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Risø Energy Report 2


    New and emerging
bioenergy technologies


     Edited by Hans Larsen, Jens Kossmann and
                      Leif Sønderberg Petersen
                      Risø National Laboratory




                                  Reviewed by


               Project Manager Pearse Buckley
                    Sustainable Energy Ireland
                                       Ireland

                            Professor Kai Sipilä
                                 VTT Processes
                                       Finland

                      Dr.-Ing. Andrej Stanev
    Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V.
                                   Germany

                                   Consultant
                              Charles Butcher
                             Science Journalist
2




    1.   Preface                                                                    3



    2.   Summary and main conclusions                                               5



    3.   Role of biomass in global energy supply                                    8



    4.   Trends and perspectives in bioenergy supply in Denmark                    13



    5.   Emerging and future bioenergy technologies                                18



    6.   Bioenergy technologies in global, European and Danish perspective         23

         6.1 Biomass production in new sustainable multipurpose cropping systems   24

         6.2 Production and use of biodiesel                                       30

         6.3 Combustion and gasification technologies                              35

         6.4 Biotechnology in ethanol production                                   40



    7.   Index                                                                     45



    8.   References                                                                46
Risø Energy Report 2                                          Preface                                                   3




1   Preface

    Three growing concerns – sustainability (particularly in      future trends and international R&D plans. Recent stud-
    the transport sector), security of energy supply and cli-     ies of emerging bioenergy technologies from interna-
    mate change – have combined to increase interest in           tional organisations and leading research organisations
    bioenergy. The trend towards bioenergy has been further       are reviewed.
    encouraged by technological advances in biomass con-          The report is based on internationally-recognised scien-
    version and significant changes in energy markets.            tific material, and is fully referenced. The presentation of
    We even have a new term, “modern bioenergy”, to cover         current global developments in bioenergy is based on the
    those areas of bioenergy technology – traditional as well     latest information from authoritative sources including
    as emerging – which could expand the role of bioenergy.       the IEA, the World Energy Council (WEC) and World
    Besides its potential to be carbon-neutral if produced sus-   Energy Assessment.
    tainably, modern bioenergy shows the promise of cover-        This is the second in the series of Risø Energy Reports,
    ing a considerable part of the world’s energy needs,          which are published to provide global, regional and
    increasing the security of energy supply through the use      national perspectives on current and future energy
    of indigenous resources, and improving local employ-          issues. Individual chapters have been written by Risø
    ment and land use. To make these promises a reality,          staff members and leading Danish and international
    however, requires further R&D.                                bioenergy experts, and the whole report has been re-
    This report provides a critical examination of modern         fereed by an independent panel of international experts.
    bioenergy, and describes current trends in both estab-        Our target group is colleagues, collaborating partners,
    lished and emerging bioenergy technologies. As well as        customers, funding organisations, the Danish ministries
    examining the implications for the global energy scene,       and agencies as well as international organisations such
    the report draws national conclusions for European and        as the EU, the IEA and the UN.
    Danish energy supply, industry and energy research.
    The report presents the status of current R&D in biomass
    resources, supply systems, end products and conversion        Hans Larsen
    methods. A number of traditional and modern bioenergy         Jens Kossmann and
    technologies are assessed to show their current status,       Leif Sønderberg Petersen
Risoe Energy Report 2
Risø Energy Report 2                                          Summary and main conclusions                             5




2   Summary and main conclusions
    HANS LARSEN, JENS KOSSMANN AND LEIF SØNDERBERG PETERSEN, RISØ NATIONAL LABORATORY




    Bioenergy is energy of biological and renewable origin,       The end products of bioenergy systems can be used for:
    normally derived from purpose-grown energy crops or           • transport;
    by-products of agriculture, forestry or fisheries. Examples   • electricity supply; and
    of bioenergy resources are fuel wood, bagasse, organic        • heating.
    waste, biogas and bioethanol. Bioenergy is the only
    renewable energy source that is available in gaseous, liq-    In the transport sector, biodiesel produced from veg-
    uid and solid forms.                                          etable oils could play an important role. Further techni-
    Growing concern about the sustainability of energy sup-       cal advances could also create “biolubricants” from veg-
    plies (especially in the transport sector), supply security   etable oils. Another promising transport fuel is ethanol
    and the need to take action on climate change have all        produced from plant materials by biological processes.
    served to increase interest in bioenergy. Technological       For electricity production, the use of bioenergy crops is
    advances in biomass conversion, combined with signifi-        an effective way to mitigate the greenhouse effect by
    cant changes in energy markets, have stimulated this          reducing the use of fossil fuels. Using biomass for heat
    trend and led to the invention of a new term, “modern         and power production increases the security of energy
    bioenergy”, covering a number of traditional and emerg-       supply by lowering the demand for non-renewable fossil
    ing areas of technology. The world’s government-funded        fuels. In the near future, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs)
    energy-related R&D is decreasing, but bioenergy R&D           offer a promising route to efficient electricity produc-
    has increased in both relative and absolute terms during      tion. For sustainable power, we should continue to
    the last decade or so.                                        develop gasification and fuel cell conversion systems
    Today bioenergy provides 11–14% of the world’s energy         based on biomass.
    supply, but there are significant differences between         Conversion technologies need to be chosen to suit the
    industrialised and developing countries. In many devel-       energy service in question: heat, electricity or transport
    oping countries bioenergy is the most important energy        fuel. Thermochemical processes convert biomass into
    source. The use of bioenergy in the industrialised coun-      liquid or gaseous energy carriers that have higher energy
    tries, on the other hand, varies from 4% in the USA to        densities and more predictable and convenient combus-
    20% in Finland. Danish energy production from biomass         tion characteristics than the raw materials from which
    in 2001 was approximately 42 PJ, or 5% of the country’s       they are made. Catalytic liquefaction can produce fuels
    total energy consumption of 829 PJ.                           of even higher quality and energy density.
    In principle, modern bioenergy could cover all the            Another conversion technology, the use of micro-organ-
    world’s energy requirements, but its real technical and       isms to produce ethanol, is an ancient art. These micro-
    economic potential is much lower. The annual theoreti-        organisms are now regarded as biochemical quot;factoriesquot;
    cal potential of bioenergy has recently been estimated at     for converting organic waste into gaseous or liquid fuels.
    2900 EJ, but the present practical technical and eco-         Modern biotechnology could contribute to the develop-
    nomic potential is estimated to be 270 EJ. Current use of     ment of CO2-neutral power generation systems in two
    bioenergy is estimated to be only around 55 EJ.               distinct ways. The first of these is traditional or “white”
    Supply systems – harvesting, collection, handling and         biotechnology, which in this context deals with the use
    storage – are a great technical challenge for modern          of fermentation processes and enzymes in the down-
    bioenergy. Biomass is a local and bulky resource, so trans-   stream processes of biomass conversion. This area of
    port costs can be a barrier. This obstacle can be overcome    technology is firmly established and forms an integral
    by developing locally-applicable technologies to convert      part of the fermentation processes described in this
    bulky raw materials into energy-dense solid, liquid or        report.
    gaseous fuels.                                                The other area is “green” biotechnology, which uses
    Land for the production of bioenergy resources is             genetic engineering to tailor the characteristics of
    another key issue, since competition for land could lead      biomass to optimise its performance as an energy
    to reduced levels of food security. In many developing        resource. Such technology is still at the emerging stage
    countries, however, food and fuel production can be           and has so far been only superficially explored.
    integrated in complementary land-use systems. In indus-       To date, almost the only biomass types to have been
    trialised countries, much of the land being removed           investigated as energy sources using green biotechnology
    from agricultural production, such as EU “set-aside”,         have been those that are already available from tradi-
    could be used to produce bioenergy.                           tional cropping or foresting systems. The challenge is
6   Risø Energy Report 2                                                                     Summary and main conclusions




2   now to establish small-scale prediction systems that will
    allow the establishment of structure-function relation-
    ships between the composition of biomass and its con-
                                                                                             Barriers are:
                                                                                             • the competitiveness of the various bioenergy technolo-
                                                                                               gies varies from close to competitive to far from;
    vertibility in energy conversion systems. This will allow                                • the competitiveness is strongly depending on e.g. the
    us to explore and create biodiversity in energy crops, as                                  amount of externalities included in the cost calcula-
    well as improving the performance of bioenergy systems.                                    tions;
    Many “top ten” lists of emerging generic technologies                                    • in general bioenergy technologies need to be moved
    include modern biomass-based energy systems. How-                                          down the learning curve;
    ever, many bioenergy technologies are still wide open for                                • resource potentials and distributions;
    development. The future of bioenergy depends strongly                                    • costs of bioenergy technologies and resources;
    on the interactions between specific emerging energy                                     • lack of social and organisational structures for the
    technologies and more generic developments in biotech-                                     supply of biofuels;
    nology and information technology.                                                       • local land-use and environmental aspects in the devel-
                                                                                               oping countries; and
    Key messages                                                                             • administrative and legislative bottlenecks.
    The most important driving forces for modern bioenergy
    are:                                                                                     These barriers can be lowered through dedicated inter-
    • security of supply, based on to the use of domestic                                    ventions by both public and private sector entities,
      resources;                                                                             focusing on:
    • local employment and local competitiveness;                                            • development and deployment of more cost-effective
    • local, regional and global environmental concerns; and                                   conversion technologies, especially those that yield
    • land use aspects in both developing and industrialised                                   end-products – solid or liquid – with high energy den-
      countries.                                                                               sities;




