Biofuel Consumption Research Articles

Significant Increase of Aromatics-Derived Secondary Organic Aerosol during Fall to Winter in China.

Human activities release large amounts of anthropogenic pollutants into the air, and thereby produce substantial secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Aromatic hydrocarbons (AHs) that mainly emitted from coal combustion, transportation, solvent use and biofuel/biomass burning, are a major class of anthropogenic SOA precursors. At present, there are few field studies focusing on AH-derived SOA (SOAA) on a continental scale, especially in polluted regions of the world. In this study, a one-year concurrent observation of the SOAA tracer, 2,3-dihydroxy-4-oxopentanoic acid (C5H8O5, DHOPA) was carried out at 12 sites across six regions of China for the first time. The annual averages of DHOPA among the 12 sites ranged from 1.23 to 8.83 ng m-3 with a mean of 3.48 ± 1.96 ng m-3. At all observation sites, the concentrations of DHOPA from fall to spring were significantly higher than those in summertime, and positive correlations were observed between DHOPA and the biomass burning tracer (levoglucosan). This indicated that such a nationwide increase of SOAA during the cold period was highly associated with the enhancement of biomass burning emission. In the northern China, the highest levels of DHOPA were observed in the coldest months during winter, probably due to the enhancement of biofuel and coal consumption for household heating. In the southern China, the highest levels of DHOPA were mostly observed in fall and spring, which were associated with the enhancement of open biomass burning. The apparent increases of DHOPA and levoglucosan levels during the cold period and the negative correlations of visibility with DHOPA and levoglucosan imply that the reduction of SOAA amount and biomass burning emission is an efficient way to reduce haze pollution during fall to winter in China.

Co-hydrogenation of fatty acid by-products and different gas oil fractions

It is a great challenge for even the most complex refineries to ensure an economic yield distribution that satisfies the increased diesel fuel and biofuel consumption of the European Union. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the use of different gas oil fractions (e.g. low value streams) for producing diesel fuel blending components and the integration possibilities of biofuel production to a refinery. According to that the co-hydrogenation of mixtures of fatty acid by-products (0–20%) and different gas oil fractions (untreated gas oil fraction, light cycle oil) on commercial, sulphided NiMo/Al2O3 catalyst was investigated. The effects of feed compositions and process parameters (temperature, pressure, liquid hourly space velocity) on the quality and quantity of the gas oil products were investigated. The applied process parameters were the following: P = 40–70 bar, T = 320–380 °C, LHSV = 1.0–2.0 h−1, hydrogen/feedstock ratio = 600 Nm3/m3. We concluded that gas oil boiling range products with high yield can be produced from 10 to 20% fatty acid by-product and 10% light cycle oil containing feedstocks on the studied catalyst. The products are good quality diesel fuel blending components and have high waste derived component content.

The effects of militarization on biofuel consumption and CO2 emission

The cointegration and causal relation among CO2 emissions, economic growth, militarization, and biofuel consumption were tested from 1984 to 2015 period for Unite States (US). The Autoregressive Distributed lag and three supplementary long-run estimators: the Dynamic OLS, Canonical Cointegration Regression and Fully Modified OLS were employed to reveal the long run impacts of economic growth, militarization and biofuel consumption on CO2 emissions. Toda and Yamamoto's MWALD and Rao F tests were applied to find out the direction of causality. The evidence of bi-directional causality between biofuel consumption and economic growth, between economic growth, between militarization and biofuel consumption, and CO2 emissions and between biofuel consumption and CO2 emissions was determined. The results of forecast-error variance determined 50.1% of the forecast-error variance of CO2 emissions is explained by the forecast-error variance of militarization and 59.4% by energy consumption.

Assessment of usage of biofuel in aviation industry in Malaysia

The current scenario of greenhouse gasses emissions is witnessing major impetus as a result of the ever expanding transportation sector across the globe, of which the aviation sector has played a major role. The Malaysian transportation sector, specifically the aviation sector, has a poor record of high carbon emissions, inspite of its history of biofuel and sustainable fuel policy. However, researchers around the globe are now diverting their attention from the conventional fossil fuels to biofuels, because it is cheaper to produce, increases the efficiency of the aircrafts and also reduces the environmental threat fossil fuel emissions pose to the planet. Alternative fuels like bioethanol and biodiesels are increasingly used in aviation industry, as a direct consequence of the global targets set by the International Air Transport Association. In the present study, the possibility of increased biofuel by the aviation industry of Malaysia is analyzed with specific focus on the global initiatives taken for the same, as well as the past and current trends of Malaysia's general biofuel production and consumption. It has been estimated that the use of alternative fuels in aviation industry could reduce the flight related greenhouse gas emission by approximately 60 to 80 %. The recent trials that have been conducted on the importance of biofuels in aviation industry have indicated that these fuels are technically feasible. In this respect, the European community in conjunction with private airline companies and major biofuels producers in their area have played a very prominent role in commercializing the use of biofuels in air transport. But in Malaysia to see biofuels as anything other than their consumption in the food and healthcare industry is still a debatable topic. By addressing these research gaps, this paper focuses on the possibility of manufacturing biofuel products at a commercial scale in Malaysia to be used in the aviation industry to power jet engines in commercial aviation and for reduced carbon emission for increased sustainability of the environment.

