Potential biomass resources of Sicily for electric-power generation

Based on an analogous biomass energy evaluation of the Hawaiian islands, a methodology for assessing the biomass resource potential of Sicily is described. The methodology features land availability and land suitability criteria for evaluating biomass productivity potential, biomass energy plantation species and site selection, and plantation management strategy. An exploratory survey of Sicily's candidate biomass feedstocks which identifies yields and costs of both agricultural residues and dedicated biomass energy crops is featured. A technical and economic comparison of two biomass-conversion technologies for generating electric power, non-catalytic biomass gasification coupled with a combined-cycle gas turbine and catalytic biomass gasification coupled with a molten-carbonate fuel cell, is presented. Recommendations for developing an economically-viable biomass industry in Sicily are also included. Analytical results indicate that of Sicily's 236 x 106 GJ total annual energy requirement, approximately 50% or 120 x 106 GJ could be supplied with biomass resources, including all of the 13 300 x 106 kWh of electricity through an installed capacity of 2000 MW of electricity. By switching to indigenous, renewable biomass energy resources to enhance energy security, the [`]greening' of Sicily's electrical-power production system can be implemented at a cost of approximately 3400 million ECU in capital costs and 990 million ECU in total annual expenses.

Morphological Characteristics of PTFE Bonded Gas Diffusion Electrodes

We have investigated the morphological and absorptive characteristics of the electrocatalyst layer of PTFE bonded gas diffusion electrodes. The electrocatalyst layer microstructure was varied by using different preparative conditions (320-360°C sintering temperature and 20-60% PTFE content). We measured the pore size distribution and the electrolyte uptake for each electrode. From these data we calculated porosities and electrolyte volume fractions of the electrocatalyst layer and agglomerate regions The electrocatalyst layer porosity and electrolyte volume fraction depend directly on the preparative conditions, while the agglomerate porosity and the macropore porosity are not influenced significantly. We proposed and evaluated a theoretical expression for the Pt utilization in the electrocatalyst layer using our measured porosities and electrolyte volume fractions. These results agree well with electrochemical measurements of active Pt surface area using cyclic voltammetry. The percentage acid occupation (PAO) was also found to be a good property for correlating morphological-absorptive characteristics and Pt utilization