    Figure 1. Time scale from break through to commercial contribution



                Breakthrough
        Production of biodiesel
                Co-production of bioethanol and biogas
                                       Dedicated energy crops can be grown efficiently like agricultural crops
                                                Liquefaction of biomass



                Research on key elements
        Providing a secure supply of liquid transport biodiesel fuels
        Reliable high quality fuel at a reasonable ratio of costs to benefits
                                     Survey of feedstock options in Denmark
                                     Power plant running on biodiesel/biodiesel fossil fuel mixtures
                                     Pretreatment processes, hydrolysis and fermentation processes
                                     Systems for producing, distributing and using bioethanol
                                     Applications for biogas co-produced with bioethanol
                                     Technology for combustion to electricity in the kW-range
                                     Indirect firing with Stirling engine or hot air turbines
                                     Gasification technology for small units
                                     Long term research in gasification as basis for hydrogen production for fuel cells
                                     Research on liquefaction of biomass
                                     Selection and breeding for disease resistance, yield and quality
                                     Development of multipurpose production systems
                                     Species and varieties mixtures to increase diversity and decrease diseases
                                     Feedstock conversion quality management during production



                                                     Commercial contribution
                                                     Gasoline blending with bioethanol
                                                     Commercial breeding, selection and marketing of bioenergy crops
                                                     Commercial planting & harvesting machinery manufacture for bioenergy crops
                                                     Gasification technology for large units
                                                         Broader introduction of biodiesel mixtures in the Danish transport sector
                                                               Combined cycle power plants running on bioethanol
                                                                    Small scale power plants running on biodiesel/biodiesel mixtures
                                                                    Gasification as basis for hydrogen production for fuel cells
                                                                               Technology for liquefaction of biomass


            2000                      2005                       2010                       2015                      2020             2025    2030
Risø Energy Report 2                                           Summary and main conclusions                              7




2   • development and implementation of improved, dedi-
      cated, bioenergy crop production systems;
    • establishment of bioenergy markets and organisational
                                                                   Our recommendations are:
                                                                   • modern bioenergy has large potential, both globally
                                                                     and for Denmark, but more R&D is needed;
      structures for transporting and delivering bioenergy         • Denmark has a long tradition of agriculture, highly-
      resources and products; and                                    qualified farmers and a leading industrial position in
    • valuation of the environmental benefits for society e.g.       biotechnology, pharmacy, plant breeding, seed produc-
      on carbon balance.                                             tion, energy technologies and renewable energy.
                                                                     Together, these factors give Denmark the opportunity
    Our conclusions are:                                             to become the first mover on most key issues in mod-
    • simply burning biomass in power plants remains a lim-          ern bioenergy;
      ited market in industrialised countries;                     • to exploit these advantages, we deem it of utmost
    • in developing countries there is still room for efficiency     importance that Danish research institutions establish
      improvements in biomass burners;                               cross-institutional research platforms and co-operative
    • there is a great potential in upgrading biomass into           interdisciplinary projects. Such projects should include
      fuels that can be used in more traditional end use tech-       as stakeholders politicians, industrialists and venture
      nologies;                                                      capitalists. In particular, politicians must contribute by
    • there is a need to develop new harvesting and conver-          setting out the way for bioenergy, and supporting the
      sion technologies for energy crops;                            transition from basic research to competitive technolo-
    • the combination of biofuels with fuel cells could con-         gies ready to enter the market.
      siderably reduce CO2 emissions in the transport sector;
      and
    • agriculture has taken thousands of years to develop
      plants that are especially suitable for food. There is
      immense potential in developing plants that are espe-
      cially suitable as sources of energy.
8   Risø Energy Report 2                                                   Role of biomass in global energy supply




3   Role of biomass in global energy supply
    GUSTAVO BEST, FAO, ROME & JOHN CHRISTENSEN, RISØ NATIONAL LABORATORY




    Bioenergy resources: an introduction                                   • Technological advances in biomass conversion, com-
    Bioenergy is energy of biological and renewable origin,                  bined with significant changes in energy markets;
    normally in the form of purpose-grown energy crops or                  • Biofuels have the unique characteristic of being the
    by-products from agriculture, forestry or fisheries. Exam-               only sources of renewable energy that are available in
    ples of bioenergy resources are fuel wood, charcoal, sugar               gaseous, liquid and solid states;
    bagasse, sweet sorghum stocks, livestock manure, biogas,               • Increasing focus on security of energy supply; and
    microbial biomass and algae.                                           • Increasing interest in renewable energy generally.

    Biomass provides approximately 11–14% of the world’s                   So while many developing countries will aim at reducing
    energy (IEA, UNDP, WEC), but there are significant dif-                dependence on traditional bioenergy fuels as part of poli-
    ferences between industrialised and developing coun-                   cies to improve access to modern energy services, the
    tries.                                                                 global trend is expected to focus on how to increase the
    In many developing countries biomass is the most                       share of modern bioenergy in the global energy mix.
    important energy source. As a global average, biomass                  Examples of current bioenergy use in industrialised
    provides approximately 35% of developing countries’                    countries are the USA (4%), Sweden (17%) and Finland
    energy (WEC, UNDP), but there are large regional differ-               (20%) (WEC). Data on bioenergy resources and utilisa-
    ences. Many sub-Saharan African countries, for instance,               tion is generally uncertain because of the very diverse
    depend on biomass for up to 90% of their energy, indi-                 and dispersed nature of the resources. In most statistics,
    cating that they have little in the way of industry or                 bioenergy resources are usually classified as either animal
    other modern activities.                                               manure or plant biomass, the latter including municipal
    The main sources of biomass in developing countries are                and other solid waste.
    traditional wood fuels, either collected and used in a                 Bioenergy could in principle provide all the world’s
    non-commercial way or bought in local markets as fire-                 energy requirements, but its real technical and economic
    wood or charcoal.                                                      potential is much lower. The WEC Survey of Energy
    In industrialised countries, biofuels have for a long time             Resources (WEC 2001) estimates that bioenergy could
    been considered as old-fashioned because of their bulky                theoretically provide 2900 EJ/y, but that technical and
    nature and low energy content compared to fossil fuels.                economic factors limit its current practical potential to
    In the last decade, however, interest in bioenergy has                 just 270 EJ/y. Current use of bioenergy is estimated at
    increased. Reasons for this include:                                   around 55 EJ/y.
    • Growing concern about climate change – biofuels can                  Figure 2 shows the potential and current use of bio-
      be carbon-neutral if they are produced in a sustainable              energy by region, based on data from Kaltschmitt. Even
      way;                                                                 with the current resource base, it is clear that the practi-



    Table 1. Types of plant biomass. Source: UNDP, 2000.


     Woody biomass                     Non-woody biomass                 Processed waste                    Processed fuels


     Trees                             Energy crops such as sugar cane   Cereal husks and cobs              Charcoal (wood and residues)
     Shrubs and scrub                  Cereal straw                      Bagasse                            Briquetted or densified biomass
     Bushes such as coffee and tea     Cotton, cassava, tobacco stems    Wastes from pineapple and          Methanol and ethanol
                                       and roots (partly woody)          other fruits                       (wood alcohol)
     Sweepings from forest floor       Grass                             Plant oil cake                     Plant oils such as palm, rapeseed
                                                                                                            (canola) and sunflower
     Bamboo                            Bananas and plantains             Sawmill wastes                     Producer gas
     Palms                             Soft stems, such as those of      Industrial wood bark and           Biogas
                                       pulses and potatoes               logging wastes
                                       Swamp and water plants            Black liquor from pulp mills
                                                                         Municipal waste
Risø Energy Report 2                                                      Role of biomass in global energy supply                               9




3   cal potential of bioenergy is much greater than its cur-
    rent exploitation. Obstacles to greater use of bioenergy
    include poor matching between demand and resources,
                                                                              their land fallow, and similar schemes in other countries
                                                                              such as the US are making significant areas of land avail-
                                                                              able. Growing biomass crops on this land could help to
    and high costs compared to other energy sources.                          re-invigorate rural economies, as well as providing bioen-
    Projections by the WEC, WEA and IPCC estimate that by                     ergy and its associated environmental benefits.
    2050 bioenergy could supply a maximum of 250–450                          In the non-industrialised world, land availability varies
    EJ/y, representing around a quarter of global final energy                between regions and between countries. Some Asian
    demand. This is consistent with Figure 2, which puts the                  countries appear to have no, or almost no, spare land
    technological potential of bioenergy at 25–30% of global                  that could be used for bioenergy. Even in these countries,
    energy demand.                                                            however, strategies such as agroforestry, efficient energy
                                                                              conversion technologies and the use of agricultural
    Land availability                                                         wastes could create significant amounts of bioenergy.
    Growing biomass for energy production on a significant                    Latin America, much of Africa, and several forest-rich
    scale consumes both land and labour. Land use in                          countries in Asia have large areas which could be used for
    particular is a key issue in the production of bioenergy                  bioenergy, given the right long-term policies.
    resources, because using land for energy crops means                      In many developing countries, food and fuel production
    that less land is available to grow food.                                 can be integrated in complementary land use systems. In
    It is imperative to ensure that sufficient cropland is avail-             fact, at the small to medium scale (100 kW–1 MW), agri-
    able to produce food for the world's expanding popula-                    cultural residues and non-arable land can supply vil-
    tion, taking into consideration that biomass energy can                   lagers’ energy needs for domestic water, irrigation, light-
    help enhance development and food production.                             ing and cooking. Irrigation can greatly increase crop
    Studies by the FAO and others point to significant                        yields, so the implication is that at this scale the use of
    reserves of potential cropland, but these resources are                   indigenous biofuels does not need to consume extra land
    not distributed where they will be needed most if present                 resources. The production of excess biomass can be con-
    predictions about population growth and competition                       verted to higher value energy products e.g. charcoal,
    for land use hold true.                                                   electricity or synthetic biofuels, which can be sold on the
    In the industrialised countries, much of the land being                   open market. Firewood and charcoal are already signifi-
    removed from agricultural production could profitably                     cant income sources in rural areas.
    and responsibly be used for energy production, because                    At the larger MW scale, land use conflicts could occur
    of the associated benefits of such land use. The EC's quot;set-               where dedicated energy plantations are to supply a cen-
    asidequot; policy, which encourages farmers to keep part of                   tral conversion facility i.e. where a bioenergy market is



    Figure 2. Technical potential and use of biomass as a percentage of primary energy consumption (PEC) from fossil fuels + hydropower (Based on data
    from Kaltschmitt 2001).


