Thermal Analysis of Nigerian Oil Palm Biomass with Sachet-Water Plastic Wastes for Sustainable Production of Biofuel

Adsorption of dibenzothiophene in model diesel fuel by amarula waste biomass as a low-cost adsorbent

The effectiveness of the adsorption process is determined by the type of adsorbent used, but some adsorbents require a significant amount of processing to achieve the desired quality, and this has become a drawback economically and environmentally. This study focused on mitigating the issue of waste management and land pollution by using amarula waste biomass, which is a low-cost adsorbent that is obtained from the industrial waste by-product. The amarula shell (AmSh) waste was found to have a higher adsorption efficiency of 30 ± 3% compared to the amarula seed (AmSe) waste and the amarula fruit (AmWa) waste, which had 19 ± 5% and 9.5 ± 0.7% efficiency, respectively. It was found that the amarula waste biomass performed better at lower adsorption temperatures. The adsorption capacity was found to decrease with an increase in the quantity of the biomass. Kinetic models were applied to the experimental data. Thermodynamic parameters were also studied to determine the spontaneity of the adsorption process. The characteristics of both the fresh and used amarula waste biomass was analyzed by using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (FESEM-EDS), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). It was then concluded that cellulose and hemicellulose structures in amarula waste biomass played a major role in reducing the content of dibenzothiophene in model diesel fuel.

Analyzing the Renewable Energy and CO2 Emission Levels Nexus at an EU Level: A Panel Data Regression Approach

In the past decades, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have become an important issue for many researchers and policy makers. The focus of scientists and experts in the area is mainly on lowering the CO2 emission levels. In this article, panel data is analyzed with an econometric model, to estimate the impact of renewable energy, biofuels, bioenergy efficiency, population, and urbanization level on CO2 emissions in European Union (EU) countries. Our results underline the fact that urbanization level has a negative impact on increasing CO2 emissions, while biofuels, bioenergy production, and renewable energy consumption have positive and direct impacts on reducing CO2 emissions. Moreover, population growth and urbanization level are negatively correlated with CO2 emission levels. The authors’ findings suggest that the public policies at the national level must encourage the consumption of renewable energy and biofuels in the EU, while population and urbanization level should come along with more restrictions on CO2 emissions.

Modeling and Optimization of Microwave-Based Bio-Jet Fuel from Coconut Oil: Investigation of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and Artificial Neural Network Methodology (ANN)

In this study, coconut oils have been transesterified with ethanol using microwave technology. The product obtained (biodiesel and FAEE) was then fractional distillated under vacuum to collect bio-kerosene or bio-jet fuel, which is a renewable fuel to operate a gas turbine engine. This process was modeled using RSM and ANN for optimization purposes. The developed models were proved to be reliable and accurate through different statistical tests and the results showed that ANN modeling was better than RSM. Based on the study, the optimum bio-jet fuel production yield of 74.45 wt% could be achieved with an ethanol–oil molar ratio of 9.25:1 under microwave irradiation with a power of 163.69 W for 12.66 min. This predicted value was obtained from the ANN model that has been optimized with ACO. Besides that, the sensitivity analysis indicated that microwave power offers a dominant impact on the results, followed by the reaction time and lastly ethanol–oil molar ratio. The properties of the bio-jet fuel obtained in this work was also measured and compared with American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D1655 standard.

Pyrolysis synergy of municipal solid waste (MSW): A review

The synergistic pyrolysis of municipal solid waste (MSW) were recently explored. This review aims to provide an overview on the synergistic pyrolysis studies of MSW, focusing on the synergy occurred during co-pyrolysis of different constituents of MSW. The interactions of intermediates released during pyrolysis can shift end product distributions, accelerate pyrolysis rates, and preferred production of specific compounds, which were categorized into four basic types with discussions. The pyrolysis synergy is proposed to be the key for success of pyrolytic practice of MSW that can handle the waste with maximal resource recovery and minimal carbon emission.

