Introduction
Use of agricultural biomass for non-food options, mainly
energy options, is widely debated in many countries. Farmers
see non-food products as a possibility for reducing
over production, a reasonable way to use set-aside land and
a way to raise profits. Environmentalists are eager to use
non-food products as a way to produce renewable energy,
but are typically sceptical about the ethics of producing such
products on farmland. Technologists focus on and try to sell
different technological solutions to the conversion of biomass
to usable energy. Much research has taken place and
many conferences have been arranged on energy from
agricultural biomass in the last 15-20 years. Much of the
research has been devoted to dedicated energy crops. Still,
most of the agricultural biomass used for energy purposes
tends to be low-value residues which in most cases, is not
marketed or sold through a market. There exist several studies
about the future (physical) potential of biomass energy,
but few worry about the fact that most systems are not