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Corn makes an excellent biomass power source. This is because corn packs a serious amount of energy in each kernel. When used with a heating system, they produce as much heat as traditional furnaces, but at a much lower cost.

Biomass corn energy is produced using dry shelled corn as the power source. Unlike the edible variety, the corn does not have to be of high quality stock. Pretty much any shelled corn will do so long as it is dry and free of husk fibers.

Corn is turned into heat for a home much the same way as wood. The process involves a fired stove with corn being used instead of wood. If you’re picturing standing in the snow with a shovel, you will be happily disappointed. These days, shelled corn is delivered to your home where it is stored in a tank. As the heating system requires additional fuel, a thermostat senses the loss in temperature and opens a door in the storage tank. A pre-set amount of corn falls into the furnace and, ta da, you have more fire and more heat. The heat is then piped into the home through the same duct system used with an electric heating system.

Gasification exposes coal to temperatures that would normally cause the coal to combust but by carefully regulating the amount of oxygen in the gasifier and adding steam, the coal does not burn but rather separates into syngas. Syngas is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The syngas can then be ‘shifted’ with the addition of more steam to produce more hydrogen and to convert the carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide (CO2).

The gasification of coal and other substances (petcoke, refinery bottom waste, biomass etc.) is not new. For example, China has been successfully gasifying coal for decades for ‘town gas’, chemical feedstock and for its domestic fertiliser industry.