Search results for "Bioenergy"
showing 10 items of 77 documents
Multifarious pretreatment strategies for the lignocellulosic substrates for the generation of renewable and sustainable biofuels: A review
2020
Abstract Currently major part of the world’s energy requirements is fulfilled by fossil resources. Severe economic and environmental problems along with their limited resources are still a major issue. Long-term environmental and commercial concern has focussed into huge research in the past decades to replace fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy. The main focus of energy research is lignocellulosic substrates, which seems to be the best for energy application due to easily availability, cost-effective and environment favourable production process. Therefore, lignocellulosic materials provide economical, environmental and energetic benefits with an alternative to traditional or hig…
Le filiere del sistema agricolo per l'energia e l'efficienza energetica
2011
Increasing the use of renewable energies and Energy Efficiency offer significant opportunities for Italy to reduce fossil energy, greenhouse gas emissions and secure its energy supply. This report presents a brief analysis of the most important supply chains of the Agriculture system. Greatest attention is paid to the significant role that agriculture and its supply chains are likely to play in terms of bioenergy production and energy saving. Special attention is devoted to new agricultural activities like those associated with the reduction of vegetable food waste, the agrotourism, the urban agriculture, the plastic coverings and the greenhouses, the plant protection and the fertilizers. D…
Aspen Plus process-simulation model: Producing biogas from VOC emissions in an anaerobic bioscrubber
2018
A process-simulation model for a novel process consisted of an anaerobic bioscrubber was developed in Aspen Plus®. A novel approach was performed to implement the anaerobic reactor in the simulation, enabling it to be connected to the scrubber. The model was calibrated and validated using data from an industrial prototype that converted air emissions polluted with volatile organic compounds with an average daily concentration of 1129 mgC Nm−3 into bioenergy for more than one year. The scrubber, which showed a removal efficiency within 83-93%, was successfully predicted with an average absolute relative error of 5.2 ± 0.08% using an average height-to-theoretical-plate value of 1.05 ± 0.08 m …
Towards a microbial thermoelectric cell.
2013
Microbial growth is an exothermic process. Biotechnological industries produce large amounts of heat, usually considered an undesirable by-product. In this work, we report the construction and characterization of the first microbial thermoelectric cell (MTC), in which the metabolic heat produced by a thermally insulated microbial culture is partially converted into electricity through a thermoelectric device optimized for low ΔT values. A temperature of 41°C and net electric voltage of around 250–600 mV was achieved with 1.7 L baker’s yeast culture. This is the first time microbial metabolic energy has been converted into electricity with an ad hoc thermoelectric device. These results might…
Ionic liquids versus amine solutions in biogas upgrading: the level of volatile organic compounds
2013
Background: This article provides information related to the occurrence of volatile organic compounds before and after biogas purification, by means of both aqueous amine solutions and ionic liquids. Results & discussion: Encouraging results were obtained. Under the experimental conditions, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ionic liquid appeared to perform at least two-times better than aqueous amines solutions, since it captured 65 wt% of the identified volatile organic compounds, while aqueous amine solutions retained around 35 wt% only. However, in the case of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane and dichlorobenzene, aqueous amine solutions rendered better purification performance and diminish…
Reed canary grass transportation costs – Reducing costs and increasing feasible transportation distances
2009
Abstract Reed canary grass is used in several heat and power plants in Finland and it is estimated that about 70–80 plants could utilise reed canary grass as a co-firing fuel. Long-distance transport of reed canary grass forms a significant share of the production and delivery costs. Reed canary grass can be transported in bales or as loose matter. The density of the matter and shape of the bales influence the load-size and the cost. At present it is impossible to obtain the full load-bearing capacity of a lorry even with bales, and with light bulk matter the obtainable load is less than one-third of the load-bearing capacity of a lorry. By using Orkel local-baler it has been possible to ob…
Screening boreal energy crops and crop residues for methane biofuel production
2008
Abstract The purpose of the study was to screen potential boreal energy crops and crop residues for their suitability in methane production and to investigate the effect of harvest time on the methane production potential of different crops. The specific methane yields of crops, determined in 100–200 d methane potential assays, varied from 0.17 to 0.49 m 3 CH 4 kg −1 VS added (volatile solids added) and from 25 to 260 m 3 CH 4 t ww −1 (tonnes of wet weight). Jerusalem artichoke, timothy-clover grass and reed canary grass gave the highest potential methane yields of 2900–5400 m 3 CH 4 ha −1 , corresponding to a gross energy yield of 28–53 MWh ha −1 and ca. 40,000–60,000 km ha −1 in pas…
Storing energy crops for methane production: Effects of solids content and biological additive
2007
The effect of storage on chemical characteristics and CH4 yield (taking into account loss of VS during storage) of a mixture of grasses and ryegrass, ensiled as such (low solids content) and after drying (medium and high solids) with and without biological additive, were studied in field and laboratory trials. Up to 87% and 98% of CH4 yield was preserved with low solids grass (initial TS 15.6%) and high solids ryegrass (initial TS 30.4%), respectively, after storage for 6months, while under suboptimal conditions at most 37% and 52% of CH4 yield were lost. Loss in CH4 yield was mainly due to VS loss, presumably caused by secondary fermentation as also suggested by increasing pH during storag…
Anaerobic digestion of organic solid poultry slaughterhouse waste – a review
2002
This work reviews the potential of anaerobic digestion for material recovery and energy production from poultry slaughtering by-products and wastes. First, we describe and quantify organic solid by-products and wastes produced in poultry farming and poultry slaughterhouses and discuss their recovery and disposal options. Then we review certain fundamental aspects of anaerobic digestion considered important for the digestion of solid slaughterhouse wastes. Finally, we present an overview of the future potential and current experience of the anaerobic digestion treatment of these materials.
Assessing the gasification potential of five woodchips species by employing a lab-scale fixed-bed downdraft reactor
2015
Abstract This paper is aimed to assess the performance of air blown fixed-bed downdraft gasification of local lignocellulosic biomasses which in perspective of Southern Norway are both available and sustainable. Long rotation forest crops birch, oak and spruce, coupled with energy crops poplar and willow were used as feedstocks. The gasification conditions undertaken were widely varied in-terms of air (∼3.20–4.20 N m3/h) and fuel flow (∼1.70–2.10 kg/h) so that the corresponding equivalence ratio (ER) differed (0.19–0.80) and ultimately reflected to other operational parameters such as bed temperature (∼550–760 °C maximum), producer gas yield (∼1.50–2.30 N m3/kg, wet base), cold gas efficien…