         Bioenergy use and potential as (%) of PEC

        100                                 143                                    195

          90

          80

          70

          60

          50

          40

          30

          20

          10

           0
                North-America     Latin-America &      North-America           Africa             Europe          Former USSR            Average
                                     Caribbean


         s Use/PEC s Potential/PEC
10   Risø Energy Report 2                                                      Role of biomass in global energy supply




3




     Figure 3. Agricultural water withdrawals: FAO (2003): Agriculture, food and water. A contribution to the World Water Development report. FAO, Rome




     stimulated. Since biomass is a low energy density fuel,                   Wood, the traditional fuel
     high transport costs require that the conversion facility                 Lack of access to convenient and efficient energy is a
     secure supplies from as close to the plant as possible.                   major barrier to achieving meaningful and long-lasting
     Thus, measures to protect the small farmer near to such                   solutions to poverty. Access to energy is essential in alle-
     a plant may be necessary. However, concerns must also                     viating poverty and achieving sustainable development
     be measured against the benefits accrued by such a plant                  goals, because it supports strategies for improving
     i.e. increased rural employment (at all skill levels), a                  employment, education, water supply, public health,
     secure market for agricultural products and the provision                 local self-sufficiency and a host of other development
     of cheap indigenous supplies of energy.                                   benefits.
     Bioenergy production can be a way to rehabilitate                         Fuel wood and charcoal are the dominant sources of
     marginal and degraded land and bring it back into prof-                   energy for about half the world’s population. In many
     itable use. This will only happen, however, if it is sup-                 countries they also constitute the major forest products.
     ported by policy. Without such policy, there is a danger                  Two to three billion people rely on wood for their pri-
     that bioenergy producers will seek good land, where                       mary energy needs and to provide a wide range of other
     yields are higher, and so compete directly with food pro-                 essential goods and services.
     duction.                                                                  For many of these people, wood is far from being a clean
                                                                               and efficient energy source, it is simply their only afford-
     Water restrictions                                                        able option. Compared to conventional fossil fuels,
     One in five developing countries will face water short-                   wood-fuel and charcoal have low calorific values and are
     ages by 2030. The biggest consumer of water is agricul-                   difficult to handle, expensive to transport over long dis-
     ture, which accounts for around 70% of all freshwater                     tances and considered dirty in most residential contexts.
     withdrawals worldwide. With a growing world popula-                       In many cases, the harvesting of wood-fuels also causes
     tion, agriculture will face more competition from indus-                  deforestation and loss of vegetation cover.
     trial and domestic water users. As a result, agriculture will             These negative perceptions are not easily changed, and
     have to use water more efficiently.                                       they restrict the options open to policymakers. This is
     Figure 3 shows agricultural water withdrawals by region                   despite the fact that several countries, both industri-
     as a percentage of water available, and so indicates the                  alised and developing, have shown that many of the
     level of “stress” caused by current agricultural practices.               drawbacks can be overcome by using the right techno-
     If bioenergy resources are to meet their full potential,                  logy.
     they will have to match the water consumption of other                    In fact, it is often not understood that appropriate wood-
     crops in the same region.                                                 based energy systems can contribute significantly to sus-
Risø Energy Report 2                                          Role of biomass in global energy supply                  11




3   tainable development, particularly in the poorer areas of
    developing countries. Wood fuels have some advantages
    over other energy sources:
                                                                     countries, will aim to increase their use of modern
                                                                     bioenergy technologies.

    • They contribute to poverty reduction in developing          Practical limits to bioenergy expansion
      countries;                                                  Practical limits to bioenergy expansion are set by factors
    • They meet energy needs at all times, without expensive      including:
      conversion devices;                                         • Resource potential and distribution (as discussed in the
    • They can deliver energy in all the forms that people          Introduction);
      need (liquid and gaseous fuels, heat and electricity);      • Technological development state of the biomass con-
    • They are CO2-neutral, and can even act as carbon sinks;       version technologies;
      and                                                         • Costs of technologies and resources;
    • They help to restore unproductive and degraded lands,       • Lack of social and organisational structures for fuel sup-
      increasing biodiversity, soil fertility and water reten-      ply;
      tion.                                                       • Public acceptability; and
                                                                  • Land-use and environmental aspects.
    Wood fuels usually form part of larger multi purpose sys-
    tems within forests or agricultural areas. These systems      Most of these barriers to the increased use of bioenergy
    also provide non-wood forest products, reservoirs of bio-     can be overcome through dedicated interventions by
    diversity, traditional medicines and shelter from the         both public- and private-sector entities, focusing on:
    wind and sun, all at little or no cost to the world’s poor-   • Developing and deploying cost-effective conversion
    est people. Moreover, most of the added value from vil-         technologies;
    lage-scale bioenergy systems is retained locally and helps    • Developing and implementing improved dedicated
    to reduce poverty.                                              bioenergy crop production systems;
    But although wood fuels are widely available and afford-      • Establishing bioenergy markets and organisational
    able in rural areas of most developing countries, many          structures to transport and deliver bioenergy resources
    resources still remain untapped. For wood energy to ful-        and products; and
    fil its potential as an instrument for sustainable develop-   • Valuing the environmental benefits to society, such as
    ment, a series of technological, institutional, economic        on the carbon balance.
    and social challenges need to be addressed.
                                                                  Driving forces to support these activities will be:
    Fuel of the Future                                            • Security of energy supply, which can be increased by
    With the traditional association of bioenergy as old fash-      using domestic resources;
    ioned and for the poor, the recent interest in biomass        • Employment and land-use aspects (both for and
    resources has invented a new term “modern bioenergy”            against the increased use of biofuels);
    which covers a number of technological areas from com-        • Global concerns about climate change; and
    bustion at domestic, industrial or power plant scale, gasi-   • Local concerns about health issues related to burning
    fication, hydrolysis, pyrolysis, extraction, digestion etc.     biofuels indoors.
    Most of these technologies have been available for
    decades but recent advances in performance have made          All of these driving forces in support of biofuels require
    them economically interesting in view of the resource         targeted policy interventions to ensure that the social
    potential and the possibility of improving environmen-        benefits of increased bioenergy use are properly reflected
    tal performance often along with local employment             in the energy markets. In some cases “smart” subsidy
    opportunities. Details concerning individual bioenergy        schemes may even be needed to ensure that new bioen-
    conversion technologies are presented in chapter 5.           ergy resources and technologies get a level playing field
                                                                  in established energy markets.
    Driving forces and practical limitations                      A concrete example of a large-scale bioenergy pro-
    Two trends emerge from the discussions above:                 gramme is Brazil’s PRO-ALCOOL, in which ethanol from
    a. Developing countries will in general aim to reduce         sugar cane bagasse is used as a transport fuel. In 1999
       their dependence on traditional bioenergy as part of       Brazil produced and used about 13 billion litres of
       their development strategies. The relative share of        ethanol in this way (UNDP, 2000).
       bioenergy in the energy balance will therefore go          The PRO-ALCOOL programme was launched in 1975 as
       down, though the number of people depending on             a response to the oil crises. In spite of mixed economic
       traditional bioenergy will probably remain constant,       results it has been a technical success, and has provided
       with corresponding consequences for health and             both social and environmental benefits.
       resources.                                                 The cost of producing the ethanol is equivalent to an oil
    b. Industrialised countries, plus a number of developing      price of around USD 30 per barrel. When oil prices are
12   Risø Energy Report 2                                           Role of biomass in global energy supply




3    below this level, the country must pay to produce fuel
     that could be imported more cheaply as oil.
     The beneficial effects of lowering imports by USD 20–30
     billion, creating (directly and indirectly) almost a million
     jobs, cutting air pollution in urban areas and reducing
     energy-related carbon emissions by 15–20% can be offset
     against this.
     Specific national circumstances mean that it may not be
     possible to replicate the Brazilian example directly. The
     PRO-ALCOOL programme does show, however, that
     good policymaking in response to the driving forces
     mentioned above can create effective bioenergy solu-
     tions. The programme has contributed significantly to
     overcoming the technological barriers to the wider use of
     ethanol, not just in Brazil but also worldwide.
Risø Energy Report 2                                                          Trends and perspectives in bioenergy supply in Denmark   13




4   Trends and perspectives in bioenergy
    supply in Denmark
    MORTEN GYLLING, DANISH RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF FOOD ECONOMICS, NIELS HEDING, DANISH FOREST AND LANDSCAPE RESEARCH INSTITUTE

