Biomass

• Composition of Municipal Solid Waste

• Energy Retrieval from Recycling

• Incineration and Incinerator Ash

• Secure Landfills

• Efficiency of Conversion of Sunlight into Biomass

• Methane Digesters

• Alternative Biomass Fuels for Vehicles

• Wood Combustion

• Energy Plantations
Energy in the News
Composition of Urban Garbage
William Rathje
Garbologist

When did Arizona

Residents throw out
the most meat?
Composition of Solid Waste: 23 Cities
Waste Generation Rates over Time
Changes in Disposal Methods
 Energetics of Recycling and Substitution

Energy Cost of Various Materials

Paper Cups 36 Styrofoam Cups 1
Steel from Ore 23 Steel From Scrap 1
Aluminum from Ore 43 Aluminum from Scrap 1
Copper from Ore 4.3 Copper from Scrap 1
Glass from Ore 1.3 Glass from Cullet 1
 Biodegradability

Biodegradability in garbage dumps: an non-issue.

Rapid biodegradation: requires oxygen and/or water.
Rathje:perfectly preserved years old meat and vegetables!
 Waste to Energy Plant

Locked into long term contract: may discourage recycling

Fly ash: Bottom ash: Where collected and transported?
 Metal in Incinerator Ash
Fly ash: from electrostatic precipitators. Bottom ash: bottom of boiler
Which is most dangerous??

Additional concerns: dioxin from burning of chlorine containing

compounds (plastics,etc.). Dioxin: carcinogen, endocrine disrupter
 Recycling Trivia
Americans consume 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour

If you drink 2 cans ofsoft drink per day in aluminum cans and cans are
not recycled,you waste more energy than is used daily by one human in
the lesser developed countries

Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for 3

hours

Recycling of all paper used in the Sunday edition of the New York Times
would save 75,000 trees per year
Fly Ash Dump in Korba India
(from power plant)

No vegetation.
Fly Ash Dump in Badarpur, India

Reclaimed using mycorrihizal fungi (bioremediation)

Also small amounts of compost.
Reduces air pollution from fly ash dump.
 Black layers on top and bottom: liner
Secure Landfill Liner thickness: about 1/3 inch
Circles on bottom: leachate pipes
Note: Gas vent, low permeability soil,
filter layer, barrier layer, drainage layer
Percent Trash Disposal in Landfills
Biomass Production vs Energy Use
Uses of biomass
Aside from energy?
Biomass to
Fuel
Conversions
Results:
Alcohol (Ethanol)
Biogas (Methane)
Syngas
Gasoline (Biocrude)
Diesel Fuel (Plant Oil)
Methods of Biomass to Energy
Conversion
• Direct combustion

• Pyrolysis: thermal decomposition into gas or liquid

Involves high temperatures (500-900°C), low oxygen

• Biochemical processes:
Anaerobic digestion by methanogens
• Controlled fermentation produces alcohols:
Ethanol (grain alcohol)
Methanol (wood alcohol)
 Anaerobic Digester

Converts animal or plant waste

Into methane

Typical wastes:
Manure (feed lots,pig farms, poultry)
Olive oil mill waste
Potato processing waste

Big deal: Agricultural Science Depts

 Optimum Operating Temperature
35°C, maximum liters of methane per day, best retention time?
 Cellulose High Solids Fermenter

Adjusting agitator shaft of high solids fermenter. Produces methane gas,

high quality compost from sewage sludge, use 1/20th the water
Compared to conventional digesters. Downside: agitator needed.
 Energy Used to Grow vs Food Energy

Ethanol from corn: 1.74 per gallon to produce vs 95 cents per gallon
Of gasoline.
70% more energy to make ethanol from US corn than energy in ethanol
Good use of ethanol: oxidizer to replace MTBE in gasoline
10% ethanol boosts octane rating of gasoline, replaces lead.
Energy Contributions to Bread Loaf
Grain production, Baking, Transport, Milling, Shops, Packaging
 Energy in Biomass
Only a small amount energy in sunlight converted into biomass by plants.
Conversion efficiency varies:
Sugar cane: 2%
Corn: 1%
Typical forest: 0.8%
Most food plants: <0.8%
Maximum theoretical efficiency: 10%
 Sugar Cane

Sugar cane: very high productivity per acre. Use bagasse

(sugar cane waste) to run boilers to boil sap for sugar.
Bagasse to energy plants: 7% of Hawaiian energy
(Mauritius)
Bagasse to Methane Plant: Hilo, HI
 Hemp Plants
Advantages: 4 times as much pulp per acre as wood, no pesticides needed
Can make cloth,rope paper. Does need nitrogen fertilizer.
Not good to smoke. 1763-1767-Virginia farmers jailed if no hemp grown.
 Four Year Old
Eucalyptus: Hawaii

Eucalyptus: produce high amounts

Of biomass under drier conditions
Than hemp. Very hardy species.
Plants as Sources of Petroleum
Like Substances
Gopher plant: grows wild in California: 25 barrels of
crude oil per hectare

Copaifera multijuga: found in Brazil: produces almost

pure diesel fuel

Bladderpod: can be used to make plastic

Jojoba: 50% oil by weigh: resembles sperm oil: doesn’t

go rancid
Plastics Made from Pyrolysis Oil
(Wood Chip Waste)
 Low Cost, Efficient Woodstoves
A India, B. Nepal C. Guatemala,
Most of the world cooks with wood. Typical wood stove:
Only 10% efficient. Time to collect wood: 2 to 5 hours per day.
80% of fuel use in developing world; wood for cooking.
Major cause of deforestation, soil erosion.
Comparable Efficiency Values
Efficiency: multiply by 100.
 Rocket Stove vs Three Stone Fire
Rocket Stove: insulated fire box, short chimney, cooks on top of
Chimney, skirt surrounds pot. Built in Guatemala.
Rocket Stove
 Addition of Haybox
Haybox: insulated box. Food placed in box and left once water heated
to boiling point. Food continues to cook without fire. (Why?)
 Air Tight
Stove
Stove has lower chamber
With burning wood,
Upper chamber with
Secondary combustion
Long path for exhaust gas
= more complete burning
Note high surface area of
Stove.
About 50% efficient