Assessment of the energy potential of agricultural and forestry biomass sources from the Canary Islands

Abstract

A selection of some biomass sources from the Canary Islands, such as agricultural biomass (vineyard, VB; tomato plant, TPB), forestry biomass (Canary pine needles, CPB) and invasive species (Pennisetum setaceum, PSB) were evaluated to determine their potential as solid biofuels due to theirabundant level, availability and low supply cost. In this work, the main physico-chemical properties (moisture content, ash content, volatile matter, fixed carbon, CHNOS content, mineral content, heating value, density, etc.) of the four biomasses were evaluated.From the results of this study it can be concluded that the TPB is not considered suitable due to its very high ash content and its relatively low content of volatile matter. However, VB, CPB and PSB proved to be potential candidates for energy generation through thermochemical conversion.