    AND SØREN K. RASMUSSEN, RISØ NATIONAL LABORATORY




    Introduction
    Energy security and environmental protection have been                        As a result, Danish commitment to the Kyoto Protocol
    the objectives of Danish energy policy over the last few                      has become a strong driving force for energy and envi-
    decades.                                                                      ronmental policy, resulting in various energy plans with
    Energy security was the main driving force for several                        specific targets for greenhouse gas reductions and ways
    years after the energy crisis of 1973–4. The idea was to                      of reaching these targets. In support of this, the Danish
    make Denmark less dependent on foreign energy, espe-                          Parliament has decided that no new coal-fired power
    cially imported oil, by adopting multiple energy sources,                     plants will be built. Parliament has also decided that
    especially natural gas, and developing new “alternative”                      nuclear fission, which by its nature is CO2-neutral, will
    energy sources.                                                               not be used for power production in Denmark.
    Support programmes and tax incentives were launched
    to promote the development of renewable energy                                Bioenergy
    sources, including bioenergy, wind power and CHP, and                         Danish energy production based on biomass from agri-
    of systems to increase energy efficiency and improve                          culture and forestry, including biogas, made up around
    supply security for Denmark’s own oil and gas.                                45% of the country’s total renewable energy production
    In bioenergy, the most important factor was a political                       in 2001 (Table 2). Straw and firewood are the most
    agreement in 1993 which obliged large power plants to                         important biofuels, followed by industrial wood waste.
    burn 1.2 million t/y of straw and 0.2 million t/y of wood                     Wood fuel in Denmark is available as industrial wood
    before 2000. This was followed by a decision to convert                       waste (raw or as wood pellets), forest chips, firewood and
    a number of district heating plants to biofuels and CHP.                      a very small amount of coppice willow from short-rota-
    In the past few years the political focus has shifted                         tion forestry. Firewood, and to an increasing extent
    towards opening up the natural gas and power markets                          wood pellets, are mainly used to heat private houses.
    as part of Denmark’s transition to a free market within                       Most industrial wood waste is used for industrial heating,
    the European Union. Support for energy R&D has been                           while wood chips are primarily used in CHP plants.
    much reduced since the end of 2001.                                           Wood as an energy resource contributes 25.5 PJ (Table 2),
    Since the 1992 Rio “Earth Summit”, however, growing                           equivalent to approximately 0.6 million tones of oil.
    concern for the global environment has replaced the old                       Table 2 illustrates the distribution among the individual
    agenda of supply security with a new mandate to main-                         wood fuels, but does not include wood waste in the form
    tain and enlarge Denmark's role as a pioneer in sustain-                      of broken or worn-out furniture, paper etc.
    able development.



    Table 2. Bioenergy production from agriculture and forestry (2001)


                                          Fuel type                               Resource contribution (PJ)


      Non-wood                            Straw                                   13.7
                                          Urban waste                             33.0
                                          Biogas                                   3.0


      Wood                                Firewood                                12.6
                                          Industrial wood waste                    7.2
                                          Wood chips                               3.2 (6.5 in 2002)
                                          Wood pellets                             2.5 (4 in 2002)


      Total                                                                       75.2 (approximately 80.0 in 2002)


    Note: 1 PJ is equivalent to the lower calorific value of 23,810 t of oil. Source: Energistatistik 2001; Danish Energy Agency.
14   Risø Energy Report 2                                                    Trends and perspectives in bioenergy supply in Denmark




4    Since the late 1990s there has been an increasing inter-
     national trade in wood chips and wood pellets, and Den-
     mark now imports substantial amounts of these. Total
                                                                             Another novel concept is to use manure and wheat straw
                                                                             in a combined process that yields bioethanol as well as
                                                                             biogas (Chapter 6.4).
     Danish consumption of wood is approximately 8 million                   Reference 2 also lists a large number of manufacturers
     t/y, of which 6 million t/y is imported and Danish forests              and suppliers of wood-fired boilers.
     supply the rest. The intention is that most of this wood
     ends up as fuel, either directly or after having been used              Rapeseed is the only oilseed crop currently grown by
     for other purposes first. In the latter case, however,                  Danish farmers. Several mills are now refining cold-
     national statistics class the wood simply as “waste”, mak-              pressed rapeseed oil so that it can be used in heating sys-
     ing it hard to distinguish from other kinds of waste.                   tems.
     Under the 1993 “bioenergy agreement” two new CHP                        The potential for using rapeseed oil as a source of
     plants started production in 2002, one using 200,000 t/y                biodiesel has not yet been fully explored in Denmark.
     of wood chips and the other 150,000 t/y of straw.                       Emmelev Mølle is the only producer of rapeseed oil
     Only a very small part of Denmark’s approximately 30                    methyl esters (RME, or biodiesel). Due to lack of national
     million t/y of animal manure is currently used to pro-                  tax exemptions for liquid biofuels most of this is
     duce biogas. A number of relatively large on-farm biogas                exported to Sweden and Germany instead of being used
     plants started production in 2002, the last centralised                 in Denmark.
     biogas plant having been put into production in 1998.                   When biomass such as wood and straw burns, a number
     Changes in subsidies for green electricity produced on                  of chemical processes convert the carbonaceous material
     new plants built after 2002 have put an economic halt to                into a mixture of gases which are subsequently com-
     new biogas plants. However, the recent agreement for                    busted. It is possible to use the energy contained in the
     subsidies for electricity from new biogas plants has                    biomass more efficiently by separating the processes of
     opened up for a number of new biogas initiatives.                       gasification and combustion. New two-stage gasifier
                                                                             (Table 3) plants use fixed-bed or fluidised-bed reactors to
     The Danish bioenergy industry                                           produce a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen,
     The bioenergy technologies currently most developed in                  which can then be burned either alone or combined with
     Denmark are those for biogas production (Table 3). The                  gas from other sources. A challenge for gasification tech-
     basic raw material is animal manure, of which Danish                    nology is to remove the corrosive ash created by the high
     farms produce 34.1 million t/y (including 27.0 million                  levels of chloride and potassium present in plant
     t/y of slurry).                                                         biomass or high molecular tars and hydrocarbons from
     Green Farm Energy A/S has developed an advanced bio-                    the pyrolysis and gasification process. Ashes from
     gas plant that runs on manure, supplemented with other                  biomass only, are recycled to agriculture and forestry.
     agricultural waste products containing less water, such as              Denmark’s forest area of approximately 0.5 million ha
     straw or future energy crops. The plant also removes                    supplies an increasing amount of firewood and forest
     nitrogen and phosphate from its waste stream, thus solv-                chips. In the light of the Government’s plan to double
     ing the problem of how to stop these two nutrients pol-                 this area of forest, Denmark’s total wood fuel resources
     luting watercourses.                                                    will increase in the years to come. Afforestation takes
                                                                             place on agricultural land and will therefore result in a



     Table 3. Bioenergy industry in Denmark.


                                                                Company      Technology type


                                                               Bioscan A/S   Biogas
                                                                  GasCon     Biogas
                                                          Gosmer Smeden      On-farm biogas
                                                         Dansk Biogas A/S    Biogas
                                                    Green Farm Energy A/S    Biogas
                                                        Lundsby Bioenergi    Biogas
                                                           Emmelev Mølle     RME, biodiesel
                                                   Cowi with DTU / Vølund    Gasification
                                               Danish Fluid Bed Technology   Gasification
                                                                Hollensen    Gasification
                                                        Carbona / Skanska    Gasification


     Source: this manuscript.
Risø Energy Report 2                                                      Trends and perspectives in bioenergy supply in Denmark          15




4   proportional decrease in the straw and energy crop
    potential.
                                                                              ing approach towards global sustainable development.
                                                                              This has been replaced by a new balance between general
                                                                              economic growth and the development of energy tech-
    Environment                                                               nology. The priority in energy policy is now liberalisa-
    As a small country, Denmark is heavily influenced by                      tion, with the aim of meeting Denmark’s international
    international agreements on energy and environmental                      environmental commitments and at the same time
    issues, and the increasing internationalisation of mar-                   expanding the economy.
    kets. To avoid being swamped by outside forces, Den-                      The Kyoto Protocol’s flexible mechanism shall be used as
    mark must therefore secure the greatest possible influ-                   an integrated part of the Danish climate change policy in
    ence in international affairs concerning energy and the                   order to fulfil the Kyoto commitment. The Danish Gov-
    environment. This will help the country achieve its goals                 ernment has started a process in order to analyse how cli-
    and create the best conditions for its domestic environ-                  mate target in Denmark is to be obtained most cost effec-
    ment and economy.                                                         tively. The use of the Mechanism plays a central role in
    The EU Directive has set as an “indicative goal” that by                  the planning of the process. The planning is carried out
    2010, 29% of Denmark’s electricity should be produced                     in co-operation between the Ministry of Finance, Envi-
    from renewable sources, including biomass and bio-                        ronment, Foreign Affairs, Taxation and the Ministry of
    waste. Agriculture and forestry provides 47 PJ in 2002                    Economic and Business Affairs (Energy) to assist the
    and urban waste is predicted to contribute with constant                  energy industry in implementation of the JI and the
    amount of 33 PJ.                                                          CDM tools. The JI projects are expected to be launched
    Forest chips result from first and second thinning, from                  primarily in the Eastern Europe while CDM projects are
    harvesting over-mature and partly-dying pine planta-                      to be carried out in the developing countries.
    tions, and from tops following clear-cutting. Wood chips
    have become even more important as a fuel over the two                    Future bioenergy resources
    last decades, and their significance is underlined by the                 Danish bioenergy from agriculture and forestry is cur-
    Danish national obligation to reduce CO2 emissions.                       rently based mainly on waste materials such as straw,
    The production of biogas from manure will also affect                     waste from the wood industry and forest thinnings.
    the environment. In particular, the ability of large on-                  Under the revised bioenergy agreement, by the end of
    farm biogas plants to remove nitrogen and phosphate                       2004 the electricity companies are obliged to use 1.4 mil-
    will reduce the quantities of these nutrients polluting                   lion t/y of biomass, including 930,000 t/y of straw. Agri-
    watercourses and coastal areas. Instead, farmers will be                  culture, forestry and the wood industry can easily supply
    able to recycle the nitrogen and phosphate for crop pro-                  these quantities of biomass.
    duction.                                                                  Given the present political strategies for energy and the
                                                                              environment, it is difficult to foresee any substantial
    What can be done?                                                         increase in the demand for solid biofuels from agricul-
    In previous decades Danish energy policy was marked by                    ture beyond 2004. At present there is no tax exemptions
    strong public involvement at every stage and a pioneer-                   or subsidies for liquid biofuels and the future national




    Table 4. Estimated biomass resources from agriculture for energy purposes, 2015. Based on Gylling et al. 2001.


