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Processes
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Trends and Prospects of Biofuels: Literature, Experimental, and Techno-Economic Analysis
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Trends and Prospects of Biofuels: Literature, Experimental, and Techno-Economic Analysis

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental and Green Processes".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2022) | Viewed by 8344

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Camino Fernández

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Applied Chemistry and Physics, University of León, 24071 León, Spain
Interests: waste to energy; anaerobic digestion; biomethane; biohydrogen; biorefineries; decarbonization; kinetic analysis
Dr. Roberto Lopez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Applied Chemistry and Physics, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Universidad de León, Campus de Vegazana, 24071 León, Spain
Interests: sustainability; soil fertility; mathematical modelling; environment simulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In 1987, Gro Harlem Brundtland signed the report of the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development “Our Common Future” where a long-term environmental strategy to achieve sustainable development by the year 2000 was proposed. By 2025, it was assumed there would be a global population of 6.2 billion and global energy consumption of about 14 TW. In addition, an increase of CO2 concentration from 280 ppmv (pre-industrial level) to 560 ppmv was also predicted between the middle and the end of the 21st century, which would increase the surface temperature between 1.5–4.5 °C if no actions on climate were adopted. Today, these projections are becoming true after thousands of million euros budgeted on environmental programs approved by the different states all over the world. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the role of biofuels (such as biofuels based on municipal wastes, biomass, biosolids, biocoal, biomethane from anaerobic digestion or other processes, etc.) to reduce the impacts of this environmental situation. Consequently, technologies based on biofuel valorization are called on to be protagonists in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

This Special Issue on "Trends and Prospects of Biofuels: Literature, Experimental, and Techno-Economic Analysis" aims to curate novel advances in the development and application of biofuels, their characteristics, and the processes involved in their production or utilization to address longstanding challenges in environmental change reduction. Relevant topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • Trends and prospects of biofuels: based on municipal wastes, biomass, biosolids, biocoal, biomethane, etc.;
  • Simulation of processes based on biofuels production;
  • Techno-economic studies of processes in which biofuels are involved (production, utilization for electricity production, etc.;
  • The use of artificial intelligence to optimize the conditions of biofuels production or using;
  • Proposal of new technologies for biofuel production;
  • Review of biofuel types, characteristics, production processes, uses, or others.
  • Combustion, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion, oxy-fuel combustion, hydrothermal carbonization processes simulations;
  • Biofuels and power plants.

Dr. Camino Fernández
Dr. Roberto Lopez
Guest Editors

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. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2400 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

  • techno-economic
  • biofuel
  • biomass
  • waste
  • simulation
  • power plants
  • biocoal
  • HTC
  • biomethane
  • anaerobic digestion
  • pyrolysis

