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In remote areas, such as India, Africa and Southeast Asia, typically not connected to the natural gas distribution network, tissue paper production is currently carried out using a Yankee cylinder and two hot air hoods heated with saturated steam produced in conventional boilers. In this way the drying air is heated at medium temperature, around 160-180 °C, with consequent low levels of dried paper production. In this context, the present study intends to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of using a wood biomass fixed bed downdraft gasification plant for the production of syngas to be used as fuel in gas hoods, in order to reach high drying temperatures (around 500 °C), comparable with those of the current modern hoods powered with natural gas. Using previously developed calculation codes, an evaluation of energy performance of the paper drying system and of the gasification plant has been performed. The present study also evaluates the possibility of applying a CHP plant, powered by biomass, for the production of steam and electric, this last obtained adopting a steam turbine, thus covering all the electrical and thermal needs of the paper mill. Results show that, for a paper mill with a production of about 80 t/day of paper, two gasification reactors with a thermal output of about 1.95 MWt, and a consumption of dry biomass of 0.86 t/h, are required. For the steam system, the net electric power needed to meet the needs of the paper mill is about 3100 kW with a consumption of 4.72 t/h of moist biomass and a net efficiency of 23.9 %.

Biomass is a renewable energy and had been recognized as a promising feedstock for producing bio-fuels. In this work, pyrolysis of black wattle residues was investigated with the aim to study the product distribution and their chemical composition and predicting the optimal condition for maximized bio-oil especially aromatics content by using a two level factorial design of experiment. The pyrolysis were performed at temperature of 380 – 580 oC, Under screw feeder carried the biomass residues and weight of dolomite as catalyst of 1-5 wt% inside pyrolyzer with nitrogen gases flow rate of 20 to 80 cm3/min The detention time was controlled by reactor screw feeder at feeding rate of 120 to 240 rpm. Based on the analysis from a design-expert program to determine the appropriated condition of experiment was 515.18 oC, 120.01 rpm of feed rate and 20.00 cm3/min of nitrogen flow rate using 5.00wt% of dolomite catalyst. The elemental and physicochemistry analysis of bio-oil were determined, the chemical composition also investigated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and 1H NMR. The composition of bio-oil mainly oxygenated compound with high molecular weight and phenol. The results show that the biomass residual can be considered as a potential alternative fuels and relevant to valuable chemical feedstock.

In this paper, a two-staged entrained-flow bed gasifier is proposed for the co-gasification of coal and biomass. The effect of biomass blending ratio on the two-staged co-gasification characteristics and the influence of fuel price, loan ratio, biomass blending and electricity price on the technical and economic efficiency of the IGCC system are considered. The results indicated that the content of H 2 in syngas increased firstly and then decreased with the addition of biomass, which reached the maximum value of 30.87 % at 10 % biomass ratio. The content of CO increased with the raising of biomass ratio, and the growth rate reached the maximum at 10 % biomass ratio. The carbon conversion (CC) firstly raised and then decreased with the increase of the biomass ratio at the second stage. The cold gas efficiency (CGE) increased nearly 10 % when the biomass ratio increased from 0 to 10%. The CGE of two-stage co-gasification was above 85%, indicating two-staged co-gasification of coal and biomass can significantly improve the efficiency of cold gas. The technical-economical analysis on the IGCC system indicated that the loan rate had a significant influence on the system dynamic investment, internal rate of return and net present value. With the increasing of loan rate, the total dynamic investment based the benchmark interest rate of 6.15 increased from 413.67 million to 431.58 million under the maximum lending rate of 8.61%. When the lending rate was larger than 8.15%, the internal rate of return (IRR) was slightly higher than the benchmark rate of return in the power sector. The further increase of the loan interest rate would result in a reduction of the internal rate of return and a negative net present value.The internal rate of return, the cost ratio, and the net present value decreased with the increase in the fuel price. When the price ceiling of coal and biomass was 600 RMB·t -1 and 450 RMB·t -1 , the IGCC system was economically viable. The influence of biomass blending ratio on technical, economic indicators was nonlinear. When the biomass ratio increased from 0 to 50%, the IRR, income ratio and net present value of the project increased firstly and then decreased. The effect of the grid price on the technical economic indicators was opposite to that of the fuel price. This paper provides a useful guide for optimization of the co-gasification process.

Higher alcohol (C5/C6 alcohol) blended with diesel or bio-diesel is a promising alternative clean fuel for the compression ignition engine. The most important puzzle is the technology development of biomass to higher alcohol fuels. In this paper, a novel approach of hydrothermal conversion of biomass into C5/C6 higher alcohol fuels was proposed. High yield of higher alcohol fuels was obtained from the real biomass with the C5/C6 alcohol selectivity of 77% under the mild hydrothermal conditions. The properties of the produced higher alcohol fuels are similar to that of 0# diesel. The exhaust emission of compression ignition engine decreased vigorously by blending the higher alcohol fuels with diesel at weight ratio of 20/80.

The fundamentals of pyrolysis, its latest developments, the different conditions of the process and their relative residues are of great importance to evaluate the applicability of the pyrolysis process within the waste management sector and waste treatments. In particular the type of residues and their further use or treatment is of extreme interest as they could become the source of secondary raw material or generate beneficial influence in waste treatments. The main area of focus of this paper is the investigation of the link between the pyrolysis conditions, the chemical and mineralogical composition of their products and the benefits of pyrolysis in the waste management sector. More specific the paper covers the fast, intermediate and slow pyrolysis of organic and a mixture of inorganic/organic charge from households. The catalysts influence during fast pyrolysis on products yields and composition is not being considered in the review.

