Spatial biomass resource planning framework for co-firing under carbon policy scheme

Effective spatial planning is crucial for the cost-effectiveness and sustainable development of biomass energy resources due to the diffuse nature of biomass and high transportation cost. To leverage the existing capitals of the fossil fuels energy systems, portions of biomass can be integrated as fuel within the existing energy facilities through co-firing technology. Although biomass co-firing operates at a low retrofitting cost environment, this does not eliminate all the associated cost required in supplying the biomass to the power generation facilities. This paper presented the development of a spatial biomass resource planning framework which integrates several modelling tools such as Geographical Information System (GIS), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) to investigate the level of carbon prices needed to support co-firing implementation in Malaysia in 2020. The results have been showing that carbon price range of 3 - 12 USD/t can be imposed by Malaysia in order to achieve the future national renewable and environmental targets while reducing the coal-based industrial emissions of up to 19.75 %

Contributing to sustainability: addressing the core problems

Contribution of various activities and processes to sustain-ability of human development is difficult to quantify pre-cisely. Every process produces a certain combination of environmental impacts, often expressed as footprints. The most widely known such indicators are the greenhouse gas footprint (also known as carbon footprint) and the water footprint, and researchers widen the footprints family continually

Pre- and post-treatment assessment for the anaerobic digestion of lignocellulosic waste: P-graph

Lignocellulosic waste is one of the most abundant and potential feedstocks for anaerobic digestion (AD), but the energy efficiency is limited by the lignocellulosic composition which is recalcitrant to biodegradation. Pretreatment of feedstock and the post-treatment of biogas and digestate play a significant role in enhancing the AD efficiency as well as the product utilisation. This study aims to determine the cost-optimal pre-and post-treatment pathway for an AD of lignocellulosic waste by applying P-graph. The economic balance between the main operating cost, yield and quality of products were considered. The treatment options were overviewed followed by a case study considered a different combination of physical, chemical and biological pretreatments, biogas post-treatment (combine heat and power, fuel cell, biomethane, biofuel) and digestate treatments. A total of 9 pre-treatments for lignocellulosic waste, 2 digestate post-treatments and 9 post-treatments for biogas were evaluated in this study. Chemical pre-treatment by CaO, post-treatment by H2S removal with membrane separation for biomethane production and without the composting of digestate is suggested as the optimal treatment pathway for lignocellulosic waste

The Role of Potential Licensee Availability in Facilitating Commercialization of Academic Research Results

AbstractThis paper mainly focuses on investigating the effects of the availability of potential licensee as a measure of academic commercialization. Moreover, a qualitative research method is adopted based on the case study approach. In order to explore the issues of this study, ten face-to-face interviews were conducted. The respondents were chosen among inventors, researchers, academic entrepreneurs and Technology Transfer Office staffs in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). The researcher used content-analysis approach to analyse the data obtained from the interviews. The results showed that the availability of potential licensee and awareness of the invention market potential facilitated the invention commercialization

Kinetic and reactor modelling of lipases catalyzed (R,S)-1-phenylethanol resolution

This study was focused on the development of a kinetic model and a reactor model for the enzymatic resolution of (R,S)-1-phenylethanol. The reaction progress curves catalyzed by immobilized lipases, ChiroCLEC-PC in batch stirred tank reactor were used to develop the kinetic model. The resolution followed Ping-Pong Bi-Bi mechanism with the inhibition of lauric acid, (R,S)-1-phenylethanol and water. The validity of the model was verified by fitting it to another experimental data catalyzed by immobilized lipases, Chirazyme L2, c.-f., C3, lyo at the same reaction conditions. The rate equation was then applied for the development of reactor model in a recirculated packed bed reactor system. The overall effectiveness factor and Peclet number were used to determine the mass transfer and axial dispersion limitation in the reactor performance. The reactor model was verified by fitting it to the larger scale reactor data with the correlation coefficient value more than 0.99

An emissions analysis for environmentally sustainable freight transportation modes: distance and capacity

Transportation is one of the largest air pollutants as well as the Greenhouse Gas (GHGs) contributors. The inclusion of air pollutants in optimisation studies is less established than the use of CO2 and/or GHGs which are often used as an indicator of environmental sustainability. This study aims to assess environmentally sustainable alternatives for freight transportation by considering both GHG and air pollutants. A case study identifying air emissions of different freight transport modes for moving goods from Rotterdam is presented. The assessed freight transports include articulated lorry, container ship, bulk carrier, and rail operated by diesel. The environmentally sustainable freight transport of the studied route based on the common practice (GHGs only) and the inclusion of air pollutants are discussed. Evaluation of the results shows that transport with lower GHG emissions does not result on PM and SOx as well. A possibility of inappropriate decision making has been consequently highlighted. The impact of loaded capacity in moving the goods on the emission is assessed from the perspective of logistics service provider. A further comprehensive study which includes the entire life cycle is needed as this study only considers the tank to wheel emissions

A review on the economic feasibility of composting for organic waste management in Asian countries

