Biomass energy

In light of possible future restrictions on the use of fossil fuel, due to climate change obligations and continuous depletion of global fossil fuel reserves, the search for alternative renewable energy sources is expected to be an issue of great concern for policy stakeholders. This study assessed the feasibility of bioenergy production under relatively low-intensity conservative, eco-agricultural settings (as opposed to those produced under high-intensity, fossil fuel based industrialized agriculture). Estimates of the net energy gain (NEG) and the energy return on energy invested (EROEI) obtained from a life cycle inventory of the energy inputs and outputs involved reveal that the energy efficiency of bioenergy produced in low-intensity eco-agricultural systems could be as much as much as 448.5–488.3 GJ·ha −1 of NEG and an EROEI of 5.4–5.9 for maize ethanol production systems, and as much as 155.0–283.9 GJ·ha −1 of NEG and an EROEI of 14.7–22.4 for maize biogas production systems. This is substantially higher than for industrialized agriculture with a NEG of 2.8–52.5 GJ·ha −1 and an EROEI of 1.2–1.7 for maize ethanol production systems, as well as a NEG of 59.3–188.7 GJ·ha −1 and an EROEI of 2.2–10.2 for maize biogas production systems. Bioenergy produced in low-intensity eco-agricultural systems could therefore be an important source of energy with immense net benefits for local and regional end-users, provided a more efficient use of the co-products is ensured.

The heavy reliance on non-renewable energy sources from fossil fuel such as petroleum, natural gas and coal has led to the scarcity of these sources and occurrence of global warming. This phenomenon raises the public concerns to diversify the energy sources to sustain energy availability. To address these predicaments, biomass is among the prominent alternative energy sources since it is renewable and possesses minimal harms to the environment. Leucaena leucocephala, or locally known as ‘Petai Belalang’ is one of the potential energy crops. In this study, 3 portions of Leucaena leucocephala stem which are bottom, middle and top have been divided and 2 different particle sizes which are 0.5 and 1.5 mm were used to determine their influences on the properties of the samples. Proximate analysis (moisture content, volatile matter, ash content and fixed carbon), physical analysis (specific gravity and bulk density) plus calorific value of Leucaena leucocephala were conducted as the param...

The societal challenges of the 21st century are profound and wide ranging. Basic needs such
as food, housing, mobility, health, and energy will become even more acute as the world
population exceeds nine billion. The demand for sustainable development will require
redefined engineering cutting-edge skills and ever reaching hands-on experience to navigate
these needs to a standard level. The power sector is on the cusp of a technology breakthrough
with a number of promising developments coming on string. A concerted drive to solve
challenges of the energy trilenma: energy access, affordability and sustainability coupled with
rapid technological change that spored tech firms. Constant power supply is the hallmark and
the bedrock of any developed economy. Today, 60% to 70% of the Nigerian population have
no access to electricity. One hundred million Nigerians representing 60% of its population,
have no access to grid electricity and those who do, experience extremely unreliable supply.
This present power crisis will persist unless the government diversifies the energy resources
in domestic, commercial and industrial sectors and adopts new available technologies to
reduce energy wastage and to save cost. The need for diversified sources of power supply has
naturally become a germane issue with the nation now planning to opt out of monocultural
profiles. Recent innovations are already booming the power sector, enabling the emergence
of “the prosumer,” energy consumer who produces their own electricity taken for example
the tech such as solar photovoltaic (PV) , energy storage and smart metres. The use of
biomass as an innovation in clean energy and power has proven itself efficient.
Simultaneously, providing a way to produce electricity and reduce health hazards. The
establishment of mini-hydro stations is a pathway to enhance access to electricity for
Nigeria’s increasing population. In all, aiding the society and improving engineering
education.

Densification of biomass is often required to combat the negative handling characteristics of these low bulk density materials. A high-quality densified product is strongly desired, binding agents are usually added to comminuted biomass material to improve the quality of the resulting briquettes. Many materials naturally possess such binding agents; however, they may not be enough or available in a form that can contribute to product binding. The briquettes were prepared from groundnut shell with different cassava starch as binder in varying percentage (5, 10, 15 and 20%) by weight. The prepared briquettes after sun drying for 21 days were subjected to water boiling test for assessing the quality and suitability of briquetted fuel as domestic fuel. The groundnut shell briquettes burnt with good flame and observed 14.47 to 18.46% thermal efficiency while that of wood is 10.31%. The average burning rate of the briquettes ranges between 0.587 and 0.881 kg/hr while that of wood (V) is 1.166 kg/hr. The average specific fuel consumption of the briquettes ranges between 0.067 and 0.267 J/g while that of wood is 0.332 J/g. The boiling time for briquettes is between 14.80 to 23.15 minutes and 13.05 to 19.08 minutes for cold and hot start respectively while for wood are 28.05 and 19.20 minutes for cold and hot starting respectively. Comparatively briquette with 20% binder performs better.

