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Thermo-Chemical Conversion of Waste Biomass
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Thermo-Chemical Conversion of Waste Biomass

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2017) | Viewed by 44304

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Witold Kwapinski

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Chemical Sciences Department, School of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Bernal Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick V94 T9PX, Ireland
Interests: biorefinery; theorem-chemical biowaste conversion; adsorption; nutrients recovery; catalyses
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Food supply chain waste creates huge environmental, economic, and social problems. Lignocellulosic waste/residues can constitute a highly promising feedstock with a significant potential to be converted into useful end products. Researchers are prompted to seek alternative methodologies and reexamine the existing ones in new configurations for the production of materials, fuels or heat and chemicals, using low environmental impact technologies and greener practices. Waste management, resource depletion and energy concerns can be solved together through the utilization of waste as a resource, using thermal and chemical technologies.

The Special Issue invites communications, articles, and reviews that address challenges and solutions in waste biomass thermo-chemical conversion, feedstock pre-treatment mechanisms and products valorization, as well as characterization. The thermo-chemical conversion processes include but are not limited to liquefaction, hydrolysis, pyrolysis, gasification, combustion, etc. Research on the characterization of obtained products, as well as those on the development of characterization techniques will be also welcomed. Submissions of original papers in a broad range of research and applications on other related to the main topic are also encouraged.

Dr. Witold Kwapinski
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • combustion
  • gasification
  • pyrolysis
  • torrefaction
  • liquefaction
  • hydrolysis
  • catalysis
  • valorization of waste and biomass
  • municipal
  • wood and paper
  • sludge
  • agricultural
  • forest
  • manure
  • biogas
  • biofuel
  • biooil
  • char
  • biochar
  • carbon based materials
  • pre-treatment

