Emissions Performance of a Novel Combustor Burning Shredded Wood

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Lindsey ◽  
M. Sawyer ◽  
A. Schmidt ◽  
P. Aubrey ◽  
A. Webster
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Waste To Energy ◽  
Biomass Combustion ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Biomass Waste

The Air Force Research Laboratory, Airbase Technologies Division (AFRL/RXQ) is engineering and evaluating the Transportable Waste-to-Energy System (TWES). This trailer mounted system will convert military base waste and biomass waste streams to useful heat and power. The Department of Energy (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) is a TWES funding partner. The first stage of the project is a suspension-type combustor (furnace). The furnace has been built and tested. A key feature of the furnace system is its unique patented combustion coil design. The design is intended to maximize ablative heat transfer by increasing particle residence time near a radiant ignition source. The innovative features of the design are targeted at ensuring that the system can be highly fuel-flexible to convert a variety of biomass and other waste streams to energy while demonstrating very low emissions. In 2008, the unit underwent two days of emissions stack testing using established Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) testing protocols. During the testing, extensive real-time data were also collected. This paper presents the data and corresponding analysis of the recent emissions testing performed while utilizing dry wood chips as a control fuel. Detailed emission comparisons are presented using publicly available information from commercial units and from a similarly sized experimental system for small biomass combustion. Key combustion efficiency factors, such as carbon monoxide emissions and nitrogen oxide emissions are presented. The authors also provide commentary on the results for next generation units and the use of this mode of energy conversion for small scale systems.

scholarly journals Increasing Access to Electricity: An Assessment of the Energy and Power Generation Potential from Biomass Waste Residues in Tanzania

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1793
Author(s):  
Zahida Aslam ◽  
Hu Li ◽  
James Hammerton ◽  
Gordon Andrews ◽  
Andrew Ross ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electricity Generation ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Waste Biomass ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Energy Potential ◽  
Biomass Waste ◽  
Generation Capacity ◽  
Diesel Generators

Tanzania has a high rural population, of which many rely on off-grid diesel generators to produce electricity. The focus of this paper is to assess if the waste biomass residues in Tanzania have sufficient energy potential to produce renewable electrical energy for small-scale electricity generation using off-grid diesel generators coupled with anaerobic digestion (AD) and/or gasification. The gaseous fuel produced can then be used to substitute diesel fuel used in small-scale dual fuel diesel gen-sets; thus, providing more affordable electricity whilst reducing dependency on fossil fuels. The biomass waste streams estimated are those arising from agriculture, forestry, livestock, and urban human waste. To answer this question, the energy potentials of each of these biomass waste streams are quantified, followed by further calculations to determine the electricity generation capacity per stream based on overall efficiencies of 10 and 25%. The results show that combined these waste streams have an energy potential of 385 PJ (for the base year of 2018) generated from 26,924 kilotonnes (kt). Collectively, these residues can produce at least 1.2 times the electricity generated nationally in 2018 using AD and gasification coupled with a diesel gen-set engine.

Waste as a Renewable Source of Energy: Current and Future Practices

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karsten Millrath ◽  
Nickolas J. Themelis
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
District Heating ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Waste To Energy ◽  
Renewable Source ◽  
Energy Current ◽  
Reuse Options ◽  
The U.S

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) has been recognized by several states as a renewable source of energy. Worldwide, about 130 million tons of MSW are combusted annually in waste-to-energy facilities that produce electricity and steam for district heating and also recover metals for recycling. While being linked to environmental pollution prior to the implementation of Maximum Available Control Technology (MACT) regulations, Waste-to-Energy (WTE) was recently named one of the cleanest sources of energy by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). However, the WTE industry often faces resistance and preconceptions based on past experience rather than current performance. Due to economic considerations that do not include environmental benefits, most of the U.S. MSW still ends up in landfills despite the fact that for every ton of MSW landfilled greenhouse gas emissions increase by at least 1.2 tons of carbon dioxide. While implemented research and development strategies focused on emissions, there is still a tremendous need for more efficient yet durable combustion technologies including flue gas recirculation and oxygen enrichment, environmentally and economically competitive reuse options for WTE residues, and also public education. The importance of WTE in the universal effort for sustainable development and its need for research and development resources has led to the formation of the Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council. Its principal goal is to improve the economic and environmental performance of technologies that can be used to recover materials and energy from solid wastes. This paper provides an overview of the current worldwide WTE practices, predominant technologies, and current research for advancing WTE as a renewable source of energy in the U.S. and elsewhere.

scholarly journals Potential Valorization of Organic Waste Streams to Valuable Organic Acids through Microbial Conversion: A South African Case Study

Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 964
Author(s):  
Sesethu Gift Njokweni ◽  
Annica Steyn ◽  
Marelize Botes ◽  
Marinda Viljoen-Bloom ◽  
Willem Heber van Zyl
Keyword(s):  
Organic Acids ◽  
South African ◽  
Carboxylic Acids ◽  
Organic Waste ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Biomass Waste ◽  
Carboxylate Platform