This experiment was conducted on fixed bed combustion in a one-dimensional bench. The effects of ash and moisture content on the combustion characteristics of corn straw were determined. The two parameters directly relate to the burning rate and affect combustion efficiency and the release of gas. The bed temperature distribution, mass loss rate and gas composition were measured in the bed. The results show that the optimum char combustion efficiency was achieved at 10% moisture content of corn combustion. A slight increasing the moisture content to 10% can obtain a higher bed temperature and accelerate the ignition rate in the char oxidation stage, while there is also a slight decrease in the conversion ratio of C to CO. The conversion rate of S to SO 2 for 10% moisture content was higher with the temperature zone above 1000 C. With the increased ash content, there was a slight increase in the average ignition rate; the bottom bed temperature increased with a serious ash slagging. C was converted to CO and presented a slightly increasing trend for higher ash content and the conversion of N to HCN. This work provides an overall understanding of corn combustion for large boiler system.

The biomass for energy purposes, coming from agroforestry systems and timber industry, can provide various environmental and socio-economic benefits. Among all renewable energy sources, agroforestry biomass represents both an important alternative source to fossil fuels and an opportunity for the socio-economic development of various marginal areas in Italy. In particular, agroforestry is a collective name of land use systems in which woody perennials are grown in association with herbaceous plants and/or livestock in a spatial arrangements, a rotation, or both in which there are both ecological and economic interactions between the tree and the non-tree components of the system. Estimating availability of biomass resources is important to assess bioenergy production potential and so bioenergy contribution to annual energy demand. In the supply of biomass to energy use, the planning of operations is the basis for sustainable development of agroforest system. Most existing forest practice rules and recommendations did not anticipate this increased extraction of woody biomass and offer no specific guidance on how much removal is healthy for ecosystems. Intensification of biomass utilization, particularly for energy and fuel needs, presents a range of potential environmental risks. Therefore, the research focuses on development of guidelines for increasing a sustainable biomass supply chain at local scale, in order to facilitate energy planning that considers the local system carrying capacity and the potential of substitution of fossil fuels.

Rice husk lean-combustion in a bubbling and atmospheric fluidized bed reactor (FBR) of 0.3 m diameter with expansion to 0.4 m in the freeboard zone and 3 m height was investigated. Experiment design – response surface methodology (RSM) – is used to evaluate both excess air and normal fluidizing velocity influence (independent and controllable variables), in the combustion efficiency (carbon transformation), bed and freeboard temperature and silica content in the ashes. Hot gases emissions (CO2, CO and NOx), crystallographic structure and morphology of the ash are also shown. A cold fluidization study is also presented. The values implemented in the equipment operation, excess air in the range of 40–125% and normal fluidization velocities (0.13–0.15 Nm/s) show that the values near the lower limit, encourage bed temperatures around 750 °C with higher carbon transformation efficiencies around 98%. However, this condition deteriorated the amorphous potential of silica present in the ash...

— Algae are gaining broad consideration as a substitute renewable source of biomass for the manufacture of bioethanol, due to this reason categorized under the " third generation biofuels " .İn this work, GC-MS analysis and FTIR has been done of bio-oil obtained from fast pyrolysis of Freshwater Algae(Spirogyra) in this paper we have shown a simple process of converting biomass of fresh water algae to bio-oil through pyrolysis and explained it with the help of graphs and tables. Pyrolysis is a thermal process for converting various biomasses , residues and wastes to produce high-energy-density fuels (bio-oil, biochar). The bio-oil was obtained in two step pyrolysis in which temperature of the system kept 25ºC and then increased up to 650ºC time by time. After pyrolysis these fractions were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and FTIR which show different peaks and data of different compounds and functional groups present in this bio-oil

Agricultural by–products are renewable energy sources from which essential amount of energy can be recovered, which can be used to replace the use of conventional fossil fuel, reduces the potential of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and at the same time reduces deforestation, especially in rural areas. Energy values of biomass from small Agricultural farms, in particular waste generated from different tropical crops, viz; Maize, Millet, Rice, Sorghum and Groundnut were determined, to ascertain their potentials as alternative fuel sources for rural use. The materials were found to be of importance judging by their combustion potentials in all the forms investigated. The Energy values of the by-products considered ranged between 11.68 MJkg-1 to 17.48 MJkg-1 with Groundnut pods and millet husk having the highest and least respectively. Moisture and ash had effect on the energy values of these biomass. Our results are relevant to the problems posed by the management of farm residues in de...

