TOPIC 6 DEG30013

PRINCIPLES OF
BIOENERGY
 OBJECTIVES
 6.1 Remember the principles of bioenergy
6.1.1 Define bioenergy and biomass
6.1.2 Identify sources of bioenergy:
a. Energy crops b. Biodegradable wastes
 6.2 Understand production of biofuel
6.2.1 Explain bioenergy conversion routes
6.2.2 Explain the concept of Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) combustion plant
6.2.3 Explain production of gaseous fuels from biomass:
a. Anaerobic Digestion b. Gasification
6.2.4 Explain production of liquid fuels from biomass:
a. Pyrolysis b. Synthesizing c. Fermentation d. Biodiesel
6.2.5 Discuss the environmental benefits and impacts of bioenergy
6.1 KNOW THE PRINCIPLES OF BIOENERGY
 Bioenergy is the general term for energy derived from biological
sources such as wood, straw or animal wastes – which were living
matter.
 Such materials can be burned directly to produce heat or power, but
can also be converted into biofuels. Examples charcoal from wood
and biodiesel from plant seeds.
 Bioenergy refers as a sources of a energy (electricity and solid, liquid, or
gaseous fuels) derived from biomass: plant- or animal-based materials
such as crops, crop residues, trees, animal fats, by-products, and
wastes. These materials are often obtained from agriculture and forests,
but can also be derived from industrial and municipal sources.
6.1 KNOW THE PRINCIPLES OF BIOENERGY

 RESOURCES  RESOURCES
 Wood Residues  Energy Crops
 Sawdust  Switch grass
 Wood waste  Hybrid poplar
 Pulp miss wastes  Willow
 Micro - algae
 Agricultural Residues

 Corn Stover
 Rice hulls
 Sugarcane bagasse
 Animal wastes
 6.1.1 DEFINE BIOENERGY AND BIOMASS
 Bioenergy is renewable energy made available from materials derived from
biological sources.

 Biomass is plant or animal material (organic material) used for energy

production, heat production, or in various industrial processes as raw material
for a range of products. It can be purposely grown energy crops (e.g.
miscanthus, switchgrass), wood or forest residues, waste from food crops
(wheat straw, bagasse), horticulture (yard waste), food processing (corn cobs),
animal farming (manure, rich in nitrogen and phosphorus), or human waste
from sewage plants.

 Biofuel is a fuel that is produced through contemporary processes from

biomass, such as oil. The word biofuel is usually reserved for liquid or gaseous
fuels, used for transportation.
6.1.2 IDENTIFY SOURCES OF BIOENERGY:

 The two main sources of

bioenergy are
 purpose –grown energy
crops
 wastes from human
activities
6.1.2 IDENTIFY SOURCES OF BIOENERGY:
 Energy crops
 An energy crop is a plant grown as a low-cost and low-maintenance harvest used to
make biofuels, such as bioethanol, or combusted for its energy content to generate
electricity or heat. Energy crops are generally categorized as woody or herbaceous
plants.
6.1.2 IDENTIFY SOURCES OF BIOENERGY:

 Biodegradable wastes
 Biodegradable waste is a type of
waste, typically originating from
plant or animal sources, which
may be degraded by other living
organisms. Waste that cannot be
broken down by other living
organisms are called non-
biodegradable. In the absence of
oxygen much of this waste will
decay to methane by anaerobic
digestion
6.2 UNDERSTAND PRODUCTION OF BIOFUEL
6.2.1 BIOENERGY CONVERSION ROUTES
6.2.2 EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF MUNICIPAL SOLID
WASTES (MSW) COMBUSTION PLANT
 The average household generates more than a tonne of solid
waste per year; with an energy content of about 9 GJ per tonne.
 In practice, there are three main ways in which municipal solid
waste (MSW) is treated:
 Disposal in landfills
 Combustion
 Disposal in anaerobic digesters

 In many countries in continental Europe, refuse incineration with

heat recovery, or energy from waste (EfW) is an important means
of waste disposal. The heat may be used directly for district
heating, or for power production in plant.
6.2.2 EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF MUNICIPAL SOLID
WASTES (MSW) COMBUSTION PLANT
 Household refuse is hardly an ideal fuel. Its contents are variable,
its moisture content tends to be high (20% or more) and its
energy density is about the thirtieth of that of coal. So it is
expensive to transport, and requires combustion plant designed
typically for this fuel
 Refused – derived fuel (RDF) refers to a range of products
resulting from separation of unwanted components, shredding,
drying and otherwise treating the raw material.
 The most fully processed product, known as densified refuse
derived fuel (d-RDF) is the result of separating out the
combustible part which is then pulverized, compressed and dried
to produce solid fuel pellets with twenty times the energy density
of the original material.
6.2.2 EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF MUNICIPAL SOLID
WASTES (MSW) COMBUSTION PLANT
6.2.3 EXPLAIN PRODUCTION OF GASEOUS FUELS FROM
BIOMASS

