Solid Biofuels for Energy (eBook)

Fossil fuels are widely used for electricity generation and heating, creating greenhouse gas emissions and other toxic pollutants, which should be minimised according to the most recent environmental legislation. The utilisation of solid fuels with biogenic origin could contribute to the minimisation of these emissions. Solid Biofuels for Energy presents the current status of the engineering disciplines in this specific area, providing an improved background on the energy exploitation options of solid biomass. Within this framework, all thematic priorities related to the solid bioenergy potential and standardisation, commercialised and emerging energy technologies, and quality of solid residues are presented. Special attention has been given to biomass co-firing with coal, since it has the highest potential for commercial application, while combustion and gasification are more promising for units of medium to small scale. This strong practical focus is evident throughout the book, particularly in discussions of: • international standards for solid biofuel specifications; • supply, cost and sustainability of solid biofuels; • technical issues and non-technical barriers in biomass/coal co-firing; and • biomass combustion and gasification characteristics. Solid Biofuels for Energy is an informative reference, written for researchers and postgraduate students working in the field of biomass. It can also be a useful guide for chemical and mechanical engineers, involved in the environment and energy production sectors.

Dr. Panagiotis Grammelis is a senior researcher in the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas / Institute for Solid Fuels Technology and Applications. His areas of expertise include energy exploitation of non-conventional fuels; clean coal technologies; process energy analysis and operation of test facilities; and efficiency and emitted pollutants of boilers of central heating and industrial installations. In the last decade, he has participated in several research projects and engineering studies for the energy applications on solid fuels, i.e., biomass/waste and coal.

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Fossil fuels are widely used for electricity generation and heating, but emit greenhouse gases and other toxic pollutants, which should be minimized according to the most recent environmental legislation. The utilization of solid fuels with biogenic origin could generate progress in this direction. Although a lot of information is available on liquid biofuels, only relatively few data can be found for research trends in the solid biofuels sector.Solid Biofuels for Energy aims to present the current status of the engineering disciplines in the specific area, providing an improved background on the energy exploitation options of solid biomass. In this sense, all thematic priorities related to the solid bioenergy potential and standardisation, energy technologies - both commercialised and emerging - and quality of solid residues are presented. Special attention has been given to biomass co-firing with coal, since it has the highest potential for commercial application, while combustion and gasification are more promising for units of medium to small scale.