Various researchers work on PKL electricity previously. But they did not mention the future prospect about PKL electricity. This research work mentioned the and discussed about the future prospects of PKL electricity.The appliances may not compete with the conventional electricity but in near future it is expected that the costs of the PKL electrode concentration cells will drop drastically, performances of several electrical appliances run on PKL electricity. 1KW or, 1000 watt mini power plant has been setup at Islamabad village, Union-Rajapur, Thana-Kanighat in Sylhet District of Bangladesh. Energy saving AC bulbs are using for 57 houses, 10 energy saving energy bulbs and a 80 watt AC fan are using in a mosque of that village. This paper expressed the required PKL jouice, positive and negative electrodes, charge controller, modified square wave inverter, the panel board and storage batteries. Storage batteries are used for constant output voltage. The panel board is made by a DC voltmeter, AC voltmeter & DC voltammeter as indicators of the produced electricity. This mini power plant has been setup for experimental purposes to develop "an operational system of clean energy production and supply using Pathor Kuchi Leaf (Bryophilum Pinnatum)" electricity to the complex rural area where the grid electricity is absent. Most of the results have been tabulated & graphically discussed. Furthermore, the electrical and chemical properties of PKL electricity generation device have been studied in this research work by the researchers. It has been studied the following characterizations: The electrical properties are: internal resistance, voltage regulation, energy efficiency, pulse performance, self discharge characteristics, discharge characteristics with load, capacity of the PKL cell, temperature characteristics and life cycle of the PKL cell. The change of PKL power efficiency with time. The internal resistance is nearly 0.60 ohm, voltage regulation is close to 9%, pulse performance is so good and energy efficiency is about 65%. Internal resistance is nearly 0.25 ohm, which is nearly good. Voltage and current reduces exponentially and the concentration of copper decreases gradually with time for PKL cell which also reflect the higher life time of the cell. Voltage and current linearly decreases with decreasing the concentration of copper ions. Some Practical Applications for static and dynamic method have been studied. Most of the results have been tabulated and graphically discussed.It has been designed and fabricated a mini PKL power plant for for practical use at the off-grid areas of Bangladesh. This mini power plant presents the salient design features of the PKL electric system, which is the first of its kinds in the world. Experiences regarding the operation and maintenance of this PKL power plant, which has been functional in Bangladesh. Attempts have been made to correlate certain measurable parameters anticipated performance of the mini PKL power plant. As a practical application this mini power plant deals with the technology of PKL electricity used in application at the rural areas in Bangladesh.

In the study, first-time personal exposure level of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was measured during cooking hours in participants of three different types of kitchen both in the particulate and gaseous phase using traditional and improved cookstoves. Along with that, indoor particulate matter (PM) concentration was also estimated during the cooking hours to examine the impact of intervention in different kitchens. The results of the study clearly revealed that the kitchen characteristics and type of cookstove technology have a significant impact on PM 2.5 , PM 1 and PAHs concentration. Cookstoves intervention has resulted in maximum reduction of PM 1 i.e. 75% in an enclosed kitchen followed by semi-enclosed and open kitchen having 71% and 52%, respectively. In addition, correlation analysis of PM 2.5 and PM 1 with PAHs showed a strong association (r 2 = 0.9), showing the affinity of PAHs to bind to fine range of particles. Health risk assessment was also carried out to assess the PM daily dose and carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk due to inhalation of PAHs. The study confirmed the personal concentration of PAHs compounds was significantly high (p < 0.05) during use of traditional cook-stove compared to improved cookstove among all the three kitchens. Furthermore, to measure the toxicity levels, PAHs concentrations have been converted to benzo[a]pyrene equivalence for calculating cancer and non-cancer effects using toxicity equivalency factors. The overall lifetime carcinogenic risk was the highest 2.5E-03, 6.4E-04 among women who prepared meals in the enclosed kitchen compared to 8.4E-04, 1.3E-04 in semi-enclosed and 2.2E-04, 4.6E-05 in the open kitchen during use of traditional and improved cookstoves, respectively, which exceeded the US EPA standard i.e. 1 × 10 −6. The study underlined the importance of personal monitoring for exposure, and risks-based studies along with the time-activity of user to measure the actual inhalation risk for the participants. These findings indicated that women are exposed to hazardous smoke in the indoor kitchen and are at greater risk of developing cancer, especially in rural areas.

The world's energy markets rely heavily on the fossil fuels coal, petroleum crude oil, and natural gas as sources of thermal energy; gaseous, liquid, and solid fuels; and chemicals. Since millions of years are required to form fossil fuels in the earth, their reserves are finite and subject to depletion as they are consumed. The only natural, renewable carbon resource known that is large enough to be used as a substitute for fossil fuels is biomass. This article gives an overview of the state-of-the-art of key biomass conversion technologies currently deployed and technologies that may play a key role in the future, including possible linkage to CO 2 capture and sequestration technology (CCS). In doing so, special attention is paid to production of biofuels for the transport sector, because this is likely to become the key emerging market for large-scale sustainable biomass use. A range from 200 to 300 EJ may be observed looking well into this century, making biomass a more important energy supply option than mineral oil today. A key issue for bio-energy is that its use should be modernized to fit into a sustainable development path. Especially promising are the production of electricity via advanced conversion concepts (i.e. gasification and state-of-the-art combustion and co-firing) and modern biomass derived fuels like methanol, hydrogen and ethanol from ligno-cellulosic biomass, which can reach competitive cost levels within 1-2 decades (partly depending on price developments with petroleum). The gasification route offers special possibilities to combine this with low cost CO 2 capture (and storage), resulting in concepts that are both flexible with respect to primary fuel input as well as product mix and with the possibility of achieving zero or even negative carbon emissions. Further biomass market development, consistent policy support, RD&D efforts and international collaboration are essential to achieve this.

This study aimed to evaluate the productivity of Arundo donax under good water and N availability coming from non-conventional sources, in different Italian environments (Padova and Bologna in the north, Reggio Calabria and Catania in the south) in relation to three harvest periods (autumn; mid-winter; late-winter).