Biogas upgrading to biomethane has received particular attention in recent years as a key strategy to produce a natural gas-substitute from biomass. Among the available upgrading technologies, amine-based absorption is an interesting option because of its low electric power consumption and very high methane recovery rates. This paper assesses the energy and economic performance of a biogas upgrading process involving chemical absorption with two different aqueous solvent formulations: 50%w MDEA and a 20%w/20%w MDEA/MEA blend. The process performance is evaluated with Aspen Plus and the optimal process conditions are determined with a multi-objective optimization approach targeting the maximum efficiency and minimum specific equipment cost. In the proposed scheme, to make the system energy-self-sufficient, an internal combustion engine burns a fraction of the raw biogas stream to co-generate both the electric power for the upgrading process and the thermal power required for solvent regeneration. Aqueous MDEA turns out to be more efficient (Pareto dominant curve) and less expensive than the MDEA/MEA blend, as a result of the lower regeneration energy (0.94 kJ/Nm3BM/h vs 1.43 kJ/Nm3BM/h) which yields to lower energy consumptions and smaller engine sizes. Even though the cost estimates are subject to a higher degree of uncertainty, the MDEA option features an expected specific total equipment cost as low as 1,550 €/(Nm3BM/h)) vs. 1,850 €/(Nm3BM/h)) for the MDEA/MEA blend.

The overall objective of this research is to conduct an analysis of biomass drying process. This paper investigates the effect of various drier inlet parameters such as sawdust moisture content, particle diameter and drying gas temperature on moisture content of dry sawdust and hot flue gases and their temperature profiles along the length of the dryer. Our simulations show that the overall drying rate increases when using sawdust with a more uniform particle size.

peer-reviewed A pilot scale investigation of co-pyrolysis of biological dairy sludge and spruce wood chips and pyrolysis of spruce wood chips solely was carried out. Pyrolysis was tested as a waste treatment method aiming to reduce the volume of dairy sludge while producing a pyrolysis gas suitable for an internal combustion engine. Pyrolysis tests were carried out in a continuously fed, pilot scale rotating retort type of facility in the temperature range between 700 and 770 °C. Feedstock feeding rates were between 40.9 – 68.6 kgd.a.f. h-1. Tar yields and composition was measured by means of the solid phase adsorption method in order to assess gas quality with regard to the specified tar limits given for downstream applications. The yields of total gas chromatography detectable tar produced from the dairy sludge and spruce wood chips blend was in the range between 7.25 - 10.98 gtotal tar Nm-3 dry raw gas, while spruce wood chips solely produced yields between 11.18 - 13.31 gtotal tar Nm-3 dry raw gas. Composition wise, the main difference was a number of nitrogen-containing tar compounds reflecting the high nitrogen content in dairy sludge feedstock with 2-butenenitrile, pyridine and 1H-pyrrole being the most abundant nitrogen-containing tar compounds. Raw pyrolysis gas from the two feedstocks tested did not meet the requirements regarding tar limits given in the manufacturer’s specification for their internal combustion engine. The raw pyrolysis gas contained excessive amounts of 3 and 4+ aromatic ring tars. Therefore tar removal is required prior to combustion in the engine. The proposed tar removal strategy includes a thermal tar reformer using air as a reforming agent followed by adsorption using wood chips, or in-process generated bio-char, or torrefied biomass as a viable adsorbent.

Microwave co-torrefaction of sewage sludge and leucaena wood was carried out to produce biochar for the adsorption of CO2. Three mixing ratios of sewage sludge and leucaena wood were 75:25, 50:50, and 25:75. The individual and blended biomass sample were torrefied at a microwave power level of 250 W. Mass and energy yields decreased whereas carbon and fixed carbon contents increased with increasing mixing ratio of leucaena wood. The biochar with higher carbon content could be capable of adsorbing more CO2 molecules. The adsorption capacity of pure leucaena wood biochar was approximately 53 mg/g, almost four times as that of pure sewage sludge biochar. The more fraction of leucaena wood in the blend would possess an adverse effect on the composition or property of biochar, resulting in lower CO2 adsorption capacity. Four kinetic models were applied to analyze the reaction kinetics of CO2 adsorption on biochar. The CO2 adsorption on biochar was best fitted by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The relatively low correspondence with the intraparticle diffusion kinetic model may imply that the CO2 adsorption on biochar is more governed by adsorption reaction.

Oil palm frond and empty fruit bunch (EFB), which were abundant biomass resources found in Indonesia, were hydrothermally-treated using two different types of reactor, e.g. batch and semi-flow reactor. The objective of this research was to make a comparison of product resulted from both types of treatment. Based on the experimental results, it was found that liquefaction of biomass material occurred more effectively in semi-flow reactor. Semi-flow reactor facilitated a higher recovery of several sugar compounds such as xylooligosaccharides and arabinose. On the hand, residual solids from batch treatment had higher theoretical calorific values (18.81 and 18.00 MJ/kg) than those from semi-flow (15.40 and 17.41 MJ/kg, for frond and EFB respectively).

Entrained flow gasification of biomass has the potential to generate synthesis gas as a source of renewable chemicals, electricity, and heat. Nonetheless, formation of tar and soot is a major chall ...

This paper presents a study of the effects of hydrodynamics behavior of a bed in bio-oil production in a circulating fluidized bed reactor (CFBr) with a fast pyrolysis process. The height and diameter of CFBr were 4.5 meters and 0.1 meters, respectively, while sand particles of 250 microns were used as the bed in the CFBr. The feed rate of the sugarcane bagasse in this experiment was 30 kg/hr. A fast pyrolysis was performed at 440-520o C of reaction temperature, at 5-7 m/s of superficial velocity, and with 0.5 kg and 4.5 kg of bed inventory. The results indicated that the solid re-circulating rate had increased when superficial velocity and bed inventory were increased. The maximum solid re-circulating rate was achieved with 52.48 kg/m2s at 7 m/s of superficial velocity and with 4.5 kg of bed inventory. The highest yields of bio-oil production were created at the maximum solid re-circulating rate for which the maximum value of bio-oil production was 78.07% wt at a reaction temperature of 480 oC. From the analysis of the effects of the solid re-circulating rates on bio-oil production, it was found that the quantity of bio-oil production had directly varied in accordance with the solid re-circulating rate because during the pyrolysis process, there had been a high heat transfer of bed sand to biomass.

