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Spain has a high level of energy consumption and CO2 emissions in detached houses, being the lack of an adequate insulation level and efficient energy systems the main causes. The Spanish Government has been performing modifications on its Building Technical Code (BTC) to address this issue, following European Directives. An assessment of the development of the Spanish BTC from its first 2006 version has been conducted in this work. A standard Spanish detached house was placed in the different Spanish climatic zones, designed with the minimum requirements of the 2006 and 2013 BTCs, and was then analyzed using the software Cerma. The results show that energy demand is reduced and the energy rating is improved with the stricter requirements introduced in the 2013 BTC. Although energy demand and CO2 emissions vary significantly among the 13 different climatic zones studied, the BTC modifications allow to reach a minimum energy rating independently of the climatic zone where the house is located. Opaque enclosures and internal loads were found to be the main contributors to building-related emissions. Additionally, possible actions to improve energy rating in detached houses are evaluated, finding that a moderate insulation thickness increase and the installation of heat pumps allow to reach the highest energy rating, being the improvement more apparent in northern and central regions. The results of this work may be extrapolated to other countries with similar climatic conditions to the studied zones, providing guidelines to fulfill energy saving regulations, evaluate emission sources and improve building energy efficiency.

Spain has a high level of energy consumption and CO2 emissions in detached houses, being the lack of an adequate insulation level and efficient energy systems the main causes. The Spanish Government has been performing modifications on its Building Technical Code (BTC) to address this issue, following European Directives. An assessment of the development of the Spanish BTC from its first 2006 version has been conducted in this work. A standard Spanish detached house was placed in the different Spanish climatic zones, designed with the minimum requirements of the 2006 and 2013 BTCs, and was then analyzed using the software Cerma. The results show that energy demand is reduced and the energy rating is improved with the stricter requirements introduced in the 2013 BTC. Although energy demand and CO2 emissions vary significantly among the 13 different climatic zones studied, the BTC modifications allow to reach a minimum energy rating independently of the climatic zone where the house is located. Opaque enclosures and internal loads were found to be the main contributors to building-related emissions. Additionally, possible actions to improve energy rating in detached houses are evaluated, finding that a moderate insulation thickness increase and the installation of heat pumps allow to reach the highest energy rating, being the improvement more apparent in northern and central regions. The results of this work may be extrapolated to other countries with similar climatic conditions to the studied zones, providing guidelines to fulfill energy saving regulations, evaluate emission sources and improve building energy efficiency.

The use of diesel-farnesane and sugarcane biodiesel is showing significant potential for reducing harmful emissions from Brazilian road transport. Both biofuels are obtained from sugarcane through synthetic biology that requires fermentation. The present work studies the effect of the sugarcane biofuels, compared to regular diesel fuel, on the performance and emissions of a modern medium-duty diesel engine following the European Steady Cycle (ESC) test procedure. Diesel-farnesane showed the lowest particulate matter (PM) specific emissions. Specific nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from diesel fuel were above the standard limit, while sugarcane biodiesel produced the lowest emissions. All tested fuels produced specific carbon monoxide (CO) emissions below the standard limit, but the biofuels showed higher values than the reference fuel. Sugarcane biodiesel showed an inhibition effect on the oxidation process at the Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC), leading to the highest specific CO emissions after the DOC. Specific total hydrocarbons (THC) emissions were well below the standard limits for all tested fuels. Concerning the regulated emissions for diesel engines (g/h), the use of sugarcane biodiesel led to PM and NOx reductions of 32.4% and 37.3%, while diesel-farnesane led to 41.7% and 6.08% reductions, respectively. These notable reductions in harmful emissions support the application of sugarcane biofuels to road transport. Authors are grateful for the provision of Research Mobility Grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (José Castillejo CAS19/00245) to Eloísa Torres-Jiménez. This work was supported by MAN-Latin America, which funded the engine experimental tests executed at MAHLE Metal Leve S.A., the acquisition of the biofuels from the companies Amyris and LS9 in Brazil and made the engine available for the experimental tests with all the necessary accessories and technical support. The authors want to thank Professor Timothy Shedd (Director of Research and Development Motivair Corporation Lancaster, NY, USA) for checking the spelling and grammar of this paper. T1, Q1 (23/170 Engineering, IF 2021= 8.035)

