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In cooperation with National Environmental Research Institute, Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy and DONG Energy, Danish Technological Institute is manager of the project “Energy Production from Marine Biomass (Ulva lactuca)” which runs from 2008 to 2011. The project aims at clarifying the production potential as well as the energy production of sea lettuce (U. lactuca). Moreover the project will give recommendations for using flue gas from power plants to boost growth and finally give a financial evaluation of the possibility of using U. lactuca for energy purposes. In this project the research on energy potentials is focused on gasification and combustion and the production of bioethanol and biogas. Proceedings of the 18th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 3-7 May 2010, Lyon, France, pp. 212-213

Scientific community recognizes warming of the Earth climate system unequivocal. The warming could induce substantial climate changes (CC) with relevant variations due to the region, weather patterns and time horizon of interest. In this perspective, the impact of CC on weather-induced disasters represents a crucial topic also due to the associated high socio-economic costs. However, the quantitative evaluation of the impact of CC on landslide occurrence, activity, and frequency remains a complex scientific question. Moreover, also land use and land cover (LULC), and their variations, affect landslide occurrence and the related risk. According to the fifth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an increase in the frequency and the intensity of extreme rainfall is expected in the Mediterranean area. This might result in a variation in the temporal and spatial distribution of rainfall-induced landslides, and in an increase in the size of the population exposed to landslide risk. Exploiting detailed landslide information, climatic, and LULC data, and future projections in a Mediterranean region (Calabria, Southern Italy), we propose three linked methods - quantitative and reproducible - for the regionalscale evaluation of past and future variations in the occurrence of rainfall-induced landslides, in response to changes in climate (rainfall regimes) and LULC. First, using historical landslide information and daily rainfall in Calabria between 1921 and 2010, we study the temporal and the geographical variation in the occurrence of 1466 Rainfall Events with Landslides (REL; the occurrence of at least 1 landslide during or immediately after a rainfall event) and in their impact on the population. We find changes in the geographical and temporal distributions of REL, and in their rainfall characteristics. In addition, we evaluate the impact of the events on the population, revealing a complex picture of changes. Second, we use a subset of the previous dataset, related to the reference period 1981-2010, and high-resolution climate projections based on RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios for the future period 2036-2065. Calculating correlations between REL occurrence and weather variables estimated in the reference period, we assess future variations in REL occurrence, expecting a substantial regional increase in REL occurrence for the period 2036-2065, under both scenarios. We also investigate future variations in the impact of REL on the population, finding higher increases. Third, using the whole landslide dataset and two maps of LULC of the region (released in 1956 and 2000) we define empirical relationships linking the observed LULC variations to landslide occurrence, finding changes in the spatial distribution of landslides. Then, we calculate the projected variations (to year 2050) in landslide occurrence related to 32 scenarios of LULC changes, revealing a modest increase in landslide occurrence in all of them. We uphold that the observed and the projected variations in the occurrence of rainfall-induced landslides in the study area are related to interlaced changes in triggering, environmental, and societal components.

The Wet Partial Oxidation (WPO) of guaiacol, a primary product of hydrothermal decomposition of lignin, was carried out using an injection batch reactor (99 mL). Hydrogen peroxide was used as oxidant and the process was investigated at different temperatures (150 to 300 °C) and reaction times (1 to 25 min), for given oxygen supply (40 %) and pressure (100 bar). At the tested conditions, six C2-C5 dicarboxylic acids (DCA: oxalic, malonic, maleic, succinic, fumaric, and glutaric acid) and three short-chain monocarboxylic acids (MCA: formic, acetic, and lactic acid) were identified and quantitated. Dihydroxybenzenes, aromatic aldehydes, and aromatics acids were also identified at lower temperatures and reaction times, whereas they disappeared at higher reaction severity. The total carbon-based yield of MCA + DCA was in the range of 4 % to 19 %, showing higher values at intermediate reaction severity. Overall, these preliminary results show that MCA and DCA are intermediate products of complex reaction schemes, involving formation of 1-ring oxygenated aromatics, ring-opening reactions to DCA, and decomposition to short-chain MCA. The results suggest that the WPO of lignin can be a source of MCA and DCA in good yields, but fine tuning of reaction conditions (temperature, time, oxygen supply) is necessary. Proceedings of the 26th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 14-17 May 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 1163-1168

In the present paper the influence of possible interactions between biomass main components (hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin) on pyrolysis of Populus nigra has been studied. To this aim TG analysis have been performed on Populus nigra and on a model mixture of xylan, cellulose and lignin resembling its composition. The weight loss curves have been compared with two non interacting cases: the experimental one obtained superimposing the TG curves of xylan, cellulose and lignin and the numerical one obtained adopting the Bio-PoliMi kinetic model. Than, steam assisted pyrolysis tests have been carried out and products yields, gas releasing rate as function of temperature and gas composition obtained processing the real biomass and the model mixture in both the interacting and not interacting case have been compared.

Energy crops are expected to provide a significant amount of biomass to achieve the European targets on renewable energy. Here we focus on switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and Miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus Greef & Deuter) two rhizomatous perennial grasses which have received particular interest during the last decade as bioenergy crops. Although the two grasses have been recently investigated deeply in U.S.A. and Europe, a significant uncertainty still exists in literature on measured or predicted potential yields. In order to understand the role these species can play, a study was carried out aimed at collecting measured side by side data on Miscanthus and switchgrass yields across Europe. Biomass productivity of the two crops significantly varied depending on location, however the relative yield (RY), i.e. Miscanthus to switchgrass yields ratio, was rather constant across Europe (78% ± 9.2), thus indicating parallel yield variation by switchgrass and Miscanthus at different locations. By assessing RY a more reliable economic and LCA comparison and then choice among crops could be provided. Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 729-733

Ash transformation and deposition in a pulverized wood-fired power plant boiler of 800 MWth were studied with and without the addition of coal fly ash. The transient ash deposition behavior was investigated by using an advanced deposit probe system at two different boiler locations with flue gas temperatures of ~1300oC and ~800oC, respectively. It was found that during pulverized wood combustion, the deposit formation at the high­temperature location was characterized by a slow and continuous growth of deposits followed by the shedding of a large layer of deposits, while the deposit formation at the low-temperature location showed a slow initial build-up and a stable mass of deposits after approximately 1-5 h. The deposits collected during pulverized wood combustion contained a considerable amount of K2SO4, KCl, and KOH/K2CO3. With the addition of coal fly ash (~4 times of the mass flow of wood ash) to the boiler, these alkali species were effectively removed both in the fly ash and in the deposits, and a more frequent shedding of the deposits was observed. The results imply that coal fly ash can be an effective additive to reduce ash deposition and corrosion problems in a pulverized wood-fired boiler. Proceedings of the 21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 3-7 June 2013, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 667-677