Household level tree planting and its implication for environmental conservation in the Beressa Watershed of Ethiopia

BackgroundElsewhere in other developing countries, and 85% of the Ethiopian population is living in rural part of the country and more than 90% of domestic energy source is dependent of traditional biofuel. Increase in population is causing more demand for human use and more pressure on natural resources. This adversely affect the increase of multi-purpose and indigenous tree plantation and ago-forestry practice and hence has a vicious circle with food security. However, following the start of community based watershed management practice, households are encouraged to plant trees on their private land, which contributed to the increase of forest coverage. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess household level tree planting, domestic energy consumption, and explore implication for environmental conservation.ResultsFuelwood and dung was major source of domestic energy in the area, consumed on an average 2280 and 1533 kg/year respectively and the total biofuel consumption was 268.06 t/year. The decline in natural forest and increase in demand for wood motivated people to have privately planted trees. Though it was variable among various socio-economic characteristics of farmers, tree planting was encouraged, based on ground reality. Therefore, promoting private based tree plantation should be considered as economic relief and filling the demand gap of fuelwood. Likewise, the opportunity cost of dung available for soil conditioner. The use of fuel saving stove and other alternative source of energy should be encouraged.ConclusionLocal context policy option used for favoring for the allocation of bare land and mountainous topography for community and private tree planting for landless and small holder farmers has to be encouraged.

On the economic determinants of biofuel consumption: an empirical analysis for OECD countries

This paper explores the determinants of biofuel energy consumption for 12 OECD countries over the period 2002-2012. While a growing literature has examined the determinants of aggregate renewable energy consumption, studies on the drivers of disaggregated renewable energy consumption are scarce. Thus, this study fills the gap by focusing on biofuel energy consumption for OECD countries. Results reveals that biofuel energy consumption depends on real income, CO2 emissions, oil prices and biofuel prices, however, impact of income and CO2 emissions is more pronounced than that of biofuel and oil prices. Moreover, results depict that carbon emissions affect is negative on biofuel consumption and granger causes without feedback, suggesting that biofuels are not able to mitigate carbon emissions. Based on results, it is suggested to stimulate the development and deployment of advanced biofuels.

On the economic determinants of biofuel consumption: an empirical analysis for OECD countries

This paper explores the determinants of biofuel energy consumption for 12 OECD countries over the period 2002-2012. While a growing literature has examined the determinants of aggregate renewable energy consumption, studies on the drivers of disaggregated renewable energy consumption are scarce. Thus, this study fills the gap by focusing on biofuel energy consumption for OECD countries. Results reveals that biofuel energy consumption depends on real income, CO2 emissions, oil prices and biofuel prices, however, impact of income and CO2 emissions is more pronounced than that of biofuel and oil prices. Moreover, results depict that carbon emissions affect is negative on biofuel consumption and granger causes without feedback, suggesting that biofuels are not able to mitigate carbon emissions. Based on results, it is suggested to stimulate the development and deployment of advanced biofuels.

An economic comparison of dedicated crops vs agricultural residues as feedstock for biogas of vehicle fuel quality

The vast majority of the biofuels presently used in the EU are so called first generation biofuels produced from crops. Concerns of food security, displacement of food crop production and indirect land use change (iLUC) has led to the introduction of measures to reduce the use of first generations biofuels and promote so called advanced biofuels based on feedstock that does not compete with food/feed crops, such as waste and agricultural residues. In Sweden, 60% of the biofuel consumption is already based on waste/residual feedstock, and a unique feature of the Swedish biofuel supply is the relatively large use of biogas for transport, representing 9% of the current use of biofuels. The use of waste/residues dominates the biogas production, but agricultural residues, representing a large domestic feedstock potential, are barely used at present. This could indicate that biofuels from such feedstock is non-competitive compared both to fossil fuels and to biofuels produced from crops and waste under existing policy framework. This study show that without subsidies, the production cost of biogas as biofuel from all non-food feedstocks investigated (grass, crop residues and manure) is higher than from food crops. A shift from food crops to residues, as desired according to EU directives, would thus require additional policy instruments favoring advanced biofuel feedstock. Investment or production subsidies must however be substantial in order for biogas from residues to be competitive with biogas from crops.

