Through the use of technology and key differentiators, many industry players are fast attracting investors and highlighting the competitive advantage that the industry holds over other less sustainable alternatives. In light of this, one might argue that investing in bioenergy may prove to be a viable sustainable forex trading option, given that the industry has been showing a certain level of growth and may possibly reach new heights in years to come.

Investing in bioenergy stocks

Before investing in biomass energy stocks, however, it is worth noting that it is generally a more expensive energy source to produce. Additionally, naysayers have highlighted that it requires a lot of wood from natural forests, which some people will ultimately lead to deforestation. Although generally championed as the more environmentally friendly alternative, writings on the matter claim that if the wood is not fully burnt, it can result in particles that contribute to air pollution.

These are perhaps some of the reasons behind the initial hesitance to invest in biomass energy. On the upside, bioenergy is a great way to repurpose waste and it can be stored with minimal energy loss.

Penny stocks and economies

Given that most of the biomass energy companies are listed on stock exchanges, it is therefore true that the decisions that investors make on the stock market will affect the prices and availability of commodities in global economies.

Having an understanding of this can better guide and inform your decisions as an investor on how to trade stocks or commodities. These include penny stocks, which can be defined as common shares of small public companies that trade for less than one dollar per share. In light of the activity that the bio energy industry has been experiencing, it is no surprise that there is correlating activity amongst penny stocks.

As at July 2021, listed amongst some of the best energy penny stocks that you might want to consider investing in were Southwestern Energy, Transportadora de Gas, Taronis Fuels and Denison Mines. Of these, Taronis Fuels is described as a global industry player that produces renewable and socially responsible fuel products. It is also said to have a high liquidity and trades more than 160 829 shares per day. Southwestern Energy is described as one of the largest natural gas and natural gas liquid providers in the US. To provide an indication of its activity and investor confidence, it reportedly trades more than a whopping 3.7 million shares per day.

Recommended Resource: How BioEnergy Can Change the World

The post What You Should Know Before Investing in Bioenergy Stocks first appeared on BioEnergy Consult.

What is Biogas

Briefly speaking, biogas is the production of gaseous fuel, usually methane, by fermentation of organic material. It is an anaerobic process or one that takes place in the absence of oxygen. Technically, the yeast that causes your bread to rise or the alcohol in beer to ferment is a form of biogas. We don’t use it in the same way that we would use other renewable sources, but the idea is similar. Biogas can be used for cooking, lighting, heating, power generation and much more. Infact, biogas is an excellent and effective to promote development of rural and marginalized communities in all developing countries.

This presents a problem, however. The organic matter is putting off a gas, and to use it, we have to turn it into a liquid. This requires work, machinery and manpower. Research is still being done to figure out the most efficient methods to make it work, but there is a great deal of progress that has been made, and the technology is no longer new.

Fossil Fuel Imports

India has a rapidly expanding economy and the population to fit. This has created problems with electricity supplies to expanding areas. Like most countries, India mainly uses fossil fuels. However, as oil prices fluctuate and the country’s demand for oil grows, the supply doesn’t always keep up with the demand. In the past, India has primarily imported oil from the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Without a steady and sustainable fossil fuels supply, India has looking more seriously into renewable sources they can produce within the country. Biogas is an excellent candidate to meet those requirements and has been used for this goal before.

Biogas in India

There are significant differences between biogas and fossil fuels, but for India, one of the biggest is that you can create biogas at home. It’s pretty tricky to find, dig up and transform crude oil into gas, but biogas doesn’t have the same barriers. In fact, many farmers who those who have gardens or greenhouses could benefit with proper water management and temperature control so that plants can be grown year round, It still takes some learning and investment, but for many people, especially those who live in rural places, it’s doable.

This would be the most beneficial to people in India because it would help ease the strain of delivering reliable energy sources based on fossil fuels, and would allow the country to become more energy independent. Plus, the rural areas are places where the raw materials for biogas will be more available, such animal manure, crop residues and poultry litter. But this isn’t the first time most people there are hearing about it.

