to algae. Popular sources of industrial biomass include corn, soy, sugarcane, sugar beet, sorghum,hemp, poplar, willow, switchgrass, eucalyptus and palm oil. At its simplest, biomass is firewood. While biomass is technically "renewable," musch biomass takes many years to renew and, in the example of tropical rainforest, can be very damaging to the climate to use as fuel in the immediate term.
How to foster green biodiversity
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