Rice husk lean-combustion in a bubbling and atmospheric fluidized bed reactor (FBR) of 0.3 m diameter with expansion to 0.4 m in the freeboard zone and 3 m height was investigated. Experiment design e response surface methodology (RSM) e is used to evaluate both excess air and normal fluidizing velocity influence (independent and controllable variables), in the combustion efficiency (carbon transformation), bed and freeboard temperature and silica content in the ashes. Hot gases emissions (CO 2 , CO and NO x ), crystallographic structure and morphology of the ash are also shown. A cold fluidization study is also presented. The values implemented in the equipment operation, excess air in the range of 40 e125% and normal fluidization velocities (0.13e0.15 Nm/s) show that the values near the lower limit, encourage bed temperatures around 750 C with higher carbon transformation efficiencies around 98%. However, this condition deteriorated the amorphous potential of silica present in the ash. An opposite behavior was evidenced at the upper limit of the excess air. This thermochemical process in this type of reactor shows the technical feasibility to valorize RH producing hot gases and an amorphous siliceous raw material.

Tarım atıkları,  orman atıkları ve enerji bitkileri olarak adlandırılan biyokütle kaynaklarının oldukça geniş kullanımı vardır. Bunlardan organik atıklar gübre, ormancılık ve orman endüstrisinden ağaç atıkları, gıda ve kağıt endüstrisi kalıntıları, belediyelerin yeşil kalıntıları, kanalizasyon çamuru, yıllık kısa rotasyonlu ağaçlıklar (okaliptüs, kavak, söğüt), çayır, şeker bitkileri (şeker kamışı, pancar, süpürge darısı), nişasta mahsülleri (mısır, buğday) ve yağlı mahsüller (zeytin, soya, ayçiçeği, yağ şalgamı, palmiye yağı) atıkları olarak sınıflanabilir. Biyokütle tabanlı bu malzemeler, hem doğrudan biyokütle, hem de biyoyakıt olarak enerji üretimi amaçlı kullanılmaktadır. Ağaç ve diğer tarımsal kalıntılar, endüstride buhar ve elektrik üretmek üzere kojenerasyon santralı yakıtı olarak yakılmakta ve ayrıca mesken ve ticari bina ısıtması amacıyla da kullanılmaktadır. Modern biyokütle enerjisi kullanımına geçilmesi ülke ekonomisi ve çevre kirliliğini önleme açısından önem taşımaktadır.

Birçok ülke bugün kendi ekolojik koşullarına göre en uygun ve en ekonomik tarımsal ürünlerden enerji bitkisi olarak alternatif enerji kaynağı sağlamaktadırlar. Türkiye de tarımsal potansiyeli ile, ekolojik tarımsal yapıya sahip ülkeler arasındadır. Türkiye’de enerji ormancılığı yönünden ekonomik değeri yüksek ve hızlı büyüyen yerli ağaç türleri arasında, akkavak, titrek kavak, kızılağaç, kızılçam, meşe, dişbudak, fıstık çamı, karaçam, sedir ve servi ağalarını saymak mümkündür. Burada kavak, söğüt gibi oldukça fazla su isteyen ağaçların yanı sıra, oldukça kurak alanlarda yetişebilecek ağaçlara da önem verilmesi gerekmektedir. Enerji tarımı üretimine yönelik olarak, gerek Avrupa’da gerek ülkemizde modern biyokütle çevrim teknolojilerinin de kullanıldığı, çalışmalar küçük ölçekli olarak uzun yıllar önce başlamıştır. Bunlara örnek olarak mischantus ve tatlı sorgum, arundo donax bitkileri üzerinde yapılan çalışmalar gösterilebilir. Enerji tarımında ülkemizde henüz çok tanınmayan dünya da ise yavaş yavaş yaygınlaşmaya başlayan C4 enerji bitkileri arasında en çok yetiştiriciliği yapılan Fil Çimeni (Miscanthus), Tatlı Sorgum (Sweet sorghum), Dallı Darı (Switchgrass) 'dır. Biyokütle kaynakları olarak biyokütle, enerji bitkileri, enerji ormanları ve bunlardan türetilen yakıtların kullanılması ile ayrıca, hava kirliliğinden büyük ölçüde etkilenen bir çok şehirde, kükürt dioksit ve benzeri zararlı gazların büyük ölçüde azalacağı da açıktır.

Bu çalışmada, genel biyokütle ve gazlaştırma bilgisi verilmeye çalışıldıktan sonra farklı enerji tarımı bitkilerinin gazlaştırma metodu ile değerlendirilerek syngaz üretimi ve syngazdan da elektrik ve ısı enerjisi üretim metodları farklı örnekleri içeren gazlaştırma teknolojileri tanıtılmaya çalışılacaktır. Gazlaştırma metodu ile biyokütleden ve enerji bitkilerinden  enerji üretimi İspanya, İtalya, İsviçre, Japonya, Almanya, A.B.D. gibi ülkelerde kullanılan sistemlerdir. Avrupa’da uzun yıllardan beri çalıştırılan farklı güçlerdeki biyokütle yataklı gazlaştırıcı tesisleri örnek olarak gösterilebilir. İspanya, İtalya, Fransa ve Bulgaristan’da çalıştırılan akışkan yataklı gazlaştırıcılarla biyokütle 5MWe güçlü gazlaştırıcılar enerji bitkileri için teknolojik ve ekonomik biçimde tasarlanarak bu çalışmada tanıtılacaktır.