Biogas in India has been around for a long time. In the 1970’s the country began a program called the National Biogas and Manure Management Program (NBMMP) to deal with the same problem — a gas shortage. The country did a great deal of research and implemented a wide variety of ideas to help their people become more self-sufficient, regardless of the availability of traditional gasoline and other fossil fuel based products.

The original program was pioneering for its time, but the Chinese quickly followed suit and have been able to top the market in biogas production in relatively little time. Comparatively, India’s production of biogas is quite small. It only produces about 2.07 billion m3/year of biogas, while it’s estimated that it could produce as much as 48 billion m3/year. This means that there are various issues with the current method’s India is using in its biogas production.

The original planning in the NBMMP involved scientists who tried to create the most efficient biogas generators. This was good, but it slowed people’s abilities to adopt the techniques individually. China, on the other hand, explicitly worked to help their most rural areas create biogas. This allowed the country to spread the development of biogas to the most people with the lowest barriers to its proliferation.

If India can learn from the strategy that China has employed, they may be able to give their biogas production a significant boost which will also help in the rejuvenation of biomass sector in the country. Doing so will require the help and willingness of both the people and the government. Either way, this is an industry with a lot of room for growth.

The post Biogas Sector in India: Perspectives first appeared on BioEnergy Consult.

1. Combustion

Conventional combustion technologies raise steam through the combustion of biomass. This steam may then be expanded through a conventional turbo-alternator to produce electricity. A number of combustion technology variants have been developed. Underfeed stokers are suitable for small scale boilers up to 6 MWth.

Grate type boilers are widely deployed. They have relatively low investment costs, low operating costs and good operation at partial loads. However, they can have higher NOx emissions and decreased efficiencies due to the requirement of excess air, and they have lower efficiencies.

Fluidized bed combustors (FBC), which use a bed of hot inert material such as sand, are a more recent development. Bubbling FBCs are generally used at 10-30 MWth capacity, while Circulating FBCs are more applicable at larger scales. Advantages of FBCs are that they can tolerate a wider range of poor quality fuel, while emitting lower NOx levels.

2. Co-Firing

Co-firing or co-combustion of biomass wastes with coal and other fossil fuels can provide a short-term, low-risk, low-cost option for producing renewable energy while simultaneously reducing the use of fossil fuels. Co-firing involves utilizing existing power generating plants that are fired with fossil fuel (generally coal), and displacing a small proportion of the fossil fuel with renewable biomass fuels.

Co-firing has the major advantage of avoiding the construction of new, dedicated, waste-to-energy power plant. Co-firing may be implemented using different types and percentages of wastes in a range of combustion and gasification technologies. Most forms of biomass wastes are suitable for co-firing. These include dedicated municipal solid wastes, wood waste and agricultural residues such as straw and husk.

3. Gasification

Gasification of biomass takes place in a restricted supply of oxygen and occurs through initial devolatilization of the biomass, combustion of the volatile material and char, and further reduction to produce a fuel gas rich in carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This combustible gas has a lower calorific value than natural gas but can still be used as fuel for boilers, for engines, and potentially for combustion turbines after cleaning the gas stream of tars and particulates.

If gasifiers are ‘air blown’, atmospheric nitrogen dilutes the fuel gas to a level of 10-14 percent that of the calorific value of natural gas. Oxygen and steam blown gasifiers produce a gas with a somewhat higher calorific value. Pressurized gasifiers are under development to reduce the physical size of major equipment items.

A variety of gasification reactors have been developed over several decades. These include the smaller scale fixed bed updraft, downdraft and cross flow gasifiers, as well as fluidized bed gasifiers for larger applications. At the small scale, downdraft gasifiers are noted for their relatively low tar production, but are not suitable for fuels with low ash melting point (such as straw). They also require fuel moisture levels to be controlled within narrow levels.

4. Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis is the term given to the thermal degradation of wood in the absence of oxygen. It enables biomass to be converted to a combination of solid char, gas and a liquid bio-oil. Pyrolysis technologies are generally categorized as “fast” or “slow” according to the time taken for processing the feed into pyrolysis products. These products are generated in roughly equal proportions with slow pyrolysis. Using fast pyrolysis, bio-oil yield can be as high as 80 percent of the product on a dry fuel basis.