The use of diesel-farnesane and sugarcane biodiesel is showing significant potential for reducing harmful emissions from Brazilian road transport. Both biofuels are obtained from sugarcane through synthetic biology that requires fermentation. The present work studies the effect of the sugarcane biofuels, compared to regular diesel fuel, on the performance and emissions of a modern medium-duty diesel engine following the European Steady Cycle (ESC) test procedure. Diesel-farnesane showed the lowest particulate matter (PM) specific emissions. Specific nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from diesel fuel were above the standard limit, while sugarcane biodiesel produced the lowest emissions. All tested fuels produced specific carbon monoxide (CO) emissions below the standard limit, but the biofuels showed higher values than the reference fuel. Sugarcane biodiesel showed an inhibition effect on the oxidation process at the Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC), leading to the highest specific CO emissions after the DOC. Specific total hydrocarbons (THC) emissions were well below the standard limits for all tested fuels. Concerning the regulated emissions for diesel engines (g/h), the use of sugarcane biodiesel led to PM and NOx reductions of 32.4% and 37.3%, while diesel-farnesane led to 41.7% and 6.08% reductions, respectively. These notable reductions in harmful emissions support the application of sugarcane biofuels to road transport. Authors are grateful for the provision of Research Mobility Grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (José Castillejo CAS19/00245) to Eloísa Torres-Jiménez. This work was supported by MAN-Latin America, which funded the engine experimental tests executed at MAHLE Metal Leve S.A., the acquisition of the biofuels from the companies Amyris and LS9 in Brazil and made the engine available for the experimental tests with all the necessary accessories and technical support. The authors want to thank Professor Timothy Shedd (Director of Research and Development Motivair Corporation Lancaster, NY, USA) for checking the spelling and grammar of this paper. T1, Q1 (23/170 Engineering, IF 2021= 8.035)

Poultry litter (PL) gasification was experimentally investigated using a lab-scale bubbling fluidised bed reactor. Characterisation of the gasification process was performed in terms of yields and compositions of both gas and tar, lower calorific value (LCV) of the product gas, cold gas efficiency (CGE) and carbon conversion efficiency (CCE). Experiments were carried out at different temperatures (700-750 °C) and equivalence ratios (ERs). The effect of gasifier temperature at a constant ER of 0.21 shows that an increase in temperature improved the gasification process performance whilst the total tar content decreased, implying that higher temperature enhances the conversion of biomass to product gas. The total gas yield increased from 0.93 to 1.24 N2-free m3/kgfeedstock-daf, LCV increased from 3.38 MJ/m3 to 4.2 MJ/m3, while the tar content was reduced by 24% (5.6-4.25 gtar/kgfeedstock-daf). The detailed analyses of tar compositions reveal that styrene and xylenes were the most abundant compounds in the secondary tar group. Moreover, naphthalene and 1, 2-methyl naphthalene were the dominant compounds found in tertiary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and alkyl tertiary groups, respectively. Furthermore, at the highest tested temperature of 750 °C and ER of 0.25, bed agglomeration took place causing the shutdown of the gasifier. The defluidisation of the bed occurred due to the high ash content of PL comprising of low melting temperature alkali compounds. The results obtained from this study showed the performance and potential challenges associated with gasifying PL in a fluidised bed reactor for the combined heat and power production at farm level.

Poultry litter (PL) gasification was experimentally investigated using a lab-scale bubbling fluidised bed reactor. Characterisation of the gasification process was performed in terms of yields and compositions of both gas and tar, lower calorific value (LCV) of the product gas, cold gas efficiency (CGE) and carbon conversion efficiency (CCE). Experiments were carried out at different temperatures (700-750 °C) and equivalence ratios (ERs). The effect of gasifier temperature at a constant ER of 0.21 shows that an increase in temperature improved the gasification process performance whilst the total tar content decreased, implying that higher temperature enhances the conversion of biomass to product gas. The total gas yield increased from 0.93 to 1.24 N2-free m3/kgfeedstock-daf, LCV increased from 3.38 MJ/m3 to 4.2 MJ/m3, while the tar content was reduced by 24% (5.6-4.25 gtar/kgfeedstock-daf). The detailed analyses of tar compositions reveal that styrene and xylenes were the most abundant compounds in the secondary tar group. Moreover, naphthalene and 1, 2-methyl naphthalene were the dominant compounds found in tertiary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and alkyl tertiary groups, respectively. Furthermore, at the highest tested temperature of 750 °C and ER of 0.25, bed agglomeration took place causing the shutdown of the gasifier. The defluidisation of the bed occurred due to the high ash content of PL comprising of low melting temperature alkali compounds. The results obtained from this study showed the performance and potential challenges associated with gasifying PL in a fluidised bed reactor for the combined heat and power production at farm level.