The work presented in this paper aimed to examine the effect of heating rate on the bio-crude yield of wood hydrothermal liquefaction. Three different heating methods were developed, resulting in heating rates ranging from 66 °C/min to 179 °C/min. The experiments were conducted using Norway spruce wood as feedstock at an operation temperature of 350 °C and with a total reaction time of 15 minutes. The bio-crude product was collected and separated using dichloromethane (DCM) as solvent and a centrifugal separator. The results confirm that heating rate has a clear positive effect on the bio-crude oil yield, increasing from 18.9 wt% for the lower heating rate of 66 °C/min to 35.8 wt% for the higher heating rate of 179 °C/min. It is also shown that the effect of feedstock pre-treatment via torrefaction on the bio-crude yield is negative. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Nowadays, alternative energy from biomass has become more popular globally. Pineapple waste, one of the non-edible biomass sources from agricultural waste, can be used as an alternative source of sugar for ethanol production. However, the production of glucose from cellulose using conventional process would generally be retarded by lignin content. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the effect of the hydrothermal treatment followed by the enzymatic treatment on the cellulose conversion with the presence of different lignin contents and compare the result with conventional method. Also, the physical structures of solid residues from both techniques are analyzed and compared. The results show that the hydrothermal treatment at 185°C followed by the enzymatic treatment can convert pineapple waste to a higher amount of monosaccharide, which is composed of glucose and fructose. Furthermore, the combined treatments can provide up to 23.90 % higher for the glucose yield and 226.7 % higher for the fructose yield than that of the pure enzymatic treatment. Furthermore, the reduction in the lignin content from 20.43 % to 10.88 % by weight can substantially enhance the glucose yield up to 23.90 %. Moreover, the hydrothermal treatment process can decompose the lignin structure between each cellulose strand. Without this treatment, the lignin structure will not be broken down and retard the effectiveness of enzymatic treatment.

This work aims to evaluate the carbon footprint (CF) of microalgae production in a closed pilot-scale multi-tubular photobioreactor (PBR), on a gate-to-gate approach. Primary data from real production conditions complemented with data from the literature and life cycle inventory databases was used. The carbon embedded in the PBR’s construction materials and nutrients necessary for the microalgae growth were considered. A global CF of 68.34 kg CO2-eq/kg dry biomass was obtained. A CF of 1.72 kg CO2-eq/kg dry biomass was calculated for the PBR construction stage, contributing to 3 % of the overall value. For 74 kg of dry biomass/year produced with this PBR, the CF for this stage was 66.62 kg CO2-eq/kg dry biomass, corresponding to 97 % of the total global CF. In this study, electricity production for the reactor operation is the major contributor (79 %) to the overall CF, followed by the production of nutrients used to prepare the culture medium (21 %). CO2 fixation by microalgae reduces the global value by 3 %.

Bamboo torrefaction in a rotating packed bed (RPB) is investigated where three rotating speeds of 0, 900, and 1800 rpm are taken into account. The results suggest that the rotating speed intensifies the torrefaction performance drastically when light and mild torrefaction are practiced. In contrast, the torrefaction performance is affected slightly by the rotating speed when severe torrefaction is carried out. The highest higher heating value (HHV) and its enhancement factor (EF) are 28.389 MJ/kg and 1.61, respectively, yielding a coal-like fuel with the energy yield is 63.51%. The results suggest that torrefaction in a rotating packed bed is a efficient process to upgrade biomass for producing green and sustainable alternative to coal utilized in industry.

Biomass gasification is a very efficient process to produce clean energy in the form of a fuel gas (syngas). Hazelnut shells and poplar have good energy production potential and they are abundant in nature. Hazelnut shells have the characteristics of a very good fuel and poplar is among the fastest growing trees; furthermore, poplar demonstrated the capability to absorb organic contaminants (i.e. heavy metals) from the soil in which they are cultivated. However, poplar is not usually used for biomass gasification and its potential is not fully assessed. Here, 3 types of biomass, hazelnut shells (HS), simple poplar (P) and poplar coming from a phytoremediation procedure (PHYP), were chosen as representative samples to be characterized and tested in a steam gasification process carried out on a bench scale fluidized bed gasifier. A comparison is reported on gasification results, such as gas composition, tar production and gas yield for the biomass feedstocks mentioned above. It was concluded that hazelnut shells and poplar (P and PHYP) could be easily gasified in a fluidized bed gasifier, thus producing a good quality gas with low polluting by-products. The PHYP sample showed lower tar content and higher gas yield. It is guessed that Ca and Mg, found in higher quantities in the PHYP sample, could have had a catalytic effect in tar reforming thus producing lower quantity of heavy hydrocarbons.

Biomass torrefaction, co-gasification of coal with raw and torrefied biomass, and an approach to co-processing the torrefaction condensates with coal and coal char were investigated in this study. Torrefaction pretreatment produced not only high-quality solid fuels but also waste condensates. Co-gasification of coal/torrefied biomass blends exhibited stronger synergy compared to the lower synergy degree of the coal/raw biomass blends. Furthermore, we proposed a rational approach to blending the torrefaction condensates with coal or coal char, by which a binary-mixed solid fuel with biomass constituents to coal or coal char mass ratio of 12–18:100 could be obtained. In this way, the condensates can be co-converted in a coal-based gasification or combustion systems. The most attractive technical benefit of this approach is that the blending of the condensates with coal or coal char significantly enhanced the gasification reactivity of the blends.