                                                                                             Scenario

                                                                           2000              2015                2015             2015
                                                        Unit               Current           Reference           Environmental    Market


     Total straw production                             tonne              6,484,000         5,857,000           4,840,000        6,758,000
     Available straw for energy purposes                tonne              2,663,000         2,445,000           1,414,000        3,494,000
                                                        PJ                 37.4              34.3                19.8             49.0


     Available area for energy crops                    ha                 186,000           168,800             160,000*         85,000
     Potential energy production                        PJ                 27.9              25.3                24.0             12.8


     Total potential straw and energy crops             PJ                 65.3              59.6                43.8             61.8


     * 85,000 hectares ESA – set-aside. + 75,000 hectares set-aside
16   Risø Energy Report 2                                                      Trends and perspectives in bioenergy supply in Denmark




4    politics is not yet known. If demand were to increase,
     however, current biofuel resources would soon be fully
     utilised. The logical next step would be to grow dedicated
                                                                               the same quality as wood pellets, as long as the right
                                                                               ingredients and additives are used.
                                                                               Most firewood comes from thinning and clear-cutting of
     energy crops, though under the present Common Agri-                       hardwood stands, in the form of smaller trees, tops and
     cultural Policy (CAP) this would only be economic on                      branches. Official statistics show that Danish forestry
     set-aside land.                                                           produces approximately 450,000 m3/y (solid volume) of
     A study by the Danish Research Institute of Food Eco-                     firewood, but this does not take into account firewood
     nomics estimates potential production of biomass for                      taken from gardens and parks.
     energy in the range 44–62 PJ/y, depending on develop-                     There have been three assessments of forest fuel
     ments in the framework conditions for Danish agricul-                     resources in Denmark. Table 5 shows predictions for fuel-
     ture (Table 4).                                                           wood resources (forest chips plus forest firewood) taken
     The study outlines three different agricultural scenarios                 from the most recent of these assessments (Nord-Larsen
     up to 2015. The first scenario is a reference case in which               & Heding, 2003), which extrapolates from the current
     current trends are simply extrapolated. The “environ-                     national forest inventory using models for forest growth
     mental” scenario proposes a higher degree of environ-                     and yield. The figures cover three ten-year periods
     mental awareness, while the “market” scenario imagines                    (2000–2009, 2010–2019 and 2020–2029), each under
     a future in which agriculture becomes more competitive                    three scenarios in which utilisation of forest resources
     in economic terms.                                                        becomes progressively more intense.
     The estimate of total biomass available for energy pro-
     duction is based on the assumption that set-aside land is                 The three scenarios are:
     used to grow a mixture of energy crops; whole crop                        1. Whole-tree chips from early thinning and from final
     wheat and triticale, plus willow coppice. The average                     felling of over-mature pine.
     annual yield is estimated at 9 t/ha of dry matter. The ref-               2. In addition to Scenario 1, forest chips from branches
     erence and market scenarios estimate the amount of                        and tops harvested during final felling.
     energy available from biomass at 59.6 PJ and 61.8 PJ                      3. In addition to Scenario 2, forest chips from tops and
     respectively, though the market scenario includes about                   branches harvested during later thinning.
     40% more straw because grain production is higher. The                    Under all three scenarios, potential production of forest
     environmental scenario yields only 43.8 PJ of bioenergy,                  chips exceeds the current figure by a factor of 1.5–2.
     mainly because grain production is lower.
     Straw and energy crops (whole crop grain, willow and                      Research
     Miscantus) are to a large extent interchangeable in large                 Research on wood fuels has changed direction over the
     multi-fuel burners (Gylling 2001), but differences in stor-               years. In the 1980s the focus was on harvesting tech-
     age characteristics need to be taken into account when                    niques and long-term storage. In the 1990s emphasis
     setting up the biofuel production chain in order to secure                changed to the physical characterisation of wood chips,
     an economic efficient all year supply.                                    their storage properties, and how to optimise silvicul-
     Fuel pellets seem to be an expanding market. Wood pel-                    tural regimes to produce more chipping material.
     lets currently account for almost the entire market, but a                Current research topics include reducing the harmful
     recent Danish study (Nikolaisen 2002) found that fuel                     effects of mould and understanding the nutrient bal-
     pellets made from mixed biomass sources can provide                       ances associated with intensive chip harvesting from




     Table 5. Danish fuel-wood resources for three scenarios over the next 30 years. Source: Nord-Larsen & Heding, 2003.


                                                                                                      Time period


      Scenario                  Fuel-wood production                           2000–2009              2010–2019             2020–2029


      1                         Volume (million m3 solid volume/y)             0.9–1.3                0.9–1.3               0.9–1.3
                                Energy (PJ/y)                                  8–11                   8–11                  8–11


      2                         Volume (million m3 solid volume/y)             1.1–1.5                1.1–1.5               1.2–1.6
                                Energy (PJ/y)                                  9–12                   9–12                  9–13


      3                         Volume (million m3 solid volume/y)             1.3–1.7                1.3–1.7               1.4–1.8
                                Energy (PJ/y)                                  11–14                  9–14                  9–15
Risø Energy Report 2                                           Trends and perspectives in bioenergy supply in Denmark   17




4   whole trees. More use of forest fuels means more wood
    ash, and another research topic is how ash can be
    returned to the forest floor – a disposal route that is hin-
                                                                   other reason than its advantages in crop rotation, so a
                                                                   significant and predictable amount of rapeseed oil can be
                                                                   expected. To make it ideal for biodiesel (RME) produc-
    dered by current regulations. Yet another research area is     tion, however, rapeseed needs to be developed so that its
    how to improve the performance of the wood fuel sup-           oil is more resistant to high temperatures and oxidation.
    ply chain, which at the moment is very tight.                  Other technical advances would allow rapeseed to be
    Future R&D should also aim to create new plant strains         used to create biolubricants as well.
    with high energy contents and other characteristics to         To meet these goals a multitude of instruments are used
    make them suitable as biofuels. New chemical and bio-          by Danish R&D connecting public and private sector.
    logical transformations, as well as improvements to            The funding is provided by the public, national as well as
    existing separation and concentration processes, are           EU and for some specialized issues by DOE. Private
    needed for the production of bioethanol, biodiesel and         investors show increasing interest in this field to develop
    hydrogen and other biofuels.                                   local industry which address European agrofuels chal-
    Danish farmers will continue to grow rapeseed if for no        lenges, because the Danish market is limited in size.
18   Risø Energy Report 2                                                          Emerging and future bioenergy technologies




5    Emerging and future bioenergy
     technologies
     PER DANNEMAND ANDERSEN, JOHN CHRISTENSEN AND JENS KOSSMANN, RISØ NATIONAL LABORATORY, EMMANUEL KOUKIOS, NATIONAL

     TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS, GREECE




     Introduction
     In recent years biotechnology has featured in most “top                          biotechnology, is related to the technical use of fer-
     ten” lists of emerging technologies. Energy supply based                         mentation processes or enzymes in downstream pro-
     on biomass occupies a similar position in the list of                            cesses of biomass conversion. This is firmly established
     emerging technologies for renewable energy, and yet the                          and an integral part of the processes described below.
     interface between biotechnology and power generation
     remains in most cases wide open for development.                              b) The area of green biotechnology is related to the
     There is no generally acknowledged definition of the                             genetic engineering of plants in order to tailor
     term “emerging technologies”. A recent book from                                 biomass with respect to their efficiency as energy
     Wharton Business School defines emerging technologies                            resource. This area is only emerging and has only been
     as “science based innovations that have the potential to                         explored superficially. To date almost only biomass as
     create a new industry or transform an existing one1”. The                        energy source has been investigated that was available
     authors distinguish between two kinds of emerging tech-                          from traditional cropping or foresting systems. The
     nologies: discontinuous and evolutionary.                                        challenge is now to establish small scale prediction
     Discontinuous technologies derive from radical science-                          systems allowing to establish structure-function rela-
     based innovations, while evolutionary technologies arise                         tionships between biomass composition and its con-
     at the junctions of research streams that were previously                        vertibility in energy conversion systems, in order to
     separate. The latter definition applies especially to                            explore a broad range of generated biodiversity also in
     biomass-based energy technologies, where enormous                                energy cropping systems.
     synergies could be gained from joining together discon-
     nected areas of scientific investigation.                                     The IEA has set up a useful taxonomy setting out the dif-
     One of the biggest challenges to the continuing use of                        ferent fields of research whose integration will help cre-
     fossil fuels is associated with global warming caused by                      ate sustainable biomass-based energy technologies (Fig-
     CO2 emissions. This report concentrates on biomass-                           ure 4). The field of biomass resources is mainly concerned
     based energy technologies, but biotechnology could also                       with optimising existing production systems for maxi-
     contribute to the development of CO2-neutral power                            mum energy output. Here especially, green biotechno-
     generation systems based on fossil fuels. There are essen-                    logy will provide tools to broaden genetic variability and
     tially two distinct areas where biotechnology can con-                        develop novel feedstocks for energy production systems.
     tribute:                                                                      Supply systems represent the largest technical challenge
     a) The area of traditional biotechnology, so-called white                     in optimising bioenergy generation and use, as supply is

     1
         Day and Shoemaker, 2000; 2




     Figure 4. The IEA taxonomy shows the different fields of research whose integration will aid the development of sustainable biomass-based energy
     technologies.


