Table Of ContentGreen Energy and Technology
Andrzej Wasiak
Modeling Energetic
Efficiency of
Biofuels Production
Green Energy and Technology
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8059
Andrzej Wasiak
Modeling Energetic
fi
Ef ciency of Biofuels
Production
123
Andrzej Wasiak
Faculty of Engineering Management
Bialystok University of Technology
Białystok,Poland
ISSN 1865-3529 ISSN 1865-3537 (electronic)
Green Energy andTechnology
ISBN978-3-319-98430-8 ISBN978-3-319-98431-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98431-5
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2018954610
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Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2 Biomass Resources for Biofuel Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1 Types of Biomass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Forests as Wood Resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3 Short Rotation Crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4 Agriculture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.5 Aquatic Biomass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.6 Organic Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3 Technologies of Biofuel Production. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.1 Classification of Biofuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.2 Energetic Aspects of Biofuels Production. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4 Energetic Efficiency of Biofuel Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.1 Thermal Properties of Biofuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.1.1 Energetic Efficiency Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.1.2 Partial Indicators for Subsystems Versus Total
Efficiency of the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5 Mathematical Modeling of Energetic Efficiency of Biofuel
Production System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.1 General Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.2 Agricultural Subsystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
v
vi Contents
5.2.1 Partial Energetic Effectiveness of Agricultural
Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.2.2 Partial Energetic Effectiveness of Internal Transport. . . . . . 52
5.2.3 Numerical Computations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
6 The Effects of Embodied Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.1 Main Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
7 Sustainability of Agriculture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
7.1 Consequences of Biofuel Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
7.2 Measures of Sustainability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
7.3 Effects of Biofuel Production on Sustainability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
8 Epilog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Chapter 1
Introduction
During recent years, biomass became an important resource for the production of
biofuels,whichbecameanimportantpartoftheliquidfuelindustry.Severaladvan-
tages[1]ofbiofuelproductionanduseasanenergysourceinvarioussituationsare
usuallyindicated.
First of all, in many countries, it may reduce dependence upon the import of
petroleum.Thisobviouslycanbeachievedduetothereplacementofimportedfossil
fuelbythebiofuelderivedfromdomesticbiologicalresources.Moreover,avarietyof
thoseresourcesareavailable,startingfromediblepartsofplantsthroughnonedible
onesorjustwastesfrom,e.g.,foodindustry.
Thesecondadvantagecanbeassociatedwiththepossibilityofleverageoflimited
supplyoffossilresources.Inspiteofdiverseopinionsabouttheamountsofresources
stillavailableorexpectedtobedevelopedinthefuture,itseemsundisputablethat
theavailabilityofallresourcesexistingontheEarthislimited.Also,anincreasein
theworld’sdemandforprimaryenergyisexpected[2].Therefore,theextensionof
energyresourcesbeyondtheavailablefossilfuelsisvaluable.
The use of fossil fuels is undoubtedly connected with the emission of carbon
dioxide, which is frequently considered as a cause for global warming [e.g., 3, 4].
The technological as well as economic difficulties connected to CO mitigation
2
bringssomeauthors[5]totheconclusionoftheneedforlimitationoffutureaverage
world’senergyconsumptiontothelevelofapproximately63GJ/capita/year(what
correspondstotheavailablepowerof2kW/capita).Thislimitismuchlowerthan
theactualprimaryenergyuseofsomecountries,andlowerthantheactualworld’s
average[2].
Sincebiofuelsareconsideredas,atleastpartial,thereplacementoffossilfuels,
andtheyareconsideredassubstancesthatemitthisamountofcarbondioxidewhich
was earlier absorbed by the plants during their life. It is also supposed that future
plantswillalsoabsorbthattheamountofCO duringtheirgrowth.Consequently,
2
atleastinequilibrium,thoseactsofemissionandabsorptiondonotbringadditional
carbondioxidefromtheEarthdeposits.
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A.Wasiak,ModelingEnergeticEfficiencyofBiofuelsProduction,GreenEnergy
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2 1 Introduction
Several technologies enabling the conversion of various types of biomass onto
biofuelshavealreadybeenelaborated.Thosetechnologiesinvolveseveralbiomass
resources, various forms of biofuels and a number of technologies converting the
specificformofbiomassintobiofuel.Atypicalsituationinalltechnologiesofcon-
versionistheneedforsomeamountsofenergythathastobeprovidedinorderto
facilitateconversionprocesses.