Forest biomass is a renewable and sustainable source of energy that can be used for producing electricity, heat, and biofuels. The production of biomass for energy is considered to be an important step in developing sustainable communities and managing greenhouse gas emissions effectively. Biomass properties vary and are commonly associated with plant species. Hence, efficient methods to predict biofuel characteristics will greatly affect the utilization and management of feedstock production. In this paper attempt was made to correlate various chemical characteristics with NIR spectra. Wood chips from various plant species was analyzed for lignin content, heating value, ash content and NIR and the results were evaluated with correlation, PCA and PCR. Initial evaluation showed promising results where chemical components in the wood correlate to NIR spectra. A selection of results will be presented in this paper. Further analysis as well as results from PCA and PCR models will be presented in the full paper version.

In this study, the potential of the important economic crops of Southern Thailand for pellet making was utilized. The biomass pellets were prepared from oil palm leaves (PL) and frond (PF), para-rubber leaves litter (PAL) and branch (PB) and their blend (mixing of 50 wt.% of two materials). The raw materials which collected from local plantation were cleaned, dried and milled into small particles less than 1 mm and then continued with pellet forming by a single unit press in a laboratory under the temperature and pressure of 130°C and 350 psi. Some characteristics were analyzed to evaluate quality of pellet, i.e. moisture content, density, ash content, calorific value. Moreover, the combustion behavior was investigated by means of thermogravimetry analysis. The lowest ash content of 2.27% and 2.82% were received from PB in case of pure pellet and PB+PAL in case of mixed pellets, respectively. The calorific values of pure pellets were 16.05, 17.68, 18.71 and 19.64 MJ/kg for PF, PL, PB and PAL, respectively. The combustion characteristics were exhibited in the ignition and burnout temperature, which drawn from TG curved. The burnout temperature was improved with higher in all cases of mixed biomass pellet. The characteristics of mixed biomass pellets differed from pure biomass pellets which contribute to the further improve its quality.

Saw mill industries in Malaysia produce a large amount of biomass waste in the form of sawdust, especially from Cengal and Kulim wood species. One of the attractive options to utilize the available biomass is by converting it to an alternative biofuels via torrefaction process. During torrefaction process, biomass is thermally decomposed thus resulted in biomass weight loss which is known as an anhydrous weight loss (AWL). In this study, the kinetic parameters were predicted by two step reactions in series known as Di Blasi – Lanzetta model for both heating and isothermal phases to achieve the desired AWL of torrefied Cengal and Kulim sawdust at temperature of 240°C, 270°C, and 300°C. All kinetic parameters are estimated according to Arrhenius law and fitted to the experimental result. The mass yield results shows that at higher temperature of 300°C, the rate of degradation is higher compared to the lower torrefaction temperature for both Cengal and Kulim woods due to the hemicellulose and cellulose wood constituents. In conclusion, the Di Blasi – Lanzetta model is reliable to predict the AWL of Cengal and Kulim woods in achieving the desired torrefied biomass properties.

The cultivation of Chlorella sp. TISTR 8411 on biogas effluent of seafood processing wastewater was investigated. Chlorella sp. biomass was used for biogas production by anaerobic co-digestion with seafood processing. Chlorella sp. biomass cultivated on 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100% of biogas effluent was 0.184, 0.121, 0.061, 0.048, 0.039, and 0.032 g/L, respectively. The highest growth of Chlorella sp. biomass was 0.184 g/L from 50% biogas effluent. Methane yield from anaerobic co-digestion of seafood processing wastewater with 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50% v/v Chlorella sp. biomass was 131, 152, 173, 188 and 193 ml CH4/gVS, respectively. Methane yield from Chlorella sp. biomass was 44 ml CH4/gVS. Methane yield from seafood processing wastewater was 18 ml CH4/gVS. 10 times of methane yield was improve in anaerobic co-digestion seafood processing wastewater with Chlorella sp. biomass at 40 and 50 % v/v. Anaerobic co-digestion seafood processing wastewater with Chlorella sp. biomass has great potential for biogas production.

The present research article aims to study the throat size effect on downdraft biomass gasifier efficiency. Two type of biomass; eucalyptus and leucaena were used as fuel for producing producer gas by gasification process. The downdraft gasifier has a 30 cm diameter and 250 cm high. For combustion zone, the throat size was varied to 10, 15, 20 and 25 cm respectively. The consumption of biomass was 10 kg with the size of biomass was 5-10 mm thick and moisture content less than 15%. The air flow rate into the combustion chamber was set at 1 – 5 m3/hr. to determine the gasifier efficiency and composition of producer gas. The experimental results showed that the gasifier efficiency increase with the air flow rate increase. The throat size 20 cm and air flow rate at 5 m3/hr showed the highest efficiency. The gasifier efficiency of the downdraft biomass gasifier was calculated as 35.30 % for leucaena and 43.36 % for eucalyptus. A heating value was calculated as 3.84 MJ/Nm3 and 4.87 MJ/Nm3 for eucalyptus and leucaena respectively.

