Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, 2014, 2, 146-150 Published Online April 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jpee http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jpee.2014.24021 How to cite this paper: Montero, G., Coronado, M.A., Campbell, H.E., Cerezo, J., Lambert, A.A. and Valenzuela, E.E. (2014) Biomass Wastes: An Energy Option for Baja California, México. Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, 2, 146-150. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jpee.2014.24021 Biomass Wastes: An Energy Option for Baja California, México Gisela Montero 1 , Marcos A. Coronado 1 , Hector E. Campbell 1 , Jesus Cerezo 1 , Alejandro A. Lambert 2 , Edgar E. Valenzuela 2 1 Instituto de Ingenieria, Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Mexicali, México 2 Facultad de Ingenieria, Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Mexicali, México Email: gmontero@uabc.edu.mx Received November 2013 Abstract Cotton and wheat crops are essential part of the Baja California agricultural production. Such crops generate waste biomass after each harvest cycle, which is almost fully openly burned in or- der to clear land for the next cycle. Thus in the agricultural 2011 cycle, 542,000 tonnes of straw were generated from wheat in the Mexicali Valley. In addition, the residue from the cotton con- sisting of stalks exceeded 143,000 tonnes. All these residues are a source of energy that is dis- carded annually equivalent to 10.19 PJ. Therefore, in addition to determining the biomass poten- tial available in the state from such wastes, the aim of this paper is to propose options for the use of the energy contained in the waste biomass considering the characteristics of raw material available and existing technologies. The results show that there is the potential to generate elec- tricity with a system of 105 MW of installed capacity, and also obtain annually 6.4 million liters of biodiesel. Obtaining this biofuel is by a transesterification reaction of waste vegetable oils, consi- dering an average efficiency of 80% conversion, based on experimental results obtained with mixtures from Mexicali. Keywords Agricultural Biomass Wastes; Biodiesel; Electricity 1. Introduction In line with the development of humanity, energy demand has increased causing the intensified use of waste as raw material for energy production in the world, as an alternative to meet part of the demand. Also, technologies have been developed and adapted based on the use of residual biomass, which can obtain liquid and gaseous fu- els, heat, electricity [1]. In Mexico, biomass contributes to 3.8% of primary energy, however, in this account only are considered sugarcane bagasse and wood and do not take into account other biomass resources from agricultural activities, considered as waste materials [2]. Such is the case of crop residues from cotton and wheat in the Mexicali Valley which are the main source of agricultural activities that support the regional economy. In addition to these residues from agricultural activities in Baja California, the food preparation industry has as remnants the Waste Vegetable Oils (WVO), which were used in cooking and are usually sent to the municipal