Parameter

Combustion

Anaerobic Digestion

Gasification

Pyrolysis

Resource

Mainly solid Biomass

Wet biomass

Mainly solid Biomass

Mainly solid Biomass

Example of Raw Materials

Wood logs, chips, agricultural residues, energy crops

Manure, sewage Sludge

Wood chips and pellets, agricultural residues

Wood chips and pellets, agricultural residues

Technology Status

Commercial

Commercial

Commercial

Demonstration

Temperature (°C)

700–1400

Not applicable

500–1300

380–530

Pressure (MPa)

> 0.1

> 0.1

0.1–0.5

Drying

Not essential, but may help

Not essential

Necessary

Necessary

Advantages

Anaerobic digestion is a very effective method of treating high moisture content organic wastes, and many implementations of anaerobic digestion are driven by waste management needs, with biogas as a valuable byproduct

Advantages compared to combustion in terms of economies of scale, higher electrical efficiencies of up to 50% are possible. Up to 25% efficiency in small scale applications (between few tens of KW up to 5 MW) This makes  gasification especially for small scale application interesting, because there is no efficient technology for solid biomass for power production available

The main advantages compared to combustion or gasification is the fact that the main product is a liquid (especially for fast pyrolysis) with high energy content, easy to store and transport, and can be used for different uses