In Malaysia, palm oil wastes are identified as the potential biomass for renewable energy sources. Usually the higher heating value (HHV) is essential for energy analysis and can be estimated using bomb calorimeter but this method usually is time consuming with possibilities of experimental errors. Thus many correlations have been established to predict the HHV based on the proximate analysis. However, most of the correlations only take into account the HHV of raw biomass. No attempts have been made on estimating HHV of torrefied biomass using model correlation. Therefore, the objective of this study is to propose new correlation based on proximate analysis which is applicable for raw and torrefied palm oil wastes. The HHV and proximate analysis of raw and torrefied palm oil wastes at different torrefaction temperature ranges from 240 to 330°C are measured experimentally for model correlation. In addition the HHV and proximate analysis of raw and torrefied palm oil wastes from published literature are included in order to enhance the reliability of model correlation. Based on the model correlation, low average absolute error (AAE) of 5.37% and low average bias error (ABE) of -1.00% are obtained indicating the estimated model correlation is suitable and reliable to estimate the HHV of raw and torrefied palm oil wastes from proximate analysis.

Barks and fruit peels usually considered residues are not seriously applied for any specific purpose. To add value to such agricultural wastes by using them as alternative solid fuels for thermo-chemical process are of interest. This research work aims at preparing biomass pellets from bark (eucalyptus), fruit shell (mangosteen) and fruit peel (papaya) using different binders (dammar, Persea kurzii kosterm powder, and cashew nut shell liquid). Influences of mass mixing ratio of eucalyptus bark: mangosteen shell: papaya peel (1:1:1, 2:1:1, 1:2:1, and 1:1:2) and binder on properties of the biomass pellets were investigated. The prepared pellets were also used as a fuel for the combustion process. The study results indicated that using cashew nut shell liquid as a binder provided the fuel pellets with rather short and non-uniform length while using dammar as a binder provided the pellets with fissures on the surface. Using the binder of Persea kurzii kosterm powder gave the pellets with significantly more uniform size, smoother surface, and higher density compared to using other binders (p

Bleaching earth (BE) and empty palm bunches (EPB) are residual materials in the palm oil production process. Inside BE consisted of copious oil quantities, in the same way, the EPB had the high heating value. These residual materials could be recycled to become the biomass briquettes (BB). Therefore, this work investigated the BB production at the different condition. The compression temperature was 150, 250 and 350°C. The compressive velocity was 30, 40 and 50 rpm. The mixture ratio by weight between BE and EPB was 30:70, 40:60, 50:50, 60:40 and 70:30. After production, the BB were examined the fuel properties, i.e., moisture content (MC), ash content (AC), the heating value (HV), the fixed carbon content (FC) and volatile matter content (VC). Experimental results showed the MC, HV, FC and VC diminished with the decrease of EPB quantity. The AC increased with the augmentation of BE content. The BB production rate increased with the compression velocity by it had the maximum production rate about 390 pieces per hour at the velocity of 50 rpm. Moreover, the increased velocity affected the diminution of HV, fixed carbon, moisture and volatile matter for some the mixture ratio and compression temperature. The alteration of compression temperature insignificantly affected the quantity of HV for some the mixture ratio and compression velocity. The BB production should be produced at the ratio of 30:70 combined with the compressive speed and temperature of 30 rpm and 250°C, respectively. This condition gave the high HV, the low moisture content corresponded with the standard of fuel properties, excepting, the quantity of ash and fixed carbon.

Syngas technology is one of a well-known alternative process way to produce valuable chemical products. This research discussed on biomass composition which related to syngas production yield via gasification process. Four type of biomass from wood are selected to be model for the experiment: Neem tree (Azadirachta indica), Cassia tree (Senna siamea), Eucalyptus tree (Eucalyptus melliodora), Mimosa tree (Leucena leucocepphala) were analyzed for proximate and ultimate analysis. The results show the most heating value detected in eucalyptus biomass (19,267.65 kJ/kg), Cassia and Neem wood (17,500 kJ/kg and 17,417 kJ/kg repectively). The high heating value of Eucalyptus wood exhibit higher than that in coal and rice straw (18,840 kJ/kg and 14,826 kJ/kg, in consequence). Nitrogen contains in all biomass show a rarely bit composition (Eucalyptus: 0.2 %, Cassia: 0.17% and Neem: 0.0%). In conclusion, three different kind of wood biomass have a potential to be applied for syngas production as a new biomass for linear heart gasifier in the experiment.

The bark is very promising technological raw material and classic biorefinery object because of its unique barks biomass chemical composition and possibility to get many different products with the added value of individual or group of compounds of the synergistic biological activity, raw materials to produce various materials. Bark product market is poorly developed because bark treatment to produce product with high added value requires high investment, large amount of time. However, this market segment is currently growing in Latvia and in Europe due to the restrictions on the use of synthetic products, “green” thinking and growth of renewable material use. That is why authors did research about wood bark use opportunities, by analyzing different wood bark products which are currently at the research stage or already being manufactured. Using multi-criteria analyze (MCA) determining the main products which can be introduced in the Latvian market. Results showed that the best two products which potentially should be implemented are tannin and betulin, currently these products are not industrial produced in Latvia.

In recent years, substantial steps into the transition toward a bio-based economy have been taken. Therefore, biomass, due to its physical and chemical properties, has become one of the key sources to produce bio-based value products. From the current point of view, cellulose is the most common organic biopolymer and is considered as a source of the raw material for environmentally friendly and biocompatible products. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of hydrolysis time (30–70 min) and temperature (160–180 oC) at different amounts of aluminum sulfate octadecahydrate as catalyst (0 %, 5 %and 7 % of the oven-dried material) on the content of cellulose in the hemp shives leftover after furfural production. The results have shown that it is possible to save up to 83 % of initial cellulose in the hemp shives leftover if the produced yield of furfural is similar to the industrial scale production yield, which is 55 % from the theoretically possible one. The highest loss of cellulose in hemp shives was observed after hydrolysis at 180 oC, 7 % catalyst of the oven-dried mass and 70 min, whereas a smaller loss of cellulose was observed under autohydrolysis conditions. Thus, the study identifies important structural features of the lignocellulosic leftover and relevant hydrolysis parameters related to the commercialization of lignocellulosic biorefineries.

