Biomethane in Poland—Current Status, Potential, Perspective and Development

Technologie biogazu i biometanu w Polsce. Potencjał biometanu w Polsce. Analiza SWOT. Analiza PEST.Every year the interest in biofuels, including biomethane, grows in Poland. Biomethane, obtained from biogas, is widely used in the Polish economy; the most important two applications are as gas injected into the gas grid and as automotive fuel. The aim of this work is to determine the potential for the development of the biomethane sector in Poland. The following article presents the technological stages of biomethane extraction and purification. The investment process for biogas/biomethane installation is presented in the form of a Gannt chart; this process is extremely long in Poland, with a duration of three years. In the coming months, the Polish Oil Mining and Gas Extraction will begin to invest in biomethane, which will be connected to the gas grid, while the Polish oil refiner and petrol retailer, Orlen, will invest in biomethane to be used as automotive fuel. This article includes a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) and PEST (Political, Economic, Social, Technological) analysis of the biogas/biomethane sector in Poland. The main barriers to the development of the biogas/biomethane sector in Poland are high investment costs, long lead times and a strong conventional energy lobby. The most important advantages of biogas/biomethane technology in Poland include environmental aspects, high biomethane potential and well-developed agriculture. The development of biogas/biomethane technology in Poland will slowly reduce environmental pollution, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and allow for partial independence from the importing of natural gas

Renewable and Sustainable Energy: Current State and Prospects

Short review about Special Issue: "Renewable and Sustainable Energy: Current State and Prospects"

Badanie sektora energii odnawialnej w Polsce – potencjał techniczny, badania ankietowe, analiza SWOT, analiza PEST, 172 s.

Potencjał OZE w Polsce. Analiza SWOT. Analiza PEST

Pyrolysis of Waste Biomass: Technical and Process Achievements, and Future Development—A Review

Pyrolysis has been applied in the human economy for many years, and it has become a significant alternative to the production of chemical compounds, including biofuels. The article focuses mostly on recent achievements in the technical and processing aspects of pyrolysis. The aim of the review is to present the latest research on the process of waste biomass pyrolysis to fuel production. The paper describes the mechanisms of the pyrolysis process, composition, and properties of the obtained fractions, namely pyrolysis gas, bio-oil, and biochar. Additionally, the technical aspects of the pyrolysis process are mentioned, with particular attention to the construction of the reactors. The process of waste biomass pyrolysis allows for obtaining many chemical compounds (second-generation biofuels). Optimization of the pyrolysis process allows obtaining the desired products that are applied in the chemical industry, energy, and transport. The application of pyrolysis gas, oil, and biochar as valuable chemical compounds are related to the intensifying effects of climate change, biofuel production, and waste management in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. In recent years, there has been large-scale research into the use of renewable energy sources through pyrolysis. This will make it possible to significantly reduce the carbon footprint and produce second-generation biofuels in a sustainable manner. Current research into the mechanisms of pyrolysis processes is promising, and will therefore provide access to clean and low-cost compounds that will have broad applications in the energy, chemical, agricultural, and transportation industries

Proecological aspects of citric acid technology

Citric acid (CA) is one of the most important commercial products. The food industry is the largest consumer of the acid, using almost of 70% of the total production, followed by about 12% by the pharmaceutical industry and 18% for other applications. CA is manufactured commercially by the fermentation of carbohydrates, mainly saccharose and molasses, by Aspergillus niger using surface, submerged and solid-state fermentation medium. The currently used process causes environmental problems such as production of highly impure post-fermentation waste including dirty CaSO4. The aim of the article was to present alternative production methods for CA, which are more environmental-friendly. Fermentation using the yeast of Yarrowia lipolytica is currently undergoing intensive research as an alternative to the classic technology of CA. Extraction by organic solvents is also a promising method of CA production from aqueous solutions. Solvent extraction process is used to eliminate calcium hydroxide and sulphuric acid in the precipitation process. Due to the development of membrane techniques, membranes have been widely used in many branches of industry, including CA technology. CA release and condensation can be obtained by means of electrodialysis, ultrafiltration or/and nanofiltration as well as using liquid membranes. The electrodialysis with a bipolar membrane is another promising method of obtaining CA. Its main strengths are the simplification of technological cycles, waste elimination and creating high-quality products. Selected membrane systems are shown; the BP-A-C system was characterized by the lowest energy consumption (membranes: bipolar, anion exchange and cation exchange). New methods of management of waste biomas from CA production technology towards biogas production are described. Biogas and the biomethane derived from it are widely used: for the production of electricity and heat (cogeneration), as network gas (a substitute for natural gas) and as fuel in vehicles

Management of By-Product Created by Lye-Sodium Brine Purification Method Using Carbonization

The article presents carbonization as a method of waste management from the brine sodium-lime method. It was compared with the previously obtained results for the lye-sodium one. Within it, the fltration and washing times were contrasted for treated and non-carbonised samples. For this aim potentiometric titration analysis was used to determine the precipitation's basic components and by-product brine. Scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray spectrum and diffractographic analysis were used for morphology analysis what allowed to determine the tested samples' composition. It was found that despite significant differences in the time of washing and filtration, the time of these processes is shortened after the suspension has been exposed to carbon dioxide. In both cases the composition allows the waste brine to be recycled to the purifcation processes and the mixture of calcium and magnesium compounds become alternative raw material. It turned out that in both methods it is possible to utilize the suspension formed

Effect of demographic characteristics of enterprises on the implementation of corporate social responsibility in SMEs context