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2125 KiB  
Article
Wet Torrefaction of Poultry Litter in a Pilot Unit: A Numerical Assessment of the Process Parameters
by Rafail Isemin, Frederic Marias, Natalia Muratova, Sergey Kuzmin, Dmitry Klimov, Alexander Mikhalev, Oleg Milovanov, Mathieu Brulé and Fouzi Tabet
Processes 2021, 9(10), 1835; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9101835 - 15 Oct 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1739
Abstract
A numerical model for the wet torrefaction of poultry litter in a pilot unit was developed in this study. The model accounted for the following process steps: preheating biomass in a feed hopper, feeding biomass into the reactor, fluidized-bed generation using superheated steam, [...] Read more.
A numerical model for the wet torrefaction of poultry litter in a pilot unit was developed in this study. The model accounted for the following process steps: preheating biomass in a feed hopper, feeding biomass into the reactor, fluidized-bed generation using superheated steam, and the supply of additional heat by the electric heating of the reactor walls. Following a “black box” approach, a major assumption of the model is that the behavior of the fluidized-bed reactor is similar to a completely stirred tank reactor (CSTR). Under this assumption, the properties of the particles and gases do not depend on their location inside the reactor. During wet torrefaction, poultry-litter biomass was heated to a predetermined temperature and decomposed, generating biochar along with a gas phase (torgas), whose amounts depended on the content of inert ash in the biomass particles. Variable optimization in the model was performed using MATLAB software. The model successfully estimated the optimal duration required for the completion of wet torrefaction under various conditions: temperature, batch weight, reactor dimensions, etc. The model was validated using experimental data obtained from a series of wet torrefaction experiments performed in a fluidized bed, and provided reliable estimations of the duration of the process depending on material properties, reactor size and feedstock characteristics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends and Prospects of Biofuels: Literature, Experimental, and Techno-Economic Analysis)
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10 pages, 1340 KiB  
Article
An Assessment of Air Quality within Facilities of Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) Sites in Lahore, Pakistan
by Syed Turab Raza, Sana Hafeez, Zulfiqar Ali, Zaheer Ahmad Nasir, Muhammad Moeen Butt, Irfan Saleem, Jianping Wu, Zhe Chen and Yunjian Xu
Processes 2021, 9(9), 1604; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9091604 - 7 Sep 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3395
Abstract
The pollutants emission during the process of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is of great concern due to its hazardous effect on the environment and living organisms. An assessment of the air quality of MSWM sites was made after having 16 repetitive visits [...] Read more.
The pollutants emission during the process of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is of great concern due to its hazardous effect on the environment and living organisms. An assessment of the air quality of MSWM sites was made after having 16 repetitive visits at solid waste disposal sites and transfer stations of Lahore during wet and dry seasons. Pollution parameters such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and greenhouse gases (GHG) were measured along with meteorological parameters. PM2.5 measurement was made by using particle counter Dylos and TSI’s Dust Trak. Both of these instruments were positioned simultaneously at the source site and downwind (50 m). CH4 and meteorological parameters were measured by Aeroqual 500 series, while the Extech CO220 monitor was used to measure CO2 concentration. An assessment of air quality showed the levels of their mean values as CH4 and CO2 ranged between 1.5–13.7 ppm and 443.4–515.7 ppm, respectively. The PM2.5 ranged between 127.1 and 307.1 µg/m3 at sources and 172.3 and 403.8 µg/m3 downwind (50 m). GHG showed lower levels than the proposed limit value, which could not cause any health issues, while PM2.5 was 6–10 times higher than the Pak-EPA established standards. Higher pollutant concentration was recorded in the dry season than the wet season. Regression analysis was performed to predict correlation of PM2.5 with GHG and meteorological parameters. GHG as well as meteorological parameters also exhibited a correlation with PM2.5. It was estimated that the ambient air of such sites is not safe for public health. So, it is necessary to use safe practices for MSWM and its emission control to prevent nearby communities and the environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends and Prospects of Biofuels: Literature, Experimental, and Techno-Economic Analysis)
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18 pages, 7226 KiB  
Article
Valorization of Vine Tendrils Resulted from Pruning as Densified Solid Biomass Fuel (Briquettes)
by Ioan Ţenu, Cecilia Roman, Lacrimioara Senila, Radu Roşca, Petru Cârlescu, Marius Băetu, Vlad Arsenoaia, Emanuel Petru Dumitrachi and Oana-Raluca Corduneanu
Processes 2021, 9(8), 1409; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9081409 - 16 Aug 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2399
Abstract
Concerns over the past few decades have focused, more than ever, on finding and implementing efficient, handy, and renewable sources to reduce pollution. Biomass, in general, and biomass from annual vine cuttings, are renewable sources that can be used by a large amount [...] Read more.
Concerns over the past few decades have focused, more than ever, on finding and implementing efficient, handy, and renewable sources to reduce pollution. Biomass, in general, and biomass from annual vine cuttings, are renewable sources that can be used by a large amount of the population. Biomass densification in the form of briquettes is an efficient method of obtaining a biofuel with the same characteristics as wood. The production of densified material as a briquette consists of sampling, drying naturally, chopping, grinding and briquetting the vine cuttings. The obtained results showed that the size of the briquettes met the requirements imposed by the standard, with a length between 185 mm and 400 mm and a diameter of 58 ± 0.75 mm, the humidity of the briquettes varying between 5.42%, at Sauvignon Blanc and 7.98% for Pinot Noir, while the durability of the briquettes registered minimum values of 98.17% for Muscat Ottonel and a maximum of 99.14% for Feteasca Neagra, and a unit density with values between 1227 kg/m3 for Feteasca Alba and 1389 kg/m3 for Pinot Noir. The conclusions of these experiments are promising, showing that the densification of biomass from vines cuttings qualifies within the standard requirements for obtaining a valuable biofuel. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends and Prospects of Biofuels: Literature, Experimental, and Techno-Economic Analysis)
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