         Biomass resources
         Conventional forestry                                                                                                  Conversion
                                                                                        End products
         Short rotational forestry              Supply systems                                                                  Biochemical
                                                                                        Transportation fuels
         Agriculture crops and                  Harvesting, collection                                                          Thermochemical
                                                                                        Heat and electricity
         residues                               handling and storage                                                            Physical/Chemical
                                                                                        Solid fuels
         Oil-bearing plants                                                                                                     processes
         Municipal solid waste




                      Integration research across the value chain: environmental and economic sustainability, system studies. standards. etc.
Risø Energy Report 2                                                       Emerging and future bioenergy technologies                               19




5   always related to energy consumption and may well be
    influenced by the development of decentralised power
    generation systems. Conversion depends in part on the
                                                                               and for poor people. To distinguish modern technology
                                                                               from traditional practices, the term “modern bioenergy”
                                                                               is sometimes used to cover more sophisticated combus-
    development of white biotechnologies to establish com-                     tion systems (at domestic, industrial or power-plant
    mercially-feasible energy production systems, whereas                      scale), gasification, hydrolysis, pyrolysis, extraction and
    research into end products is oriented more towards engi-                  digestion technologies.
    neering and the optimisation of plant and machinery for                    Most of these technologies have been available for
    use with biomass.                                                          decades, but have not been economic. Recent advances
                                                                               in performance have made them much more attractive,
    Current developments                                                       especially in view of their ability to improve the envi-
    Table 6 uses the IEA taxonomy to summarise the major                       ronment and create jobs at the same time as making use
    emerging and future technologies in bioenergy. Emerg-                      of available energy resources.
    ing technologies are defined as above, while future tech-                  There are five fundamental forms of bioenergy use:
    nologies are those that will take more than ten years to                   1. quot;Traditional domesticquot; use in developing countries,
    reach the market.                                                             burning firewood, charcoal or agricultural waste for
    “Bioenergy” is sometimes thought of as old-fashioned                          household cooking (e.g. the quot;three stone firequot;), light-



    Table 6. Emerging and future technologies in bioenergy.


     Stage                                  Emerging technologies                             Future technologies


     Biomass resources                      New energy crops                                  Bioengineering of new energy plants
                                            New oilseed crops                                 Development of low-energy agricultural production
                                            Bio-waste management                              systems
                                                                                              Aquatic biomass (algae)
                                                                                              IT methods in land and biological systems
                                                                                              management


     Supply systems                         Use of new agro-machinery                         Biorefining
                                            Biomass densification                             Biotech-based quality monitoring throughout the
                                            Other simple pretreatments (e.g. leaching)        whole procurement chain
                                            Logistics of supply chains                        IT tools for supply chain modelling and
                                                                                              optimal management


     Conversion                             Advanced combustion                               Biohydrogen (hydrogen from bioconversion of
                                            Co-combustion                                     biomass)
                                            Gasification                                      Plasma-based conversions
                                            Pyrolysis                                         Advanced bioconversion schemes
                                            Bioethanol from sugar and starch                  Other novel conversion pathways
                                            Bioethanol from lignocellulosic material          (e.g. electrochemical)
                                            Biodiesel from vegetable oils                     Novel schemes for down-stream processing (e.g. of
                                            Advanced anaerobic digestion                      pyrolytic liquids or synthetic FT-biofuels)


     End products                           Bioheat                                           Use of hydrogen in fuel cells
                                            Bioelectricity                                    Use of FT-biofuels in new motor-concepts e. g. CCS
                                            Transport biofuels                                (Combined Combustion Systems)
                                            Upgraded solid biofuels                           New bio-products (biotech)
                                                                                              Complex, multi-product systems (IT)
                                                                                              CO2 sequestration; other new end-use “cultures”
                                                                                              (e.g., user-friendliness, “closed cycle”)


     System integration                     Normalisation and standards                       IT-based management
                                            Best practices                                    Socio-technical and cultural design of applications
                                            Economic/ecological modelling and                 Sustainability based on global as well as local effects
                                            optimisation
20   Risø Energy Report 2                                           Emerging and future bioenergy technologies




5       ing and space heating. Energy conversion efficiency is
        generally 5–15%.
     2. quot;Traditional industrialquot; use for processing tobacco, tea,
                                                                    characteristics, allowing them to be used in internal
                                                                    combustion engines and gas turbines.

        pig iron, bricks, tiles etc. The biomass feedstock is       Carbonisation
        often regarded as quot;freequot;, so there is generally little      Combustion is an age-old process optimised for making
        incentive to use it efficiently and energy conversion       charcoal. In traditional charcoal-making, wood is placed
        efficiency is commonly 15% or less.                         in mounds or pits, covered with earth to keep out oxy-
     3. quot;Modern industrialquot; use, in which industries are            gen, and set alight. Modern charcoal processes are more
        experimenting with technologically-advanced ther-           efficient; large-scale industrial production of charcoal in
        mal conversion technologies. Expected conversion            Brazil, for instance, achieves efficiencies of over 30% by
        efficiencies are in the range 30–55%.                       weight.
     4. Newer quot;chemical conversionquot; technologies (fuel cells).
        These are capable of bypassing the entropy-dictated         Pyrolysis
        Carnot restriction that limits the conversion efficien-     Pyrolysis is a step on from carbonisation in which
        cies of thermal conversion units.                           biomass is processed at high temperatures and the
     5. quot;Biological conversionquot; techniques, including anaero-       absence of oxygen, sometimes at elevated pressure. The
        bic digestion for biogas production and fermentation        shortage of oxygen prevents complete combustion, and
        for alcohol e. g. from lignocellulosic raw material.        instead the biomass is broken down to a mixture of sim-
                                                                    ple molecules (methane, carbon monoxide and hydro-
     In general, biomass-to-energy conversion technologies          gen) known as producer gas. Charcoal, coke and other
     have to deal with feedstocks that vary widely in their         heavy materials are often produced as residue.
     mass and energy density, size, moisture content and
     availability. Modern industrial installations therefore        Gasification
     often employ hybrid technologies, in which fossil fuels        With careful control of temperature and oxygen level it
     are used to dry and pre-heat the biomass before it is          is possible to convert virtually all the raw material into
     burned, and to maintain production when biomass is             gas. Gasification, which is a further development of
     unavailable.                                                   pyrolysis, takes place in two stages. First, the biomass is
                                                                    partially burned to form producer gas and charcoal. In
     Bioenergy conversion technologies                              the second stage, the carbon dioxide and water produced
     Among the most important bioenergy conversion tech-            in the first stage are chemically reduced by the charcoal,
     nologies are:                                                  forming carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The composi-
                                                                    tion of the resulting gas is 18–20% hydrogen, 18–20%
     Direct-combustion processes                                    carbon monoxide, 2–3% methane, 8–10% carbon diox-
     Feedstocks for direct combustion are often residues such       ide and the rest nitrogen. Gasification requires tempera-
     as woodchips, sawdust, bark, hogfuel, black liquor,            tures of around 800°C or more to minimize the residues
     bagasse, straw, municipal solid waste (MSW) and wastes         of tars and high hydrocarbons in the product gas.
     from the food industry. Direct-combustion furnaces are
     used to produce either direct heat or steam.                   Catalytic liquefaction
                                                                    Catalytic liquefaction has the potential to produce
     Co-firing                                                      higher-quality products of greater energy density than
     A modern practice is the co-firing of a fossil-fuel, usually   are possible with other thermochemical processes. These
     coal, with a bioenergy feedstock. Co-firing has a number       products should also require less processing to get them
     of advantages, especially for electricity production. It       into marketable form. Catalytic liquefaction is a low-
     may be relatively cheap to modify existing fossil-fuel         temperature, high-pressure thermochemical conversion
     equipment for co-firing, so this can be a cost-effective       process carried out in the liquid phase. It requires either
     way to cut fuel bills or meet new emission targets.            a catalyst or a high partial pressure of hydrogen. Techni-
                                                                    cal problems have so far limited the applications of this
     Thermochemical processes                                       technology but the quality of the products justifies the
     Thermochemical processes do not necessarily produce            expenses. Further R&D activities for optimal concepts of
     useful energy directly. Instead, they use controlled con-      these conversion strategies must be applied
     ditions of temperature and oxygen level to convert the
     original bioenergy feedstock into more convenient              Biochemical processes
     energy carriers such as producer gas, oil or methanol.         The use of yeast to produce ethanol is an ancient art.
     Compared to the original biomass, these energy carriers        However, in more recent times micro-organisms have
     either have higher energy densities – and lower transport      become regarded as biochemical quot;factoriesquot; for treating
     costs – or more predictable and convenient combustion          and converting most forms of human-generated organic
Risø Energy Report 2                                                   Emerging and future bioenergy technologies                        21