The rising rate of population growth and industrial development mainly in urban areas have led to significant increase in municipal solid waste (MSW) production. It has been a challenge to materialise a sustainable solid waste management notably in many developing countries. Organic portion represents a significant component in the municipal solid waste across countries with different level of income, ranging from about 25 to 70 %. Composting can be a viable option to manage waste sustainably by transforming waste into value-added fertiliser. Large-scale operation of composting is confronted with concern over feasible economic performance, which varied following different mode of operation. This study aims to review the economic feasibility (EF) on two different composting systems, which are the in-vessel and windrow system, implemented in several developed and developing countries. The review considered the cost factors for both composting systems, including the capital cost and operating cost. The return on investment (ROI) is estimated for both composting systems based on the potential cost benefits from the compost sale and the saving of waste tipping fee. This review provides a better insight into the desirability and applicability of both composting systems as an alternative to the landfilling practice. It is expected that the review of the various composting system could be very useful for improving the sustainable composting technology in the developing countries

Combined In-Fermenter Extraction and Cross-Flow Microfiltration for Improved Inclusion Body Processing

In this study we demonstrate a new in-fermenter chemical extraction procedure that degrades the cell wall of Escherichia coli and releases inclusion bodies (IBs) into the fermentation medium. We then prove that cross-flow microfiltration can be used to remove 91% of soluble contaminants from the released IBs. The extraction protocol, based on a combination of Triton X-100, EDTA, and intracellular T7 lysozyme, effectively released most of the intracellular soluble content without solubilising the IBs. Cross-flow microfiltration using a 0.2 m ceramic membrane successfully recovered the granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) IBs with removal of 91% of the soluble contaminants and virtually no loss of IBs to the permeate. The filtration efficiency, in terms of both flux and transmission, was significantly enhanced by in-fermenter Benzonase® digestion of nucleic acids following chemical extraction. Both the extraction and filtration methods exerted their efficacy directly on a crude fermentation broth, eliminating the need for cell recovery and resuspension in buffer. The processes demonstrated here can all be performed using just a fermenter and a single cross-flow filtration unit, demonstrating a high level of process intensification. Furthermore, there is considerable scope to also use the microfiltration system to subsequently solubilise the IBs, to separate the denatured protein from cell debris, and to refold the protein using diafiltration. In this way refolded protein can potentially be obtained, in a relatively pure state, using only two unit operations

Enhancing commercialization level of academic research outputs in research university

The aim of this study was to improve the commercialization level in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). For achieving this goal various factors and issues were examined to identify how they affect the procedure of university commercialization. These factors include the role of technology transfer office /center, availability of finance, availability of potential licensee and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) among the university researchers. Among these four factors, this study focused more on EO among academic researchers and its effect on the commercialization rate. This study was based on a qualitative research method and was designed to use a case study approach. For investigating the factors and issues in this study, a total of ten face-to-face interviews were conducted. The respondents were chosen from inventors, researchers, academic entrepreneurs, and Technology Transfer Office staff in UTM. The researcher utilized the content-analysis approach to analyze the data obtained from the semi-structured interviews of the respondents. The results indicated that EO among the university researchers, the role of technology transfer office /center, the availability of potential licensee and availability of finance were significant to the research output commercialization at university. Overall, the most critical factor was availability of finance

Prospect of aquaponics for the sustainable development of food production in urban

Aquaponics refers to a system that combines aquaculture (raising aquatic animals like fish) with hydroponics (cultivating vegetable plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. This system has great potential as a new industrialised food production approach to meet the needs of rapid urbanisation. An evolutional food production system with high productivity and low resource consumption is desirable. Aquaponics is designed based on excellent ecology recycling system, i.e. the food residues and metabolic products in the effluent of aquaculture are pollutants to the environment; they are also the source of nutrients that can be converted and mineralised via microbial treatment and eventually up taken by plants in the hydroponics section. The effluent of hydroponics section is then recycled as clean water for the aquaculture section. Home-based aquaponics (HA), factory-based aquaponics (FA) and building-based aquaponics (BA) are the typical forms of aquaponics for different urban development. The sustainability of aquaponics practices is evaluated using the “triple-bottomline” approach, which requires assessment of impacts on environmental, economic and societal systems. There is a lack of systematic research and modelling work reported on aquaponics, especially in terms of ecological manipulation. Understanding the conversion of the pollutants in the combined system is essential to achieve the optimal manipulation of ecology for optimal system operation. Future work will focus on the production of pollutants in aquaculture, the conversion and degradation of the pollutants in the microbial treatment section, and uptake of organic nutrients and inorganic salts in the hydroponics section. Development of a model, capable of describing the release of pollutants, conversion and uptake of nutrients and the production of metabolic products, is desirable. The model could be developed based on the mass balance of nutrition, productivity of fish and plants and the environmental factors. The aquaponics system could be simulated and analysed using this model so as to provide an optimal system for the design and implementation of different type of aquaponics