Search

Abstract: Within the last decade natural gas gained considerable importance in Chile. The contribution of natural gas within the energy system will increase in the future by predicted 3.6% annually until the year 2015. Due to limited resources within its own country, the energy system of Chile depends on natural gas imports preferential from Argentina. Therefore, the aim of several stakeholders from policy and industry is to reduce the share of imported primary energy within the overall energy system. In order to reach this goal, the use of domestic resources and particularly the utilisation of biomass as one of the most important renewable sources of energy in Chile could play an important role. Against this background, the goal of this paper is the analysis of the technical potentials of biomethane as a substitute for natural gas. For the production of biomethane the anaerobic or bio-chemical (i.e. Biogas) as well as the thermo-chemical conversion pathways (i.e. Bio-SNG) are considered. The results of this analysis show that biomass converted to biomethane is a promising energy provision option for Chile and it contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Hydrogen is expected to play a significant role in the future energy system. A key enabler to a hydrogen-including economy will be the development and deployment of processes that can produce hydrogen whilst satisfying the criteria for sustainability, i.e. economic competitiveness, environmental protection and security of energy supply. This paper evaluates selected hydrogen production processes based on natural gas steam reforming, coal and biomass gasification and water electrolysis. These options are expected to play a significant role in the short to medium term. Industrial large-scale processes, using natural gas and coal, will constitute the most important routes. However, increasing prices for natural gas are likely to make coal gasification more competitive. Biomass gasification could become important if present technological barriers are overcome. Electrolytic hydrogen, however, will likely be practical for niche applications in the short term due to the high electricity costs, especially when electricity is generated by renewable energy sources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The palm oil milling process produces excessive amount of palm oil mill effluent (POME). Conventionally, POME is treated anaerobically to remove organic pollutant which produces biogas. Ideally, biogas is recovered to reduce the carbon footprint of palm oil production. However, more often than not the biogas is released freely to the atmosphere as a potent greenhouse gas (GHG). This paper demonstrates the Malaysia’s experiences and endeavors in biogas capture and utilization under the Economic Transformation Programme. It highlights some of the essential technological, financial and institutional elements put in place gearing towards a nationwide biogas implementation. Biogas captured is a proven source of renewable energy that can contribute to the nation’s energy mix and sustainable development. Its implementation has been realized and strengthened in recent years through private commitment and government support in the form of several financial schemes and policies. This initiative across the nation targeting GHG emissions reduction is by and large one of the most responsive long term approaches in continuously improving the environmental performance of the oil palm industry to ensure continued market access to countries imposing more stringent palm oil sustainability requirements. The hardship, pain and valuable lessons learned in this national development could be informative for many other palm oil-producing countries in addressing similar sustainability issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three low-grade carbonaceous materials from biomass (Scenedesmus algae and wheat straw) and waste treatment (sewage sludge) have been selected as feedstock for solar-driven thermochemical processes. Solar-driven pyrolysis and gasification measurements were conducted directly irradiating the samples in a 7 kW e high flux solar simulator and the released gases H 2 , CO, CO 2 and CH 4 and the sample temperature were continuously monitored. Solar-driven experiments showed that H 2 and CO evolved as important product gases demonstrating the high quality of syngas production for the three feedstocks. Straw is the more suitable feedstock for solar-driven processes due to the high gas production yields. Comparing the solar-driven experiments, gasification generates higher percentage of syngas (mix of CO and H 2 ) respect to total gas produced (sum of H 2 , CO, CO 2 and CH 4 ) than pyrolysis. Thus, solar-driven gasification generates better quality of syngas production than pyrolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen can be transported over long distances when stored in Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHC). This transport is possible under the following conversion steps: first, hydrogen is stored inside a LOHC molecule (exothermic hydrogenation) at the starting point of the provision chain. Then, the loaded LOHC can be stored and transported. At the point of consumption, hydrogen is released (endothermic de-hydrogenation) and the unloaded LOHC returns to the point of hydrogen production. The optimal LOHC for transport should be liquid at ambient conditions and show similar properties to crude oil-based liquids (e.g., diesel, gasoline). This allows for a stepwise implementation using the existing crude oil-based infrastructure. However, there is a large variety of different LOHCs and other competing transport options; e.g., the transport of compressed hydrogen gas in pipelines or the transport of liquefied hydrogen in tanker ships. Against this background, this paper investigates the energy consumption and costs of these different hydrogen transport options. Therefore, the production of hydrogen is considered in areas with favorable renewable energy sources, followed by international transport logistics, and a local distribution in Germany. The assessment shows that the distance and the way heat is supplied to de-hydrogenate the LOHCs - especially for methanol - define the cost performance compared to a transport of compressed or liquid hydrogen. If the heat needed for dehydrogenation is covered by waste heat, dibenzyltoluene (DBT) or toluene can show benefits in terms of efficiency and costs. Furthermore, the different transport systems have different specific niches in which they are competitive; i.e., no specific transportation chain is superior to all systems under all circumstances. Nevertheless, the assessment shows that long-distance transport favors LOHC, while short-distance transport via pipelines can be used for lower costs. • Assessment of four Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHC) in different transport scenarios. • Comparison to compressed and liquefied hydrogen transport systems. • Comparison to electrical transmission. • Assessment of transport options in terms of economic and technical criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]