Salman's Infobahn

Image via Wikipedia In a typical biomass pre-processing facility, feedstock arrives at the plant in chops or bales.  The bales are cut into short pieces using a hydraulic piston pressing the fodder against a grid of knives. The bales can also be shredded using a roller and knife arrangement. If the moisture is more than 15%, the chopped biomass is dried in a drum dryer. Loose cut biomass has a low bulk density ranging from 50 to 120 kg/m 3  depending on the particle size. In case of chopped and ground biomass, the bulk density can be increased substantially (~ 25%) by vibrating the biomass holder (e.g. truck box, container etc.). The biomass must be mechanically compacted to increase its density as densified biomass, such as briquettes, cubes, and pellets, has densities in the range of 300 to 700 kg/m 3 . Pellets are usually in the form of a hardened biomass cylinder, made by extruding ground biomass through round or square cross sectional dies. The unit density of ...

Image via Wikipedia The main problem with anaerobic digestion of crop residues is that most of the agricultural residues are lignocellulosic with low nitrogen content. To improve the digestibility of crop residues, pre-treatment methods like size reduction, electron irradiation, heat treatment, enzymatic action etc are necessary. For optimizing the C/N ratio of agricultural residues, co-digestion with sewage sludge, animal manure or poultry litter is recommended. Several organic wastes from plants and animals have been exploited for biogas production as reported in the literature. Plant materials include agricultural crops such as sugar cane, cassava, corn etc, agricultural residues like rice straw, cassava rhizome, corn cobs etc, wood and wood residues (saw dust, pulp wastes, and paper mill. Others include molasses and bagasse from sugar refineries, waste streams such as rice husk from rice mills and residues from palm oil extraction and municipal solid wastes,...

Image by EMSL via Flickr A biorefinery is a facility that integrates biomass conversion processes and equipment to produce fuels, power, and value-added chemicals from biomass. The biorefinery concept is analogous to today’s petroleum refinery, which produces multiple fuels and products from petroleum.By producing several products, a biorefinery takes advantage of the various components in biomass and their intermediates, therefore maximizing the value derived from the biomass feedstock. A biorefinery could, for example, produce one or several low-volume, but high-value, chemical products and a low-value, but high-volume liquid transportation fuel such as biodiesel or bioethanol. At the same time, it can generate electricity and process heat, through CHP technology, for its own use and perhaps enough for sale of electricity to the local utility. The high value products increase profitability, the high-volume fuel helps meet energy needs, and the power production h...

Image via Wikipedia There are three basic ways in which communities can offer plastic recycling collection services for plastic bottles and containers. The first, and most widely accessible, collection method is curbside collection of recyclables. Curbside recycling programs are generally the most convenient for community residents to participate in and yield high recovery rates as a result. Communities that provide curbside collection generally request residents to separate designated recyclables from their household garbage and to place them into special receptacles or bags, which are then set out at the curb for collection by municipal or municipally-contracted crews. The second collection method is known as drop-off recycling. In this method, containers for designated recyclable materials are placed at central collection locations throughout the community, such as parking lots, mosques, schools, malls or other civic associations. The containers are generally marked as ...

Image via Wikipedia The typical composition of raw biogas does not meet the minimum CNG fuel specifications. In particular, the CO 2 and sulfur content in raw biogas is too high for it to be used as vehicle fuel without additional processing. Biogas that has been upgraded to biomethane by removing the H 2 S, moisture, and CO 2 can be used as a vehicular fuel. Biomethane is less corrosive than biogas, apart from being more valuable as a fuel. Since production of such fuel typically exceeds immediate on-site demand, the biomethane must be stored for future use, usually either as compressed biomethane (CBM) or liquefied biomethane (LBM). Biomethane can be liquefied, creating a product known as liquefied biomethane (LBM). Two of the main advantages of LBM are that it can be transported relatively easily and it can be dispensed to either LNG vehicles or CNG vehicles. Liquid biomethane is transported in the same manner as LNG, that is, via insulated tanker trucks designed for tran...

Image via Wikipedia South Africa has tremendous biofuel potential when considering the capacity to grow total plant biomass (all lignocellulosic plant biomass. According to conservative estimates, South Africa produces about 18 million tonnes of agricultural and forestry residues every year. The South African biofuels target for 2008‐2013, according to Industrial Biofuels Strategy (2007), has been fixed at 2% penetration level in the national liquid fuel supply, which corresponds to 400 million litres per annum.  When considering the use of 50‐70% of this plant biomass with second generation biochemical and thermochemical technologies, South Africa has the potential to substitute the bulk of its current liquid fossil fuel usage (currently 21.2 BL/annum) with renewable biofuels. However, the only real activity has been US$437 million investment by the South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Energy Development Corporation (EDC) in two biofuels projects that...

Image by EURegional via Flickr Social Availability of energy has a direct impact on poverty, employment opportunities, education, demographic transition, indoor pollution and health, and has gender- and age-related implications. In rich countries, energy for lighting, heating and cooking is available at the flip of a switch. The energy is clean, safe, reliable and affordable. In poor countries, up to six hours a day is required to collect wood and dung for cooking and heating, and this task is usually done by women, who could be otherwise engaged in more productive activities. Economic Modern economies depend on a reliable and adequate energy supply, and developing countries need to secure this as a prerequisite for industrialization. All sectors of the economy — residential, commercial, transport, service and agriculture — demand modern energy services. These services in turn foster economic and social development at the local level by raising productivity and enabling l...