Bio-oil can act as a liquid fuel or as a feedstock for chemical production. A range of bio-oil production processes are under development, including fluid bed reactors, ablative pyrolysis, entrained flow reactors, rotating cone reactors, and vacuum pyrolysis.

The post Thermal Conversion of Biomass first appeared on BioEnergy Consult.

Why Biofuels Are Drawing More Investment Than Traditional Fuels

Investment is increasingly shifting toward biofuels because they offer a practical path to lowering transportation emissions without requiring an immediate overhaul of existing fuel infrastructure. Unlike conventional fossil fuels, many biofuels can blend with or directly replace petroleum-based fuels, helping industries reduce carbon emissions while continuing to use current engines, pipelines and fueling systems.

Government policy is another major driver of investor confidence. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Agricultural Outlook 2026-2035 projects that global biofuel demand will increase by 1.4% annually over the next decade, supported by blending mandates, energy security initiatives and emissions-reduction goals.

At the same time, production in middle-income countries is expected to grow by 3% per year, led by Brazil, Indonesia and India as they expand renewable fuel capacity to meet rising transport demand. These long-term policy commitments create more predictable markets, making biofuels a more attractive investment than traditional fuels, whose growth prospects are increasingly constrained by decarbonization efforts and evolving energy policies.

SAF Leads Investment Activity

SAF has become a major focus for investment as the aviation industry works to reduce emissions while strengthening long-term fuel security. Unlike many other sectors, aviation has few practical alternatives to liquid fuels for medium- and long-haul flights. Battery-electric aircraft are currently limited to very short-range applications, while hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft remain years away from widespread use.

Because SAF is compatible with existing aircraft and can blend with conventional jet fuel, it can integrate into today’s aviation infrastructure without requiring new aircraft or airport fueling systems. As a result, industry efforts have increasingly shifted toward expanding production capacity and supply chains to support broader adoption.

Governments are strengthening policy incentives, while energy companies, institutional investors and airlines continue financing new production capacity. Long-term purchase agreements also provide producers with greater revenue certainty and support future expansion. The Philippines, for example, recently added SAF production to its strategic priorities, making qualifying projects eligible for additional incentives.

Another factor attracting investment is feedstock flexibility. Because SAF can be produced from a variety of renewable materials, including used cooking oil, agricultural residues, forestry waste and municipal solid waste, producers have more sourcing options and are less dependent on a single raw material.

Production costs remain higher than those of conventional jet fuel, but investment continues to support new production facilities, infrastructure and technology development to expand SAF availability.

Renewable Diesel and Biodiesel Continue to Expand

Renewable diesel and biodiesel remain among the most mature segments of the biofuels industry. Both fuels are commonly produced from vegetable oils, animal fats and recycled cooking oil, but they differ in their manufacturing processes and performance.

Biodiesel is produced through transesterification and is commonly blended with petroleum diesel for use in many diesel engines. Renewable diesel is made via a hydrogenation process and is chemically equivalent to petroleum diesel, allowing it to be used as a drop-in fuel, transported through existing petroleum pipelines and sold with or without blending.

Renewable diesel is especially attractive for trucking fleets, construction equipment and commercial transportation operators seeking lower-carbon fuel without modifying existing engines. Investment has increasingly focused on expanding renewable diesel production capacity because the fuel can be distributed through much of the existing diesel supply chain.

Biodiesel vs. Conventional Diesel

Conventional diesel is refined directly from crude oil and has long been the primary fuel for heavy-duty transportation. Biodiesel, by comparison, is made from renewable biological feedstocks such as soybean oil, canola oil, palm oil, used cooking oil or animal fats.

While biodiesel generally produces lower life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, it may have slightly lower energy content than petroleum diesel, which can lead to modest decreases in fuel economy depending on the blend ratio. Many diesel engines can safely operate using approved biodiesel blends, making adoption relatively straightforward.

Can Biodiesel Be Stored for Long Periods?

