Chap 4

Renewable Energy
Prepared by : Siddharth Panchal

Chapter 4 : Bio Energy
▪ Biomass resources
▪ Conversion technologies
▪ Biochemical conversion
▪ Biomass gasification
▪ Biogas production
▪ Factors affecting bio gas production
▪ Biogas plants
▪ Energy recovery from urban waste
▪ Power generation from liquid waste
▪ Biomass cogeneration
▪ Bio-fuels
Bio energy
▪ Bioenergy is renewable energy created from natural, biological sources.
▪ Many natural sources, such as plants, animals, and their by products, can be
valuable resources.
▪ Modern technology even makes landfills or waste zones potential
bioenergy resources.
▪ It can be used to be a sustainable power source, providing heat, gas, and
fuel.
▪ Because the energy contained in sources like plants is obtained from the sun
through photosynthesis, it can be replenished and is considered an
inexhaustible source.
Biomass energy
▪ Biomass is any organic matter-wood, crops, seaweed, animal wastes-that
can be used as an energy source.
▪ Biomass is probably our oldest source of energy. For thousands of years,
people have burned wood to heat their homes and cook their food.
▪ Biomass gets its energy from the sun. All organic matter contains stored
energy from the sun.
▪ During a process called photosynthesis, sunlight gives plants the energy
they need to convert water, carbon dioxide, and minerals into oxygen and
sugars.
▪ The sugars, called carbohydrates, supply plants (or the animals that eat
plants) with energy.
Biomass energy
▪ Foods rich in carbohydrates (like spaghetti) are a good source of energy for
the human body!
▪ Biomass is a renewable energy source because its supplies are not limited.
We can always grow trees and crops, and people will always produce
garbage.
▪ Biomass fuels provided about 5% of total primary energy use in the United
States in 2017. Of that 5%, about 47% was from biofuels (mainly ethanol),
44% was from wood and wood-derived biomass, and 10% was from the
biomass in municipal waste.
▪ (Sum of percentages is greater than 100% because of independent rounding)
Researchers are trying to develop ways to use more biomass for fuel.
Examples of biomass and their uses for energy
▪ Wood and wood processing wastes—burned to heat buildings, to
produce process heat in industry, and to generate electricity
▪ Agricultural crops and waste materials—burned as a fuel or converted to
liquid biofuels
▪ Food, yard, and wood waste in garbage—burned to generate electricity
in power plants or converted to biogas in landfills
▪ Animal manure and human sewage—converted to biogas, which can be
burned as a fuel
Types of biomass
▪ Wood and agriculture products
▪ Solid waste
▪ Landfill gas
▪ Alcohol fuels
Wood and agriculture products
▪ Most biomass used today is home grown
energy. Wood-logs, chips, bark, and
sawdust-accounts for about 79 percent of
biomass energy.
▪ But any organic matter can produce
biomass energy.
▪ Other biomass sources include
agricultural waste products like fruit pits
and corn cobs.
Solid waste
▪ There is nothing new about people burning trash. What's new is burning
trash to generate electricity.
▪ This turns waste into a usable form of energy. A ton (2,000 pounds) of
garbage contains about as much heat energy, as pounds of coal.
▪ Power plants that burn garbage for energy are called waste-to-energy plants.
▪ These plants generate electricity much as coal-fired plants do except that
garbage-not coal-is the fuel used to fire an industrial boiler.
▪ Making electricity from garbage costs more than making it from coal and
other energy sources.
▪ The main advantage of burning solid waste is it reduces the amount of
garbage dumped in landfills by 60 to 90 percent, and reduces the cost of
landfill disposal.
Solid waste
Landfill gas
▪ Bacteria and fungi are not picky eaters.
▪ They eat dead plants and animals, causing them to rot or decay.
▪ Even though this natural process is slowed in the artificial environment of a
landfill, a substance called methane gas is still produced as the waste
decays.
▪ New regulations require landfills to collect methane gas for safety and
environmental reasons.
▪ Methane gas is colourless and odourless, but it is not harmless.
▪ The gas can cause fires or explosions if it seeps into nearby homes and is
ignited.
Landfill gas
▪ Landfills can collect the methane gas, purify it, and then use it as an energy
source.
▪ Methane, which is the same thing as natural gas, is a good energy source.
Most gas furnaces and gas stoves use methane supplied by natural gas
utility companies.
▪ The city landfill in Florence, Alabama recovers 32 million cubic feet of
methane gas a day. The city purifies the gas and then pumps it into
natural gas pipelines.
▪ Today only a tiny portion of landfill gas is used to provide energy. Most is
burned off at the landfill. Why? With today's low natural gas prices, this
higher-priced "biogas" has a hard time competing.