CONFRONTING THE BIOFUEL-CARBON EMISSIONS-BIODIVERSITY TRILEMMA IN A PANEL OF BIOFUEL CONSUMING COUNTRIES

Since our growth, the human-made activities for better living damage the global environment. Biodiversity is no exception that damages due to massive humanization process. This study focused on the relationship between biofuels consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and biodiversity in a panel of 12 selected biofuels consuming countries for a period of 2000-2013. The study employed panel fixed effect and panel random effect model to obtain the parameter estimates. The results found that biofuels consumption and carbon dioxide emissions both damage the biodiversity in a panel of countries. The results confirm the cointegration relationship between the variables. The quest for the renewable energy fuels for human development remains the keen agenda for the policy makers, however, the war for better health and wealth always exhausts the natural environment of the world’s precious natural resources that should be taken into account in the next call for alerts.Keywords: Biofuels consumption; Biodiversity; Carbon dioxide emissions; Panel Fixed Effect; Panel Random Effect; Panel cointegration.

Control working ability of the cogeneration system on biodiesel fuel

The proposed architecture of the cogeneration system, which is the basis integrated dynamic subsystem – cogeneration plant, heat exchanger cooling circuit of the engine, biodiesel plant, heat exchanger heating oil heat biodiesel and power, charge, discharge, assessment of functional performance that are agreed upon interaction with dynamic subsystem Complex mathematical modeling speakers exchanger cooling circuit of the engine allows define tolerances to temperature change local water levels established for the operation. A complex mathematical and logical modeling efficiency cogeneration control system for obtaining functional evaluation of local water temperature changes. Block diagram of temperature maintenance of local water-level decision-making to determine the final information on the decision to change the number plates of the heat exchanger by comparing the coolant temperature, the heating, the outlet of the heat exchanger cooling circuit of the engine, measured from the reference value. The proposed integrated system of support for local water temperature when measured coolant temperature, the heating, the outlet of the heat exchanger cooling circuit of the engine. Deciding to change the number plate heat exchanger allows you to maintain the ratio of production of electricity and heat using heating oil heat biodyzelyu. Ensured continuous operation of the cogeneration system to be able to develop additional energy savings gained equivalent fuel and cash income. The presented research is a continuation of work towards harmonization of production and consumption of biofuels can be used for cogeneration si-tems with different power related performance biodiesel plants in their composition. This approach allows, for example, in terms of functioning cogeneration system nominal capacity of 451 kW reduce the cost of energy production within 20-30%.

АНАЛІЗ КРИТЕРІЇВ СТАЛОГО РОЗВИТКУ БІОЕНЕРГЕТИКИ

Проаналізовано критерії сталості Євросоюзу для виробництва та використання біопалив. Розглянуто поточну політику ЄС щодо сталості біоенергетики та плани на майбутній період. Показано, що загалом в Європі спостерігається тенденція поступового посилення вимог щодо виконання критеріїв сталості. Представлено рекомендації для України по запровадженню сталого виробництва біопалив.

Economy wide impacts of ethanol and biodiesel policy in Canada: An input–output analysis

ABSTRACTThe Government of Canada has committed that Canada’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions be reduced by 17% from 2005 levels by 2020. The new Renewable Fuels Regulations required 2% renewable content in diesel fuel and heating distillate oil and 5% for gasoline. This represents approximately 2.1 billion liters of ethanol and 600 million liters of biodiesel requirement per year, which would reduce GHG emissions by more than four million tones. Canada is expected to consume more fuel ethanol compared to its production capacity. The above mandates as well as the gap in consumption and production of biofuel will have enormous impact on the Canadian economy. In this backdrop, an input–output model of the Canadian economy is developed to estimate the macroeconomic impact of the ethanol and biodiesel production in Canada. The impacts on sectoral prices have also been calculated. Simulation exercises have been attempted to reach the mandates using modified Leontief model. Results show that agriculture sector is affected because of feedstock use in the biofuel sector. Mining and manufacturing industries also show a considerable impact. In addition, the impact on commodity prices cannot be ignored. Finally, to meet the target of Copenhagen commitment, the nation needs to revise the blending capacity of ethanol and biodiesel.

