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

Energy Transition in Poland—Assessment of the Renewable Energy Sector

The topic of the article considers the functioning of the renewable energy (RE) sector in Poland. This is really important in the context of the energy transition of the national economy because it influences the creation of modern technologies and increases the competitiveness and innovation of the country. Poland is in a process of energy transition where the RE sector has been developing for two decades. The authors aimed to research the RE sector improvement possibilities in Poland, including the influence of this sector on chosen social and economic aspects. Because of this research’s aim a critical situation assessment of RE in Poland was conducted and a survey of a group of experts in this field was also involved. Legal, physical and mental determinants and their influence on RE sector were looked into. In the legal determinant context a necessity to simplify relevant legislation acts in Poland was found. Undoubtedly there is a need to improve several legal acts, including the Distance Act. In physical determinants it was found that solar, wind and biomass energy have the biggest chances for development. In the case of mental determinants the authors paid attention to the need of educating the public about using and obtaining energy. It is also important to make people aware how the RE sector influences the low emission economy positively. This will improve the creation of new jobs and reduce the emissions of harmful substances to the environment

15 Years of the Polish agricultural biogas plants: their history, current status, biogas potential and perspectives

Biogazownie rolnicze w Polsce

Energia odnawialna w województwie warmińsko-mazurskim, 158 s.

Energetyka odnawialna (OZE) jest szeroko rozwijana na świecie, w tym również w Polsce. W najbliższych latach przewiduje się dalszy rozwój OZE w Polsce. Stąd też zrodził się pomysł napisania niniejszej monografii. Pierwszym celem przeprowadzonych badań było wyznaczenie potencjału technicznego energii odnawialnej w Polsce. W przypadku biomasy założono, że w większym stopniu należy wykorzystać biomasę odpadową oraz zagospodarować grunty ugorowane i nieużytki. Obliczono również potencjał techniczny aeroenergetyki w Polsce z wykorzystaniem metody GIS na podstawie danych uzyskanych z IMGW. W przypadku helioenergetyki i pomp ciepła przyjęto, że panele fotowoltaiczne, kolektory słoneczne i pompy ciepła należy montować na istniejących budynkach użyteczności publicznej i obiektach nowo budowanych Drugim celem badań było przeprowadzenie ankiet socjometrycznych. W latach 2009–2018 przygotowano i wysłano ankiety do firm, właścicieli urządzeń OZE w Polsce, rolników, uczniów i nauczycieli. Trzecim celem badań było przeprowadzenie analizy SWOT i PEST energetyki odnawialnej w Polsce

Odnawialne źródła energii szansą dla Wielkopolski. Monografia

The monograph describes the past, the present and the future of renewable energy in Wielkopolska (Greater Poland) Voivodeship in Central-West Poland. This region, for years playing the leading role in agriculture and food production in the whole country, also has very good conditions for the development of renewable methods of energy production. Moreover, it also has long traditions in this field being, for example, the cradle of water and wind milling in Poland. Individual chapters are devoted to various sources of renewable energy, i.e. biomass, wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy and hydroenergy. In each case the description of physical principles allowing to produce electricity and/or heat from a given type of a renewable installation, together with some explanations of the construction and operating mode of the respective technical devices, is followed by the history of their development, both all over the world and in Poland (including a more detailed specification for Greater Poland). Then, the present state (the number of installations, their geographical distribution, the total electric and/or heat power) in Wielkopolska voivodeship is described. Finally, the perspectives of a possible development of each renewable branch in this province are characterized, including quantitative evaluation of the respective technical potential. The authors indicate especially significant possibilities related to the large supply of biomass in Wielkopolska, being the province with the best developed agriculture in Poland. According to their calculations, from solid biomass and biogas (both obtained from organic waste which is a by-product of agricultural production) it is possible to produce, within the whole voivodeship, as much as 6.3 TWh of electric energy and 26.9 PJ of heat, which is ca. 50% and ca. 90%, respectively, of its present electricity and heat consumption. Moreover, in the new biogas plants ca. 4500 people would be employed. Also the wind energy sector has good perspectives in Wielkopolska.Its technical potential is ca. 7.54 GW, while the total amount of electricity that could be produced from wind is ca. 15.0 TWh, exceeding the present consumption in the province (12.5 TWh). The full usage of wind energy technical potential would ensure 29,400 new workplaces. Assuming that 5% of roofs on public and private buildings in Wielkopolska could be equipped with solar panels, the total amount of electric energy production would be 8.2 TWh. Wielkopolska has a very good geothermal localization, which promotes the development of geothermal heating plants, as well as balneology and tourism associated with warms waters. It would allow to employ at least 6000 people. Assuming that half of the hydrotechnical structures located in Wielkopolska could be used for electricity generation, the technical potential of electric power amounts to 246 MW, while the possible annual production to 1.22 TWh. The number of new workplaces has been evaluated as ca. 1500. Moreover, the construction of hydropower plants is also possible in case of the presently active 32 waste water treatment stations in the province. The total technical potential of renewable energy sources in Wielkopolska significantly exceeds the present consumption and demand for electric energy and heat in the province. Full exploitation of this potential would allow to replace all fossil fuels presently burnt in the province, especially because application of co-generation (or even tri-generation) methods, characteristic of small facilities using biomass and biogas, increases the total energy efficiency (while in big, “systemic” power plants, heat is usually the lost byproduct only). Moreover, the specific character of local energy production, typical of low-scale enewables which are numerous and territorially highly dispersed (again in contrast to conventional coal- and lignite-fired power plants), limits significant losses related to the electricity transfer over large distances. Renewable energy facilities create many workplaces, especially in the countryside, where the unemployment rate is usually higher than in big cities. They are also sources of financial benefits (taxes, etc.), which supply local budgets at each level, i.e. the whole province, but also districts and communes. Thus, the building and development of new renewable installations should be regarded as a superior public interest. Last but not least, in contrast to the energy sector based on fossil fuels whose resources are limited and nowadays are starting to be exhausted also in Wielkopolska (the best known example being lignite deposits in Konin and Turek districts), each branch of the renewable sector uses the sources of energy which are, by definition, renewable. It is evident for everybody that the supply of biomass, wind, sun, geothermal energy and hydroenergy will last infinitively, at least in the time scale of human civilization. This is why also workplaces related to the renewable energy sector are much more stable than those related to fossil fuels which are presently diminishing (which is well illustrated by the decreasing number of people employed in the coal mining sector, including lignite mine companies in Wielkopolska). Thus, the social and economic needs to maintain the size of the labour market in the province are in favour of the development of the renewable energy sector