L.J.R. Nunes

Economic evaluation and experimental setup of biomass energy as sustainable alternative for textile industry

The use of biomass as energy source becomes considered again as a possibility, after a period in which practically felt in disuse, especially in industrial environments. Nowadays it is again an important alternative, mainly due to the increasing prices of fossil fuels, especially oil and natural gas, as well as by the growing environmental and sustainability concerns, since the biomass fuel is considered neutral in terms of CO2 emissions. The use of biomass as solid fuel poses several logistic difficulties that do not allow their straightforward dissemination in all industrial units, which intend to change its fuel source. In this paper, a case study of integration of renewable energy sources provides results obtained based on an experimental setup using biomass technology, posing a major advantage for the Portuguese textile industry, in particular the dyeing textile industry, over the traditional use of fossil fuels.

Application of biomass for the production of energy in the Portuguese textile industry

The use of biomass as energy source becomes considered again as a possibility, after a period in which practically felt in disuse, especially in industrial environments. Nowadays is becoming again an alternative, mainly due to the increasing prices of fossil fuels, especially oil and natural gas, as well as by the growing environmental and sustainability concerns, since the biomass fuel is considered neutral in terms of CO2 emissions. The use of biomass as solid fuel presents logistic difficulties, which do not allow their straightforward dissemination in all industrial units that intend to change its fuel. However, counterbalanced by excellent results from the economical point of view, achieved due to the stability of biomass prices in Portugal, the application of biomass is envisaged in this paper as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels for the Portuguese textile industry. Hence, a real case study is provided to discuss advances and developments in the field of biomass applications.

Torrefied Biomass Pellets: An alternative fuel for coal power plants

This paper aims to make a comparison between the logistics costs of buying Wood Pellets (WP) and Torrefied Biomass Pellets (TBP) produced in Portugal and exported to the major consumer markets of Northern Europe. The starting point is to determine the value of a shipload of WP and TBP delivered to a North European port and loaded in Aveiro, the main Portuguese WP expeditor port. Torrefaction implies higher energy and bulk density pellets, which contributes to increase the logistics costs associated with them. The loss of mass is greater than the loss of energy. These changes in bulk and energy densities are an advantage in terms of logistics: more tonnes per unit of volume and more energy per tonne will decrease the transportation cost per energy unit. The analysis carried out in this paper determines the energy in gigajoules (GJ) per tonne and all the comparisons are based on the cost per energy unit. This analysis is supported by real data collected in the Argus Biomass Markets report.

Chapter 3 – Biomass Torrefaction Process

This chapter presents an overview of the torrefaction theory and process. It gives particular emphasis to the analysis of thermochemical conversion of biomass, biomass chemical composition, and biomass properties.

Plant Design and Operation

This chapter presents the fundamental principles taken into account in the implementation of new biomass torrefaction projects, but also in the upgrade and scale-up of existing projects and technologies. Some examples of improvements made in projects already in operation are also presented in this chapter.

Economical Evaluation of Torrefaction: Case Study Analysis

This chapter presents the basic economic principles to be taken into account in the implementation of a new biomass torrefaction unit, in particular with regard to scale-up from a pilot plant to a large-scale industrial unit. A case study is also presented on the analysis of logistic costs associated with the transport of torrefied biomass pellets.

Physical Pretreatment of Biomass

This chapter presents an overview of the physical pretreatment of biomass processes generally used in biomass industrial processing and conversion. It gives particular emphasis to the harvesting, transportation, storage, washing, size reduction, screening, classification, and methods of moisture reduction, where the processes are described and presented. It is presented as an introduction to biomass uses and forest development to better understand the utilization of the different biomass pretreatment processes according to final use predicted.

Final Users Experiments and Trials

This chapter presents an overview about the actually active projects on torrefaction, such as production plants and research and developments (R&D) projects. It also makes a brief analysis about end-users large-scale trials and experiments. This collection was conducted in the information available on the web, scientific papers in journals, and in conference proceedings.

Torrefaction of Nonwoody Feedstocks

This chapter presents a state-of-the-art review of the use of torrefaction in nonwoody raw materials. The kinetic principles and the results obtained in these experiments are described by several authors. Roasting has been pointed out as an interesting solution that can be used with this type of raw materials. However, it is verified that, owing to the strong mass loss, further studies are necessary to confirm its viability.

Torrefied Biomass Safety Aspects

This chapter presents a brief note on aspects related to safety in the use, production, transport, and storage of torrefied biomass.