Public Procurement and Biofuel Sustainability Criteria: Is There a Link?

eu member states promote renewable energy in accordance with the provisions of the Renewable Energy Directive (red). The directive includes fully harmonized sustainability criteria for biofuels. These criteria apply, however, only when biofuel production and consumption are incentivized through financial support or schemes with renewable-energy obligations. The objective of this article is to explore the potential relevance of the sustainability criteria in the context of public procurement, e.g. when a public authority prioritizes the use of biofuels in transport services it purchases and wishes to include certain sustainability criteria. I conclude that red’s sustainability criteria would not apply to most models of sustainable public procurement. With this comes the risk that biofuels are promoted in public procurement in contradiction to the ideals reflected in red. Hence, changes to eu biofuel law should be considered, perhaps even drawing from life-cycle models developed in procurement law.

Supply and demand of biofuels in the fuel market of Thailand: Two stage least square and three least square approaches

In recent years, Thailand Government has made ambitious targets for biofuels and the demand for biofuels has increased. This study estimates the long-term factors that affect the supply and demand for biofuels (bioethanol and biodiesel) in Thailand by developing a theoretical model based on simultaneous equations, using Two stage least square and Three stage least square approaches. Quarterly data were collected for the years 2007–2013:2. Amongst many factors, we found three major factors affecting the long-term demand for biofuels: the price of biofuels, the real gross domestic product and the number of vehicles. On the other hand, the long-run supply of biodiesel and bioethanol was influenced by the gross domestic product, the cost of substitution using biofuel (i.e., price of gasoline 95 compared to blended gasoline) and the price of biodiesel. These findings have important policy implications to the government plans for biofuel development, suggesting that maintaining the price difference between gasoline and gasohol (blended gasoline) and a greater penetration of biofuel vehicles in fleet would be important policies for biofuel consumption. On biofuel supply side, results indicate that policies to compensate the biofuel producers for prices and reducing cost of bio-fuel production are important.

Assessing potential impacts of sugarcane production on water resources: A case study in Brazil

AbstractSustainability has been considered essential for the future consumption of biofuels in large scale and, thus, assessing the impacts on water resources is one of the priorities. The aim of this study is to assess the potential impacts of sugarcane expansion both on the quality and on the quantity of water resources, but using a publicly available database and well‐established statistic procedures. The case studies were defined in São Paulo state, where the bulk of sugarcane production in Brazil is, and more specifically three regions where significant expansion recently occurred: Palmares Paulista, Pontal, and Ribeirão Preto. Time series of streamflows and precipitations (1974–2011) and water quality parameters (1989–2011) were evaluated using non‐parametric tests for detecting trends and abrupt changes. Quality parameters analyzed were concentrations of potassium, total phosphorus, nitrite, nitrate, ammoniacal nitrogen, total solids, dissolved oxygen, and biochemical oxygen demand. Sugarcane cropping data were correlated with streamflows and water quality parameters. Water quality parameters were analyzed vis‐à‐vis sugarcane production and population growth. Significant impacts due to sugarcane cropping were detected only in the case of the smallest basin. In the three studied regions a significant increasing trend of nitrogen and biochemical oxygen demand was observed, but these results can be explained either by sugarcane–ethanol production or by the discharge of sewage and industrial effluents without appropriate treatment. Based on data availability it was not possible to rigorously determine the contribution of large‐scale production of sugarcane cropping to both the quantity and the quality of water resources. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

The experimental investigation of precise intelligent thermoanemometric flow meter for biofuel

The paper presents the constructions of fine thermoanemometric flow meter for biofuel (TAFM) as well as the results of its experimental research. The flow meter contains neural processor to compensate dynamic errors because of theirs essential value. Neural processor using as a part of TAFM significantly raises its accuracy. The latter is confirmed by the results of experimental researches on the specially designed unit, particularly by calibration and verification. The results of experimental researches determine that during the work of TAFM on biofuel when changing in the ranges of temperatures 0 … 180 ºC the errors do no exceed 0,2 %. It is stated that the reasons for TAFM errors can be the errors of etalon sensors and thermal sensors which are a part of TAFM, the changes of fuel volume, measuring tank volume also influence the biofuel temperature as well as the environment temperature. This development can be used for accounting consumption of biofuel of vehicle engine. This approach will significantly improve their conditions of work in comparison with diesel fuel, decrease biofuel consumption as well harmful engine emissions.

