Biofuel Technology

History of Bioenergy

Session 1
 Biofuel Technology 2

• Instructor: Farzam Fotovat (Fotovat@sharif.edu)

• Office hours: Saturdays 14:00-15:00 (Fix the appointment by E-mail)
• Suggested textbooks:
1. Thermochemical Processing of Biomass: Conversion into Fuels, Chemicals and Power
Robert C. Brown
John Wiley & Sons, Mar 16, 2011 - 348 pages

2. Multiphase Reactor Engineering for Clean and Low-Carbon Energy Applications

Yi Cheng, Fei Wei, Yong Jin
John Wiley & Sons, Mar 13, 2017 - 432 pages

3. The Handbook of Biomass Combustion and Co-firing

Sjaak Van Loo, Jaap Koppejan
Earthscan, May 16, 2012 - 464 pages

• Evaluation:
• Course project (20%): report + presentation
• Mid-term exam (30%)
• Final exam (50%)
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Definitions

Biomass: A biological material derived from living or recently living organisms. Biomass is all biologically-
produced matter based in carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

• Plant : Cellulose, Hemicellulose, Lignin (wood remains the largest biomass energy source today)

Biomass: Plant polymers

• Municipal/animal waste

Biofuel: A fuel that is produced through contemporary processes, rather

than a fuel produced by geological processes such as those involved in
the formation of fossil fuels, such as coal and petroleum, from prehistoric
biological matter

Forms:
• Solid
• Liquid
• Gaseous
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Statistics

• The energy stored in annually produced biomass by terrestrial plants is 3-4 times
greater (2.2×1021 J) than the current global energy demand.

• The bioenergy delivery potential of the world’s total land area is estimated at
190×1018 J yr-1, 35% of the current global energy demand.

• Renewable energy technologies currently supply ~ 5.5% of the world’s primary energy
supply with bioenergy is the third largest contributor to that.

Breakdown of Renewable Sources (2021 Data)

•Hydropower: 55%
•Wind: 23%
•Biomass: 13%
•Solar: 7%
•Geothermal: 1%
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Statistics

• Global production of biofuel in 2023: 200 billion liters

Current Production Breakdown (2023)

•United States: 1,795 petajoules (approx. 77 billion liters): 38.8%

•Brazil: 1,016 petajoules (approx. 43 billion liters): 21.9%
•Indonesia: 433 petajoules (approx. 18 billion liters): 7%
•Germany: 160 petajoules (approx. 7 billion liters)

The IEA forecasts that if current trends continue, biofuel production could triple by 2030, closing the
gap toward achieving net-zero ambitions by mid-century.
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Biofuels: Overlook
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Biofuels: Overlook

Trends in the top five countries generating electricity from biomass

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Biofuels: Overlook
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Biofuels: Overlook
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Biofuels: Overlook
Sustainable Development Scenario

Bioenergy power generation in the Sustainable Development Scenario, 2000-2030

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Incentives

Incentives for biofuel as a replacement of fossil fuels:

• Limited supply of oil, natural gas, and coal

• Increasing price of fossil fuels

• Tremendous amounts of greenhouse gases

(280 ppm: pre-industrial 400 ppm: now)

• Energy security and independence

• Socioeconomic impacts: Growth of rural areas

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Oil and Coal are not bad things!!!

Biomass is not a good thing!!!

It’s all just natural carbon.

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History of using biomass as a source of energy

Age-wise: Bioenergy = Fire

• Fire (Combustion)
• Ethanol
• Animal and plant oil

Widespread use of fire by humans for over 10,000 years.

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History of using biomass as a source of energy

Humanity discovered
fermentation before we figured
out civilization and writing!

Samuel Morey and one of the earliest internal combustion engines

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History of using biomass as a source of energy
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History of using biomass as a source of energy

• In the 1890’s ethanol was powering farm equipment and Rudolf Diesel
built his 1st prototype engine.

• By 1900 diesel engines were running on peanut oil.

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History of using biomass as a source of energy
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History of using biomass as a source of energy
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History of using biomass as a source of energy
World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945)

• Germans discovered how to produce diesel and

gasoline from coal & biomass.

• Haber process (Natural gas +Air → NH3)

• Fischer-Tropsch process (Coal/biomass → diesel/gasoline)

• Vehicles were designed to run on wood chips

(thorough ethanol) during WW2.

• When the war ended, oil rapidly returned as the

preferred carbon energy source.
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History of using biomass as a source of energy

Bioenergy technology: Historical up and downs

Produce energy and fuels for a world going crazy for engines and struggling to find a
1870’s fuel of choice.

1970’s Energy crises, many of the bioenergy technologies being developed today were
researched in the 1970’s during the energy crisis.

2010’s High price of oil for 10 years: considerable

enthusiasm for bioenergy.

2020’s Producing more oil than we consume:

interest in bioenergy is waning again.

Oil price over the time

History of using biomass as a source of energy 21

The government policies and market conditions of the 19th century are largely responsible for the status quo of 21st century.
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Centralized vs. distributed energy production:

Centralized: Coal, Oil, Natural gas, Nuke, Hydro

Distributed: Biomass

❑ GE gas turbine (1970’s): Ethanol (vapor characteristics) + Lignin (energy content)

❑ Coal and gas power plants can be retrofitted to utilize biomass & biofuels.
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Ethanol has better octane value, but vegetable oil has better energy content
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Agriculture productivity in the world

Food vs. Fuel argument: water, soil, fertilizer, pesticides
• It is impossible to grow energy crops that do not compete with food crops.
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Biofuels: Generations
1st -generation biofuels: produced from edible biomass, e.g. sugarcane and corn starch.

Fermentation Fuel cell

Sugars Bioethanol
Additive to gasoline

2nd -generation biofuels: utilize non-food-based biomass sources such as agriculture and municipal
waste (lignocellulosic biomass)

Despite being the favored alternative, economical production of second-generation biofuel is not yet achieved mainly due
to
• chemical inertness
• structural rigidity of lignocellulosic biomass
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Biofuels: Generations
3rd -generation biofuels: Algae
• The oil-rich algae can be processed into biofuels, with the dried remainder further reprocessed to create ethanol.
• Does not entail a decrease in food production, since it requires neither farmland nor fresh water

Advantages
• Ease of growth
• Impact on food
• Algae is not used as the primary food source for humans.
• Waste-product extracts can be used as a sufficient animal feed.

• Minimization of waste
• Removes CO2 from the atmosphere

• Utilizes water contaminated with fertilizers and other nutrients that are a
by-product of farming

• Consumes ammonia, nitrates, and phosphates rendering water unsafe

Disadvantages
• Commercial viability
• Stability Photo-bioreactor from glass tubes
• Content of polyunsaturated fats: retain fluidity at lower temperatures
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Biomass conversion techniques

• Thermochemical:
• Several hundred degrees Celsius, usually fast reactions.

• Under conditions of high-temperature combustion and gasification, chemical equilibrium

among products is attained.

• Biochemical:
• Use of the enzymes of bacteria and other microorganisms to break down biomass into
gaseous or liquid fuels, such a biogas or bioethanol.

• Conversion process: anaerobic digestion, fermentation, and composting.

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Comparison of biochemical and thermochemical processing