Biodiesel can be stored for extended periods, but it generally requires more careful management than conventional diesel. Because it is more susceptible to oxidation and moisture absorption, fuel quality can decline over time when exposed to air, water or excessive heat.

Long-term storage can also reduce biodiesel’s oxidation stability, potentially leading to deposits, sediment and other insoluble materials. These contaminants may clog filters and affect fuel system performance if the fuel is not properly maintained. Regular monitoring, clean storage tanks, limited exposure to contaminants and proper inventory rotation can help preserve biodiesel quality during storage.

Biogas Gains Momentum Through Circular Economy Projects

Biogas and biomethane continue attracting significant investment because they combine renewable energy production with waste management.

Produced from food waste, agricultural residues, livestock manure and wastewater treatment facilities, biogas transforms organic waste into usable fuel while reducing methane emissions that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere. Many investors view this as a compelling business model because projects generate value from materials that previously represented disposal costs.

Sustainable agricultural practices are also improving resource efficiency by creating new uses for organic waste. For example, research suggests that oils, fats and grease recovered from food waste could produce around 1.7 billion gallons of biodiesel, demonstrating the significant renewable fuel potential of materials that would otherwise be discarded.

Biomethane can be upgraded for pipeline injection or transportation use after treatment removes impurities from raw biogas. The U.S. Energy Information Administration notes that treated renewable natural gas contains at least 90% methane and can be injected into natural gas pipelines or used in vehicles.

This compatibility supports biogas investment. As a result, investment continues flowing into projects that expand renewable natural gas production while making use of existing pipeline infrastructure.

What Makes These Fuel Types Attractive?

Several common characteristics explain why these fuel types continue attracting investment ahead of newer technologies:

• Flexible feedstocks: Access to agricultural residues, used cooking oil, forestry waste and other renewable materials gives producers more sourcing options, helping reduce supply risk while supporting regional production.
• Commercial readiness: Renewable diesel, biodiesel and many biogas technologies already operate at commercial scale, giving investors greater confidence than technologies that remain in earlier stages of development.
• Supportive policies: Blending mandates, renewable fuel standards and production incentives continue creating stable demand, with the OECD-FAO identifying government policy as a key driver of biofuel market growth.
• Infrastructure compatibility: Many biofuels can be transported, stored and distributed through existing fuel infrastructure or used in current vehicles and equipment with few modifications.

What Current Investment Trends Reveal

Investment trends in 2026 point to a growing divide between commercially mature and emerging biofuel technologies. SAF, renewable diesel, biodiesel and biogas continue attracting investment because of supportive policies and scalable production. More advanced biofuels remain promising but face higher costs and greater challenges before reaching widespread commercial deployment.

The post Scaling Up Biofuels: Which Fuel Types Are Attracting the Most Investment in 2026 first appeared on BioEnergy Consult.

Palm kernel shells contain residues of Palm Oil, which accounts for its slightly higher heating value than average lignocellulosic biomass. Compared to other residues from the industry, it is a good quality biomass fuel with uniform size distribution, easy handling, easy crushing, and limited biological activity due to low moisture content. PKS can be readily co-fired with coal in grate fired -and fluidized bed boilers as well as cement kilns in order to diversify the fuel mix.

The primary use of palm kernel shells is as a boiler fuel supplementing the fibre which is used as primary fuel. In recent years kernel shells are sold as alternative fuel around the world. Besides selling shells in bulk, there are companies that produce fuel briquettes from shells which may include partial carbonisation of the material to improve the combustion characteristics.

As a raw material for fuel briquettes, palm shells are reported to have the same calorific characteristics as coconut shells. The relatively smaller size makes it easier to carbonise for mass production, and its resulting palm shell charcoal can be pressed into a heat efficient biomass briquette.

Palm kernel shells have been traditionally used as solid fuels for steam boilers in palm oil mills across Southeast Asia. The steam generated is used to run turbines for electricity production. These two solid fuels alone are able to generate more than enough energy to meet the energy demands of a palm oil mill. Most palm oil mills in the region are self-sufficient in terms of energy by making use of kernel shells and mesocarp fibers in cogeneration.

