Analysis of Biomass and Biofuels as Source of Energy

Technology

• Biomass technology today serves many markets that were developed with fossil fuels and modestly reduces their use

•Uses – Industrial process heat and steam, Electrical power generation, Transportation fuels (ethanol and biodiesel) and other products.

• Primary focus of the Biomass Program – development of advanced technologies.

Bio-refinery

•A facility that integrates biomass conversion processes and equipment to produce fuels, power, and chemicals from biomass.

•Analogous to today’s petroleum refineries

•It is based on the “Sugar Platform” and the “Thermochemical Platform”

Bio-diesel

•Made by transforming animal fat or vegetable oil with alcohol .

•Fuel is made from rapeseed (canola) oil or soybean oil or recycled restaurant grease.

•Directly substituted for diesel either as neat fuel or as an oxygenate additive

Modified Waste Vegetable Fat

•Designed for general use in most compression ignition engines .

• The production of MWVF can be achieved in a continuous flow additive process.

•It can be modified in various ways to make a ‘greener’ form of fuel

E-Diesel

•Uses additives in order to allow blending of ethanol with diesel.

•Ethanol blends of 7.7% to 15% and up to 5%

•Additives that prevent the ethanol and diesel from separating at very low temperatures or if water contamination occurs.

Jatropha

•Biodiesel from Jatropha

•Seeds of the Jatropha nut is crushed and oil is extracted

•The oil is processed and refined to form bio-diesel.

Gasification

•A process that uses heat, pressure, and steam to convert materials directly into a gas composed primarily of carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

•Gasification technologies rely four key engineering factors

1. Gasification reactor atmosphere (level of oxygen or air content).

2. Reactor design.

3. Internal and external heating.

4. Operating temperature.

Types of Gasifiers

•Updraft Gasifier

•Downdraft Gasifier

•Twin-fire Gasifier

•Crossdraft gas producers

Gobar gas

•Gobar gas production is an anaerobic process

•Fermentation is carried out in an air tight, closed cylindrical concrete tank called a digester

Wood

•Domestic heating with wood is still by far the largest market for bio-energy

•Dramatic improvements of technology in domestic heating equipment

•Improved tiled stoves, advanced logwood boilers, woodchip boilers, pellet boilers and pellet stoves.

Analysis of Biomass and Biofuels as Source of Energy