Biomass to Biofuels

Biomass is a continuously renewed source of energy formed from or by a wide variety of living organisms. Through biochemical and thermochemical processes, it is converted into gaseous, liquid or solid biofuels, which already meet a significant share of the current world energy needs. Because of their contribution to the sustainability of energy supply, reduction of green house gas emissions as well as local employment and energy self-reliance, research interest and activity in enhancing biofuel energy output, efficiency and performance remain strong. The first part of this volume comprises five articles mainly concerned with biomass resource potential and management. More specifically, the reported investigations assess grass and lawn substrates, rapeseed straw and microalgae from Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor effluents as possible sources of biogas, bioethanol and biodiesel, respectively. The emphasis in the subsequent group of eleven articles is on biomass conversion processes, aiming at assessing performance as well as output quality and diversity.Biodiesel, a fluid biofuel produced from biomass with high lipids such as rapeseed oil, sunflowers and soy beans, is the focus of two articles: the first investigates the effect of biodiesel blending with diesel fuel on diesel engine performance and emissions; the second assesses the efficiency of catalytic reforming of biodiesel into a gaseous mixture, used directly as Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) fuel. In the last three articles, the prospects of biofuels as viable sources of energy are examined within European contexts. This volume addresses a significant number of important themes and thus combines subject breadth and density with in-depth study of biomass resourcing and processing as well as the issue of biofuel and renewable energy sustainability.

Table of Contents:
Contents Energy recovery of grass biomass; Bioethanol production from oilseed rape straw hydrolysate by free and immobilised cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Assessment of the potential of residuary microalgae from stabilization ponds for the production of biofuel; Biomass pellet production with industrial and agro-industrial waste; Bioenergy for regions: alternative cropping systems and optimisation of local heat supply; The behavior of suspended particulate matter emitted from the combustion of agricultural residue biomass under different temperatures; Biomass char production at low severity conditions under CO2 and N2 environments; The heterogeneous reaction between tar and ash from waste biomass pyrolysis and gasification; From biomass-rich residues into fuels and green chemicals via gasification and catalytic synthesis; Thermal gasification of agro-industrial residues; Process analysis of waste bamboo materials using solvent liquefaction; Liquefaction processes and characterization of liquefied products from waste woody materials in different acidic catalysts; The anaerobic digestion of cattle manure: the effect of phase-separation; A comparative technology assessment of the anaerobic digestion of an organic fraction of municipal solid waste; The development of EIA screening for the anaerobic digestion of biowaste projects in Latvia; High yields of sugars via the non-enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose; Sunflower biodiesel: efficiency and emissions; Biodiesel reforming with a NiAl2O4/Al2O3-YSZ catalyst for the production of renewable SOFC fuel; On the future relevance of biofuels for transport in EU-15 countries; Sustainability of combustion and incineration of renewable fuels: the example of Sweden; An environmental balance study for the contribution of a biomass plant in a small town in Piedmont, Northern Italy