Pre-treatment of Malaysian agricultural wastes toward biofuel production

Various renewable energy technologies are under considerable interest due to the projected depletion of our primary sources of energy and global warming associated with their utilizations. One of the alternatives under focus is renewable fuels produced from agricultural wastes. Malaysia, being one of the largest producers of palm oil, generates abundant agricultural wastes such as fibers, shells, fronds, and trunks with the potential to be converted to biofuels. However, prior to conversion of these materials to useful products, pre-treatment of biomass is essential as it influences the energy utilization in the conversion process and feedstock quality. This chapter focuses on pre-treatment technology of palm-based agriculture waste prior to conversion to solid, liquid, and gas fuel. Pre-treatment methods can be classified into physical, thermal, biological, and chemicals or any combination of these methods. Selecting the most suitable pre-treatment method could be very challenging due to complexities of biomass properties. Physical treatment involves grinding and sieving of biomass into various particle sizes whereas thermal treatment consists of pyrolysis and torrefaction processes. Additionally biological and chemical treatment using enzymes and chemicals to derive lignin from biomass are also discussed

Thermochemical properties of Cuban biomass

This study provides information on proximate analysis, heating values, and ultimate analysis for seven kinds of biomass from agriculture and forest sources, such as rice husk, coffee husk sugar cane bagasse and straw, and firewood. The results have shown excessive volatile content ranging from 61.2% to 82.6%, fixed carbon content ranging from 14.6% to 20.7%, and high ash contents over 22.5% for rice husk and 93% for sugar cane straw. Other biomass studied did not reach 3%. The lower heating values ranged from 15.2 to 21.2 MJ/kg (dry weight basis), with firewood presenting higher values. The ultimate analysis indicated that the weight fraction of carbon ranged from 38.2% to 48.8%, the hydrogen fraction ranged from 5.6% to 7.0%, and the oxygen fraction ranged from 33.8% to 43.7%. Estimates have indicated that the energy potential of agricultural residues is around 366,700 tonnes of oil annually, which is almost 25% of the cuban annual crude oil production.221085185

Energy recovery from sugarcane biomass residues: Challenges and opportunities of bio-oil production in the light of second generation biofuels

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)The lack of an alternative energy carrier to electricity with storage capability for use in off-season has to date been an unsolvable question for the sugar agroindustry. The improvement in cogeneration capacity via implementation of condensing extraction steam turbines or biomass integrated gasifier/gas turbine combined cycle and the barriers for their implementation were analyzed. The introduction of a fast pyrolysis (3 tons/h) module (FPM3) as a solution for off-season energy demand in the sugarcane agroindustry was also analyzed. The production cost of 1 ton of bio-oil for FPM3 condition was calculated at 87 USD/ton of bio-oil (0.104 USD/l of bio-oil). The economic feasibility of the FPM3 was estimated, comparing the added values for two alternatives: first alternative regarding the sugar and bioethanol simultaneous production (first generation biofuel production) and second alternative regarding the sugar and bio-oil simultaneous production (second generation biofuel production). Although the highest added value figure for a ton of sugarcane (49.30 USD) was gotten by the second alternative, the bioethanol production for cars fuel continues to be most attractive business option because of large fuel ethanol market demand. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3259170]16Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) TRIL PROGRAMMEConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)CNPq [150604/2009-2

Biomass briquetting and its perspectives in Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)A study of the status of biomass briquetting and its perspectives in Brazil was conducted including determination of the availability and characteristics of the agro-residues for briquetting. Wood residues, rice husk and coffee husk were characterized and identified as the more promising agro-residues for briquetting in the short-term in Brazil. A survey was carried out in order to determine the number of briquetting factories in Brazil, and also to determine: used briquetting technologies, briquettes production, briquettes sale prices, the status of biomass briquetting market and its future perspectives. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.351236242Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)FAPESP [03/13313-5]CNPq [1506604/2009-2