Landfill gas
Landfill gas
Alcohol fuels
▪ Wheat, corn, and other crops can be converted into a variety of liquid fuels
including ethanol and methanol.
▪ Using ethanol as a motor fuel is nothing new. Its use is almost as old as the
automobile.
▪ In the early 20th century, automobile pioneer Henry Ford advocated
using gasohol, a mixture of ethanol and gasoline, to run his cars.
▪ Today ethanol is a high cost fuel and its use has become a controversial
issue.
▪ It is estimated that a barrel of oil will have to more than double in price before
ethanol can compete with gasoline as a transportation fuel.
Alcohol fuels
▪ In spite of this, the ethanol industry has continued to grow, mainly because
the federal government exempts ethanol fuels from the federal highway tax.
This exemption has been extended to the year 2000.
▪ Because ethanol is expensive, and because car engines must be modified to
run on pure ethanol, ethanol is usually mixed with gasoline to produce
gasohol. (Cars can run on gasohol without adjustments.)
▪ Gasohol is 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline. In 1994, 12 percent
of the nation's motor fuel consisted of this ethanol and gasoline mixture.
However, in some corn-growing states, gasohol use is as high as 50 percent.
▪ Gasohol does have some advantages over gasoline. It has a higher octane
rating than gasoline (provides your car with more power), and it is cleaner-
burning than unleaded gasoline, with one-third less carbon monoxide
emissions. Gasohol may also help reduce America's dependence on foreign
oil.
Summary
Photosynthesis process
▪ Photosynthesis is a chemical
process that converts carbon
dioxide into organic
compounds, especially sugars,
using the energy from sunlight.
▪ Biomass is produced in the
photosynthesis process which
converts the solar energy into
biomass energy.
▪ There are two main phases to
the process of photosynthesis.
▪ In the first phase, sunlight is
captured by the chloroplasts
and the energy is stored in a
chemical called ATP
(adenosine triphosphate).
▪ In the second phase, the ATP
is used to create sugar and
organic compounds. These are
the foods plants use to live and
grow.
▪ Photosynthesis process only occurs in green plants.
▪ It is the process of combining the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere with
water plus light energy to carbohydrates produce(sugars, starches,
celluloses etc.) and oxygen
Biomass energy conversion
▪ Biomass can be converted into different forms of energy by using various
processes.
▪ Many factors affect the choice of the process like quantity of biomass
feedstock, desired energy form, environmental standards, economic
conditions, and project specific factors.
▪ Biomass can be converted into three main products: power or heat
generation, transportation fuels and chemical feedstock.
▪ The various process used for conversion of biomass into energy or bio fuels
can be classified as follows:
1. Direct combustion
2. Thermo chemical conversion
3. Biochemical conversion
Biomass energy conversion
Thermo chemical conversion
1. Combustion process
▪ Combustion is an exothermic chemical reaction, in which biomass is burned
in the presence of air.
▪ In this process chemical energy which is stored in the biomass is converted
in the mechanical and electrical energies.
▪ This process is suitable for dry biomass containing moisture less than 50%.
Biomass is burned at the temperature of 800-1000 °C.
▪ This process is used for domestic applications as well as commercially in
biomass power plants in order to produce electricity.
1. Combustion process
▪ The typical efficiencies for stand-alone biomass combustion power plants
(using wood and forest residue as a fuel) range between 20-50 MWe, with
related the electrical efficiencies in the 25-30%.
▪ These power plants are suitable where fuels are available at low costs. In
recent years advanced combustion technology is being used.
▪ The application of fluid bed system and advanced gas cleaning allows for
production of electricity from biomass, on scale of 50-80 MWe, with 30-40%
electrical efficiencies
Combustion process
2. Pyrolysis process
▪ It is the process of conversion of biomass to liquid (bio-oil), solid (charcoal)
and gaseous (fuel gases) products by heating in the absence of air at
500°C.
▪ There are two types of pyrolysis :
▪ Fast pyrolysis, conventional (Carbonization) pyrolysis and slow pyrolysis.
Fast pyrolysis process has high heating value and heat transfer rate and
completes within seconds.
▪ Fast pyrolysis yields 60% bio-oil, 20% bio-char and 20% biogas
▪ Conventional pyrolysis process is the process in which mostly carbon (35%)
is leaved as residue.
▪ Slow pyrolysis takes more time than fast pyrolysis, it also has low
temperature and heating values.
▪ Flash pyrolysis is the type of fast pyrolysis, in which 80% bio-oil is obtained
at keeping temperature low.