Life cycle assessments, carbon footprints and carbon visions: Analysing environmental systems analyses of transportation biofuels in Sweden

To ensure the sustainable production and consumption of biofuels, an increasing body of scientific literature has become available in recent years focusing on the environmental impacts of biofuels. Whilst the climate change mitigation is perhaps the primary driver behind the promotion of biofuels, climate change is not the only crucial impact associated with biofuel production and consumption systems. This study aims at analysing the extent of the dominant focus on climate impacts in Swedish research applying environmental systems analysis (ESA) tools to investigate the environmental impacts of biofuels, and why this may exist. A systematic literature review of Swedish research applying ESA tools in the study of transportation biofuels between 2000 and 2015 was conducted; identifying 64 studies. The results indicate that studies using life cycle assessment include a range of impact categories in addition to climate impacts, e.g. acidification and eutrophication. However, when also considering environmental footprints (i.e., carbon and water footprints) and material flow analyses, the dominance of carbon footprints leads to an overly dominant focus on climate impacts at the expense of other impact categories. The consideration of environmental impacts other than those related to climate impacts is discussed in terms of the influence of the dominant science-policy framework in Sweden and study dependent variables, such as data uncertainty and methodological limitations. Whilst biofuel production is inextricably linked to climate policy, the environmental impacts of Swedish biofuel production and consumption should also consider the broader context of the Swedish National Environmental Objectives.

The role of federal Renewable Fuel Standards and market structure on the growth of the cellulosic biofuel sector

This article examines the effect of the Renewable Fuel Standards and market power on the growth of the cellulosic biofuel sector. We develop a sectoral model to show how changes in the regulations governing cellulosic fuel production affect the equilibrium quantity of cellulosic ethanol. Based on model calibration for Washington State, we find that existing low-cost waivers purchased by obligated parties in lieu of cellulosic fuel production negate the effectiveness of the Renewable Fuel Standard to induce the production and consumption of cellulosic biofuels. However, raising waiver price slightly relative to the status quo significantly increases the equilibrium quantity of cellulosic ethanol. The high cost of cellulosic ethanol production is often cited as the cause of the lack of cellulosic ethanol production, which is used to justify low waiver prices. Our policy message is the converse: the low current waiver price significantly contributes to the cellulosic ethanol market stagnation in the context of the current biofuel policy.

LCA of biofuels in Thailand using Thai Ecological Scarcity method

Thailand has been promoting biofuel production and consumption to substitute transport fuels in order to utilize domestic resources and contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation. This study adopted a Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) method using “distance-to-target” approach based on the Swiss Eco Scarcity method. It is developed by using Thailand's current situation of pollutants emissions and natural resources use in line with the three related national policy goals i.e. GHG, primary energy and freshwater resources; the Eco-Factors are 1.6, 0.13 and 1.9 Thai Eco Point (TEP) per kgCO2e, MJ NRE-eq and m3 in respective units. These were used for an LCA comparison between cassava-based ethanol and palm oil-biodiesel with their fossil fuel counterparts on an energy basis. The LCA results indicate both biofuels have lower impacts than the equivalent fossil fuels and the main contributor is GHG emissions from biofuel production. The sensitivity analysis also indicated the given policy related to freshwater and GHG influence the biofuel benefits. Therefore, the strong policy and technical options in energy production are still required for sustainable biofuels following the government intention.

Organic tracers in aerosols from the residential combustion of pellets and agro-fuels

The consumption of pellets and alternative biofuels, such as some agricultural residues, has experienced a tremendous growth in Mediterranean countries, which has changed the panorama of biomass burning emissions. To apply source apportionment models, specific chemical signatures for smoke aerosols are necessary. In this study, filter samples of fine particles (PM2.5) from the combustion of four different types of pellets and three agro-fuels (shell of pine nuts, olive pit and almond shell) in a pellet stove were collected. The PM2.5 samples were extracted with dichloromethane/methanol and the dried extracts were silylated before injection into the gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The analysis included monosaccharide anhydrides, resin acids, methoxyphenols and sterols. The amounts emitted were highly variable and dependent on both biofuel and combustion temperature. On average, the anhydrosugar particle mass fractions for the seven biofuels were 30 to 70 times lower than the values reported for manually fired systems. The highest levoglucosan emissions were observed for olive pit. Levoglucosan to mannosan ratios ranged from values around 2 for pellets and shell of pine nuts to much higher quotients, similar to those reported for hardwood combustion. Irrespective of biofuel, vanillin and vanillic acid were always present in the smoke samples. Coniferyl alcohol was only detected in samples from the combustion of olive pit and pellets with the highest softwood content. Sinapyl alcohol was exclusively emitted by olive pit. Dehydroabietic and isopimaric acids were represented in emissions whether from all type of pellets or from shell of pine nuts, whilst abietic acid was only quantifiable in PM2.5 from the combustion of pellets made of coniferous wood. Sitosterol was solely detected in smoke particles from shell of pine nuts and olive pit.