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Lee Enterprises Consulting, Inc. services

Biodiesel

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel made from a number of different feedstocks – vegetable oils (such as soybean and canola oil), animal fats (such as beef tallow and chicken fat), waste cooking oils, and a host of others. Two chemical processes – esterification and transesterification – combine these fats/oils with methanol, and a caustic catalyst like sodium hydroxide, to create methyl esters. Methyl ester is the chemical name for biodiesel. This process also creates a byproduct called glycerin, which has many industrial uses.

Ethanol

Ethanol is a renewable, domestically produced transportation fuel. It is a clear, colorless liquid, also known as known as ethyl alcohol. For use as a renewable fuel, ethanol is made from corn and other plant materials. It has the same chemical structure regardless of whether produced from starch- and sugar-based feedstocks, such as corn grain (as it primarily is in the United States), sugar cane (as it primarily is in Brazil), or from cellulosic feedstocks (which are dedicated energy crops, such as wood chips or crop residues).

Cellulosic Ethanol

Cellulosic ethanol is an alcohol made from biomass such as wood and agricultural residues (instead of the starches which are used to produce corn/grain ethanol). The difference between starch and cellulosic ethanol start with the plants. In the United States, starch ethanol is made from corn kernels. Cellulosic ethanol, however, starts with cellulose, the most abundant carbon-containing material on the planet and something found in virtually every natural, free-growing plant, tree, and bush in the world. Some cellulosic ethanol processes use all the carbon in the plant matter to produce ethanol. The process to make cellulosic ethanol is more complicated than the process to make corn ethanol. While the starch ethanol industry has been around for many years, the cellulosic ethanol industry is fairly new and still being developed. There are many new processes and companies examining the industry and it is positioned to grow greatly over the next several years.

Solar Thermal Technology

The generation of electric power and process hot water by capturing the sun’s radiation has advanced form an oddity to main stream technology. The ultimate user may be a remote instrument or home that is not connected to the electric grid, a commercial or public facility wishing to reduce its electric costs, or a local utility that has been mandated by law to buy solar power or one that seeks to diversify its generation sources. Solar Photovoltaic (PV) modules (also known as solar panels) can easily accommodate all of these uses while solar thermal technology, such as solar towers, Sterling engines, and parabolic trough collectors are better suited for commercial and utility users.

Wind

Wind Power is the fastest growing source of electrical energy in the world today. Wind power involves the conversion of wind into a useful form of energy by using turbines to produce electricity. Wind farms may consist of many individual turbines connected to an electric power transmission network, and large wind farms dominate this trend. Offshore wind is steadier and stronger than wind on land, but their construction and maintenance are considerably more expensive. Small wind farms on land provide electricity to isolated locations. Utility companies are increasingly buying the surplus electricity produced by wind. On site wind energy and ‘community wind power’ involve one or a few wind turbines feeding the local distribution system. This type of installation thrives in areas with favorable policy and can be a great way to offset industrial electrical use or provide another source of revenue for farm or forest land.

Waste to Energy

Waste-to-Energy Waste-to-Energy encompasses a wide range of technologies and processes. Examples of wastes used to produce energy include biomass, municipal solid waste (MSW), food wastes, tires, and chemical wastes. Processes include waste segregation, anaerobic digestion, incineration, pyrolysis, and gasification. Waste-to energy projects have two process goals – diverting waste from landfills and converting the waste into a profitable energy product (steam, gas or electric power). The choice of technologies is waste type dependent and also depends on local factors such as landfill costs (tipping fee or avoided cost), product value, public acceptance and environmental permitting.

Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis refers to the decomposition or transformation of a compound caused by heat. Pyrolysis and gasification are two related process, differing mostly by temperature and process reactants. As discussed in other sections, low temperature pyrolysis can be used to produce various products including torrefied wood, biochar and biocarbon. High temperature pyrolysis is used for converting waste materials, e.g., municipal solid wastes, tires, biomass, etc., into electrical energy or other products. The process is performed in the complete absence of oxygen and generally performed in the 800⁰C range. The process thermally decomposes the organic materials into carbon char, combustible gases (carbon monoxide and hydrogen), and tars.

Gasification

Gasification is a process that converts organic or fossil based carbonaceous materials into carbon monoxide, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Pyrolysis and gasification are related processes differing mostly in temperature and process reactants with gasification conducted at significantly higher temperatures than pyrolysis (1000⁰C to 1200⁰C and higher). Gasification thermally decomposes the organic feedstock into the three elements. Steam is added to the gasifier as a chemical reactant to convert the carbon into carbon monoxide and produce additional hydrogen. When steam is added, the process is referred to as steam reforming gasification. The reaction products, mostly CO and H2, are called synthetic gas or syngas. Gasification of coal at very large scale (1000 t/d) has been used commercially for many years for production of syngas as a chemical feedstock.

Biobutanol

Butanol is a four carbon straight chain primary alcohol which has gained enormous attention as a potential gasoline substitute in recent years. This is due to its high energy density, low vapor pressure, low heat of vaporization and high hydrophobicity. These promising physical and chemical properties of butanol make it suitable for blending with or direct substitution of gasoline. Biobutanol can be produced through a fermentation process, using Clostridium acetobutylicum, which naturally produces acetone, butanol and ethanol in a 3:6:1 ratio. Historically, however, it was produced from starch and was outcompeted by petroleum-based butanol production.

Carbonisation

Carbonization refers to the conversion of an organic substance into either carbon or a carbon-containing residue through pyrolysis or distillation. Above 300οC, carbonization of biomass commences and the thermochemical reactions become exothermic (i.e., heat generating) which drives the higher-temperature pyrolysis with no (or little) external energy being applied. Biomass undergoes major chemical modifications at these higher temperatures. Carbonization mimics coalification whereby nature converts plant matter into coal. However, where coalification takes about 300 million years, carbonization converts plant matter into biocarbon (closely related products are charcoal and biochar) in 300 minutes or less. Biocarbon has an energy density similar to bituminous coal – about 13,000 Btu/lb. Biocarbon has the highest energy density among solid biofuels, and its chemical characteristics are most like coal.