▪ If flash pyrolysis is used for converting biomass to bio-crude, it has up to
80% efficiency
3. Gasification process
▪ In biomass gasification, charcoal, wood chips, energy crops, forestry
residues, agricultural waste and other wastes are transformed into
flammable gases at high temperature (800-1000°C.
▪ In this process fuel (biomass) reacts with a gasifying medium such as
oxygen enriched air, pure oxygen, steam or a combination of both.
▪ The product gas composition and energy content depends upon the
gasifying media’s nature and amount of it.
▪ Low calorific Value (CV) gas obtained by gasification about 4-6 MJ/N m³.
The product gas can be used as a feedstock (syngas) in the production of
chemicals like methanol
3. Gasification process
▪ One promising concept is the biomass integrated gasification/ combined
cycle (BIG/CC), in which gas turbines convert the gaseous fuel to electricity
with a high overall conversion efficiency.
▪ The integration of gasification and combustion/ heat recovery ensures 40-
50% conversion efficiency for a 30-60 MW.
▪ The syngas can be converted into hydrogen gas, and it may have a future
as fuel for transportation
Biomass
gasification
4. Liquefaction process
▪ It is the process in which biomass is converted into liquid phase at low
temperatures (250-350°C) and high pressures (100-200 bar), usually with a
high hydrogen partial pressure and catalysts to increase the rate of reaction.
▪ This process is used to get maximum liquid yields with higher quality than
from the pyrolysis process.
▪ The product have higher heating value and lower oxygen content which
makes the fuel chemically stable.
▪ The main purpose of the liquefaction is to obtain high H/C ratio of the
product oil
Liquefaction
Process
Bio-chemical conversion
1. Anaerobic digestion process
▪ This is a process in which organic material directly converted to a gas
which is termed as biogas.
▪ It is mixture of methane, carbon dioxide and other gases like hydrogen
sulphide in small quantities.
▪ Biomass is converted in anaerobic environment by bacteria, which
produces a gas having an energy of 20-40% of lower heating value of the
feedstock.
▪ This process is suitable for organic wastes having high moisture about 80-
90%.
1. Anaerobic digestion process
▪ This biogas can be directly used in spark ignition gas engines and gas
turbines and can be upgraded to higher quality natural gas by removing
carbon dioxide.
▪ The overall conversion efficiency of this process is 21%.
▪ Waste heat from engines and turbines can be recovered by using combined
heat and power system
2. Fermentation process
▪ Fermentation is an anaerobic process that breaks down the glucose within
organic materials.
▪ It is a series of chemical reactions that convert sugars to ethanol. The basic
fermentation process involves the conversion of a plant’s glucose (or
carbohydrate) into an alcohol or acid.
▪ Yeast or bacteria are added to the biomass material, which feed on the
sugars to produce ethanol and carbon dioxide.
2. Fermentation process
▪ The ethanol is distilled and dehydrated
to obtain a higher concentration of
alcohol to achieve the required purity for
the use as automotive fuel.
▪ The solid residue from the fermentation
process can be used as cattle-feed and
in the case of sugar cane
▪ The bagasse can be used as a fuel for
boilers or for subsequent gasification
Bio gas production process
▪ The biogas production from waste biomass is achieved by the action of
anaerobic bacteria in presence of moisture and in the absence of oxygen.
▪ The conversion process is called bio digestion or anaerobic fermentation.
▪ The bio-chemical process takes place in three stages as shown below
1. Hydrolysis
2. Acid formation
3. Methane formation
1. Hydrolysis
▪ Firstly the biomass having complex compound such as fats, proteins,
carbohydrates etc. are broken down into simple water soluble organic
compounds through the influence of water called hydrolysis.
▪ Bacteria decompose the long chains of the complex carbohydrates, proteins
and lipids into shorter parts.
▪ For example, polysaccharides (a carbohydrate e.g. starch, cellulose, or
glycogen whose molecules consist of a number of sugar molecules bonded
together) are converted into monosaccharide (any of the class of sugars
(e.g. glucose) that cannot be hydrolysed to give a simpler sugar).
▪ Proteins are split into peptides and amino acids.
2. Acid formation
▪ The micro-organism of anaerobic and facultative group (which grows in
absence of O2) called acid forming bacteria produce mainly the acetic
acid and propionic acid at low temperature of about 25° with release of
CO2.
▪ In certain cases, the acid may be produced in such large quantities that all
the biological activity is arrested.
▪ Thus, it becomes necessary to control the pH value of mixture.
