Biomass Availability, Potential and Characteristics

Author(s):  
M. Fantini
Keyword(s):  
2014 ◽  
pp. 691-697
Author(s):  
Suleiman José Hassuani

The sugarcane industry for a long time has focused only on the cane juice, its extraction and conversion to sugar. Bagasse was considered a residue and burnt inefficiently to generate steam and power. In the last decades, bagasse gradually started to be converted into energy in a more efficient way, supplying all the sugar industry energy needs (power, and steam) and, in some cases, significant excess electricity has been exported to the grid, becoming another important source of revenue. This motivated several studies of more advanced energy generation systems to boost energy exports. In more recent years, technologies called 2nd and 3rd generation have taken over the scene with many options, promising to convert biomass into more valuable products such as biofuels, chemicals, fertilisers, pellets, etc. Unfilled expectations and opportunities are rising. On the other hand, these technologies are competing for the same biomass, and this has to be considered. The industry has started to question ‘which way to go’, strategy and investment wise. The present study provides a broad scenario for the biomass availability, and its employment, with a close view to the main processes and products that might have an important role in the future of the biomass in the sugarcane industry.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4595
Author(s):  
Jennifer Attard ◽  
Helena McMahon ◽  
Pat Doody ◽  
Johan Belfrage ◽  
Catriona Clark ◽  
...  

The bioeconomy can play a critical role in helping countries to find alternative sustainable sources of products and energy. Countries with diverse terrestrial and marine ecosystems will see diverging feedstock opportunities to develop these new value chains. Understanding the sources, composition, and regional availability of these biomass feedstocks is an essential first step in developing new sustainable bio-based value chains. In this paper, an assessment and analysis of regional biomass availability was conducted in the diverse regions of Andalusia and Ireland using a bioresource mapping model. The model provides regional stakeholders with a first glance at the regional opportunities with regards to feedstock availability and an estimate of the transportation costs associated with moving the feedstock to a different modelled location/region for the envisioned biorefinery plant. The analysis found that there were more than 30 million tonnes of (wet weight) biomass arisings from Ireland (84,000 km2) with only around 4.8 million tonnes from the Andalusian region (87,000 km2). The study found that Cork in Ireland stood out as the main contributor of biomass feedstock in the Irish region, with animal manures making the largest contribution. Meanwhile, the areas of Almería, Jaén, and Córdoba were the main contributors of biomass in the Andalusia region, with olive residues identified as the most abundant biomass resource. This analysis also found that, while considerable feedstock divergence existed within the regions, the mapping model could act as an effective tool for collecting and interpreting the regional data on a transnational basis.


2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Sofia Jones ◽  
Stephen W. Searcy ◽  
Laurence M. Eaton

Abstract. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has estimated herbaceous biomass availability through simulations with the Policy Analysis System (POLYSYS) agricultural modeling framework. An operational assumption for POLYSYS limited conversion of pastureland to perennial grass crops to counties east of the 100th meridian as a proxy for precipitation sufficient for economically viable yield, but allowed cropland conversion regardless of location. Knowledge of local conditions raised questions about predicted biomass quantities for Texas counties in the 2011 assessment. POLYSYS was rerun with different assumptions, specifically replacing the 100th meridian boundary with annual average precipitation data and limiting cropland conversion in low-rainfall counties. Perennial grass production was found to be overestimated by 8% and 87% in the U.S. and Texas, respectively (at $66.14 DMg-1), when limiting all land conversion to regions with >635 mm precipitation. Total herbaceous biomass predicted was approximately the same as in the BT2, but the biomass geographical location changed across the nation. Texas’ biomass contribution decreased from 6% to 1% at $66.14 DMg-1 and from 16% to 11% at $88.18 DMg-1. Subsequent to this research being conducted, the DOE released the 2016 biomass inventory assessment, and these results are compared to those newest estimates. Keywords: Billion-Ton Study, Biomass, Perennial grass, Precipitation, Switchgrass.


Author(s):  
Agnieszka E LATAWIEC ◽  
Lewis PEAKE ◽  
Helen BAXTER ◽  
Gerard CORNELISSEN ◽  
Katarzyna GROTKIEWICZ ◽  
...  

Although increasing numbers of research papers regarding biochar are being published worldwide, in some countries growing interest in biochar has only recently been observed; this is true of Poland. We analysed information on biochar research in Poland alongside lessons learned elsewhere in order to identify the significant opportunities and risks associated with biochar use. This data fed into a GIS-based multicriteria analysis to identify areas where biochar application could deliver greatest benefit. We found that 21.8% of agricultural land in Poland has at least moderate indication for biochar use (soil organic matter below 2% and ph below 5.5), while 1.5% was categorized as a priority as it also exhibited contamination. Potential barriers identified included biomass availability and associated risks of indirect land-use change due to possible national and transnational biomass production displacement. Biochar use could have positive global consequences as a climate change mitigation strategy, particularly relevant in a country with limited alternatives. Scaling up a mitigation technology that is viable on account of its co-benefits might be cost-effective, which could, in turn, adjust national perspectives and stronger involvement in developing mitigation policies at the regional level. Biochar has much promise in temperate conditions and further research should therefore be assigned to explore biochar’s environmental and socio-economic impacts.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 4570-4574
Author(s):  
Jinzhuo Wu ◽  
Wenshu Lin ◽  
Lihai Wang ◽  
Yaqi Sun ◽  
Lin Ma

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaghaygh Akhtari ◽  
Taraneh Sowlati ◽  
Verena C Griess

Abstract Economic viability is one of the main considerations in bioenergy and biofuel projects and is impacted by uncertainty in biomass availability, cost, and quality, and bioenergy and biofuel demand and prices. One important aspect of decisionmaking under uncertainty is the viewpoint of the decision maker towards risk, which is overlooked in the biomass supply chain management literature. In this paper, we address this gap by evaluating alternative supply chain designs taking into account uncertain future conditions resulting from changes in biomass availability and cost, and bioproduct and energy prices. Three decision rules, maximax, minimax regret, and maximin, representing, respectively, optimistic, opportunistic, and pessimistic perspectives, are used for evaluation. It is assumed that the decision maker has knowledge about the potential future events, but the likelihood of their occurrence is unknown. According to the results of the case study, investment in bioenergy and biofuel conversion facilities was recommended based on optimistic and opportunistic viewpoints. Production of both bienergy and biofuels would not be profitable under pessimistic conditions. Therefore, investment in only bienergy facilities was prescribed under pessimistic conditions.


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