In recent years, the demand for palm kernel shells has increased considerably in Europe, Asia-Pacific, China etc. resulting in price close to that of coal. Nowadays, cement industries and power producers are increasingly using palm kernel shells to replace coal. In grate-fired boiler systems, fluidized-bed boiler systems and cement kilns, palm kernel shells are an excellent fuel.

Cofiring of PKS yields added value for power plants and cement kilns, because the fuel significantly reduces carbon emissions – this added value can be expressed in the form of renewable energy certificates, carbon credits, etc. However, there is a great scope for introduction of high-efficiency cogeneration systems in the industry which will result in substantial supply of excess power to the public grid and supply of surplus PKS to other nations. Palm kernel shell is already extensively in demand domestically by local industries for meeting process heating requirements, thus creating supply shortages in the market.

Palm oil mills around the world may seize an opportunity to supply electricity for its surrounding plantation areas using palm kernel shells, empty fruit branches and palm oil mill effluent which have not been fully exploited yet. This new business will be beneficial for all parties, increase the profitability and sustainability for palm oil industry, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the electrification ratio in surrounding plantation regions.

The post The Energy Potential of Palm Kernel Shells first appeared on BioEnergy Consult.

Limitations of Bagasse

Bagasse is a ubiquitous primary fuel in cogeneration plants in sugar mills, which adds more than 2,000 MW of renewable power to the Indian energy mix. The inclination of cogeneration plant managers towards bagasse is primarily because of its virtue of being easily available on-site, and no requirement to purchase it from the external market.

This remains true despite its several significant shortcomings as a boiler fuel, prime among which are very high moisture content and low calorific value. As a result, the fuel-to-energy ratio remains abysmally low and the consequent lesser power generation is depriving these sugar mills from achieving true revenue potential from their ancillary power business vertical, which is pegged at ~10,000 MW.

Sugarcane Trash – A Wonder Waste

Though, there is a much neglected high calorific value biomass which is available in proximity of every sugar mill and is also a residue of the sugarcane crop itself, which could enable the cogeneration units to achieve their maximum output potential. This wonder waste is sugarcane trash – the dry leaves of sugarcane crop – which is left in the farms itself after sugarcane harvesting as it has no utility as fodder and generally burnt by farmers, which harms the surrounding air quality substantially.

Given its favourable properties of having very low moisture content with moderate-to-high calorific value, sugarcane trash could be used in most of the high pressure boiler designs in a considerable proportion along with bagasse.

Undeniably, sugar mills should not discontinue using bagasse as the primary fuel, but surely complement it with sugarcane trash as it would lead to an increase in their revenue generation and would also allow them to expand operations of their cogeneration plant to off-season, as using sugarcane trash with bagasse in season would leave more bagasse for off-season usage.

Hurdles to Overcome

Despite these evident benefits, the major obstacle in development of sugarcane trash as an industrial boiler fuel has been its difficult collection from thousands of small and fragmented farms. Moreover, the trash becomes available and needs to be collected simultaneously during the operating season of the sugar mills, which makes deployment of resources, human or otherwise, for managing the procurement of trash very difficult for any sugar mill.

As a matter of fact, the sugar mills which initiated the pilots, or even scaled commercially, to utilise sugarcane trash along with bagasse, had to sooner or later discontinue its use, owing to the mammoth challenges discussed above.

The Way Forward

Thus, in order to utilise this wonder waste, there is a dire need to outsource its procurement to professional and organised players which establish the biomass supply chain infrastructure in the vicinity of the cogeneration units to make on-site availability of sugarcane trash as convenient as bagasse and enable them to procure the rich quality biomass at sustainable prices which leads to an increase in their profits.

These biomass supply chain companies offer value to the farmers by processing their crop residues in timely manner, thus prevent open burning of the crop residue and contribute to a greener and cleaner environment.

Indeed, owing to its favourable fuel properties, positive environmental impact and now, with ease in its procurement, sugarcane trash is the renewable fuel of today and future for the Indian sugar mills.

The post Sugarcane Trash – A Renewable Fuel of Today and Future first appeared on BioEnergy Consult.