No Brasil, desde o ano de 2016, particulares estão autorizados a gerarem sua própria energia elétrica com fontes renováveis em regime de cooperação com seus se-melhantes, valendo-se, para tanto, das figuras jurídicas da geração compartilhada e da geração por empreendimentos de múltiplas unidades consumidoras, instituídas pela Resolução Normativa nº 687/2015 da Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica (ANEEL), a qual aprimorou os termos da Resolução Normativa ANEEL nº 482/2012, que introduzira no sistema pátrio os institutos da micro e minigeração distribuídas. O presente artigo objetiva expor o atual panorama jurídico das modalidades de arranjos associativos admitidos para tal intento, abordando seus aspectos regulatórios e o regramento jurídico na esfera do direito privado que lhe são aplicáveis. Supõe-se que a adequada compreensão dos institutos em comento possa fomentar a atividade, contribuindo, assim, para o desenvolvimento sustentável nacional, em sintonia com os Objetivos do Desenvolvimento Sustentável da Agenda 2030 da Organização das Nações Unidas.

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In Brasil, since 2016, individuals have been allowed to produce its own electricity using renewable sources in a cooperative regime with their peers, thought the legal institutes of shared generation and generation by enterprises of multiple consumer units, by Normative Resolution nº 687/2015 of the National Agency of Electric Energy (ANEEL), updating ANEEL Normative Resolution nº 482/2012, which had introduced in the Brazilian legal system the institutes of distributed micro and mini generation. This article aims to present the current legal framework of the kinds of associative arrangements authorized, addressing its regulatory aspects and the private legal rules applicable. It is assumed that the proper understanding of the institutes in question may foster the activity, thus contributing to national sustainable development, in accordance to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda.

Production of biogas from agricultural and animal wastes is one of the viable options to mitigate the scarcity of energy and hazards of fossil fuels to both human and ecology. Therefore, this project work was on generation of biogas using cow dung and rumen fluid as co-substrate. A biogas digester with a capacity of 105 liters was used to produce the gas. The substrate (cow dung and rumen fluid) was mixed in the ratio 3:2 and water to substrate ratio of 2:1 was used. The digester was stirred thrice daily to avoid scum formation in the digester and to allow for easy escape of the gas produced. The retention time used for this experiment was 42 days during which the daily internal temperature readings were taken in order to determine temperature variations and also to determine the effect of heat on the production rate. A rubber hose was connected to the digester gas outlet located at the top of the digester and the other end of the rubber hose was connected to a PVC Tyer tube provided for storing the gas generated. The gas produced was collected and taken to the laboratory for chemical analysis. The results showed that biogas yielded consists of 57.98 % of methane (CH4), 39.99 % of carbon dioxide (CO2), 0.10 % of oxygen (O2), 0.01 % of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and 0.01% of water vapour. The methane has the highest percentage, which represents the main source of energy and oxygen having 0.10 %, which shows that the process was purely carried out under anaerobic condition. Result of this study showed that methane has the highest percentage and generally cow dung with rumen fluid easily lent itself to process of anaerobic digestion.

The possibility of producing bioethanol from the biomass of finger millet straw was studied. The effects of temperature, acid concentration, hydrolysis time, and substrate concentration were investigated. The result showed that a maximum sugar content of 79.04 and 82.01 %w/w was achieved using phenol-sulfuric acid and Fehling method, respectively, from hydrolysis of 10 % biomass concentration at 2 % sulfuric acid, 35 o C reaction temperature, and 4 days of hydrolysis time. The optimized hydrolyzate sample was fermented at optimized pH 6.0, 4 g/L yeast concentration, 32.5 o C reaction temperature, 4 days of fermentation time, and maximum of 7.28 %w/v of ethanol content was obtained using Pycnometer measurement. In general, the bioethanol achieved from FMS (7.28 %) at optimized conditions were highly promising and hence, it can be employed as an alternative lignocellulosic feedstock for bioethanol production rather than using food crops such as corn, sugarcane, etc.

Tanaman kelapa (Cocos nucifera) merupakan tanaman utama dan hampir merata terdapat di seluruh provinsi dan kabupaten di Indonesia. Tanaman ini telah berada di Indonesia sejak ribuan tahun lalu, dan menjadi salah penopang ekonomi rakyat karena semua materi dari kelapa dapat dimanfaatkannya. Ragam pemanfaatan tanaman kelapa dapat dibagi menjadi tiga kelompok yaitu untuk bagian dari bahan baku pangan, bahan baku bangunan dan sarana kehidupan lainnya, serta bahan baku energi terbarukan.

Desertification and deforestation are great problems facing developing nations. Adequate means of disposing wastes are also lacking, hence, converting them to other useful products such as briquettes for domestic fuel is desirable. The purpose of this work is to study some properties of briquettes made from groundnut shell and waste paper admixture with a view of addressing handling, transportation, and storage problems which is associated with biomass when used as fuels. Briquettes were manufactured using a motorized briquetting machine using five groundnut shells, waste paper mixing ratios (by weight), i.e., 10:90; 20:80; 30:70; 40:60; and 50:50. Obtained results showed that briquette produced using 10:90 waste groundnut shell - waste paper ratios exhibited the largest (though minimal) linear expansion on drying. While the compressed (maximum) density of the briquettes ranged between 627.59 kg/m3 and 878.10 kg/m3. For the relax density ranged from 281.43 kg/m3 and 499.38 kg/m3, th...

