Charcoal is one of the major energy sources for household applications in urban areas of developing countries. It is often produced from natural forest and thus accelerates forest depletion. The aim of this work is to evaluate the use of jatropha oil for combustion in vaporizing burners. This paper presents laboratory tests on a burner whose nominal output power is 7.5 kW. The burner had to be modified because of the high viscosity of jatropha...

In this work, cereal straw torrefaction tests were carried out at pilot plant scale, and then pelletised at different conditions. Chopped straw and straw pellets were tested as fuels, in order to investigate the bulk density effect in torrefaction performance and optimization of pelletisation. High quality torrefied straw pellets can be produced. Thermal efficiency for straw torrefaction is higher than for wood due to the lower moisture content and higher reactivity. Using straw pellets as...

To meet the strict emission thresholds for log wood stoves foam ceramic elements (filters or catalysts) could be an alternative to electrostatic precipitators. To evaluate the potential of foam ceramic elements three differently aged foam ceramic filters and one retrofit foam ceramic catalyst were tested in a log wood stove applying a "close to real life" test cycle. Results show that foam ceramic filters without catalyst coating provide no appreciable emission improvement under practical conditions....

Dairy wastewater (WW) are huge pollutants and at the same time suitable material for renewable energy (biogas) production. The aim of this research was to investigate the possible reuse of dairy WW in biogas by applying two separate stages – acetogenesis (fermentation with lactic acid bacteria) and methanogenesis. The results confirm that bio-methane could be produced from dairy WW and dairy "clean in place" (CIP) water. WW origin, the separation of biogas production stages, methanogenesis...

Wood saw pyrolysis investigations in screw reactor STR-10 were carried out. Model for temperature distribution in a screw reactor was developed and proved experimentally. Products obtained in various operating regimes were analyzed.

In Europe, maintenance plans are well established compared to other regions. Pelleting is expensive, due to a lack of expertise to run the plant efficiently and the equipment of small sized pellet producers is often very old. Additionally, monitoring equipment, such as temperature sensors and spark detectors, are often nonexistent. European expertise is being transferred slowly to these regions to improve the production process. A new approach in Europe is to streamline maintenance plans to...

SUCELLOG project aims to widespread the participation of the agrarian sector in the sustainable supply of solid biofuels in Europe. The project focuses on the implementation of logistic centres in the agro­industries as a complement to their usual activity in France, Italy, Spain and Austria. Agro-industries are equipped with pelletisers, drying systems, silos, conveyors and work in most of the cases under seasonal regime. These facilities can be utilised in the idle periods to handle...

In future, a complement to biofuels, which also can originate from biomass, is electrofuels. Electrofuels are synthetic hydrocarbons, e.g. methane or methanol, produced from carbon dioxide (CO2) and water with electricity as primary energy source. The CO2 can be captured from e.g. biofuel production plants and thereby potentially provide an opportunity for biofuel producers to increase the yield from the same amount of biomass. This project assesses if there are conditions under which electrofuels are...

Small straw and wood fired boilers may be a significant source of air pollution as the combustion generates a high amount of particle emission in the flue gas. This paper describes flue gas cleaning by electrostatic precipitators developed for small wood and straw boilers with heating capacity from 4kW up to 500kW. Fulfilling the European standard EN 303-5 for small boilers demands a cleaning system for the flue gas. Especially for straw fired boilers the...

Sewage sludge, a residual product of wastewater treatment, still contains a substantial amount of energy, and its disposal is one of the most important cost factors (up to 30-50% of the total operational cost) in the balance sheets of wastewater treatment facilities. In this study, microwave-controlled pyrolysis of digested urban waste sludge was applied for the production of oil and (Syn)gas, that were afterwards characterized and compared to mainstream alternative fuels (biodiesels). An energetic balance...

Biobutanol is an exciting alternative to first generation biofuels due to its physical and chemical characteristics, making it more fuel efficient and suitable for use in spark ignition and diesel engines without the need for modification. However, due to the inefficiencies and costs associated with the current production process, biobutanol is yet to gain market establishment. The ButaNexT project will develop highly efficient production processes for the conversion of sustainable feedstocks into the next generation...

Biobutanol is one of the most attractive biofuels because it has higher energy content, less corrosive, and better miscible with gasoline than ethanol. It can be produced by Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE) fermentation using Clostridium species. Cell immobilized technique, which is proven to enhance cell density, stable operation, and microbe tolerance compared with free cell system, is applied in the present work. The support for cell immobilization should be inexpensive, stable, reusable, and nontoxic materials. Granular activated...

This paper, which illustrates the results of the pruning almond harvesting test carried out during the European project Europruning (‘‘Development and implementation of a new and not existent logistics chain for biomass from pruning’’) highlights that the use of agricultural residuals as renewable energy source needs a well­organized supply chain, and that permits to obtain a marketable woodchip with good characteristics. This first demonstration harvesting test carried out in Alcañiz (Aragon, Spain) with the innovative...