The design and equipment choice for the fuel handling system, including preparation and refinement systems is carried out in accordance with the plant configuration. This is of special importance when the biomass is not homogeneous and contains impurities, typically for forest and agricultural wastes. Some of the common problems encountered have been the unpopular design and undersized fuel handling, preparation and feeding systems.

The fuel handling core systems and equipment are dependent on both the raw fuel type and condition as well as on the conversion/combustion technology employed. The core equipment in a biomass power plant include the following:

1. Fuel reception
2. Fuel weighing systems
3. Receiving bunkers
4. Bunker discharge systems (stoker, screw, grab bucket)
5. Fuel preparation
6. Fuel drying systems
7. Crushers
8. Chippers
9. Screening systems
10. Shredding systems
11. Grinding systems (for pulverised fuel burners)
12. Safety systems (explosion relieve, emergency discharge, fire detections etc)
13. Fuel transport and feeding
14. Push floors
15. Belt feeders
16. Conveyers and Elevators
17. Tube feeders
18. Fuel hoppers and silos (refined fuel)
19. Hopper, bunker and silo discharge
20. Feeding stokers
21. Feeding screws
22. Rotary valves

To enable any available biomass resource to be matched with the end use energy carrier required (heat, electricity or transport fuels) the correct selection of conversion technologies is required. Since the forms in which biomass can be used for energy are diverse, optimal resources, technologies and entire systems will be shaped by local conditions, both physical and socio-economic in nature.

As the majority of people in developing countries will continue using biomass as their primary energy source well into the next century, it is of critical importance that biomass-based energy truly can be modernized to yield multiple socioeconomic and environmental benefits.

The post Overview of Biomass Handling Equipment first appeared on BioEnergy Consult.

Biomass pelletization is a standard method for the production of high density, solid energy carriers from biomass. Pellets are manufactured in several types and grades as fuels for electric power plants, homes, and other applications. Pellet-making equipment is available at a variety of sizes and scales, which allows manufacture at domestic as well industrial-scale production. Pellets have a cylindrical shape and are about 6-25 mm in diameter and 3-50 mm in length. There are European standards for biomass pellets and raw material classification (EN 14961-1, EN 14961-2 and EN 14961-6) and international ISO standards under development (ISO/DIS 17225-1, ISO/DIS 17225-2 and ISO/DIS 17225-6).

Process Description

The biomass pelletization process consists of multiple steps including raw material pre-treatment, pelletization and post-treatment. The first step in the pelletization process is the preparation of feedstock which includes selecting a feedstock suitable for this process, its filtration, storage and protection. Raw materials used are sawdust, wood shavings, wood wastes, agricultural residues like straw, switchgrass etc. Filtration is done to remove unwanted materials like stone, metal, etc. The feedstock should be stored in such a manner that it is away from impurities and moisture. In cases where there are different types of feedstock, a blending process is used to achieve consistency.

The moisture content in biomass can be considerably high and are usually up to 50% – 60% which should be reduced to 10 to 15%. Rotary drum dryer is the most common equipment used for this purpose. Superheated steam dryers, flash dryers, spouted bed dryers and belt dryers can also be used. Drying increases the efficiency of biomass and it produces almost no smoke on combustion. It should be noted that the feedstock should not be over dried, as a small amount of moisture helps in binding the biomass particles. The drying process is the most energy intensive process and accounts for about 70% of the total energy used in the pelletization process.

Before feeding biomass to pellet mills, the biomass should be reduced to small particles of the order of not more than 3mm. If the pellet size is too large or too small, it affects the quality of pellet and in turn increases the energy consumption. Therefore the particles should have proper size and should be consistent. Size reduction is done by grinding using a hammer mill equipped with a screen of size 3.2 to 6.4 mm. If the feedstock is quite large, it goes through a chipper before grinding.

The next and the most important step is pelletization where biomass is compressed against a heated metal plate (known as die) using a roller. The die consists of holes of fixed diameter through which the biomass passes under high pressure. Due to the high pressure, frictional forces increase, leading to a considerable rise in temperature. High temperature causes the lignin and resins present in biomass to soften which acts as a binding agent between the biomass fibers. This way the biomass particles fuse to form pellets.