The notion of a “biobased economy” in the context of a developing country such as South Africa (SA) necessitates the development of technologies that utilize sustainable feedstocks, have simple and robust operations, are feasible at small scale and produce a variety of valuable bioproducts, thus fitting the biorefinery concept. This case study focuses on the microbial production of higher-value products from selected organic waste streams abundant in the South African agricultural sector using microbes adapted to utilize different parts of biomass waste streams. A ruminant-based carboxylate platform based on mixed or undefined anaerobic co-cultures of rumen microorganisms can convert the carbohydrate polymers in the lignocellulosic part of organic waste streams to carboxylic acids that can be upgraded to biofuels or green chemicals. Furthermore, yeast and fungi can convert the simpler carbohydrates (such as the sugars and malic acid in grape and apple pomace) to ethanol and high-value carboxylic acids, such as lactic, fumaric, succinic and citric acid. This review will discuss the combinational use of the ruminal carboxylate platform and native or recombinant yeasts to valorize biomass waste streams through the production of higher-value organic acids with various applications.

scholarly journals Prototype of the domestic CHP ORC energy system

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-424
Author(s):  
J. Kicinski ◽  
G. Zywica
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Biomass Combustion ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Compact Structure ◽  
Turbo Generator ◽  
System Components

Abstract The Institute of Fluid-Flow Machinery (IMP PAN) in Gdansk pursues its own research in fields such as technologies that use renewable energy sources efficiently, including in particular the small-scale combined heat and power (CHP) systems. This article discusses the design concepts for the prototype of small CHP ORC (organic Rankine cycle) energy system, developed under the research project. The source of heat is a boiler designed for biomass combustion. Electricity was generated using specially designed oil-free vapour micro-turbine. The turbo-generator has compact structure and hermetical casing thanks to the use of gas bearings lubricated by working medium. All energy system components are controlled and continuously monitored by a coherent automation and control system. The article also discusses selected experimental results conducted under laboratory conditions. Thermal-flow tests were presented that allow for an assessment of the operation of energy system components. Additionally, energy performance results of the turbo-generator were given including power obtained at various cycle parameters. The achieved results have shown that the developed energy system operated in accordance with design solutions. Electricity derived from the energy system prototype was around 2 kW, with boiler’s thermal power of 25 kW. The research has also confirmed that this system can be used in a domestic environment.

Managing the impacts of mining on Ghana’s water resources from a legal perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 156-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasirudeen Abdul Fatawu
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Mining Activities ◽  
Protection Agency ◽  
Environmental Laws ◽  
Mining Areas ◽  
Legal Perspective

Recent floods in Ghana are largely blamed on mining activities. Not only are lives lost through these floods, farms andproperties are destroyed as a result. Water resources are diverted, polluted and impounded upon by both large-scale minersand small-scale miners. Although these activities are largely blamed on behavioural attitudes that need to be changed, thereare legal dimensions that should be addressed as well. Coincidentally, a great proportion of the water resources of Ghana arewithin these mining areas thus the continual pollution of these surface water sources is a serious threat to the environmentand the development of the country as a whole. The environmental laws need to be oriented properly with adequate sanctionsto tackle the impacts mining has on water resources. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure needs to bestreamlined and undertaken by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and not the company itself.

Integrated Process for Textile Cotton Waste (TCW) Valorization: Waste-to-Energy and Wastewater Decontamination

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Ribeiro ◽  
C. Vilarinho ◽  
J. Araújo ◽  
J. Carvalho
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Removal Rate ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Calorific Value ◽  
Waste To Energy ◽  
Synthetic Wastewater ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
World Population ◽  
Cotton Waste ◽  
Textile Industries

The increasing of world population, industrialization and global consuming, existing market products existed in the along with diversification of raw materials, are responsible for an exponential increase of wastes. This scenario represents loss of resources and ultimately causes air, soils and water pollution. Therefore, proper waste management is currently one of the major challenges faced by modern societies. Textile industries represents, in Portugal, almost 10% of total productive transforming sector and 19% of total employments in the sector composed by almost 7.000 companies. One of the main environmental problems of textile industries is the production of significant quantities of wastes from its different processing steps. According to the Portuguese Institute of Statistics (INE) these industries produce almost 500.000 tons of wastes each year, with the textile cotton waste (TCW) being the most expressive. It was estimated that 4.000 tons of TCW are produced each year in Portugal. In this work an integrated TCW valorisation procedure was evaluated, firstly by its thermal and energetic valorisation with slow pyrolysis followed by the utilization of biochar by-product, in lead and chromium synthetic wastewater decontamination. Pyrolysis experiments were conducted in a small scale rotating pyrolysis reactor with 0.1 m3 of total capacity. Results of pyrolysis experiments showed the formation of 0,241 m3 of biogas for each kilogram of TCW. Results also demonstrated that the biogas is mostly composed by hydrogen (22%), methane (14 %), carbon monoxide (20%) and carbon dioxide (12%), which represents a total high calorific value of 12.3 MJ/Nm3. Regarding biochar, results of elemental analysis demonstrated a high percentage of carbon driving its use as low cost adsorbent. Adsorption experiments were conducted with lead and chromium synthetic wastewaters (25, 50 and 100 mg L−1) in batch vessels with controlled pH. It was evaluated the behaviour of adsorption capacity and removal rate of each metal during 120 minutes of contact time using 5, 10 and 50 g L−1 of adsorbent dosage. Results indicated high affinity of adsorbent with each tested metal with 78% of removal rate in chromium and 95% in lead experiments. This suggests that biochar from TCW pyrolysis may be appropriated to wastewaters treatment, with high contents of heavy metals and it can be an effective alternative to activated carbon.

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