▪ Acid-producing bacteria, involved in the second step, convert the
intermediates of fermenting bacteria into acetic acid (CH3COOH), hydrogen
(H2) and carbon dioxide (CO2)
2. Acid formation
▪ These bacteria are facultative anaerobic (A facultative anaerobe is an
organism that makes ATP by aerobic respiration if oxygen is present,) and
can grow under acid conditions.
▪ To produce acetic acid, they need oxygen and carbon.
▪ For this, they use the oxygen dissolved in the solution or bounded-oxygen.
▪ Hereby, the acid producing bacteria create an anaerobic condition which is
essential for the methane producing microorganisms.
▪ Moreover, they reduce the compounds with a low molecular weight into
alcohols, organic acids, amino acids, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide and
traces of methane.
3. Methane formation
▪ In this stage the anaerobic bacteria called as methane formers
converts the organic acids formed in stage II into biogas having its
main constituents as methane and carbon dioxide with other small
trace of H2S, H2 and N2 etc.
▪ These methane formers are sensitive to pH changes.
Bio gas plant
▪ A standard type of biogas plant used to collect biological gas has five
main components: the inlet, the fermentation chamber, the gas,
the gas storage bag or tank, and the outlet and the exit pipe through
which the gas is removed.
▪ Organic matter such as manure (human or animal) is used to feed the
plant. The process of anaerobic fermentation will then take place here, to
generate biological gas (biogas).
▪ It will also produce a substrate rich in nutrients which can be used
as organic fertilizer or fish feed.
Types of biogas plant
▪ Fixed dome biogas plant
▪ Floating dome biogas plant
▪ Low cost polyethylene tube digester
▪ Balloon plants
Fixed dome biogas plant
▪ A fixed-dome plant consists of a digester with a fixed, non-movable
gas holder, which sits on top of the digester.
▪ When gas production starts, the slurry is displaced into the
compensation tank.
▪ Gas pressure increases with the volume of gas stored and the height
difference between the slurry level in the digester and the slurry level in
the compensation tank.
▪ The costs of a fixed-dome biogas plant are relatively low.
▪ The plant is constructed underground, protecting it from physical
damage and saving space.
▪ While the underground digester is protected from low temperatures at
night and during cold seasons, sunshine and warm seasons take longer
to heat up the digester.
▪ No day/night fluctuations of temperature in the digester positively
influence the bacteriological processes.
▪ The construction of fixed dome plants is labour-intensive, thus creating
local employment.
▪ Fixed-dome plants are not easy to build.
▪ They should only be built where construction can be supervised by
experienced biogas technicians.
▪ Otherwise plants may not be gas-tight (porosity and cracks).
▪ The digesters of fixed-dome plants are usually masonry structures,
structures of cement and ferro-cement exist.
▪ Main parameters for the choice of material are:
Technical suitability (stability, gas- and liquid tightness);
cost-effectiveness;
availability in the region and transport costs;
availability of local skills for working with the particular building material.
▪ Fixed dome plants produce just as much gas as floating-drum plants, if
they are gas-tight.
▪ However, utilization of the gas is less effective as the gas pressure
fluctuates substantially.
▪ A possibility to reduce the risk of cracking of the gas-holder consists in
the construction of a weak-ring in the masonry of the digester.
▪ This "ring" is a flexible joint between the lower (water-proof) and the
upper (gas-proof) part of the hemispherical structure.
▪ It prevents cracks that develop due to the hydrostatic pressure in the
lower parts to move into the upper parts of the gas-holder. Then, gas is
less effective as the gas pressure fluctuates substantially.
▪ Fixed-dome plants must be covered with earth up to the top of the gas-
filled space to counteract the internal pressure (up to 0,15 bar). The
earth cover insulation and the option for internal heating makes them
suitable for colder climates. Due to economic parameters, the
recommended minimum size of a fixed-dome plant is 5 m3. Digester
volumes up to 200 m3 are known and possible.
▪ A possibility to reduce the risk of cracking of the gas-holder consists in
the construction of a weak-ring in the masonry of the digester.
▪ This "ring" is a flexible joint between the lower (water-proof) and the
upper (gas-proof) part of the hemispherical structure.
▪ It prevents cracks that develop due to the hydrostatic pressure in the
lower parts to move into the upper parts of the gas-holder. Then, gas is
less effective as the gas pressure fluctuates substantially.
▪ Fixed-dome plants must be covered with earth up to the top of the gas-
filled space to counteract the internal pressure (up to 0,15 bar). The
earth cover insulation and the option for internal heating makes them
suitable for colder climates. Due to economic parameters, the
recommended minimum size of a fixed-dome plant is 5 m3. Digester
volumes up to 200 m3 are known and possible.
▪ Advantages
▪ Low initial costs and long useful life-span; no moving or rusting parts
involved;
▪ Basic design is compact,
▪ Saves space and is well insulated;
▪ Construction creates local employment.