The rate of production and electrical energy used in the pelletization of biomass are strongly correlated to the raw material type and processing conditions such as moisture content and feed size. The The average energy required to pelletize biomass is roughly between 16 kWh/t and 49kWh/t. During pelletization, a large fraction of the process energy is used to make the biomass flow into the inlets of the press channels.

Binders or lubricants may be added in some cases to produce higher quality pellets. Binders increase the pellet density and durability. Wood contains natural resins which act as a binder. Similarly, sawdust contains lignin which holds the pellet together. However, agricultural residues do not contain much resins or lignin, and so a stabilizing agent needs to be added in this case. Distillers dry grains or potato starch is some commonly used binders. The use of natural additives depends on biomass composition and the mass proportion between cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin and inorganics.

Due to the friction generated in the die, excess heat is developed. Thus, the pellets are very soft and hot (about 70 to 90^oC). It needs to be cooled and dried before its storage or packaging. The pellets may then be passed through a vibrating screen to remove fine materials. This ensures that the fuel source is clean and dust free.

The pellets are packed into bags using an overhead hopper and a conveyor belt. Pellets are stored in elevated storage bins or ground level silos. The packaging should be such that the pellets are protected from moisture and pollutants. Commercial pellet mills and other pelletizing equipment are widely available across the globe.

The post Biomass Pelletization Process first appeared on BioEnergy Consult.

Several recent studies have pointed out that biofuel from microalgae has the potential to become a renewable, cost-effective alternative for fossil fuel with reduced impact on the environment and the world supply of staple foods, such as wheat, maize and sugar.

What are Algae?

Algae are unicellular microorganisms, capable of photosynthesis. They are one of the world’s oldest forms of life, and it is strongly believed that fossil oil was largely formed by ancient microalgae. Microalgae (or microscopic algae) are considered as a potential oleo-feedstock, as they produce lipids through photosynthesis, i.e. using only carbon, water, sunlight, phosphates, nitrates and other (oligo) elements that can be found in residual waters.

Oils produced by diverse algae strains range in composition. For the most part are like vegetable oils, though some are chemically similar to the hydrocarbons in petroleum.

Advantages of Algae

Apart from lipids, algae also produce proteins, isoprenoids and polysaccharides. Some strains of algae ferment sugars to produce alcohols, under the right growing conditions. Their biomass can be processed to different sorts of chemicals and polymers (Polysaccharides, enzymes, pigments and minerals), biofuels (e.g. biodiesel, alkanes and alcohols), food and animal feed (PUFA, vitamins, etc.) as well as bioactive compounds (antibiotics, antioxidant and metabolites) through down-processing technology such as transesterification, pyrolysis and continuous catalysis using microspheres.

Algae can be grown on non-arable land (including deserts), most of them do not require fresh water, and their nutritional value is high. Extensive R&D is underway on algae as raw material worldwide, especially in North America and Europe with a high number of start-up companies developing different options.

Most scientific literature suggests an oil production potential of around 25-50 ton per hectare per year for relevant algae species. Microalgae contain, amongst other biochemical, neutral lipids (tri-, di-, monoglycerides free fatty acids), polar lipids (glycolipids, phospholipids), wax esters, sterols and pigments. The total lipid content in microalgae varies from 1 to 90 % of dry weight, depending on species, strain and growth conditions.

What is Algae Biorefinery

In order to develop a more sustainable and economically feasible process, all biomass components (e.g. proteins, lipids, carbohydrates) should be used and therefore biorefining of microalgae is very important for the selective separation and use of the functional biomass components.

The term algae biorefinery was coined to describe the production of a wide range of chemicals and biofuels from algal biomass by the integration of bio-processing and appropriate low environmental impact chemical technologies in a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable.

If biorefining of microalgae is applied, lipids should be fractionated into lipids for biodiesel, lipids as a feedstock for the chemical industry and essential fatty acids, proteins and carbohydrates for food, feed and bulk chemicals, and the oxygen produced can be recovered as well.

