Tag Archives: environmental
Turning Plant Matter into Fuel
Posted on June 18, 2013 by Joanna Schroeder Charles Wyman, a University of California Riverside professor in the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, recently edited a book, “ Aqueous Pretreatment of Plant Biomass for Biological and Chemical Conversion to Fuels, ” that provides in-depth information on aqueous processing of cellulosic biomass into fuel. The just-published book focuses on aqueous pretreatment of cellulosic biomass to promote sugar release for biological, catalytic, or thermochemical conversion into fuels and chemicals. Introductory chapters provide the rationale for converting biomass to fuels; its importance to national security, balance of trade, and the environment; and insights into biological and catalytic processing to fuels. Also included are in-depth information on the chemistry and biology of cellulosic biomass, leading pretreatments to facilitate its biological and chemical conversion to sugars, and methods important to assess the effectiveness of biomass conversion technologies. In recent decades, interest in converting cellulosic biomass to fuels has closely tracked the price of petroleum: support jumps when petroleum prices are high and wanes when prices drop. “That creates a big challenge,” Wyman said. “The volatility of oil prices and associated enthusiasm for alternatives results in a very unstable environment in which to build a business.” Yet, cellulosic biomass conversion has unique and powerful benefits. It has the potential to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and imported petroleum dependence and is widely available and inexpensive. For example, cellulosic biomass costing $60 per dry ton has about the same cost per energy content as petroleum at about $20 per barrel. “The challenge is, and has always been, reducing the cost of breaking down cellulosic biomass into sugars and other fuel precursors that can be converted into products, and aqueous pretreatment plays a pivotal role for leading biological, catalytic, and thermochemical routes” Wyman added. Wyman’s passion for renewable energy was first expressed through a junior high school science fair project focused on solar energy storage. It grew as he earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Princeton, became a leader in biomass conversion at the Solar Energy Research Institute, now known as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and as an endowed professor at Dartmouth College. Today, he is also holds the Ford Motor Company Chair in Environmental Engineering in the Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT) of the UC Riverside Bourns College of Engineering . In 1996, during his tenure at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, he edited the book Handbook on Bioethanol: Production and Utilization. He also co-founded Mascoma Corporation , a startup company focused on advanced technology for biomass conversion to ethanol, in 2005. Continue reading
Willow Biomass The Next Best Thing In Renewable Energy
June 18, 2013 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) is launching an outreach and training program to develop commercial-scale production of willow biomass as a renewable, sustainable energy source — bridging the gap between developing technology and practical use — as part of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Regional Council Initiative. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/MJ Richardson The training program is receiving $397,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and builds upon the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Biomass Crop Assistance Project (BCAP), which awarded $1.2 million to landowners and producers in 2012 to support the establishment and maintenance of up to 1,200 acres of willow biomass crops. As a renewable resource, willow is planted once and can be harvested every three years. A single planting can result in up to seven harvests over 22 years. To date, this project is the largest expansion of willow biomass crops in North America. “Willow biomass crops are being developed as a source of renewable energy that can be grown on marginal agricultural land in New York and across the northeast and Midwest United States. The 1,200 acres of willow biomass crops in this project in northern New York is the largest expansion of this system to date in North America,” said Cornelius B. Murphy Jr., president, SUNY-ESF. “The funding that NYSERDA is providing to support the expansion of willow biomass crops in northern New York is essential not only for the success of this project but also to lay the groundwork for future expansion of this renewable energy industry.” For more: – see this report Read more: Willow biomass the next best thing in renewable energy – FierceEnergy http://www.fierceene…8#ixzz2WZs3Kxde Subscribe at FierceEnergy Continue reading
Capturing Carbon on the Cheap
Environmental Leader – 31/05/13 Some of the processes being looked at as cheaper ways of capturing carbon dioxide emissions include a government-led large-scale implementation at a power plant, a installation at a natural gas production facility and rolling out the technology to other industrial facilities, according to an article in the MIT Technology Review. Despite the US’ growth in renewable energy use, electricity generation from coal is expected to grow twice as much as generation from electricity by 2020. But without carbon capture technology many coal plants would fail to meet strict regulations and face closure. However, no one currently knows how much large-scale carbon capture will cost and finding out will cost billions of dollars, MIT Technology Review reports. One method being investigated as a workaround to find cheaper ways to capture carbon is for government to demonstrate its effectiveness on a large scale. The FutureGen project was originally planned as a new kind of hydrogen and electricity producing power plant. It was canned by the Bush administration due to high costs, but it was reinstated in a form that costs half as much after the Recovery Act. The project is now focused on retrofitting an existing power plant, but, given design and permit challenges, it may still not be ready to take advantage of Recovery Act funding , the article says. A natural gas production facility in Norway has been using carbon capture technology for years and emulating it could provide another way forward, the article says. Utilizing such technology at a natural gas production facility can be more efficient as such facilities produce a far more concentrated stream of CO2 than power plants. Capturing carbon at industrial facilities may be the only way to deal with emissions from such sources as ethanol and steel plants, the article says. Two projects that capture carbon from fermentation at an ethanol plant and another that captures it from a hydrogen plant production plant are now online. This kind of industrial site carbon capture could account for about half of captured CO2 by 2050, the article says. There is also a market for selling captured CO2 to oil recovery projects, such as a Department of Energy demonstration project in Texas that went online earlier this month. This adds an income stream to the process of CO2 capture and, once used by the oil recoverers, the gas is trapped underground in a capped well. Also this month, Aker Solutions won a contract to perform the world’s first tests for capturing carbon dioxide emissions from a cement production plant. Aker Solutions says it will perform long-term testing on the actual flue gas to select the best chemical solvent for high-content CO2 flue gas at a Norcem plant in Brevik, Norway. In other carbon capture news, scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have discovered and demonstrated a new technique to remove and store atmospheric CO2 while generating carbon-negative hydrogen and producing alkalinity, which can be used to offset ocean acidification. The hydrogen can be used as a carbon-negative “super green” fuel or chemical feedstock, the researchers said. Continue reading