 Gaseous fuel from biomass is versatile, suitable not only for burning but also for
internal combustion engines or gas turbine.
 It is easier to transport, and if the undesirable pollutants and inert matter are removed
during processing, it will be cleaner
 Gasification under suitable conditions can produce synthesis gas, a mixture of carbon
monoxide and hydrogen from which almost any hydrocarbon, synthetic petrol, or
even pure hydrogen can be made
6.2.3 EXPLAIN PRODUCTION OF GASEOUS FUELS FROM
BIOMASS
 a. Anaerobic Digestion
 The examples of anaerobic digestion of wastes : biogas and landfill gas.
 The digestion of ‘wet wastes’ is quite different.
 The feedstock, dung or sewage, is converted to a slurry with up to 95% water, and fed
into purpose-built digester whose temperature can be controlled.
 Digesters range in size from perhaps one cubic meter for a small household unit
(roughly 200 galloons) to some ten times this for a typical farm plant and more than
1000 m3 for a large installations.
 The process of anaerobic is complex, but it appears that bacteria break down the
organic material into sugars and then into various acids which are decomposed to
produce final gas.
6.2.3 EXPLAIN PRODUCTION OF GASEOUS FUELS FROM
BIOMASS

a. Anaerobic Digestion

 In a well-run digester, each dry

tonne of input will produce 200 –
400 m3 of biogas with 50% to 75%
methane.
 The biogas produced by a
digester can be used to produce
heat or electric power. It can be
used in large internal combustion
engines to dive electric
generators.
6.2.3 EXPLAIN PRODUCTION OF GASEOUS FUELS FROM
BIOMASS
 b. Gasification
 In contrast to the mainly biological process of anaerobic digestion, the term gasification is
used for chemical process by which a gaseous fuel is produced from a solid fuel.
 There are many different designs of modern gasifier, but essentially one basic process : hot
steam and oxygen interacting with solid fuel. The gasification reactions need operating
temperatures from a few hundred to over a thousand degrees Celsius, with pressures from a
little above atmospheric pressure to 30 times this.
 The process begin with the release of volatiles from the heated solid, leaving the char.
These two components in turn undergo a reactions with steam and oxygen, resulting in
producer gas, a mixture of combustible components (mainly carbon monoxide and
hydrogen, with methane, higher hydrocarbons and condensable tars) together with
carbon dioxide and water.
6.2.3 EXPLAIN PRODUCTION OF GASEOUS FUELS FROM
BIOMASS
 b. Gasification
 Further processing may break down some of the combustibles to give a cleaner
gas.
 The overall conversion efficiency varies from 40% to 70% in sophisticated plant.
6.2.4 EXPLAIN PRODUCTION OF LIQUID FUELS FROM
BIOMASS

A major objective in Bioenergy research is the production of liquids biofuels as

substitutes for crude oil products.
The three main approaches are
 thermochemistry (pyrolysis)
 synthesis
 fermentation.
6.2.4 EXPLAIN PRODUCTION OF LIQUID FUELS FROM
BIOMASS

 a. Pyrolysis

 The term pyrolysis normally applied to processes where the

aim is to collect the volatile components and condense them
to produce a liquid fuel or bio-oil.
 The method involves heating the bio-material with a carefully
controlled air supply.
 The product, bio-oil usually has about half the energy content
of crude oil.
 It can be used as an substitute for heating or power
generation, or could be refined to produce a range of
chemicals and fuels
6.2.4 EXPLAIN PRODUCTION OF LIQUID FUELS FROM
BIOMASS

 a. Pyrolysis
 Syngas or synthesis gas is composed of
carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen
(H2).
 Syngas is combustible and often used
as a fuel of internal combustion
engines. It has less than half the energy
density of natural gas
 6.2.4 EXPLAIN PRODUCTION OF LIQUID FUELS FROM
BIOMASS
 b. Synthesizing

 One route from solid biomass to liquid biofuel starts with gasification.
A gasifier using oxygen rather than air can produce a highly active
mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide called synthesis gas or
syngas.
 The two components are passed over a suitable catalyst at high
temperature and pressure; and the product, initially form as a gas in
condensed.
 The result is a mixture of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons.
 The gaseous can be recycled or used for heating; and the liquids can
be upgraded and refined to produce vehicle fuels.
6.2.4 EXPLAIN PRODUCTION OF LIQUID FUELS FROM
BIOMASS

 c. Fermentation

 Fermentation is an anaerobic biological process in which sugars are converted to alcohol by the
action of micro-organisms, usually yeast.
 The required product, ethanol is separated from other components by distillation.
 The liquid resulting from fermentation contains about 10% ethanol.
 The conversion efficiency of fermentation is very poor indeed, but the technology is simple and
low plant cost.
6.2.4 EXPLAIN PRODUCTION OF LIQUID FUELS FROM
BIOMASS
 d. Biodiesel

 Vegetable oils naturally occur in the seed of many plants, and are extracted by crushing.
 They can be burn directly in diesel engines; either pure or blended with diesel fuel. However it
can cause incomplete combustion.
 That is why biodiesel is preferred. The conversion process called transesterification involving
adding methanol or ethanol to the vegetable oil and producing biodiesel.
6.2.5 DISCUSS THE ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS AND
IMPACTS OF BIOENERGY