Slow pyrolysis of municipal solid waste (MSW): A review

In recent years, extensive studies have been carried out to improve our knowledge of the reactor operations and system performance in thermal pyrolysis of municipal solid wastes (MSW). However, the fundamentals of MSW pyrolysis and their engineering applications remain unsatisfactorily explored. This paper is a review of the pyrolysis of MSW and synergistic co-pyrolysis of the constituents of MSW with reference to pyrolytic performance, the distribution and energy content of the end products, and the mechanisms of the synergistic effects. The prospects for, and challenges of, the MSW pyrolysis process are provided. A MSW pyrolytic process with maximal energy recovery and minimal carbon footprint is proposed.

Special Issue “Green Technologies: Bridging Conventional Practices and Industry 4.0”

Green technologies have been globally accepted as efficient and sustainable techniques for the utilization of natural resources [...]

Catalytic co-pyrolysis behaviors and kinetics of camellia shell and take-out solid waste using pyrolyzer - gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and thermogravimetric analyzer

The influences of operating temperature, catalyst types and mixing ratios on co-pyrolysis of camellia shell (CS) and take-out solid waste (TSW) were investigated through orthogonal experiments design. The target was to gain more aliphatic hydrocarbons and monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (MAHs) and reduce the production of acids. According to orthogonal experiments results, higher temperature contributed to generate aliphatic hydrocarbons and inhibit formation of acids. Combined utilization of HZSM-5 and CaO was effective to obtain more MAHs and reduce acids. With the improvement of proportion of TSW, the yield of aliphatic hydrocarbons increased and acids decreased. The mixing ratio of CS and TSW was 3:7, 700 °C was chosen as operating temperature and combined utilization of HZSM-5 and CaO were identified. The apparent activation energy (E_ave) of CS, TSW and their blends were calculated. 3CS7TSW had the lowest Eave which were 165.33 kJ/mol (by OFW) and 163.14 kJ/mol (by KAS).

Simulation of Batch Slow Pyrolysis of Biomass Materials Using the Process-Flow-Diagram COCO Simulator

The commercial COCO simulation program was used to mimic the experimental slow pyrolysis process of five different biomasses based on thermodynamic consideration. The program generated the optimum set of reaction kinetic parameters and reaction stoichiometric numbers that best described the experimental yields of solid, liquid and gas products. It was found that the simulation scheme could predict the product yields over the temperature range from 300 to 800 °C with reasonable accuracy of less than 10% average error. An attempt was made to generalize the biomass pyrolysis behavior by dividing the five biomasses into two groups based on the single-peak and two-peak characteristics of the DTG (derivative thermogravimetry) curves. It was found that this approximate approach was able to predict the product yields reasonably well. The proposed simulation method was extended to the analysis of slow pyrolysis results derived from previous investigations. The results obtained showed that the prediction errors of product yields were relatively large, being 12.3%, 10.6%, and 27.5% for the solid, liquid, and gas products, respectively, possibly caused by differing pyrolysis conditions from those used in the simulation. The prediction of gas product compositions by the simulation program was reasonably satisfactory, but was less accurate for predicting the compositions of liquid products analyzed in forms of hydrocarbons, aromatics and oxygenated fractions. In addition, information on the kinetics of thermal decomposition of biomass in terms of the variation of fractional conversion with time was also derived as a function of temperature and biomass type.

The Role of Renewables in a Low-Carbon Society: Evidence from a Multivariate Panel Data Analysis at the EU Level

Low carbon emission has a major positive impact on our society. Due to the importance of reducing carbon emission levels, factors that contribute significantly towards reducing carbon emission levels have attracted the interest of academics and researchers in the field. In this paper, the author develops a multiple linear regression analysis to examine the relationship between renewable energy consumption, biofuel production, resources productivity, bioenergy productivity, the level of urbanization and population and their impact on total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Data was collected from the European Statistical Office (EUROSTAT) and four statistical hypotheses were validated through a regression model with panel data using the statistical software EViews 11. The study was conducted for 27 European Union (EU) countries during 2008 to 2017. The author’s findings indicate that renewables have a direct and positive influence on the levels of CO2 emissions, as opposed to population growth and urbanization. These findings suggest that public policy should be directed towards increasing the use of renewables in EU countries, while the level of urbanization and the population growth add more restrictions in the modelling equation of the impact on CO2 emissions.