ADVANCES IN RENEWABLE ENERGY RESEARCH Advances in Renewable Energy Research Małgorzata Pawłowska & Artur Pawłowski Lublin University of Technology, Lublin, Poland CRC Press/Balkema is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, UK Except: Fast methanification of liquid pig manure as an example for substrates with low organic content H. Schöne, A. Speetzen, I. Bernardes & M. de Oliveira © 2015 Universität Rostock, Germany Typeset by V Publishing Solutions Pvt Ltd., Chennai, India Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe (A CPI-group Company), Chippenham, Wiltshire All rights reserved. No part of this publication or the information contained herein may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written prior permission from the publisher. Although all care is taken to ensure integrity and the quality of this publication and the information herein, no responsibility is assumed by the publishers nor the author for any damage to the property or persons as a result of operation or use of this publication and/or the information contained herein. Published by: CRC Press/Balkema Schipholweg 107C, 2316 XC Leiden, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] www.crcpress.com – www.taylorandfrancis.com ISBN: 978-1-138-55367-5 (Hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-14867-0 (eBook) Table of contents Foreword vii International Center for Renewable Energy (ICERN) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) ix About the editors xi Fast methanification of liquid pig manure as an example for substrates with low organic content 1 H. Schöne, I.B. Mendes de Oliveira & A. Speetzen Development and demonstration of farm scale biogas biofilter systems for livestock biogas applications in Taiwan 7 J.J. Su New concept of biogas system as renewable energy and multi-generation systems for sustainable agriculture-acceleration or selection of biochemical reaction 25 J. Takahashi HVAC systems supported by renewable energy sources—studies carried out at the Białystok University of Technology 33 M. Żukowski Status and trends of PV agriculture in China 45 M. Zhao, P. Xu, X. Duan, Z. Cao & L. Pawłowski Biofuels and the environment 57 M. Pawłowska & L. Pawłowski Pretreatments to enhance the digestibility of recalcitrant waste—current trends 63 A. Montusiewicz & M. Pawłowska Problems with energy supply 79 Z. Cao, L. Pawłowski & A. Duda Author index 87 v Foreword Without the supply of an adequate amount of energy, the present civilization could not exist. The technological revolution, which initiated the on-going development of the world, was and is based mainly on the use of fossil fuels as a source of primary energy. There is a growing concern that increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, particularly CO, are contributing to global climate change (IPCC, 2007). Atmospheric levels 2 of CO have risen significantly from preindustrial levels of 280 parts per million (ppm) to 2 present levels of 384 ppm. Evidence suggests that elevated atmospheric CO concentrations 2 are the result of a combination involving expanded use of fossil fuels for energy production and transportation, land use conversion (deforestation), and soil cultivation. The threats caused by climate change resulting from the emission of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, are well-known. Less known, however, are the threats connected with rapidly depleting fossil fuels. According to La Quere (La Quere et al. 2015), the fossil fuel resources are being quickly depleted. Forecasts predict that the available deposits of gas and crude oil will be exhausted within the next 50–70 years, whereas the deposits of coal – will be depleted within 130–150 years. This means that there is an urgent need of acquiring new sources of primary energy. Therefore, developing renewable energy sources is necessary not only from the viewpoint of climate protection, but also to ensure that new energy sources are available for the functioning of civilizations. Within the period of 1950–2016, the consumption of primary energy increased from 36.52 exajoules in 1950 to 102.73 exajoules in 2016. The consumption of energy from renewable sources increased from 3.14 exajoules in 1950 to 10.82 exajoules in 2016. This means that with the total increase of the primary energy in 1950–2016 by 281%, the consumption of energy from renewable sources increased with 341%, including the consumption of energy derived from biomass which increased from 1.65 exajoules in 1950 to 5.02 exajoules in 2016, i.e. 305%. On the other hand, the share of biomass in the pool of renewable energy, including biogas, dropped from 52% in 1950 to 46.8% in 2016. Nevertheless, the energy acquired from biomass still constitutes almost half of the energy derived from renewable sources. The largest producer of biofuels is the USA, which produces approximately 35,000 metric tons of oil equivalent per