• Energy Research
• natural sciences close
• 13. Climate action close
• 7. Clean energy close
• 11. Sustainability close
• 1. No poverty close
• English close

Use of fuel other than woody generally has been limited to rice husk and other residues are rarely tried as a fuel in a gasification system. With the availability of woody biomass in most countries like India, alternates fuels are being explored for sustainable supply of fuel. Use of agro residues has been explored after briquetting. There are few feedstock’s like coconut fronts, maize cobs, etc, that might require lesser preprocessing steps compared to briquetting. The paper presents a detailed investigation into using coconut fronds as a fuel in an open top down draft gasification system. The fuel has ash content of 7% and was dried to moisture levels of 12 %. The average bulk density was found to be 230 kg/m3 with a fuel size particle of an average size 40 mm as compared to 350 kg/m3 for a standard wood pieces. A typical dry coconut fronds weighs about 2.5kgs and on an average 6 m long and 90 % of the frond is the petiole which is generally used as a fuel. The focus was also to compare the overall process with respect to operating with a typical woody biomass like subabul whose ash content is 1 %. The open top gasification system consists of a reactor, cooling and cleaning system along with water treatment. The performance parameters studied were the gas composition, tar and particulates in the clean gas, water quality and reactor pressure drop apart from other standard data collection of fuel flow rate, etc. The average gas composition was found to be CO 15 ± 1.0 % H2 16±1% CH4 0.5 ± 0.1 %CO2 12.0 ± 1.0 % and rest N2 compared to CO 19 ± 1.0 % H2 17 ± 1.0 %, CH4 1 ±0.2 %, CO2 12 ± 1.0 % and rest N2. The tar and particulate content in the clean gas has been found to be about 10 and 12 mg/m3 in both cases. The presence of high ash content material increased the pressure drop with coconut frond compared to woody biomass. Proceedings of the 22nd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 23-26 June 2014, Hamburg, Germany, pp. 614-617

The concept of energy transition can be interpreted in different ways depending on the nature of the agent involved. However, practitioners and existing literature agree that a country’s energy transition is the variation of fossil fuel share in the total primary energy supply (TPES). Public policies mostly focus on changing the energy mix directly or indirectly. However, the production of fossil fuels depends mostly on market-related determinants, including prices and investment in the means of production. But what is the contribution of global energy transition? The objective of this paper is to estimate to which extent public policies related to energy transition affect fossil fuel production in producing countries. For this purpose, we consider as a proxy of energy transition the evolution over 40 years of the TPES of a large panel of fossil fuel–exporting countries, which we compare to its total primary energy production (TPEP). Moreover, we analyze these effects to determine if they differ according to country characteristics, such as its level of development or its membership in OPEC. Finally, we describe the long-run and short-run effects by studying separately the effects of production investments and those of R&D investments in RES technologies. The European Journal of Comparative Economics, Vol 17. no. 1, p. 5-30

Common reed (Phragmites australis, hereafter referred to as reed) is one of the most widely distributed plant species on Earth. Among vascular plants, reed is a dominant plant in European land-water ecotones. Combustion of dried reeds has been investigated, for instance, in Sweden and Austria. Though naturally dried reed could be burnt in boiler without any additional drying, a disadvantage is that reed is very bulky and unsuitable for small-scale boilers without pelletizing. This work presents our initial results of combustion tests with reed pellets in a 80 kW wood pellet boiler with moving grate furnace. Reed pellets from Finland were used and two tests were performed. The aim of this study is to determine combustion characteristics of reed pellets and to observe how the reed pellets behave in the furnace designed for burning of wood pellets. It was found that the wood pellets fired furnace with a moving grate is generally suitable for burning of some type of reed pellets with modifications in control parameters (adjusting of the air-fuel rate and the interval of grate moving, a device for pressing burnt fuel heap etc.). However, the drawback lies in the decrease in load and modifications in furnace/grate design are needed to increase residence time for complete combustion. Proceedings of the 23rd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 1-4 June 2015, Vienna, Austria, pp. 697-701

This paper presents experimental results derived from test runs performed with a laboratory-scale updraft fixed-bed gasifier coupled to a combustion chamber to produce data for the investigation of the release behaviour and the conversion of fuel-bound nitrogen during gasification and subsequent staged combustion of the producer gas using softwood pellets. The concentrations of relevant nitrogenous gas species including tars have been measured in the producer gas and at different positions in the combustion chamber. Based on the experimental measurements and results derived from the test runs, the pathway of the fuel-bound nitrogen could be described. Results show that during updraft fixed-bed gasification the fuel-bound nitrogen is mainly released as N bound in tars from the packed bed and is then subsequently released as HCN, NO, NH3 and N2 as a result of tar cracking during combustion. This strong N-fixation in the tars was not expected. It is of great relevance for the understanding of the behaviour of the fuel-bound nitrogen as a basis for a low-NOx combustion of the producer gas. Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 996-1001