5   waste. Microbial engineering has encouraged the use of
    fermentation technologies (aerobic and anaerobic) for
    the production of energy (biogas) and fertilisers, and for
                                                                           Ethanol fermentation
                                                                           Improvements in fermentation technology have made
                                                                           bioethanol economically competitive, as well as envi-
    removing unwanted products from water and waste                        ronmentally beneficial, as a petroleum substitute and
    streams.                                                               fuel enhancer. Bioethanol programmes exist in Brazil,
                                                                           Zimbabwe, and the USA.
    Anaerobic fermentation                                                 The commonest bioethanol feedstock in developing
    Anaerobic reactors are generally used to make methane-                 countries is sugar cane, due to its high productivity when
    rich biogas from manure (human and animal) and crop                    supplied with sufficient water. Where water availability
    residues. Anaerobic digesters of various types are widely              is limited, sweet sorghum or cassava may be preferred.
    distributed throughout China and India. They are ideal                 Other feedstocks include saccharide-rich sugar beet and
    for rural areas because they improve sanitation as well as             carbohydrate-rich potatoes, wheat and maize. Recent
    producing fuel and fertiliser. Large digesters are becom-              advances in the use of cellulosic feedstock may allow
    ing useful in environmental protection applications                    bioethanol to be made competitively from woody agri-
    such as removing nitrates from water supplies.                         cultural residues and trees.

    Methane production in landfills                                        Biodiesel
    Anaerobic digestion in landfills is brought about by the               Vegetable oils have been used as fuel in diesel engines for
    microbial decomposition of the organic matter in refuse.               over a century. Whilst it is feasible to run diesel engines
    Landfill gas is on average 60% methane and 40% carbon                  on raw vegetable oils, in general these oils must first be
    dioxide.




    Figure 5. Development in governmental R&D expenditures from 1974 to 1998. Figures are in millions of USD with a 2002 price level. Data down-
    loaded via: http://www.iea.org/stats/files/rd.htm



     Million USD (2002)
     16000                                                                                                                               1200



     14000
                                                                                                                                         1000


     12000


                                                                                                                                         800
     10000



      8000                                                                                                                               600



      6000
                                                                                                                                         400


      4000


                                                                                                                                         200
      2000



          0
                                                                                                                                         0
              1974     1976      1978       1980        1982   1984    1986      1988      1990      1992      1994     1996      1998



      Left axis: s Total energy R&D s Total renewable energy                    Right axis: s Geothermal s Biomass s Ocean s Wind s Solar
22   Risø Energy Report 2                                                       Emerging and future bioenergy technologies




5      Million USD (2002)

          70


          60


          50


          40


          30


          20


          10


           0
                       1975                  1980                  1985                  1990                1995                2000



       s Biomass energy R&D s Total energy R&D



     Figure 6 . Development in Danish governmental R&D expenditures from 1975 to 2002. Figures are in millions of USD with a 2002 price level. Data
     downloaded via: http://www.iea.org/stats/files/rd.htm. No figures available for 1988.




     chemically transformed so that they more closely resem-                    R&D indicators in biomass for energy
     ble petroleum-based diesel.                                                Since emerging technologies, on the Wharton defini-
     The raw oil can be obtained from a variety of annual and                   tion, are closely related to science-based innovations, it
     perennial plant species. Perennials include oil palms,                     is logical to examine some traditional indicators of
     coconut palms, physica nut and Chinese tallow tree.                        research and development activity in biomass energy
     Annuals include sunflower, groundnut, soybean and                          technologies.
     rapeseed. Many of these plants can produce high yields                     It is well known that global government R&D spending
     of oil, with positive energy and carbon balances.                          on energy has decreased steadily since its peak at around
     As a rule, most of the emerging biomass technologies are                   the time of the second oil embargo in 1979. According to
     those now receiving R&D funding from government and                        the IEA, total expenditure on government energy R&D in
     other sources. Future technologies, on the other hand,                     IEA member countries fell by more than half during the
     depend strongly on interactions between current emerg-                     1980s and 1990s, but with relatively large variations
     ing technologies and generic developments in biotech-                      between individual countries and between technologies.
     nology and IT. These interactions can only be reliably                     Biomass-related energy R&D has managed to increase its
     achieved by systematically steering biotech and IT                         share of government spending, in both relative and abso-
     research towards bioenergy subjects – a critical task on                   lute terms, in the last decade or so (Figure 5). The oppo-
     the research agenda for the next decade. We should also                    site is the case for Denmark where the biomass related
     mention the critical role that social and cultural aspects                 governmental R&D has decreased after a peak in early
     are expected to play in the future of this complex field.                  1990’s (Figure 6).
                                                                                Breakthroughs in energy-related biotechnology do not
                                                                                have to stem from targeted energy research, of course.
                                                                                They can equally well be a consequence of generic
                                                                                research programmes.
Risø Energy Report 2                                         Bioenergy technologies                                23




6   Bioenergy technologies in global,
    European and Danish perspective
    The following chapter presents the status of R&D in          overview is based on a qualitative quot;best estimationquot; –
    progress for selected bioenergy technologies. Selection is   with the uncertainty this implies – on a time scale pre-
    based on evaluation of technologies characterized by a       senting the phases of the technology from breakthrough
    larger research effort and a longer time scale. The pre-     to commercial contribution. Each phase presents some
    sented technologies are assessed with respect to status,     examples of the necessary steps to exploit the potentials
    trends and perspectives for the technology together with     of the technology and move it to the next phase all the
    international R&D plans.                                     way to commercial contribution. The last-mentioned
    Conclusions are drawn for each technology in the form        phase indicates the point of time when the first units of
    of a simple, graphical overview for the technology. The      the technology are for sale on a commercial basis.
Risoe Energy Report 2
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Risoe Energy Report 2