The potential for commercial algae production, also known as algaculture, is expected to come from growth in translucent tubes or containers called photo bioreactors or in open systems (e.g. raceways) particularly for industrial mass cultivation or more recently through a hybrid approach combining closed-system pre-cultivation with a subsequent open-system.

Advantages of Algae Biorefinery

The major advantages of an algae biorefinery include:

• Use of industrial refusals as inputs ( CO₂,wastewater and desalination plant rejects)
• Large product basket with energy-derived (biodiesel, methane, ethanol and hydrogen) and non-energy derived (nutraceutical, fertilizers, animal feed and other bulk chemicals) products.
• Not competing with food production (non-arable land and no freshwater requirements)
• Better growth yield and lipid content than crops.

Indeed, after oil extraction the resulting algal biomass can be processed into ethanol, methane, livestock feed, used as organic fertilizer due to its high N:P ratio, or simply burned for energy cogeneration (electricity and heat). If, in addition, production of algae is done on residual nutrient feedstock and CO₂, and production of microalgae is done on large scale in order to lower production costs, production of bulk chemicals and fuels from microalgae will become economically, environmentally and ethically extremely attractive.

The post Everything You Should Know About An Algae Biorefinery first appeared on BioEnergy Consult.

Another option is to transfer the biomass to a central location where the material is accumulated and subsequently dispatched to the energy conversion facility. While in depot, the biomass could be pre-processed minimally (ground) or extensively (pelletized). The depot also provides an opportunity to interface with rail transport if that is an available option. The choice of any of the options depends on the economics and cultural practices. For example in irrigated areas, there is always space on the farm (corner of the land) where quantities of biomass can be stacked.

The key components to reduce costs in harvesting, collecting and transportation of biomass can be summarized as:

• Reduce the number of passes through the field by amalgamating collection operations.
• Increase the bulk density of biomass
• Work with minimal moisture content.
• Granulation/pelletization is the best option, though the existing technology is expensive.
• Trucking seems to be the most common mode of biomass transportation option but rail and pipeline may become attractive once the capital costs for these transport modes are reduced.

The logistics of transporting, handling and storing the bulky and variable biomass material for delivery to the biopower plant is a key part of the biomass supply chain that is often overlooked by project developers. Whether the biomass comes from forest residues on hill country, straw residues from cereal crops grown on arable land, or the non-edible components of small scale, subsistence farming systems, the relative cost of collection will be considerable.

Careful development of a system to minimize machinery use, human effort and energy inputs can have a considerable impact on the cost of the biomass as delivered to the biomass processing plant gate.

Most of the agricultural biomass resources tend to have a relatively low energy density compared with fossil fuels. This often makes handling, storage and transportation more costly per unit of energy carried. Some crop residues are often not competitive because the biomass resource is dispersed over large areas leading to high collection and transport costs.

The costs for long distance haulage of bulky biomass will be minimized if the biomass can be sourced from a location where it is already concentrated, such as sugar mill. It can then be converted in the nearby biomass energy plant to more transportable forms of energy carrier if not to be utilized on-site.

The logistics of supplying a biopower plant with sufficient volumes of biomass from a number of sources at suitable quality specifications and possibly all year round, are complex. Agricultural residues can be stored on the farm until needed. Then they can be collected and delivered directly to the conversion plant on demand. At times this requires considerable logistics to ensure only a few days of supply are available on-site but that the risk of non-supply at any time is low.

Losses of dry matter, and hence of energy content, commonly occur during the harvest transport and storage process. This can either be from physical losses of the biomass material in the field during the harvest operation or dropping off a truck, or by the reduction of dry matter of biomass material which occurs in storage over time as a result of respiration processes and as the product deteriorates. Dry matter loss is normally reduced over time if the moisture content of the biomass can be lowered or oxygen can be excluded in order to constrain pathological action.

To ensure sufficient and consistent biomass supplies, all agents involved with the production, collection, storage, and transportation of biomass require compensation for their share of costs incurred. In addition, a viable biomass production and distribution system must include producer incentives, encouraging them to sell their post-harvest plant residue.

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