LocaGIStics is a support tool for the design of regional biomass delivery chains. It enables to further design and evaluate regional biomass delivery chains that are e.g. the result of initial planning by an energy company or a biobased producer. These general plans are translated in several biomass delivery designs using the variation in logistical concepts covering transport, pre-treatment and conversion options. The performance of every chain design can then be analyzed by comparing the different biomass delivery chains on the following environmental and economic indicators. A regional case study was performed in Aragón (Spain) using the LocaGIStics tool. In this case study maps were used where the biomass availability is specified for 2.5 x 2.5 grid cells. Data about the logistical components were supplied partly by the energy supplying company that was involved. This paper shows the main outcomes of this case study. Proceedings of the 25th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 12-15 June 2017, Stockholm, Sweden, pp. 41-47

Globally it is estimated that 84% of produced grains are wasted. In India 20-40% of food grains are spoiled, due to conventional preservation technique. The preservation tech like canning, freezing, drying etc are used in order to avoid the food wastage. Renewable hybrid drying system may be optimum for food preservations at low cost and will exploit at large in the present scenario. Proposed system of hybrid drying system is an integration of solar thermal air heating system coupled with air heating using suitable heating system based on biomass burning to maintain continuous drying process. Experiments are carried out for sun drying, oven drying, solar drying using air heaters and solar- biomass thermal drying. It is observed that solar hybrid system using biomass as a fuel for heating has reduced time of drying maize. For only solar system hot air drying time reduced from 72 to 33 hours and for solar hybrid drying time reduced from 72 to 15 hours. https://journalnx.com/journal-article/20150072

An innovative process to produce synthesis gas from a solid feedstock is dual fluidbed (DFB) steam gasification of biomass. The principle of this technology is the separation of the fluidized bed into a gasification and a combustion zone. Bed material, nowadays olivine, is circulating, between them, which has two functions. Firstly, it acts as heat carrier from the combustion to the gasification zone. Secondly, it has the role of a catalyst regarding the reduction of hydrocarbons. In this work, the catalytic activity of different fresh and also used bed materials, such as olivine and silica sand was tested regarding their ability to enhance the water-gas-shift reaction and also reduce hydrocarbons. Calcite is known as active material in this respect and, therefore, used as reference substance. Experiments showed a correlation between the enhancement of the water-gas-shift reaction and the reduction of lighter and heavier hydrocarbons by steam reforming. Results show that as long as a bed material particle has built up a calcium-rich layer, satisfying conversion of carbon monoxide and the hydrocarbons can be achieved. As model substances for hydrocarbons ethane and toluene were used. These results are the basis for further research of catalytic characteristics of potential bed materials for the dual fluidized bed steam gasification of biomass. Proceedings of the 23rd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 1-4 June 2015, Vienna, Austria, pp. 562-567

Olive­mill wastewater (OMWW) is a characteristic by­product of olive­oil production and a major environmental problem in the Mediterranean area due to the high chemical oxygen demand (COD, up to 220 g. L­1) and the high content of polyphenols. OMWW is considered as one of the most polluting agro­industrial effluents and could not be effectively process by classical biological treatment because of its phytotoxicity and antimicrobial properties. In this present work, a combined process consisting on absorption/adsorption of OMWW on sawdust, agropellets production from the OMWW/sawdust blends and energetic valorization via combustion was studied. Gaseous emissions such as CO2, CO and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured during the agropellets combustion at temperature range 500­700°C in a fixed­bed reactor. The preliminary results show that the combustion of the impregnated sawdust pellets can be a promising strategy to reduce the amount of OMWW in the environment. Hence, a complete survey is necessary to find the optimal conditions in order to obtain an environment friendly biofuel with low impacts on the environment. Proceedings of the 18th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 3-7 May 2010, Lyon, France, pp. 1580-1584

During the last years breweries traditional disposal possibilities of brewer’s spent grain (BSG) face a remarkable change like the decline in the demand as animal feed. Due to its high organic content an energetic utilization can create an additional benefit for breweries. Furthermore, breweries tend to shift their energy supply more and more towards sustainable energy concepts. Although, a decent number of research projects were carried out already, still no mature strategy is available. Using a mechanical pre-treatment allows optimized energy utilization by fractionation BSG and could solve the problem. Proceedings of the 23rd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 1-4 June 2015, Vienna, Austria, pp. 609-611