This project is about designing and analyzing a portable biogas digester to fermentation of kitchen waste product in order to produce methane gas. The overall objective of carrying the work is to analyze the efficiency of biogas production for better performance of the digester tank and to optimize the biogas generation under normal and harsh operating conditions.

Briquettes are widely used as a renewable energy material for solving the problem of dependency and over-consumption of wood fuel as a source of energy for human use. However, their performance depends on the types and nature of binders used during the preparation and densification process. Most of the performance-related problems such as low yield and energy content can be significantly improved with the use of binders in right proportions. This review discusses the state-of-the-art of fuel briquettes and the influence of binder's properties on the combustion characteristics, energy content, mechanical durability, and density of fuel briquettes. The compatibility between the binders and the fuel briquettes to obtain a better yield is also discussed with the resulting mechanical and combustion properties. The mechanical durability of fuel briquettes can be improved by reducing the content of lignin, fat, and other extractives in the binder, as well as improving the binder's variables such as the particle size, texture, and quantity. By using binders mixed with phosphorus-based additives such as Ca(H 2 PO 4) 2 and NH 4 H 2 PO 4 , the combustion rate of fuel briquettes can be enhanced and the pollutant emissions during the combustion process can be reduced to the minimum. In addition, the higher the binders' compacting pressure and processing temperature, the higher the density and energy content per unit volume of fuel briquettes.

En Colombia, según cifras del Ministerio de Ambiente, Vivienda y Desarrollo Territorial, se generan 27.300ton/día de basura de los cuales el 65% son residuos sólidos orgánicos, equivalentes a 17.745 ton/día, los cuales van a los rellenos sanitarios en la mayoría de los municipios Colombianos. Esto incrementa sustancialmente la emisión del metano como gas que provoca el efecto invernadero.
La codigestión de residuos orgánicos de diferente fuente ha resultado un proceso exitoso tanto en condiciones termofílicas como mesofílicas, y por esto, se han construido plantas de biogás centralizadas, alimentadas con diferentes residuos orgánicos para trabajar en codigestión, en diferentes países de Europa y Asia.
Se han aplicado tecnologías europeas y asiáticas en Colombia y otros países de Latinoamérica, pero no se ha investigado rigurosamente la relación de la temperatura que simule las condiciones de diferentes pisos térmicos del relieve colombiano en los que pueden aplicarse, para obtener una mayor producción de biogás en la codigestión de residuos ganaderos con residuos vegetales.
En este proyecto se pretendió resolver la pregunta de la incidencia de la temperatura en la degradación del vástago de plátano, hasta convertirla en metano y dióxido de carbono, por codigestión anaerobia con rumen como residuo bovino e inóculo anaerobio. Tales residuos se mezclaron para obtener 4 relaciones de sustrato. Se llevaron a bioreactores de 750mL, haciendo un arreglo factorial con 3 temperaturas (25, 35 y 45°C) por triplicado. Se analizaron condiciones iniciales y finales de parámetros fisicoquímicos, midiéndose el metano (gas efecto invernadero) contenido en cada uno de los bioreactores por cromatografía de gases (CG-FID) durante 40 días.
Mediante el programa Statgraphics Centurion XVI se ajustaron los valores de producción de metano a una ecuación polinomial de grado 3 en función de la temperatura y la relación de biomasa (porcentaje de vástago de plátano). La temperatura a la cual se dio la mayor producción de metano, fue a 45°C, seguida de 35°C y 25°C, con valores de 1250,1; 1018,2 y 885,7mL respectivamente. Lo cual indica que un clima templado cálido donde se tenga producción de plátano y ganado, los residuos generados de vástago de plátano pueden aprovecharse para generar energía en forma de metano mediante codigestión anaerobia con rumen bovino.
También se realizó un análisis multivariado concluyéndose estadísticamente que existe una interacción significativa entre la temperatura y la relación de biomasa con respecto a la producción de metano.  Es decir, que la producción de metano depende de la temperatura entre los rangos mesofílico y termofílico desde 25°C hasta 45°C, para cualquiera de las tres relaciones de biomasa de 0, 33 y 66% de vástago en las que se detectó presencia de metano.

Automatic process control aiming at making industrial systems more autonomous, could have a tremendous impact on quality management which has become the prior concern of most companies. This project addressed the problem of palm oil mill quality management through automatic control of the boiler equipment. The study was carried out for the Mondoni oil mill of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC). The water tube boiler which is fueled with biomass (bers and shells) from the milling process, could be regarded as the central equipment of the oil mill; improving on its reliability through automatic control of its main functional parameters considerably improves on the overall palm oil mill quality management as clearly depicted in this project report. A PLC based control system has been designed to monitor the steam pressure and steam drum water level which are the main boiler functional parameters. Moreover, how reliability centered maintenance and total quality management based on the designed control system could be worked out, are also explored. Considering the onerous and hazardous nature of the boiler equipment, the project risk management has been envisaged as well. The project impact analysis exhibits outstanding benets with respect to environmental, social and economic concerns. The cost eectiveness of the project has been assessed through a rough protability analysis which revealed positive results: Considering a period of 5 years with a discount rate of 8%, an initial investment of about 12 000 000 FCFA, yields a Net Present Value (NPV) of approximately 5 000 000 FCFA.
Key Words: Palm oil Mill, Boimass energy, Boiler system, Programmable Logic Controller, Quality Management.

