Options for Climate-Smart Agriculture at Kaptumo Site in Kenya

This report identifies and assesses climate-smart agricultural practices through participatory appraisal tools with experts and farmers, as part of the MICCA pilot project in Kaptumo, Kenya. The aim is to highlight and add climate-smart practices within the ongoing development programme which aims to integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation with improving livelihoods and productivity of the dairy farming system

Grass Silage for Biogas Production

Renewable energy resources of part of the Asian region are not only able to fight against climate change issues but also could contribute to economic growth, employment, and energy safety. Biogas production and use are generally regarded as a sustainable practice that can guarantee high greenhouse gas savings. Thailand is an agricultural area suitable for growing of many plants, especially annual crops that can be used as an energy crop or raw material for biogas plant. In addition, grassland biomass is suitable in numerous ways for producing energy and is the most common material for producing biogas in the present scenario. There are several types of grasses popularly growing in Thailand. Grasses are converted to silage which will be used as feedstock for anaerobic digestion. Consequently, this chapter addresses the advances in silage preparations and utilization for efficient biogas production with several digestion methods including dry and wet fermentation processes, monodigestions, and co-digestions

High Yielding Tropical Energy Crops for Bioenergy Production: Effects of Crop Maturity, Plant Components, Harvest Years and Locations on Biomass Composition and Subsequent Biogas Yield.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2017

Biofuel Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

The quest for renewable and sustainable energy generation is fast becoming widespread across Africa due to the understanding that there is a need to seek an alternative to fuels of fossil origin, which currently sustains the largest portion of the world’s energy need. Research into the generation of renewable fuels had been on-going in continents like Europe, South America, Asia, and other developed countries bearing in mind the extinction nature of fossil fuels. Globally, attentions are being drawn to fuel generation from biomass and its derivatives such as lignin, triglycerides, cellulose, and hemicelluloses. The aim is to use such fuels for cooking and heating and in vehicles, jet engines, and other applications. Therefore, the integration of the African continent in the race for biofuel production is germane in the quest for survival and developments considering favorable factors like climate, soil, and land mass among other environmental-friendly resources in different African countries

Anaerobic Digestion Biorefinery to Produce Bioenergy and Biobased Products using High Yielding Tropical Feedstock.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2017

Teise põlvkonna bioetanooli tootmine: kõrvalvoogude valoriseerimine jätkusuutliku ringmajanduse kontseptsioonis

A thesis for applying for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering Sciences.Due to the increase of the energy production mainly from non–renewable energy sources, there is a need for alternative sources of energy. Second–generation biofuel production, using lignocellulosic biomass as a feedstock, is emerging as an important liquid biofuel for the transportation sector. However, its production is still very costly, and inefficient mainly due to the large quantity of sidestreams that are generated. Sidestreams from bioethanol production process bring environmental, economic and energetic constraints. a. Environment From the environmental point of view, sidestreams from bioethanol production are highly pollutant. There are several handling options for these residues and it includes: discharge; marine outfall; agricultural fields; sewage treatment; lagoon treatment; anaerobic digestion; incineration; and drying. From all these solutions, anaerobic digestion can be used to reduce the pollution potential of the production waste, and to reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. b. Economics From the economic point of view, the high costs of bioethanol production require additional valorisation of its stillage to create new revenue streams. Pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis are the two most costly parts of the production process. Anaerobic digestion of bioethanol stillage is a prospective solution to offset the costs of bioethanol production and add value to the production chain. c. Energetics Finally, stillage has a high energetic value and can be used to produce energy in the form of methane. Its utilization can give higher net energy outputs and improve the efficiency of the production chain. In addition, ethanol from biomass has an energy return on energy invested (ERoEI) lower than for fossil fuels. Thus, stillage and bioethanol sidestreams can be used for processing energy, through anaerobic digestion to add value to the production chain and improve the energy balance. To sum up, there is a continuous search for strategies that make use of the high energy content of bioethanol sidestreams. Anaerobic digestion to produce energy in the form of methane has been reported as an effective strategy to increase the energy output from the biomass, help to balance the costs of bioethanol production and as an environmental solution to this highly pollutant residues.Vajadus alternatiivsete energia allikate järele kasvab pidevalt kuna üldine energia tarbimine kasvab ning see vajadus rahuldatakse fossiilsete allikate arvelt. Lignotselluoossel biomassil põhinevad teise põlvkonna biokütused on esile kerkinud kui võimalik lahendus transpordi sektori vajaduse katmiseks. Siiski on biokütuste tootmine lignotselluloossest biomassist võrreldes fossiilsete kütustega endiselt väga kulukas. Lisaks tekib nende tootmisel kõrvalvoogusid, mis hetkel ei ole kasutust leidnud ning vajavad eraldi tähelepanu, et vältida nende keskkonna, majanduslikke ja energeetilisi mõjusid. a. Keskkond Keskkonnamõjult on bioetanooli tootmisel tekkivad kõrvalvood kõrge reostuspotentsiaaliga. Nende neutraliseerimiseks on mitmeid strateegiaid. Näiteks: bioloogiline puhastamine, laguunpuhastamine, põletamine, merre pumpamine, kuivatamine, anaeroobne kääritamine jne. Neist käitlemisvõimalustest anaeroobne kääritamine võimaldab samaaegselt vähendada nii kõrvalvoogude reostuspotentsiaali, kui süsihappegaasi ja teiste kasvuhoonegaaside emissioone. b. Majandus Majanduslikust vaatepunktist lähtudes on vajadus väärindada bioetanooli tootmise kõrvalvoogusid, et parandada selle üldist tasuvust ja tekitada lisaväärtust. Eeltöötlus ja ensümaatiline hüdrolüüs on kaks kõige kulukamat protsessi nii bioetanooli kui ka biogaasi tootmises. Bioetanooli tootmise kõrvalvoogude anaeroobne kääritamine võimaldab vähese lisakuluga tekitada lisaväärtus, mis parandab ka bioetanooli tootmisprotsessi tasuvust. c. Energeetika Bioetanooli tootmise kõrvalvoogude kõrge energeetiline väärtus võimaldab neid kasutada anaeroobses kääritamises biometaani tootmiseks. Kõrvalvoogude kasutamine biokütuse tootmiseks võimaldab efektiivsemalt ära kasutada kogu biomassis sisalduvat energiat, tõsta kogu tootmisahela efektiivsust ning parandada energia väljundit sisendenergia suhtes (ERoEI) sedavõrd, et see oleks võimeline konkureerima fossiilsete kütustega. Seega on võimalik bioetanooli tootmisprotsessi energeetilist tasakaalu parandada tootmise kõrvalvoogude kasutamisega anaeroobses kääritamises. Kokkuvõtteks võib öelda, et teadus otsib üha uusi strateegiaid ja lahendusi kuidas parandada bioetanooli tootmisprotsessi efektiivsust kõigist kolmest vaatepunktist lähtuvalt. Tootmise kõrvalvoogude kasutamine biometaani tootmiseks anaeroobses kääritusprotsessis on välja toodud kui üks võimalikest strateegiatest, mis parandaks bioetanooli tootmise energeetilist ja majanduslikku efektiivsust ning vähendaks selle mõju keskkonnale.The publication of this thesis is supported by the Estonian University of Life Sciences. It had the financial support of the European Regional Development Fund via the Mobilitas Pluss (project MOBERA1) of the Estonian Research Council and the base financed projects of EULS P170025 TIPT and PM180260 TIPT; Smart Specialization scholarship for PhD students, funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Estonian government; Dora Plus programme provided by the European Regional Development Fund and Estonian Government; and the Doctoral School of Energy and Geotechnology III, (Estonian University of Life Sciences ASTRA project „Value-chain based bio-economy“)

