Biomass is the most abundant and versatile form of renewable energy. It currently accounts for around 12% of primary energy supply worldwide, and 4% in the European Union. According to various assumptions and scenarios, biomass could meet between 15 and 35% of the planet’s energy requirements in 2030-2050. According to a report by the European Environment Agency, the EU’s primary bioenergy potential will total from 250 to 295 million tons of oil equivalent (Mtoe) in 2030, compared with 69 Mtoe in 2003.

However, biomass has two major drawbacks—low energy content and scattered locations—that translate to high collection, logistics and processing costs and create a structural handicap for biomass-to-energy processes, which require huge amounts of raw material.

Without subsidies, therefore, biomass usually cannot compete with fossil fuels for power generation or automotive fuel production in today’s environment. But this handicap may become less significant, enabling a greater proportion of biomass’s potential to be harnessed for energy production.

Using biomass as an energy source is part of the natural carbon cycle, since the amount of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere during combustion is essentially equivalent to the amount absorbed by the biomass during photosynthesis. Non-energy-intensive process technologies to cultivate and convert biomass feedstocks have a favorable CO2 balance.