Combustion is the most common way of converting solid biomass fuels to energy. Worldwide, it already provides over 90% of the energy generated from biomass, a significant part of which in the form of traditional uses for cooking and heating. This is mostly the case in developing countries, where biomass combustion provides basic energy for cooking and heating of rural households and for process heat in a variety of traditional industries in developing countries. However, many of these traditional applications are relatively inefficient and be characterised by high indoor air pollution and unsustainable use of forests.
Biomass of different forms can also be used to produce power (and heat) in small-scale distributed generation facilities used for rural electrification, in industrial scale applications, as well as in larger scale electricity generation and district heating plants. Several feedstock and conversion technology combinations are available to produce power and combined heat and power (CHP) from biomass. Two technologically mature and cost-attractive options involve burning biom