Biomass is the world’s most abundant natural resource. It is a renewable source of energy worthy of development because it can be recycled and strike a balance between sustainability and economic development.

In 1986, ITRI and Taiwan Sugar Corporation jointly built Taiwan’s first biogas power generation demonstration plant. The Institute also developed fruit and vegetable waste anaerobic fermentation technology to produce biogas by fermenting fruit and vegetable waste. In 2013, it developed the carbon-neutral cellulosic butanol production technology. In 2014, it facilitated the founding of the startup Green Cellulosity Corporation, promoting the export of Taiwan’s biomass energy technologies.

In 2017, Taiwan’s pig farming industry entered an era of circular economy. Supported by the Council of Agriculture, ITRI established the Biogas Power Generation Promotion Office. With biomass energy and agricultural green electricity co-construction technology, the historic goal of utilizing biogas for power generation from 2.5 million pigs in Taiwan in 2018 was achieved, leading the way for Asia’s pig farming industry. In 2019, the total installed power generation capacity reached 4.7 MW, reducing annual carbon emissions by nearly 50,000 tons.

In 2018, ITRI cooperated with the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), part of the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), to develop a catalytic gasification technology that converts biomass waste into clean biofuels. A year later, the Institute worked with C.P. Group to build Taiwan’s first domestically constructed biogas power generation demonstration facility in Central Taiwan. By raising 2,000 pigs and making use of wet anaerobic fermentation technology, the facility is capable of generating 240,000 kWh of electricity annually. Such solution not only resolves environmental problems caused by pig excretion, but also turns waste into a valuable source of biomass energy.

In 2019, ITRI developed the lignocellulose fractionation technology. The technology involves the hydrolysis of solid cellulose into glucose, and of hemicellulose into xylose and other rare carbohydrates. These carbohydrates are important raw materials for making biomass fuels and chemicals. Through chemical or biological processes, agricultural waste such as fruits after palm oil extraction can be turned into high-value products such as xylitol, amino acids, and ethanol fuels. ITRI transferred this technology to a Malaysian palm oil company, building a sustainable raw material supply chain for energy and chemicals and creating greater new business opportunities for the biomass energy industry.