Environmental Planning and Modeling

The focus of this reprint is on environmental planning and modeling. It examines articles on green consumption, biodiversity, and household waste recycling, as well as presenting a review of the trend in publications on household waste recycling. A number of country-based applications are presented and models are used to show how multiple perspectives can be considered in policy making. This reprint will be of special interest to researchers and readers involved in sustainability management. Further, although some chapters present models to solve sustainability problems, they also share policy and decision-making frameworks for applying such models

The Bioenergy Potentials of Lignocelluloses

Lignocellulosic biomass is abundant resources accrued from agricultural, municipal and other sources. Their high fermentable carbohydrate contents make them suitable candidates for bioenergy generation. The global increase in the generation of these resources is phenomenal, thus culminating in huge environmental disasters with its attendant global warming and climate change menace. Their improper management has equally been reported to cause several environmental challenges such as water, land and air pollution and the spread of pathogenic organisms which causes diverse diseases within the human and animal population. However, the proper and adequate management/utilization of these materials can improve human’s living standards as well as ensuring environmental protecting via the production of environmental-friendly biofuels. In this regard, research on the use of lignocellulosic biomass as alternative energy feedstock to fossil fuels has gained considerable attention over the last few decades majorly because of their abundance and significant roles in greenhouse gas emissions reduction

Sustainable bio-economy that delivers the environment-food-energy-water nexus objectives::the current status in Malaysia

Biomass is a promising resource in Malaysia for energy, fuels, and high value-added products. However, regards to biomass value chains, the numerous restrictions and challenges related to the economic and environmental features must be considered. The major concerns regarding the enlargement of biomass plantation is that it requires large amounts of land and environmental resources such as water and soil that arises the danger of creating severe damages to the ecosystem (e.g. deforestation, water pollution, soil depletion etc.). Regarded concerns can be diminished when all aspects associated with palm biomass conversion and utilization linked with environment, food, energy and water (EFEW) nexus to meet the standard requirement and to consider the potential impact on the nexus as a whole. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the detail interactions between all the components in the nexus once intended to look for the best solution to exploit the great potential of biomass. This paper offers an overview regarding the present potential biomass availability for energy production, technology readiness, feasibility study on the techno-economic analyses of the biomass utilization and the impact of this nexus on value chains. The agro-biomass resources potential and land suitability for different crops has been overviewed using satellite imageries and the outcomes of the nexus interactions should be incorporated in developmental policies on biomass. The paper finally discussed an insight of digitization of the agriculture industry as future strategy to modernize agriculture in Malaysia. Hence, this paper provides holistic overview of biomass competitiveness for sustainable bio-economy in Malaysia