year. The second most important producer of biofuels is Brazil, with an output of 18,500 metric tons of oil equivalent per year. In EU countries, Germany is the largest producer of biofuels, yielding 3,200 metric tons of oil equivalent per year, followed by France, producing 2,200 metric tons of oil equivalent per year. A great interest in the production of biofuels is observed in China, which is the 7th country in the world in terms of biofuel production, yielding slightly more than 2,000 metric tons of oil equivalent per year. The use of biomass as a source of primary energy differs greatly in developing and developed countries. In the former, biomass – mainly wood – is one of the basic sources of primary energy. On the other hand, in the developed countries, advanced methods of biomass use for energy purposes are being developed, especially for the production of biogas and liquid biofuels: ethanol and biodiesel. Biomass from special plantations is usually used for the production of these advanced biofuels. However, many uncertainties remain for the future of biofuels, including competition from unconventional fossil fuel alternatives and concerns about environmental tradeoffs. Perhaps vii the biggest uncertainty is the extent to which the land intensity of current biofuel production can be reduced. The development of biofuels, while reducing the demand for fossil fuels, may also constitute a threat. Allocating increasing areas of land for the cultivation of subsidized energy crops leads to the limitation of food production, and consequently, to an increase of food prices which can already be noticed. Moreover, negative environmental consequences have been observed, e.g. elimination of tropical forests by the energy crops plantations. This may even lead to an increased CO emission, because the tropical forests are replaced with energy crops, 2 which absorb a smaller amount of CO. 2 This does not mean that the development of currently used biofuels is a negative phenomenon. However, conducting a full LCA of each technology to be used is necessary in order to eliminate the ones which do not achieve positive results in terms of environmental protection. During the conference, researchers from Germany, Poland, Ukraine, China, Japan and Taiwan presented the results of works carried out in these countries related to the production of biogas, bioethanol and biodiesel from wastes and purposely cultivated crops. REFERENCES IPCC, 2007: Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, Pachauri, R.K. and Reisinger, A. (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 104 pp. La Quere, C. et al. 2015, Global Carbon Budget 2015, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 7, 349–396, 2015. viii International Center for Renewable Energy (ICERN) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) MISSION The International Center for Renewable Energy (ICERN) is an independent non-governmen- tal organization based in Lublin, Poland. The ICERN is a center of excellence in renewable energy that supports and promotes development and application of technologies to produce energy from renewable sources and solid and liquid wastes. The ICERN mission is also to broaden the base of expert input on the development of effective public policy for renewable energy and to provide a channel through which leading scientists in the field of renewable energy community can have their views known. ICERN MAJOR TOPIC AREAS The following areas of special interest for ICERN are: 1. Development of bio-based technologies to produce energy from solid and liquid wastes. 2. Development of methods for biological sequestration of CO 2 3. Development of solar energy technologies for electricity and cooling/heating 4. Perspective technologies of wind energy 5. Development of geothermal energy technologies 6. Technology of small hydro power 7. Development and application of method for renewable energy technologies, including LCA 8. Development of pretreatment methods of biomass to enhance biogas production 9. To setup a subcenter of ICERN in China for PV-agriculture Research and Development in NAU 10. Development of design and planning ability for coordination and balance between renewable energy industry and other industries 11. Interaction of remediation technology and fertilizer cycles in bioenergy systems Promotion of research and development within the above-mentioned areas has technology and industry scope. It focuses on: • thought leadership, • positive positioning of renewable energy bringing it into the mainstream of energy produc- tion in the EU and other countries, • benefits to the nations in the context of environment and human welfare ICERN ACTIVITIES The ICERN program is implemented through: • joint partner application for research and industrial funds, • development of educational modules, • organization of promotion events, such as specialty symposia, conferences ix