In this work, the biomass property is evaluated based on pyrolysis behavior of biomass fuels by means of TGA and online gas analysis. Wood, sawdust, pine bark, peat, straw, black liquor and microalgae are chosen as the biomass feedstocks for the pyrolysis study. The measurement results show high volatile content for algae and black liquor (around 85%) and low volatile content for pine bark and peat (around 69%). Differently from woody biomass, the DTG curve of straw has a single dominant peak at much lower temperature, which suggests a dominant component of hemicellulose in biomass, while algae and peat have a broader temperature specturm of devolatilization but much lower peak temperature. CO2 is released first and H2 later in the pyrolysis process for all biomass feedstocks, whileas the peak of CO formation follows CO2 formation trend for most feedstocks used, except for peat and pine bark which give a peak later at high temperature. This indicates secondary reactions of tar cracking, steam reforming and char gasification.

To research the demand of gasification temperature in different stages, the system of the sectional heating gasifier was proposed for the first time in global warming and resource shortage nowadays. When ER was 0.28 in the oxidizing stage, the experimental results indicated that: the LHV was 4200-4600 kJ/m 3 , η was 62-65%, and the average volume fraction of O 2 , CO 2 , H 2 , CO, NO, NO X , and SO 2 in the stable gasification was 4.5%, 10.2%, 14.5%, 23.5%, 0.024%, 0.025% and 0.032%, respectively. The numerical results indicated that: the temperature, concentration distributing (CO, CH 4 , H 2 ), carbon conversion efficiency, LHV of the gas fuel, gasification efficiency vary in the range of 612.24 °C, CO 16.01%, CH 4 3.96%, H 2 13.82%, 75.1%, 4201 kJ/Nm 3 , 57.56%. These results indicated the flue gas was satisfied with the requirement of urban gas, and the gasification efficiency was improved than downdraft gasifier.

In this work, Norway spruce stem wood, stump and bark were torrefied in a tubular reactor. The effects of feedstock type and torrefaction process parameters such as torrefaction temperature and residence time on the grindability and chemical properties of the torrefied biomass samples were investigated. In comparison to torrefaction temperature, torrefaction residence time had smaller effects on the grindability of stem wood and stump. For raw bark, much less grinding energy is required compared to those for raw stem wood and stump. Torrefaction has minor effects on grindability of the bark. The cellulose contents of stem wood and stump were reduced slightly at a torrefaction temperature of 275 °C. On the contrary, the cellulose content of the torrefied bark drastically decreased already at a torrefaction temperature of 275 °C, with only trace amounts left in the 300 °C torrefied products. © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

This study points out the similarities between char from biomass gasification and activated carbon and reviews its successful applications in the field of adsorption. Surface area (S BET ) is considered as the standard parameter. Since only few data on biomass gasification char are available in the literature, in this work char residues from different commercial gasification plants were collected and characterized, reporting their S BET values for comparison. The highest values for S BET are associated to dual-stage gasification technologies and are highly affected by the operating temperature.

Torrefaction is a thermal conversion method widely used for enhancing the properties of biomass. Usually this process is conducted under an inert atmosphere within a temperature range of 200 °C – 300 °C with residence time up to 60 minutes. During the torrefaction process, biomass is thermally decomposed thus resulted in biomass weight loss which is known as an anhydrous weight loss (AWL). As the properties of biomass are highly dependent on the AWL, therefore it is important to predict the reaction kinetics which will enable to describe the thermal degradation of the respective biomass for achieving the desired properties of torrefied biomass. In this study, the kinetic parameters of empty fruit bunch (EFB) from palm oil waste torrefied at 240 °C and 270 °C are predicted by applying two different kinetic models namely Di Blasi-Lanzetta Model and Rousset Model for both heating and isothermal phases. For Di Blasi-Lanzetta Model, the kinetic parameters are estimated based on the degradation of EFB into intermediate compound and char whereas kinetic parameters for Rousset Model are predicted based on the degradation of three main constituents of EFB which consists of lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose. All kinetic parameters are estimated according to Arrhenius law and fitted to the experimental result. The result shows that AWL estimation using kinetic parameters predicted from both models are in a good agreement with the experimental result and thus applicable to represent AWL of EFB torrefaction. In conclusion, Di Blasi-Lanzetta Model is more relevant to represent real torrefaction in comparison to the Rousset because of its ability to provide detailed information for the evolution of solid and volatile products during torrefaction.

Current biofuel production utilizing microalgal biomas is not cost effective. Hence increasing research interest is to find out new microalgal candidate to make microalgal products and by-products economically viable. Several promising microalgal species have drawn scientific interest as they offer commercial sources of high-value by-products (chemicals) such as β-carotene, astaxanthin, docosahexaenoic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, bioactive and functional pigments, natural dyes, polysaccharides, antioxidants and algal extracts. These species play a significant role in cosmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, fodder, aquaculture, bioremediation and human foods. For making algal biomass production economically viable, high value by-product extracting is paramount. This article emphasises on some important microalgal species that offer such high value by-products for commercial applications.