▪ Advantages are the relatively low construction costs, the absence of
moving parts and rusting steel parts. If well constructed, fixed dome
plants have a long life span.
▪ The underground construction saves space and protects the digester
from temperature changes. The construction provides opportunities for
skilled local employment.
▪ Disadvantages
▪ Masonry gas-holders require special sealants and high technical skills
for gas-tight construction;
▪ Gas leaks occur quite frequently
▪ Fluctuating gas pressure complicates gas utilization
▪ Amount of gas produced is not immediately visible, plant operation not
readily understandable
▪ Fixed dome plants need exact planning of levels; excavation can be
difficult and expensive in bedrock. Disadvantages are mainly the
frequent problems with the gas-tightness of the brickwork gas holder (a
small crack in the upper brickwork can cause heavy losses of biogas).
▪ A specific environmental disadvantage is methane emission from the
expansion chamber.
Floating dome biogas plant
▪ In 1956, Jashu Bhai J Patel from India designed the first floating drum
biogas plant, popularly called Gobar gas plant.
▪ Floating-drum plants consist of an underground digester (cylindrical or
dome-shaped) and a moving gas-holder.
▪ The gas-holder floats either directly on the fermentation slurry or in a
water jacket of its own.
▪ The gas is collected in the gas drum, which rises or moves down,
according to the amount of gas stored.
▪ The gas drum is prevented from tilting by a guiding frame.
▪ When biogas is produced, the drum moves up and when it is consumed,
the drum goes down.
▪ If the drum floats in a water jacket, it cannot get stuck, even in substrate
with high solid content.
▪ After the introduction of cheap Fixed-dome Chinese model, the floating
drum plants became obsolete as they have high investment and
maintenance cost along with other design weakness
Floating dome biogas plant types
▪ KVIC model with a cylindrical digester, the oldest and most widespread
floating drum biogas plant from India.
▪ Pragati model with a hemisphere digester
▪ Ganesh model made of angular steel and plastic foil
▪ floating-drum plant made of pre-fabricated reinforced concrete compound
units
▪ floating-drum plant made of fibre-glass reinforced polyester
▪ low cost floating-drum plants made of plastic water containers or fiberglass
drums: ARTI Biogas plants
▪ BORDA model: The BORDA-plant combines the static advantages of
hemispherical digester with the process-stability of the floating-drum and the
longer life span of a water jacket plant.
Biofuels
▪ A biofuel is a fuel that is produced through contemporary biological
processes, such as agriculture and anaerobic digestion, rather than a fuel
produced by geological processes such as those involved in the formation
of fossil fuels, such as coal and petroleum, from prehistoric biological matter.
▪ If the source bio matter can regrow quickly, the resulting fuel is said to be a
form of renewable energy.
▪ Biofuels can be derived directly from plants (i.e. energy crops), or indirectly
from agricultural, commercial, domestic, and/or industrial wastes.
▪ Biofuels may be solid, liquid or gaseous in nature.
▪ Solid-Wood, dried plant material, and manure
▪ Liquid: Bioethanol and Biodiesel
▪ Gaseous: Biogas
Need of biofuels
▪ Fossil fuels like coal and petroleum are the most common sources of energy.
▪ Fossil fuels are non-renewable sources, which means one day we will run out
of them.
▪ As a result, the price of petroleum is also increasing day-by-day.
▪ Fossil fuels take millions of years to form through various geological
processes.
▪ Their process of extraction is also very expensive.
▪ The emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) by fossil fuels leads to the global
warming.
▪ So, there is great demand for some renewable source of energy which should
be cost effective and environmental friendly in nature. A biofuel is a great
alternative for fossil fuels.
Types of biofuels
First generation of biofuels
▪ First Generation biofuels are produced directly from food crops by abstracting
the oils for use in biodiesel or producing bioethanol through fermentation.
▪ Crops such as wheat and sugar are the most widely used feedstock for
bioethanol while oil seed rape has proved a very effective crop for use in
biodiesel.
▪ It is important to note that the structure of the biofuel itself does not change
between generations, but rather the source from which the fuel is derived
changes.
▪ Corn, wheat, and sugar cane are the most commonly used first generation
biofuel feed stock.
▪ Examples: Bioethanol, biodiesel, biogas
▪ Advantages
The infrastructure i.e. land for cultivation, techniques for their production is
easily available.
The process of conversion of corn-starch and sugarcane into ethanol is very
simple.
▪ Disadvantages
The use of food sources in the production of biofuels has created an
imbalance in food economy, which leads to increased food prices and hunger.