The results confirm that the country in which a company conducts its business activities and company size are significant factors affecting perceptions concerning the implementation of CSR. Entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic are significantly less likely to agree with the importance and implementation of CSR than entrepreneurs in Poland. Similar results were attained when comparing micro-enterprises and medium-sized enterprises, with microenterprises significantly less likely to agree with statements on CSR. Between men and women, no significant differences were found in their attitudes towards the incorporation of CSR into business management practices. The result was likewise with regards to the entrepreneur’s age. However, the business sector in which a company operates and the entrepreneur’s educational attainment level do have an influence on selected CSR indicators, with the impact on financial performance most positively perceived by those companies operating in retail. Those companies operating in the services sector attached the least importance to the implementation of CSR for acquiring new customers and improving financial performance than other sectors. Of interest is also the finding that enterprises run by owners or managers with lower levels of educational attainment neither perceive the concept of CSR nor the implementation thereof as a significant element of future business management

Potencjał techniczny i możliwości wykorzystania biogazu utylizacyjnego na przykładzie województwa warmińsko-mazurskiego

Preprint artykułu, który ukazał się w czasopiśmie: Rynek Energii (ISSN: 1425-5960), nr 4 (131), 2017, s. 56-62. Rozwój technologii biogazu w województwie warmińsko-mazurskim.Ze względu na warunki klimatyczne i znaczną odległość od elektrowni węglowych, w województwie warmińsko-mazurskim obserwuje się częste przerwy w dostawach prądu. Jednym z rozwiązań jest budowa biogazowni utylizacyjnych. Obliczono, że potencjał techniczny biogazu utylizacyjnego wynosi 102,9 mln m3 rocznie. Ilość ta pozwoliłaby pokryć ponad 5,5% zapotrzebowania województwa na energię elektryczną oraz 8,2% zapotrzebowania województwa na ciepło. Wykorzystanie biogazu jako paliwa w samochodach osobowych pozwoliłoby na przejechanie w ciągu rokuśrednio904 mln km (biometan) bądź 948 mln km (prąd). Rozwój biogazowni utylizacyjnych i zakładów z nimi związanych spowoduje ożywienie gospodarcze regionu, zwiększając liczbę miejsc pracy w innych sektorach gospodark

Magia muzycznego echa. Grające fauny w wierszach Lucjana Rydla, Jana Pietrzyckiego, Leopolda Staffa

This article offers an analysis of artistic interferences and ideological isomorphism between four lyrical poems which are connected by themes and poetics in a manner characteristic of Young Poland. All the texts listed here (by Lucjan Rydel, Jan Pietrzycki and Leopold Staff) use the motifs of the faun, his playing the pan-pipes or flute as well as the echo understood as a natural phenomenon. The echo, however, is also treated in a figurative sense. Each of the poems is in itself the echo, the echo of mythological, artistic and literary tradition – as such, it functions in the system of reflections. The comparison of the pieces shows that most of them praise life (love). The parallel between the creative power of nature and the creative power of the heroes is emphasized. The image of the faun that makes music reveals the belief in cosmic harmony in which heaven and earth, life and death, spirituality and sexuality are of equal value and constitute the unity of being. Thus, the “symphony of life” emanating from the protagonists’ instruments would prove that the cosmos is a work of art.Przedmiotem pracy jest analiza interferencji artystycznych i izomorfizmów ideowych zachodzących między czterema wierszami lirycznymi, które łączy charakterystyczna dla Młodej Polski tematyka i poetyka. Wszystkie zestawione tutaj utwory (Lucjana Rydla, Jana Pietrzyckiego oraz Leopolda Staffa) posługują się motywami fauna, jego gry na fletni lub flecie i echa rozumianego jako zjawisko przyrodnicze. Jednocześnie „echo” traktowane jest także w znaczeniu przenośnym. Każdy z wierszy okazuje się echem samym w sobie, echem tradycji mitologicznej, artystycznej, literackiej – funkcjonuje w systemie odbić. Z porównania utworów wynika, że większość z nich jest pochwałą życia (miłości). Zauważalna jest paralela między potęgą kreacyjną przyrody a mocą twórczą bohaterów. Obraz muzykującego fauna pozwala ujawnić wiarę w harmonię kosmiczną, w której niebo i ziemia, życie i śmierć, duchowość i seksualność mają tak samo wysoką wartość, stanowią o jedności bytu. Wydobywająca się z instrumentów bohaterów „symfonia życia” dowodziłaby, że kosmos jest dziełem sztuki

Analyzing Wind Energy Potential Using Efficient Global Optimization: A Case Study for the City Gdańsk in Poland

Wind energy (WE), which is one of the renewable energy (RE) sources for generating electricity has been making a significant contribution to obtaining clean and green energy in recent years. Fitting an appropriate statistical distribution to the wind speed (WS) data is crucial in analyzing and estimating WE potential. Once the best suitable statistical distribution for WS data is determined, WE potential and potential yield could be estimated with high accuracy. The main objective of this paper is to propose a novel approach for calculating wind energy potential. For this purpose, the Efficient Global Optimization (EGO) technique was proposed for fitting a statistical distribution to WS data and the performance of the technique was compared with genetic algorithm (GA), simulated annealing (SA), and differential evolution (DE). Performance metrics showed that EGO is providing better estimations compared with GA, SA, and DE. Based on Weibull parameters obtained by using EGO, potential WE and potential annual revenue were estimated for Gdańsk, which is the capital of Pomerania Voivodeship in Poland, in the case of having city‐type wind turbines in the city center. Estimations for Gdańsk showed that city‐type wind turbines might be helpful for producing electricity from WE in the city without being limited by constraints such as having a long distance between wind turbines and buildings. If such wind turbines were erected on the roofs of residential buildings, malls, or office buildings, there is a possibility that part of the electric energy needed for such buildings could be generated using WE. However, this topic should be further investigated from technical and financial perspectives