Biomass is one of the renewable and sustainable energy sources that does not lead greenhouse gas emissions. Efficient use of biomass energy will help to solve problems resulting from fossil fuels. However, the main concern relevant to use of this energy is mainly related to low calorific value of biomass. Therefore, calorific value is the key parameter to evaluate the fuel quality of a special biomass material in energetic applications. In this context, twenty-seven different biomass species that represent very wide range of biomass materials such as herbaceous and woody biomasses, nut shells, fruit stones, stem and husks, pulps, and agricultural residues have been characterized by proximate analysis (moisture, volatile matter, fixed carbon, and ash contents). Then, various empirical equations which contain linear and nonlinear terms have been tested in order to predict the higher heating values (HHV) of full sample set from the proximate analysis results. It was concluded that since biomasses used in this study have different structures and fuel characteristics, the predicted HHVs for the full sample set were a bit different from the experimental HHVs and the r2 of these equations varied in the range of 0.812-0.837, while standard deviations were between 1.469 and 1.493 MJ/kg. Nevertheless, considering the number of the biomass species used in this study and their differences in properties, these standard deviations may be regarded in the acceptable limits.

This research demonstrates the technique of predicting pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass. Modeling of pyrolysis of biomass is complex and challenging because of short reaction times, temperatures as high as a thousand degrees Celsius, and biomass of varying or unknown chemical compositions. As such a deterministic model is not capable of representing the pyrolysis reaction system. To be able to predict a pyrolysis reaction of an unknown lignocellulosic biomass without an experimental data support or data fitting is an even more challenging work. In this research, we are trying to predict pyrolysis of Pongmia in Nitrogen to demonstrate that our technique is useful for predicting pyrolysis reaction of other biomass source. There are three main chemical compositions in lignocellulosic biomass which are cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. We are considering that the total pyrolysis reaction is affected by the reaction of three main compositions. However, these three main chemical compositions of biomass is vary not only by type of biomass but also by other things such as where it is grown or even which part of biomass since the chemical compositions in the leaf can be different from the trunk. Our propose method is an extending study of our previous paper “pyrolysis of biomass – fuzzy modeling”. Our model successfully gives a good predicting result. The result shows that our model can predict 91.82% of pyrolysis of Pongmia in Nitrogen correctly without any data from the experiment. Therefore, we could use this method to predict other lignocellulosic biomass before we perform an experiment.

Macroalgae have recently attracted attention as a possible feedstock for energy as well as for biogas. Macroalgae have higher productivity than terrestrial plants, and do not compete with crops for arable land but insight is still necessary on the biogas yield for an overall sustainable evaluation. The objective of this study was addressed to evaluate the effect mechanical pre-treatment (MW) on anaerobic digestion (AD) conversion of the brown algae Fucus vesiculosus washed ashore in the Gulf of Riga. The AD were carried out in batch tests at 37 °C, over an incubation time no longer than 21–25 days, in order to evaluate the biological methane potential (BMP). Two mechanical pre-treatment methods were tested including a biomass washing with TAP water and a further manual chopping up to a maximum size of 5 mm. Total solids (TS) and volatile solids (VS) tests were defined according to EPA standards [1] . The batch test-based BMP was further compared with the theoretical biological BMP from Buswell's formula. The results show the BMP is doubling up to 200 l CH 4 /kg TS if any pre-treatments method is applied. The thicker cell walls of the brown marine algae respect other macro algae types and as well respect fresh water macroalgae which inhibit the activity of fermentative bacteria during the hydrolysis process.

Empty fruit bunch, shell, and fiber are palm biomass waste that can be converted to energy by cogeneration system. On the other hand, electricity shortages severely hampered the development of North Sumatera. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to present a potential analysis of palm biomass waste in generating electricity by palm oil mills in North Sumatera. Some palm oil mills in North Sumatera were analyzed in electric potential by using collected data, questionnaires and interviews. The results show that a POM with 30 tones FFB/hour generates at least 20 MW (20 MW to 35 MW).

Steam explosion pretreatment of olive tree pruning was investigated in pilot-scale, in order to maximize the overall glucose yield. Raw material was firstly characterized in order to determine the content of sugars, ash, extractives, acid insoluble lignin and acetyl groups. Biomass samples were then pretreated at seven different severities and, after pretreatment, solid residues and liquid fractions were separated by filtration. Pretreated solids were submitted to enzymatic hydrolysis for glucose release, using a commercial enzyme preparation. An overall highest theoretical ethanol yield of 14.41 g/100 g dry raw material was achieved at the severity of 4.41.

Vineyard pruning is a potential lignocellulosic feedstock for bioethanol production from agricultural woody residues, due to its high sugar content and ready availability in whole Europe. Ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass requires a pretreatment step and then enzymatic hydrolysis process to release sugars for fermentation to ethanol. In this work, alkaline pretreatment with NaOH on vineyard residues was investigated on laboratory scale. The raw material was firstly characterized in order to determine cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin content, using the standard laboratory analytical procedures for biomass analysis provided by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Then, based on Response Surface Methodology tool (RSM), a Box-Behnken model was chosen to define a design of experiments (DoE) in terms of the three independent variables that influence the process: the NaOH concentration, the reaction time and the temperature of the pretreatment process. According to the design, 15 samples of raw material were submitted to alkaline pretreatment and subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis and the glucose yield from whole process was calculated. The statistical optimization was carried out with Minitab 17 software, in order to determine the best operative pretreatment condition by maximizing the glucose yield from enzymatic hydrolysis. Results show that the best glucose yield was obtained at the highest sodium hydroxide concentration and temperature of the reaction; this condition allowed to achieve very significant glucose yield thanks to lignin removal performed with the pretreatment.

Renewable fuels are major alternatives to fossil fuels. Biomass was considered as raw materials and renewable energy sources. Pyrolysis process is one of the efficient methods for converting biomass in bio-oil. This work investigates the pyrolysis of Giant Leucaena wood in liquid phase by various conditions: The experiments were conducted in an autoclave at following conditions; temperature of 325–400 °C, holding time of 0–60 min, biomass 250 gram, NiMo/Al2O3 catalyst weight (0–30 percent by weight) by using hexane as a solvent. Bio-oils were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry to identify the structure and chemical compounds, also by CHN analyzer. The results showed that the liquid products were phenolic compounds, cyclic compounds and furans which were determined by gas chromatography.