The repeated cultivation of biofuel-producing-crops leads to soil erosion.
The use of fertilizers to enhance production leads to the emission of Nitrous
Oxide into the atmosphere.
Second generation of biofuels
▪ Second generation biofuels are also known as advanced biofuels.
▪ The fuels derived from non-food sources and the waste left from the food
resources are called second generation biofuels.
▪ Grasses like switchgrass, Indian grass, and myscanthus
▪ Unsuitable plant materials like wood chips, agricultural waste (i.e.
Sugarcane bagasse), paper production wastes, etc.
▪ Non-edible plant parts
▪ Municipal solid waste- The waste from humans and landfill gas can be used
for the production of heat and power. These sources produce fewer amounts
of harmful gases than fossil fuels
▪ The waste vegetable oil used in cooking in restaurant deep frying can be
reused for the production of biodiesel.
Second generation of biofuels
▪ Examples: cellulose ethanol, biodiesel.
▪ Advantages:
The non-food sources don’t affect the food economy and are easily available.
▪ Disadvantages:
Use of fossil fuels in the industrial production of biofuels may emit greenhouse
gases (GHGs).
Third generation of biofuels
▪ Fuels derived from the algae are called third generation biofuels.
▪ The oil-rich algae can then be extracted from the system and processed into
biofuels, with the dried remainder further reprocessed to create ethanol.
▪ The production of algae to harvest oil for biofuels has not yet been undertaken
on a commercial scale, but feasibility studies have been conducted to arrive at
the above yield estimate.
▪ The algae are consists of 40% of lipids which can be converted to biodiesel or
synthetic petroleum. The Algae have the potential of producing the highest
amount of energy among all the sources.
▪ Examples:
▪ Biodiesel
▪ Butanol
▪ Gasoline
▪ Jet fuel
▪ Methane
▪ Advantages:
Environmental friendly– The algae can be grown in wastewater and helps in
the decomposition of waste, which is further used for the production of energy.
Easy to cultivate– The algae can be cultivated in multiple areas: open pond,
closed-loop systems, in the sterile environment, and photo bioreactors.
▪ Disadvantages:
The algae require a large amount of water, nitrogen and phosphorous for
growth. So, fertilizers are used for production.
Biodiesel produced from the algae is not stable because oil produced from
algae is unsaturated in nature and highly volatile and is degraded very early.
Ethanol
▪ Biologically produced alcohols, most commonly ethanol, and less
commonly propanol and butanol, are produced by the action
of microorganisms and enzymes through the fermentation of sugars or
starches (easiest), or cellulose (which is more difficult).
▪ Biobutanol (also called bio gasoline) is often claimed to provide a direct
replacement for gasoline, because it can be used directly in a gasoline
engine.
▪ Ethanol fuel is the most common biofuel worldwide, particularly in Brazil.
▪ Alcohol fuels are produced by fermentation of sugars derived
from wheat, corn, sugar beets, sugar cane, molasses and any sugar or starch
from which alcoholic beverages such as whiskey can be made (such
as potato and fruit waste, etc.).
Ethanol
▪ Ethanol can be used in petrol engines as a replacement for gasoline; it can be
mixed with gasoline to any percentage.
▪ Most existing car petrol engines can run on blends of up to 15% bioethanol
with petroleum/gasoline.
▪ Ethanol has a smaller energy density than that of gasoline; this means it takes
more fuel (volume and mass) to produce the same amount of work.
▪ An advantage of ethanol is that it has a higher octane rating than ethanol-free
gasoline available at roadside gas stations, which allows an increase of an
engine's compression ratio for increased thermal efficiency.
▪ In high-altitude (thin air) locations, some states mandate a mix of gasoline and
ethanol as a winter oxidizer to reduce atmospheric pollution emissions.
Bio diesel
▪ Biodiesel is the most common biofuel in Europe. It is produced from oils or
fats using trans esterification and is a liquid similar in composition to
fossil/mineral diesel.
▪ Chemically, it consists mostly of fatty acid methyl (or ethyl) esters (FAMEs).
▪ Feedstocks for biodiesel include animal fats, vegetable
oils, soy, rapeseed, jatropha, mahua, mustard, flax, sunflower, palm
oil, hemp, field pennycress, Pongamia pinnata and algae.
▪ Pure biodiesel (B100, also known as "neat" biodiesel) currently reduces
emissions with up to 60% compared to diesel Second generation B100
▪ Biodiesel can be used in any diesel engine when mixed with mineral diesel.
Bio diesel
▪ It can also be used in its pure form (B100) in diesel engines, but some
maintenance and performance problems may then occur during wintertime
utilization, since the fuel becomes somewhat more viscous at lower
temperatures, depending on the feedstock used.