The industrial hemp (Canapa sativa L.) is a crop cultivated for multiple uses; the products are obtained from different plant parts such as seeds, leaves, and stem. From an agronomical point of view, some problems remain for the cultivation of hemp especially on the selection of stable varieties and on gaps in harvesting technologies, which impede the full exploitation of the species.This study aimed at testing the performance of a new machine used for the...

Many studies show, that there is a lot of potential in biogenic residues. But these studies are very theoretically. Investors or possible users need more specific information to decide whether there is a chance of using a certain fuel. On the one side users need to know about investment costs, legal framework, technical risks and many other aspects. On the other hand manufactures have to get an idea about the quantities of furnaces that could...

In Germanyare about 8,000 biogas plants in operation, with an installed electrical capacity of 4.5 GW. Within the amendments of the EEG in 2012 and 2014 thelegislative authority promotes a paradigm shift for biogas plants away from a previous and mostly current base load power generation towards a demand driven and flexible power generation. This aim requires a fundamental rethinking in how anappropriate concept for biogas plants should look like. One critical issue is how...

Bio-wastes contain valuable plant nutrients. After the biogas production, the digestates can be used as fertilizers or soil amendments. In the current project VeNGA four products were developed on the basis of anaerobically digested and subsequently composted bio-waste. Compost was sieved (compost fine, product 1), and further treated whereby two more products were achieved, a pellet (product 2) and an agglomerate (product 3). The fourth product is hand-sorted compost. Impurities e. g. plastic waste, were...

The supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of wet-biomass holds promise as a technology to convert biological waste (wet biomass) into valuable energy. The improvement of the equipment utilization efficiency of the SCWG facility on-site is important. Therefore, the 24 h continuous operation with the pilot plant (the treatment capacity is 1 t-wet/d) was conducted and it was successful with stable pressure loss of heat exchanger. However, SCWG plant might be operated by daily start and stop...

A pyrolysis bridged combined cycle system for power production from biomass and coal was proposed. In this hybrid power system, biomass is pyrolyzed in an prolyzer which is integrated with a Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) boiler of the power plant The gas from biomass pyrolysis is then used for gas turbine to produce electricity after purification, and the char is burned to produce steam that is used by a steam turbine to produce electricity. Literature...

Size reduction is essential for converting biomass into bio-fuel. It is usually performed using milling machines which consume large amount of energy. Steam explosion treatment which consists of auto-hydrolysis and rapid decompression steps, is a promising pre-treatment process to open up biomass fibers and to recover useful compounds from it. Numerous studies have investigated the effect of steam explosion on biomass composition and on bioethanol production. However, few studies have been conducted to investigate its...

Old landfills represent huge stock of plastic, relatively easy to recover and virtually untapped resource for energy. In 2015 a pyrolysis plant of plastic waste sorted by an old landfill was assessed. From our knowledge it is the only case where plastic is obtained from an old landfill and the pyrolysis oil is sent to a refinery for transportation fuels manufacturing. The oil yield was approximately 49% with 96% of useful hydrocarbons for refining. Economics...

This paper tackles the issue of how to reliably estimate biomass availability for energy through spatial systems in multi-purpose forests located in Mediterranean areas. In order to analyse and assess reliability of current methodologies in Mediterranean forests characterised by multiple purposes, two pilot sites, located in Southern Italy, were considered. Three different estimation models were implemented on GIS and, then, applied to those sites. Their main assumptions were compared and results were analysed. To evaluate...

The use of wheat straw, a lignocellulosic material, as an adsorbent of hydrocarbons in water has been investigated after acid hydrolysis pretreatment. Experiments designed in a 3-level Box-Behnken fashion were made to determine the effect of various parameters affecting the behavior of the treated wheat straw as an adsorbent. The kinetics of the acid hydrolysis of cellulose, the reaction kinetics, adsorption isotherm and thermodynamic parameters are presented, as well as the empirical models for the...

The aim of this study is to promote the use of biomass fuels in Finnish rural areas. Most potential users would be smaller heating plants, farms, small-scale industry and refining using heat and electricity. Study concentrates on forest biomass and its use potential in rural areas South-East Finland. Regional availability and large scale use of forest biomass has been already studied earlier. New biomass users create local entrepreneurship for example in fuel supply and heat...

Microalgae are currently considered to be highly attractive as a raw material for production of bioenergy and biomaterials in the future BioEconomy. However, a number of successful developments are still necessary before algae can reach commercial applications. These include the development of commercial production technologies, efficient energy, nutrients and water use, maintenance of stabile production conditions at commercial scale, and cost-competitiveness. The European project "FUEL4ME - Future European League 4 Microalgal Energy" - is driven...