Solid state anaerobic digestion is a safe and environmental friendly technology to dispose solid wastes, could produce methane and reduce the volume of wastes. Three biomass residues from palm oil mill plant including empty fruit bunches (EFB), palm press fiber (PPF) and decanter cake (DC) were evaluated for methane production by solid state anaerobic digestion. Oil palm biomass was mixed with inoculum at F/I ratio of 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, 5:1 and 6:1 based on the volatile solid (VS). Results show that among the five F/I ratios tested, the F/I ratio of 2:1 gave the highest methane yield and methane production for all biomass residues. The highest cumulative methane production of 2180 mLCH 4 was obtained from EFB followed by PPF (1964 mL CH 4 ) and DC (1827 mL CH 4 ) at F:I ratio of 2:1. The highest methane yield of 144 mL CH 4 /gVS was obtained from EFB followed by PPB (140 mL CH 4 /gVS) and DC (130 mL CH 4 /gVS) at F/I ratios of 2:1. Methane production from EFB, PPF and DC by SS-AD was 55, 47 and 41 m 3 CH 4 /ton, respectively. These results collectively suggested that EFB could be a promising substrate for methane production by SS-AD

In this study, the manual hydraulic press was designed to prepare the holey briquettes from selected biomass wastes. Each biomass was sun dried and milled into the smaller particle size before mixing with 20wt% of palm fiber, and molasse was used as the binder. The effects of applied pressure levels of 40, 50, 60 and 70 kg/cm2 and of the binder amount on the density, calorific heating value and burning rate of the prepared briquettes were investigated. Results showed that briquettes have the average inside diameter, average outside diameter and height of 12, 38 and 25-30 mm, respectively. The density of the briquettes increased with the increasing of applied pressure, was in the range of 260-416 kg/m3. The most densified briquettes were obtained from bamboo sawdust at the use of 20wt% molasse and pressure of 70 kg/cm2. The heating value of bamboo briquette reached upto 21.26 MJ/kg, and rubber wood residue briquette obtained the slowest burning rate of 2.01 g/min.

The combustion kinetics of Norway spruce woody treated via wet or dry torrefaction were studied and compared. Dry and wet torrefaction of woodwere performed in compatible conditions on the basis of a common massyield. The combustion experiments were studiedthermogravimetrically, followed by a kinetic evaluation assuming a four-pseudo-component model. The results show that dry-torrefied wood is less reactive in the devolatilization step but more reactive in the char combustion, compared to wet-torrefied one. Dry torrefaction removesmore hemicellulose from Norway spruce wood than wet torrefaction, in compatible conditions. The activation energy and pre-exponential factor of cellulose and lignin in the devolatilization step are increased by both torrefaction methods. However, in the char combustion the activation energy and pre-exponential factor areincreased by dry torrefaction, but decreased after wet torrefaction.

The comparison of low carbon content additives (wood biomass and straw biomass ash mixture) with zeolites-like material shows a similar chemical composition. Based on this similarity, experiments to determine the biogas yield enhancement were carried out. Due to high pH levels of additives, no enhancement were determined. Further research is needed to prove the theory.

This study examines the particle fragmentation of raw and torrified biomass in a drop tube furnace (DTF). Biomass fuels studied included pine shells, olive stones and wheat straw. Both the raw and the torrified fuels were burnt in the DTF at 1100 °C. The results reported include burnout profiles and particle matter (PM) concentrations and size distributions measured along the DTF. The results reveal that (i) particle fragmentation does not occur during the combustion of raw and torrified olive stones; and (ii) particle fragmentation occurs during the combustion of raw and torrified pine shells and wheat straw, but torrefaction promotes particle fragmentation only in the case of the straw.

Biofixation of CO2 by microalgae has become an effective carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology and it has the potential for large-scale application in decreasing CO2 emission from combustion flue gases. In general, the production of the microalgae under flue gas CO2 carbon sequestration is closely related with the algae species, culture methods, biological conditions, gas conditions and the CO2 concentration. In this paper, the production parameter (biomass) for microalgae chlorella under flue gas was predicted using response surface methodology. It was found that the model agreed well with the experimental data. Further, the interacted analysis indicated that the carbon source, nitrogen source, cell inoculation density and light intensity had important effect on microalgae production.

It is very well known at present that different industries agro-food sector generally produce considerable quantities of wastewater should be treated imperative for preserving the environment, and thus avoid a real danger to the ecosystem. These waters are usually loaded with in pollutants of organic nature. There are important quantities of biological materials, few or badly recovered, which are capable of adsorbing metals dissolved in effluents. These residues consist primarily of industrial fermentation sludge pleuromitiline cultivated to produce enzymes, antibiotics.... This study was motivated by the fact that no quantitative study concerning the physico-chemical behaviour of Pleurotus mutilus, hence the idea to use the capacity of retention by adsorption of contaminants. The purpose of this paper is to study the adsorption of copper on biomass pleurotus mutilus treated. We studied the possibility of regeneration of biosorbent. For that several parameters were optimized: the nature of the desorbent, the pHi, and the content of biomass desorbs.... This study was completed by determining the new capacity of biosorption after regeneration of biomass.

Indonesia's energy demand is increasing every year. Bioenergy plants are expected to be one of the solutions to fill energy demand in Indonesia. Sorghum is a bioenergy plant that can be used in Indonesia for producing bioethanol. Sorghum bioethanol is produced from sorghum biomass waste processing results with fermentation process. Ethanol is derived from fermented sorghum which is about 40-55%. Sorghum bioethanol can be used as an alternative fuel that is renewable and can be used as a substitute for fossil fuels.