▪ In some countries, manufacturers cover their diesel engines under warranty
for B100 use, although Volkswagen of Germany, for example, asks drivers to
check by telephone with the VW environmental services department before
switching to B100.
▪ In most cases, biodiesel is compatible with diesel engines from 1994 onwards,
which use 'Viton' (by DuPont) synthetic rubber in their mechanical fuel
injection systems.
▪ Note however, that no vehicles are certified for using pure biodiesel before
2014, as there was no emission control protocol available for biodiesel before
this date.
Bio diesel
▪ Biodiesel is also safe to handle and transport because it is non-toxic
and biodegradable, and has a high flash point of about 300 °F (148 °C)
compared to petroleum diesel fuel, which has a flash point of 125 °F (52 °C)
▪ In the US, more than 80% of commercial trucks and city buses run on diesel.
The emerging US biodiesel market is estimated to have grown 200% from
2004 to 2005. "By the end of 2006 biodiesel production was estimated to
increase fourfold [from 2004] to more than" 1 billion US gallons
(3,800,000 m3).
▪ In France, biodiesel is incorporated at a rate of 8% in the fuel used by all
French diesel vehicles.
▪ Avril Group produces under the brand Diester, a fifth of 11 million tons of
biodiesel consumed annually by the European Union.
▪ It is the leading European producer of biodiesel.
Biomass cogeneration
▪ Cogeneration – ‘generating together’ – refers to the process wherein we
obtain both heat and electricity from the same fuel at the same time.
▪ The process is also referred to as CHP, short for combined heat and power.
▪ A variety of fuels can be used for cogeneration including bagasse, natural
gas, coal, and biomass.
▪ A cogeneration plant consists of four basic elements: a prime mover, an
electricity generator, a heat extraction or recovery unit, and a control
panel.
▪ Fuel is burnt in the system or prime mover to convert its chemical energy
into heat energy, which, in turn, produces the mechanical energy to run a
generator and ultimately produce electricity.
▪ Prime movers for CHP systems include steam turbines, gas turbines,
reciprocating engines, micro-turbines, and fuel cells.
▪ The heat energy from the system is also used directly, as heat, or indirectly to
produce steam, hot water, and hot air, thus making it a CHP or cogeneration
system.
▪ Different types of cogeneration technologies are used depending upon the
end use or purpose.
▪ Some commonly used cogeneration technologies are:
1. Steam Turbines
2. Gas Turbines
3. Reciprocating Engines
▪ Steam turbine cogeneration is the commonly used technology in India.
However, the other two technologies are also discussed for information.
Biomass cogeneration system
▪ A typical biomass cogeneration (or biomass cogen) system provides:
▪ Distributed generation of electrical and/or mechanical power.
▪ Waste-heat recovery for heating, cooling, or process applications.
▪ Seamless system integration for a variety of technologies, thermal
applications, and fuel types into existing building infrastructure.
▪ Biomass cogeneration systems consist of a number of individual
components—prime mover (heat engine), generator, heat recovery, and
electrical interconnection—configured into an integrated whole.
▪ The type of equipment that drives the overall system (i.e., the prime mover)
typically identifies the CHP unit.
Prime movers
▪ Prime movers for biomass cogeneration units include reciprocating engines,
combustion or gas turbines, steam turbines, microturbines, and fuel cells.
▪ These prime movers are capable of burning a variety of fuels, including natural
gas, coal, oil, and alternative fuels to produce shaft power or mechanical
energy.
▪ Key Components
▪ Biomass receiving and feedstock preparation.
▪ Energy conversion – Conversion of the biomass into steam for direct
combustion systems or into biogas for the gasification systems.
▪ Power and heat production – Conversion of the steam
or syngas or biogas into electric power and process steam or hot water
Feedstock for Biomass Cogenerations plants
▪ The lowest cost forms of biomass for cogeneration plants are residues.
▪ Residues are the organic by products of food, fiber, and forest production,
such as sawdust, rice husks, wheat straw, corn stalks, and sugarcane
bagasse.
▪ Forest residues and wood wastes represent a large potential resource for
energy production and include forest residues, forest thinning, and
primary mill residues.
▪ Energy crops are perennial grasses and trees grown through traditional
agricultural practices that are produced primarily to be used as feedstock
for energy generation, e.g. hybrid poplars, hybrid willows, and switch
grass.
▪ Animal manure can be digested anaerobically to produce biogas in large
agricultural farms and dairies.