The rising energy crisis significantly resists the improvement of developing countries all over
the world. Agricultural residues can play a vital role as a source of renewable energy to
overcome the crisis. Rice husk is the second-largest agricultural residue in Bangladesh and
uses significantly for cooking conventionally in rural areas. The traditional method greatly
decreases the rice husk’s ability for heating. The use of rice husk as pellets greatly reduces
the loss of energy during use, thereby enhancing its efficiency. The purpose of this research
is to develop an efficient process to produce biomass pellets using rice husk. The objective of
this study can be accomplished by finding better rice husk and suitable additives for pellet
processing. It is possible to find better rice husk by studying its thermochemical properties.
By using various additives for pelletizing, examining the pellets to evaluate their different
properties, and comparing those properties, suitable additives can be obtained. The BRRI
Dhan 46 rice husks were classified as the most suitable candidate for Bangladesh. Rice flour,
Banana Peel, Potato peel, and Cornflour were used as additives during pelletizing. Wet
papers were used at a certain ratio with rice flour, and cornflour to judge its effect on the
production of pellets. Small rice husk particles and blended wet papers have shown major
advantages during pelletization and have improved the pellet properties significantly. To
assess the quality of the pellets, length, weight, bulk density, pellet formation time, and
flame period were measured. Among all starch additives used in this research, Rice flour
was found to be the finest. 3:1:1:1 ratio of rice husk, rice flour, tissue paper, and water were
maintained during pelletizing while using rice flour as additives. Our findings in this research
may help the small-scale pellet industries in the rural areas in Bangladesh for the production
of better quality rice husk pellet and may encourage the consumers to show interest in the
proper use of biomass energy.

Pemahaman tentang biomassa dapat diawali dengan pengertian, kemudian melangkah ke identifikasi tipe, sumber, karakteristik, target pengunaan, teknologi konversi, mata rantai penyediaan bahan baku mulai dari sumber hingga ke pabrik pengolahnya, strategi dan langkah taktis untuk mendayagunakan biomassa sebagai bahan baku bioenergi.

Melalui artikel ini akan disajikan kerangka pikir penulis dalam mempelajari biomassa sebagai sumber bahan baku energi terbarukan dan teknologi konversinya.

Renewable energies are at the forefront of sustainable solutions against global warming. Among these, we can mention the energy biomass that contributes to energy self-sufficiency and the improvement of the living environment. In this context, energy conversion solutions for waste are increasingly being considered. Thus, in the first place, there is the methanisation which has many advantages. However, the energy conversion of biomass is not always optimized. This is what justifies the present work which aims to optimize the production of biogas by acting on a key parameter, related to the quality of the substrate: the C/N ratio of the substrate. A mathematical model has been developed for predicting the molar composition of methane as a function of the C/N ratio of the substrate. The proposed model derives from the AMH2N model and was solved numerically in the SCILAB software with the Runge Kutta method at order 4. The implementation of this model showed that the cumulated production of methane increases with the C/N ratio of substrate up to a given value, beyond which this production falls. This model was then validated by conducting a comparative study with experimental results from the literature. It emerges from these different comparative studies that the proposed model is valid, since it gives results close to the experimental results.

Keywords: Methanisation, Optimize, Energy, Biogas, Waste, C/N ratio

Interest in biomass fuels is increasing worldwide to produce heat, power, liquid fuels and hydrogen with reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Thermochemical biomass processes are relatively well developed, e.g. for direct combustion, gasification and pyrolysis. However, critical problems often arise when attempting to feed biomass into reactors, preventing continuous operation of the entire system. Although biomass feeding has received some attention in the past and several novel feeders have been patented, most feeders are fuel-specific and unable to provide reliable, efficient and economical feeding, especially for herbaceous fuels and reactors operating at elevated pressure. The most common feeding problems are bridging, rathole formation, blockage, seal failure and reactions in the feed line.

The study relates to a compact briquetting machine developed in the Philippines that can compress and produce cylindrical briquettes having a hole at the center using biomass and urban wastes with the aid of a hydraulic jack and is semi-automatically returned to start position using a pulling device. The machine can compact 16 cylindrical briquettes in one pressing or about 200 to 240 pcs/hr. The quality of the three types of briquettes produced using waste paper, sawdust and carbonized rice husk, slightly varied. Parameters analyzed like bulk density, heating value, moisture, N and S closely met or has met the requirements of DIN 51731.