Thetypicalstructureofabiofuelproductionsystemcontainsthecouplingbetween
agriculturalandindustrialsubsystemsbyflowsofsubstancesundergoingconversion
onsubsequentsteps,andfluxesofenergyprovidedtothesteps,onwhichthecon-
versionoccurs.Sincetheagriculturalproductionisdistributedontherelativelylarge
areaascomparedtoindustrialproductiontheneedsfortransportationofmachines
and materials across the fields, as well as the transportation of the crops between
theplantationsandindustrialprocessingfacilityoccurs.Thistransport,inaddition
to conversion processes, also consumes some energy, increasing the total energy
consumptionwithintheproductionsystem.
In all cases, however, it is important that the processes occurring in the whole
productionsystemshouldnotconsumemoreenergythantheamountofenergythat
canbeobtainedintheformoffinalbiofuel.Otherwise,nogainofenergyisachieved.
Themainaimofthepresentbookistopresenttheinvestigationsonenergybalancein
biofuelproductionsystems,andtheeffectscausedbyindividualprocessesoccurring
invariouspartsofproductionsystems.
References
1. Sheehan, J., Camobreco V., Duffield J., Graboski M., Shapouri H.: Life cycle inventory of
biodiesel and petroleum diesel for use in an urban bus. NREL/SR-580-24089 UC Category
1503
2. Moriarty,P.,Honnery,D.:Whatistheglobalpotentialforrenewableenergy?Renew.Sustain.
EnergyRev.16,244–252(2012)
3. Revelle,R.:Carbondioxideandothergreenhousegasesinocean,atmosphere,andbiosphere,
andfutureclimaticimpacts.Stud.Environ.Sci.26,405–4284(1986)
4. BeckE.G.:180yearsofatmosphericCO2gasanalysisbychemicalmethods,EnergyEnviron.
18(2)(2007)
5. SprengD.:Distributionofenergyconsumptionandthe2000W/capitatarget.EnergyPolicy.
33,1905–1911(2005)
Chapter 2
Biomass Resources for Biofuel
Production
2.1 TypesofBiomass
Dependingonitsorigin,biomassmayexhibitverydifferentproperties,and,therefore,
requirequitedifferenttreatmentsinconversionintousefulproducts.Inaddition,the
sourcesofbiomassareverydifferent.Somesourcesofbiomassarebasedonthewild
lifeofplants,andotherorganisms.Thiscanbeexemplifiedbywildforestsoraquatic
organisms,especiallythoselivinginoceans.Theothertypeiscultivated.Insucha
case,thestandforusefulcropsisusuallyprepared,theorganismscarefullyprotected,
and finallycollected. Usually,except fortheusefulpart,somepartof thebiomass
islesssuitableandconsistsofsomewastes,whichrequireothertypeofutilization,
different from that of the main crop. Figure 2.1 gives an example of several types
of biomass resources that are used for fuel production. The figure contains only
operations that are needed to obtain biomass prior to conversion of biofuels. The
energeticcropsarevariousplantsthatarecultivatedespeciallytoproducesomekind
offuel.Themajorityofsuchplantsarelandspecies;however,inrecenttimes,some
aquaticspeciesarebeingunderconsideration,atleastattheexperimentallevel.The
landspeciesaremostlys.c.shortrotationplants,whichmeanstheyareproducedin
onetofewyearscycles.
Suchplantationsrequirevariousformsoftillage,applicationoffertilizers,crop
protectionmeans,andobviouslyharvesting.
Theothertypesofbiomassthatcanbeusedforfuelproductionareagricultural
residuesorwastes—theamountsofbiomassremainingaftertheremovalofedible
partsofthecrops(fruits,grains,etc.).Utilizationofthosepartsofbiomassrequires
the choice of processes well suited to the specific characteristics of particular by-
productsthathavetobeconvertedtoanenergycarrier.Itshouldbealsomentioned
thatquitefrequentlyediblepartsoftheplantsarealsousedforbiofuelproduction,
e.g.,rapeseedormaizegrains.
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