Use of Agricultural Residues in Anaerobic Digestion for Energy Production

: There are large amounts of manure and crop residues that could be used for the generation of renewable energy. Anaerobic Digestion [AD] converts the easily degraded part of these materials into bio-methane and other gases. Bio-methane can be used for the generation of heat and electricity. Only combinations of manure slurries and crop residues are economic substrates for AD. Crop residues are lignocellulosic materials that need to be macerated for efficient conversion into biogas. : Methane yields for different straw lengths and energy requirements for maceration were compiled. The need for sufficient bioavailable micronutrients was established and methane yields for combinations of manure slurries and straw are given. Harvesting methods for crop residues are discussed and a model is developed for the effective organic matter in the effluent of the AD plant. : AD of straw and manures is, with the present subsidies, economic only where AD is done in cooperatives with the members delivering straw and manure and taking back the effluent. : The large scale of AD of manures and crop residues requires reductions in the costs of harvesting transport and storage of crop residues and a solution to the phosphate surplus in the regions with a large concentration of animals.

An effective route to the synthesis of carbonated apatite crystals with controllable morphologies and their growth mechanism

CHAp powders with controllable morphologies and sizes were synthesized using HMT as a hydroxide anion-generating agent in a phosphate-surplus solution.

Basic Productivity of Trevor Channel and Alberni Inlet from Chemical Measurements

Chemical properties of the waters in Trevor Channel and Alberni Inlet during late summer have been applied for an estimate of basic productivity. Based on the assumptions that the deep water in the system is renewed once per year and that the observed conditions in September represent the state of the water just before renewal, the oxygen deficit and the phosphate surplus in the deep water have been used as a measure of the organisms decomposed during the year. Oxygen depletion gives 28 g/m2 of plankton per year as carbon; phosphate liberation gives 31 g/m2. From fishery statistics it was estimated that the herring in Barkley Sound consume about one-quarter of the available plankton and all plankton feeders consume about one-half of the total. This would increase the above figures of productivity to 56 g/m2 and 62 g/m2, respectively. These values are probably a minimum annual productivity inasmuch as basic assumptions may not be completely fulfilled. Regeneration of nutrients in the surface layer, and some renewal of deep water by mixing and circulation, probably occur throughout the year.