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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3545 KiB  
Article
Design and Implementation of a Data Acquisition System for Combustion Tests
by María Teresa Miranda, Irene Montero, Francisco José Sepúlveda, José Ignacio Arranz and Carmen Victoria Rojas
Energies 2017, 10(5), 630; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10050630 - 04 May 2017
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4341
Abstract
In recent years, the biomass market has constantly increased. The pellet manufacture industry has started looking for new products, such as wastes from forest, agriculture, and agroindustrial residues, among others, with the potential to be used as biofuels. However, some of these wastes [...] Read more.
In recent years, the biomass market has constantly increased. The pellet manufacture industry has started looking for new products, such as wastes from forest, agriculture, and agroindustrial residues, among others, with the potential to be used as biofuels. However, some of these wastes have some characteristics that make both the combustion process and operating and maintenance conditions of thermal equipment difficult. Thus, further research to optimize the performance and ensure the compliance of the maximum atmospheric levels is needed. In order to carry out these studies, the design and implementation of a supervision, control, and data acquisition system for a domestic pellet boiler was carried out, which makes obtaining further information about the performance of non-conventional biofuels possible. Thus, these biofuels, coming from different sources, underwent different working regimes, facilitating the understanding of the results and the correction of limiting elements. The results from initial tests were reliable and precise, coinciding with the check readings that were done with a thermometer and a combustion gas analyser. Under these conditions, the system designed constitutes a fundamental tool to examine thermal processes with alternative biofuels, with the objective of making the most of different biomass wastes as renewable energy sources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermo-Chemical Conversion of Waste Biomass)
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1388 KiB  
Article
Detoxification of a Lignocellulosic Waste from a Pulp Mill to Enhance Its Fermentation Prospects
by Tamara Llano, Natalia Quijorna and Alberto Coz
Energies 2017, 10(3), 348; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10030348 - 11 Mar 2017
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 4490
Abstract
Detoxification is required for sugar bioconversion and hydrolyzate valorization within the biorefining concept for biofuel or bio-product production. In this work, the spent sulfite liquor, which is the main residue provided from a pulp mill, has been detoxified. Evaporation, overliming, ionic exchange resins, [...] Read more.
Detoxification is required for sugar bioconversion and hydrolyzate valorization within the biorefining concept for biofuel or bio-product production. In this work, the spent sulfite liquor, which is the main residue provided from a pulp mill, has been detoxified. Evaporation, overliming, ionic exchange resins, and adsorption with activated carbon or black carbon were considered to separate the sugars from the inhibitors in the lignocellulosic residue. Effectiveness in terms of total and individual inhibitor removals, sugar losses and sugar-to-inhibitor removal ratio was determined. The best results were found using the cation exchange Dowex 50WX2 resin in series with the anion exchange Amberlite IRA-96 resin, which resulted in sugar losses of 24.2% with inhibitor removal of 71.3% of lignosulfonates, 84.8% of phenolics, 82.2% acetic acid, and 100% of furfurals. Apart from exchange resins, the results of evaporation, overliming, adsorption with activated carbon and adsorption with black carbon led to total inhibitor removals of 8.6%, 44.9%, 33.6% and 47.6%, respectively. Finally, some fermentation scenarios were proposed in order to evaluate the most suitable technique or combination of techniques that should be implemented in every case. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermo-Chemical Conversion of Waste Biomass)
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1564 KiB  
Article
Qualitative Analysis of Transesterification of Waste Pig Fat in Supercritical Alcohols
by Jeeban Poudel, Malesh Shah, Sujeeta Karki and Sea Cheon Oh
Energies 2017, 10(3), 265; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10030265 - 23 Feb 2017
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3826
Abstract
In this work, the characteristics of waste pig fat degradation using supercritical alcohols have been studied. Comparative analysis of the influence of supercritical methanol and supercritical ethanol as solvents on the transesterification was the primary focus of this research. The experiments were carried [...] Read more.
In this work, the characteristics of waste pig fat degradation using supercritical alcohols have been studied. Comparative analysis of the influence of supercritical methanol and supercritical ethanol as solvents on the transesterification was the primary focus of this research. The experiments were carried out with waste pig fat to alcohol weight ratios of 1:1.5 (molar ratio: 1:40.5 for methanol and 1:28 for ethanol), 1:2.0 (molar ratio: 1:54 for methanol and 1:37.5 for ethanol) and 1:2.5 (molar ratio: 1:67.5 for methanol and 1:47 for ethanol) at transesterification temperatures 250, 270 and 290 °C for holding time 0, 15, 30, 45 and 60 min. Increase in the transesterification and holding time increased the conversion while increase in alcohol amount from 1:1.5 to 1:2.0 and 1:2.5 had minimal effect on the conversion. Further, majority of the ester composition in using SCM as solvent falls in the carbon range of C17:0, C19:1 and C19:2 while that for SCE falls in the carbon range of C18:0, C20:1 and C20:2. Glycerol was only present while using SCM as solvent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermo-Chemical Conversion of Waste Biomass)
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1553 KiB  
Article
High-Titer Methane from Organosolv-Pretreated Spruce and Birch
by Leonidas Matsakas, Christos Nitsos, Dimitrij Vörös, Ulrika Rova and Paul Christakopoulos
Energies 2017, 10(3), 263; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10030263 - 23 Feb 2017
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 5015
Abstract
The negative impact of fossil fuels and the increased demand for renewable energy sources has led to the use of novel raw material sources. Lignocellulosic biomass could serve as a possible raw material for anaerobic digestion and production of biogas. This work is [...] Read more.
The negative impact of fossil fuels and the increased demand for renewable energy sources has led to the use of novel raw material sources. Lignocellulosic biomass could serve as a possible raw material for anaerobic digestion and production of biogas. This work is aimed at using forest biomass, both softwood (spruce) and hardwood (birch), as a raw material for anaerobic digestion. We examined the effect of different operational conditions for the organosolv pretreatment (ethanol content, duration of treatment, and addition of acid catalyst) on the methane yield. In addition, we investigated the effect of addition of cellulolytic enzymes during the digestion. We found that inclusion of an acid catalyst during organosolv pretreatment improved the yields from spruce, but it did not affect the yields from birch. Shorter duration of treatment was advantageous with both materials. Methane yields from spruce were higher with lower ethanol content whereas higher ethanol content was more beneficial for birch. The highest yields obtained were 185 mL CH4/g VS from spruce and 259.9 mL CH4/g VS from birch. Addition of cellulolytic enzymes improved these yields to 266.6 mL CH4/g VS and 284.2 mL CH4/g VS, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermo-Chemical Conversion of Waste Biomass)
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2771 KiB  
Article
Hydrothermal Carbonization of Waste Biomass: Process Design, Modeling, Energy Efficiency and Cost Analysis
by Michela Lucian and Luca Fiori
Energies 2017, 10(2), 211; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10020211 - 13 Feb 2017
Cited by 214 | Viewed by 19182
Abstract
In this paper, a hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process is designed and modeled on the basis of experimental data previously obtained for two representative organic waste materials: off-specification compost and grape marc. The process accounts for all the steps and equipment necessary to convert [...] Read more.
In this paper, a hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process is designed and modeled on the basis of experimental data previously obtained for two representative organic waste materials: off-specification compost and grape marc. The process accounts for all the steps and equipment necessary to convert raw moist biomass into dry and pelletized hydrochar. By means of mass and thermal balances and based on common equations specific to the various equipment, thermal energy and power consumption were calculated at variable process conditions: HTC reactor temperature T: 180, 220, 250 °C; reaction time θ: 1, 3, 8 h. When operating the HTC plant with grape marc (65% moisture content) at optimized process conditions (T = 220 °C; θ = 1 h; dry biomass to water ratio = 0.19), thermal energy and power consumption were equal to 1170 kWh and 160 kWh per ton of hydrochar produced, respectively. Correspondingly, plant efficiency was 78%. In addition, the techno-economical aspects of the HTC process were analyzed in detail, considering both investment and production costs. The production cost of pelletized hydrochar and its break-even point were determined to be 157 €/ton and 200 €/ton, respectively. Such values make the use of hydrochar as a CO2 neutral biofuel attractive. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermo-Chemical Conversion of Waste Biomass)
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Review

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1811 KiB  
Review
Development of Heterogeneous Catalysts for Thermo-Chemical Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass
by Jacek Grams and Agnieszka M. Ruppert
Energies 2017, 10(4), 545; https://doi.org/10.3390/en10040545 - 17 Apr 2017
Cited by 40 | Viewed by 6704
Abstract
Lignocellulosic biomass is one of the most attractive renewable resources that can be used for the production of biofuels and valuable chemicals. However, problems associated with the low efficiency of its conversion and poor selectivity to desired products remain. Therefore, in recent years [...] Read more.
Lignocellulosic biomass is one of the most attractive renewable resources that can be used for the production of biofuels and valuable chemicals. However, problems associated with the low efficiency of its conversion and poor selectivity to desired products remain. Therefore, in recent years researchers have focused on the design of highly active and stable catalysts, enabling an increase in the effectiveness of lignocellulosic biomass processing. This work is devoted to the presentation of the latest trends in the studies of the heterogeneous catalysts used in thermo-chemical conversion of such feedstock. The systems applied for the production of both bio-oil and hydrogen-rich gas are discussed. Zeolites, mesoporous materials, metal oxides, supported metal catalysts, and modifications of their structure are described. Moreover, the impact of the physicochemical properties of the presented catalyst on their catalytic performance in the mentioned processes is demonstrated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermo-Chemical Conversion of Waste Biomass)
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