▪ To turn a biomass resource into productive heat and/or electricity requires
a number of steps and considerations, most notably evaluating the
availability of suitable biomass resources; determining the economics
of collection, storage, and transportation; and evaluating
available technology options for converting biomass into useful heat or
electricity.
Back pressure steam turbine
Back pressure steam turbine
▪ Steam at a pressure higher or equal to atmospheric pressure is extracted
from the turbine to the thermal load that is the point at which heat is required.
▪ At that point, the steam releases heat and gets condensed, or turns into
water.
▪ The condensate (water) returns to the system at a flow rate that can be lower
than the steam flow rate if some steam is used in the process.
▪ This loss of steam is then compensated for in the cycle in the form of ‘make-
up’ water fed into the boiler.
▪ It has to be noted that this turbine system does not have a separate
condenser.
▪ Back-pressure steam turbines are the most efficient among all cogeneration
systems; their cogeneration efficiency ranges from 84% to 92%.
Extraction-condensing steam turbines
Extraction-condensing steam turbines
▪ In extraction-condensing steam turbines, steam is extracted at one or more
intermediate stages at the required pressure and temperature.
▪ The remaining steam from the turbine is transported to the condenser at very
low pressure, as low as 0.05 bar (5 kPa), corresponding to a condensing
temperature of approximately 33 °C.
Open cycle gas turbine cogeneration systems
▪ Most of the currently available gas turbine systems work on the open
Brayton cycle, in which the compressor takes in air from the atmosphere
and sends the compressed air to the combustor.
▪ From the compressor, the air is delivered through a diffuser to a combustion
chamber, where fuel is injected and burnt.
▪ Exhaust gases exit the combustor at high temperatures (about 600 °C).
▪ The highest temperature in the cycle is reached at this point; the higher this
temperature, the higher the cycle’s efficiency.
▪ This temperature is limited – currently to about 1300 °C – by the ability of the
gas turbine material to withstand high temperatures and the efficiency of the
cooling blades.
▪ The exhaust gases at high pressure and temperature enter the gas turbine,
supplying the mechanical energy to drive the compressor and the electric
generator, which, in turn, produces electricity.
▪ The exhaust gases leave the turbine at considerably high temperatures (450–
600 °C), which are ideal for high-temperature heat recovery.
▪ The heat is recovered by a heat-recovery boiler for extracting heat more
efficiently.
▪ The steam produced in the heat recovery boiler can be at high pressures and
temperatures, which makes the steam suitable not only for thermal processes
but also for running a steam turbine to produce additional power.
▪ The exhaust gases are finally released into the atmosphere, after extracting
maximum heat in the various components of the cogeneration system.
Closed cycle gas turbine cogeneration systems
▪ In the closed cycle system, the working fluid (usually helium or air) circulates
within a closed circuit.
▪ The heat is supplied to the closed cycle through a heat exchanger, instead of
direct combustion of the fuel in the working fluid circuit.
▪ This arrangement ensures that both the working fluid and the turbine
machinery are isolated from both the combustion chambers (heat source).
▪ On exiting from the turbine, the working fluid cools down, releasing its useful
heat in the form of mechanical energy to produce electricity.
▪ In the closed cycle gas turbine, the gas turbine exhaust is recycled to the
compressor after being cooled and thereby forms a closed working fluid
circuit.
▪ The source of heat can be the external combustion of any fuel (e.g. industrial
wastes, municipal waste, solar energy or nuclear energy).
▪ The capacities of such systems range from 2 to 50 MWe.
Reciprocating engine cogeneration systems
▪ A reciprocating engine, such as a diesel engine, can be combined with a
heat-recovery boiler that supplies heat to the steam turbine to generate both
electricity and heat.
▪ Heat from reciprocating engines can be recovered from four potential
sources: exhaust gases, water from the engine jacket used for cooling, lube
oil used for cooling, and the turbocharger used for cooling.
▪ The first two are the major sources, which are also easy to use and hence
more common.
▪ Of the total heat lost from an engine (depending on its operating efficiency),
roughly half is in the form of exhaust gases ( 400–500 °C), which can be
utilized for producing steam or for drying bricks, ceramics, animal feed, etc.
▪ The waste heat in the form of the water used for cooling the engine (20%–
30%) can be utilized for pre-heating water or generating hot air.
▪ Heat from this source can be used for some industrial processes that require
low-pressure steam, in hospitals for sterilizing surgical equipment, garments,
etc., and in food processing.
▪ Reciprocating engine cogeneration plants can attain overall efficiencies of
more than 80%–90%, and their capacities span a wide range, from as little as
a few kW to MW, depending on the capacity of the internal combustion
engine
Advantages and Disadvantages

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Renewable Energy

Prepared by : Siddharth Panchal

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