Biomass is a versatile energy resource that could be used as a sustainable energy resource in
solid, liquid and gaseous form of energy sources. Torrefaction is an emerging thermal biomass
pretreatment method that has an ability to reduce the major limitations of biomass such as
heterogeneity, lower bulk density, lower energy density, hygroscopic behavior, and fibrous
nature. Torrefaction, aiming to produce high quality solid biomass products, is carried out at
200-300 °C in an inert environment at an atmospheric pressure. The removal of volatiles
through different decomposition reactions is the basic principle behind the torrefaction
process. Torrefaction upgrades biomass quality and alters the combustion behavior, which can
be efficiently used in the co-firing power plant. This paper presents a comprehensive review on
torrefaction of biomass and their characteristics. Despite of the number of advantages,
torrefaction is motivated mainly for thermochemical conversion process because of its ability
to increase hydrophobicity, grindability and energy density of biomass. In addition to this,
torrefied biomass could be used to replace coal in the metallurgical process, and promoted as
an alternative of charcoal.

Carbon atom Carbon atom is most important and abundant constituent of existing and new generated biological mater and biomass and the basis of all forms of life on earth. It is involved in the composition and construction of organic micro-and macromolecules, cells and living organisms, storage molecules, fossils, fossil fuels, biofuels and energy resources of living and nonliving organic matter. Initially originated from atmospheric carbon dioxide, it is absorbed and incorporated into organic molecules by photosynthetic plants and microorganisms through photosynthetic processes to form glucose and other less or more complex organic molecules, enabling and sustaining life on Earth. A semantic part of CO2 has been captured, trapped and immobilized in various forms of fossils, not participating in biogeochemical carbon cycles for millions of years, or is dissolved in oceans. Carbon sources is also one of most important parameters, strongly influencing microbial growth and the accumulation of cellular metabolites, fermentation technologies, process economics and feasibility of industrial production. Advanced developments in recombinant technologies, such as metabolic and genetic engineering, systems and synthetic biology, as well as in bioengineering, biotechnology, industrial microbiology and fermentation technology will expand the opportunities of literally unseen microbial world.

Malaysia has a good mix of energy resources like oil, natural gas, coal and renewable energies such as biomass, solar and hydro. In spite of this plenty of resources, the country is dependent on fossil fuel for industrial and transportation sector. In 2009, 94.5% of electricity is generated by using fossil fuel such as natural gas, coal, diesel oil and fuel oil. Until now, Malaysia stills a net energy exporter. Concerns about energy security, the fluctuation of crude oil price and climate change are driving significant changes in how energy and electricity specifically, is generated, transmitted and consumed in Malaysia. In this regard, renewable energy resources are becoming attractive for sustainable energy development in Malaysia. There is because renewable sources of energy are abundant in Malaysia, the significant ones being biomass and solar. This article presents a review of present energy situation and energy policies for the energy sector in Malaysia. Investigation of various renewable energy and examine the energy and environmental issues associated with this energy. The review of current usage of renewable energy sources and also its potential implementation are evaluated to provide solution for the national.

The ever growing environmental concern caused by excessive use of fossil fuels in energy and transportation systems triggered considerable investigations on alternative energy sources such as biomass. Furthermore, the availability and security of fossil fuels to meet future global energy need are also subjected to uncertainty. For these reasons, the world's current focus is shifted towards hydrogen-based future economy. Gasification is a proven technology to produce satisfactory yield of hydrogen. Many studies have been performed to increase the production yield. Due to the extensive range of investigations, mathematical and computational approaches have been applied to conduct these studies. Thus, this paper aims to update and broaden the review coverage by incorporating works done to materialize the investigations on the potential of producing hydrogen from biomass via gasification encompassing mathematical modeling, simulation, optimization, process heat integration and cogeneration. Each of these subjects is reviewed and analyzed which helped to identify their respective strength and areas which require further research effort.

The need for sustainable alternatives to oil has been of deep concern to many countries around the world, and especially the U.S. due to the rapidly rising cost of oil. As a result, many nations face significant energy security challenges stemming from their dependence on imported oil. To achieve future energy security and independence
and in the long run to prepare for the post-oil energy resources, biomass is considered as one of the most important renewable energy resources in a projected sustainable energy future. The key bottleneck for lignocellulosic-derived biofuels is the lack of technology for efficient conversion of biomass in to readily usable fuel products. Current
work provides a detailed theoretical and experimental analysis of two (air and steam only) gasification technologies which are carbon neutral that can be used to overcome this hurdle.

This work also examines the use of mixed ion-electron conductors (MIEC) membranes as a significant option to enhance the production of H2 from biomass feedstock. Currently there are technologies that produce H2 by using renewable energy sources other than biomass as feedstock but they could not provide a long term solution
because of their adverse effects on eco-system. Thin film SrCe0.7Zr0.2Eu0.1 O3-δ membranes were developed and supported using NiO-SrCe0.8 Zr0.2 O3-δ tubular structure, using Dr. Eric Wachsman’s group’s work at UF. The main advantage of this
membrane setup is that it acts as WGS reactor and also separates the H2 from the gas stream, thus avoiding the need for two stage reactor setup requiring WGS and H2 separation independently. The possibility of sequestering the isolated CO2 stream is also another attribute to such membrane reactors. The overall objective of this current work is to analyze the air gasification and steam only gasification technology in detail and to investigate the performance of proton conducting ceramic membranes at high temperatures. Current research also analyzed a
simplistic model of a concept system, which is a self-sustaining H2 fuel production system that integrates the gasification technology and the MIEC membrane technology. The proposed system enhances the H2 produced from the biomass feed stock by carrying out WGS.