  • 1. Risø Energy Report 2 New and emerging bioenergy technologies Edited by Hans Larsen, Jens Kossmann and Leif Sønderberg Petersen Risø National Laboratory Reviewed by Project Manager Pearse Buckley Sustainable Energy Ireland Ireland Professor Kai Sipilä VTT Processes Finland Dr.-Ing. Andrej Stanev Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. Germany Consultant Charles Butcher Science Journalist
  • 2. 2 1. Preface 3 2. Summary and main conclusions 5 3. Role of biomass in global energy supply 8 4. Trends and perspectives in bioenergy supply in Denmark 13 5. Emerging and future bioenergy technologies 18 6. Bioenergy technologies in global, European and Danish perspective 23 6.1 Biomass production in new sustainable multipurpose cropping systems 24 6.2 Production and use of biodiesel 30 6.3 Combustion and gasification technologies 35 6.4 Biotechnology in ethanol production 40 7. Index 45 8. References 46
  • 3. Risø Energy Report 2 Preface 3 1 Preface Three growing concerns – sustainability (particularly in future trends and international R&D plans. Recent stud- the transport sector), security of energy supply and cli- ies of emerging bioenergy technologies from interna- mate change – have combined to increase interest in tional organisations and leading research organisations bioenergy. The trend towards bioenergy has been further are reviewed. encouraged by technological advances in biomass con- The report is based on internationally-recognised scien- version and significant changes in energy markets. tific material, and is fully referenced. The presentation of We even have a new term, “modern bioenergy”, to cover current global developments in bioenergy is based on the those areas of bioenergy technology – traditional as well latest information from authoritative sources including as emerging – which could expand the role of bioenergy. the IEA, the World Energy Council (WEC) and World Besides its potential to be carbon-neutral if produced sus- Energy Assessment. tainably, modern bioenergy shows the promise of cover- This is the second in the series of Risø Energy Reports, ing a considerable part of the world’s energy needs, which are published to provide global, regional and increasing the security of energy supply through the use national perspectives on current and future energy of indigenous resources, and improving local employ- issues. Individual chapters have been written by Risø ment and land use. To make these promises a reality, staff members and leading Danish and international however, requires further R&D. bioenergy experts, and the whole report has been re- This report provides a critical examination of modern fereed by an independent panel of international experts. bioenergy, and describes current trends in both estab- Our target group is colleagues, collaborating partners, lished and emerging bioenergy technologies. As well as customers, funding organisations, the Danish ministries examining the implications for the global energy scene, and agencies as well as international organisations such the report draws national conclusions for European and as the EU, the IEA and the UN. Danish energy supply, industry and energy research. The report presents the status of current R&D in biomass resources, supply systems, end products and conversion Hans Larsen methods. A number of traditional and modern bioenergy Jens Kossmann and technologies are assessed to show their current status, Leif Sønderberg Petersen
  • 5. Risø Energy Report 2 Summary and main conclusions 5 2 Summary and main conclusions HANS LARSEN, JENS KOSSMANN AND LEIF SØNDERBERG PETERSEN, RISØ NATIONAL LABORATORY Bioenergy is energy of biological and renewable origin, The end products of bioenergy systems can be used for: normally derived from purpose-grown energy crops or • transport; by-products of agriculture, forestry or fisheries. Examples • electricity supply; and of bioenergy resources are fuel wood, bagasse, organic • heating. waste, biogas and bioethanol. Bioenergy is the only renewable energy source that is available in gaseous, liq- In the transport sector, biodiesel produced from veg- uid and solid forms. etable oils could play an important role. Further techni- Growing concern about the sustainability of energy sup- cal advances could also create “biolubricants” from veg- plies (especially in the transport sector), supply security etable oils. Another promising transport fuel is ethanol and the need to take action on climate change have all produced from plant materials by biological processes. served to increase interest in bioenergy. Technological For electricity production, the use of bioenergy crops is advances in biomass conversion, combined with signifi- an effective way to mitigate the greenhouse effect by cant changes in energy markets, have stimulated this reducing the use of fossil fuels. Using biomass for heat trend and led to the invention of a new term, “modern and power production increases the security of energy bioenergy”, covering a number of traditional and emerg- supply by lowering the demand for non-renewable fossil ing areas of technology. The world’s government-funded fuels. In the near future, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) energy-related R&D is decreasing, but bioenergy R&D offer a promising route to efficient electricity produc- has increased in both relative and absolute terms during tion. For sustainable power, we should continue to the last decade or so. develop gasification and fuel cell conversion systems Today bioenergy provides 11–14% of the world’s energy based on biomass. supply, but there are significant differences between Conversion technologies need to be chosen to suit the industrialised and developing countries. In many devel- energy service in question: heat, electricity or transport oping countries bioenergy is the most important energy fuel. Thermochemical processes convert biomass into source. The use of bioenergy in the industrialised coun- liquid or gaseous energy carriers that have higher energy tries, on the other hand, varies from 4% in the USA to densities and more predictable and convenient combus- 20% in Finland. Danish energy production from biomass tion characteristics than the raw materials from which in 2001 was approximately 42 PJ, or 5% of the country’s they are made. Catalytic liquefaction can produce fuels total energy consumption of 829 PJ. of even higher quality and energy density. In principle, modern bioenergy could cover all the Another conversion technology, the use of micro-organ- world’s energy requirements, but its real technical and isms to produce ethanol, is an ancient art. These micro- economic potential is much lower. The annual theoreti- organisms are now regarded as biochemical quot;factoriesquot; cal potential of bioenergy has recently been estimated at for converting organic waste into gaseous or liquid fuels. 2900 EJ, but the present practical technical and eco- Modern biotechnology could contribute to the develop- nomic potential is estimated to be 270 EJ. Current use of ment of CO2-neutral power generation systems in two bioenergy is estimated to be only around 55 EJ. distinct ways. The first of these is traditional or “white” Supply systems – harvesting, collection, handling and biotechnology, which in this context deals with the use storage – are a great technical challenge for modern of fermentation processes and enzymes in the down- bioenergy. Biomass is a local and bulky resource, so trans- stream processes of biomass conversion. This area of port costs can be a barrier. This obstacle can be overcome technology is firmly established and forms an integral by developing locally-applicable technologies to convert part of the fermentation processes described in this bulky raw materials into energy-dense solid, liquid or report. gaseous fuels. The other area is “green” biotechnology, which uses Land for the production of bioenergy resources is genetic engineering to tailor the characteristics of another key issue, since competition for land could lead biomass to optimise its performance as an energy to reduced levels of food security. In many developing resource. Such technology is still at the emerging stage countries, however, food and fuel production can be and has so far been only superficially explored. integrated in complementary land-use systems. In indus- To date, almost the only biomass types to have been trialised countries, much of the land being removed investigated as energy sources using green biotechnology from agricultural production, such as EU “set-aside”, have been those that are already available from tradi- could be used to produce bioenergy. tional cropping or foresting systems. The challenge is
  • 6. 6 Risø Energy Report 2 Summary and main conclusions 2 now to establish small-scale prediction systems that will allow the establishment of structure-function relation- ships between the composition of biomass and its con- Barriers are: • the competitiveness of the various bioenergy technolo- gies varies from close to competitive to far from; vertibility in energy conversion systems. This will allow • the competitiveness is strongly depending on e.g. the us to explore and create biodiversity in energy crops, as amount of externalities included in the cost calcula- well as improving the performance of bioenergy systems. tions; Many “top ten” lists of emerging generic technologies • in general bioenergy technologies need to be moved include modern biomass-based energy systems. How- down the learning curve; ever, many bioenergy technologies are still wide open for • resource potentials and distributions; development. The future of bioenergy depends strongly • costs of bioenergy technologies and resources; on the interactions between specific emerging energy • lack of social and organisational structures for the technologies and more generic developments in biotech- supply of biofuels; nology and information technology. • local land-use and environmental aspects in the devel- oping countries; and Key messages • administrative and legislative bottlenecks. The most important driving forces for modern bioenergy are: These barriers can be lowered through dedicated inter- • security of supply, based on to the use of domestic ventions by both public and private sector entities, resources; focusing on: • local employment and local competitiveness; • development and deployment of more cost-effective • local, regional and global environmental concerns; and conversion technologies, especially those that yield • land use aspects in both developing and industrialised end-products – solid or liquid – with high energy den- countries. sities; Figure 1. Time scale from break through to commercial contribution Breakthrough Production of biodiesel Co-production of bioethanol and biogas Dedicated energy crops can be grown efficiently like agricultural crops Liquefaction of biomass Research on key elements Providing a secure supply of liquid transport biodiesel fuels Reliable high quality fuel at a reasonable ratio of costs to benefits Survey of feedstock options in Denmark Power plant running on biodiesel/biodiesel fossil fuel mixtures Pretreatment processes, hydrolysis and fermentation processes Systems for producing, distributing and using bioethanol Applications for biogas co-produced with bioethanol Technology for combustion to electricity in the kW-range Indirect firing with Stirling engine or hot air turbines Gasification technology for small units Long term research in gasification as basis for hydrogen production for fuel cells Research on liquefaction of biomass Selection and breeding for disease resistance, yield and quality Development of multipurpose production systems Species and varieties mixtures to increase diversity and decrease diseases Feedstock conversion quality management during production Commercial contribution Gasoline blending with bioethanol Commercial breeding, selection and marketing of bioenergy crops Commercial planting & harvesting machinery manufacture for bioenergy crops Gasification technology for large units Broader introduction of biodiesel mixtures in the Danish transport sector Combined cycle power plants running on bioethanol Small scale power plants running on biodiesel/biodiesel mixtures Gasification as basis for hydrogen production for fuel cells Technology for liquefaction of biomass 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030
  • 7. Risø Energy Report 2 Summary and main conclusions 7 2 • development and implementation of improved, dedi- cated, bioenergy crop production systems; • establishment of bioenergy markets and organisational Our recommendations are: • modern bioenergy has large potential, both globally and for Denmark, but more R&D is needed; structures for transporting and delivering bioenergy • Denmark has a long tradition of agriculture, highly- resources and products; and qualified farmers and a leading industrial position in • valuation of the environmental benefits for society e.g. biotechnology, pharmacy, plant breeding, seed produc- on carbon balance. tion, energy technologies and renewable energy. Together, these factors give Denmark the opportunity Our conclusions are: to become the first mover on most key issues in mod- • simply burning biomass in power plants remains a lim- ern bioenergy; ited market in industrialised countries; • to exploit these advantages, we deem it of utmost • in developing countries there is still room for efficiency importance that Danish research institutions establish improvements in biomass burners; cross-institutional research platforms and co-operative • there is a great potential in upgrading biomass into interdisciplinary projects. Such projects should include fuels that can be used in more traditional end use tech- as stakeholders politicians, industrialists and venture nologies; capitalists. In particular, politicians must contribute by • there is a need to develop new harvesting and conver- setting out the way for bioenergy, and supporting the sion technologies for energy crops; transition from basic research to competitive technolo- • the combination of biofuels with fuel cells could con- gies ready to enter the market. siderably reduce CO2 emissions in the transport sector; and • agriculture has taken thousands of years to develop plants that are especially suitable for food. There is immense potential in developing plants that are espe- cially suitable as sources of energy.
  • 8. 8 Risø Energy Report 2 Role of biomass in global energy supply 3 Role of biomass in global energy supply GUSTAVO BEST, FAO, ROME & JOHN CHRISTENSEN, RISØ NATIONAL LABORATORY Bioenergy resources: an introduction • Technological advances in biomass conversion, com- Bioenergy is energy of biological and renewable origin, bined with significant changes in energy markets; normally in the form of purpose-grown energy crops or • Biofuels have the unique characteristic of being the by-products from agriculture, forestry or fisheries. Exam- only sources of renewable energy that are available in ples of bioenergy resources are fuel wood, charcoal, sugar gaseous, liquid and solid states; bagasse, sweet sorghum stocks, livestock manure, biogas, • Increasing focus on security of energy supply; and microbial biomass and algae. • Increasing interest in renewable energy generally. Biomass provides approximately 11–14% of the world’s So while many developing countries will aim at reducing energy (IEA, UNDP, WEC), but there are significant dif- dependence on traditional bioenergy fuels as part of poli- ferences between industrialised and developing coun- cies to improve access to modern energy services, the tries. global trend is expected to focus on how to increase the In many developing countries biomass is the most share of modern bioenergy in the global energy mix. important energy source. As a global average, biomass Examples of current bioenergy use in industrialised provides approximately 35% of developing countries’ countries are the USA (4%), Sweden (17%) and Finland energy (WEC, UNDP), but there are large regional differ- (20%) (WEC). Data on bioenergy resources and utilisa- ences. Many sub-Saharan African countries, for instance, tion is generally uncertain because of the very diverse depend on biomass for up to 90% of their energy, indi- and dispersed nature of the resources. In most statistics, cating that they have little in the way of industry or bioenergy resources are usually classified as either animal other modern activities. manure or plant biomass, the latter including municipal The main sources of biomass in developing countries are and other solid waste. traditional wood fuels, either collected and used in a Bioenergy could in principle provide all the world’s non-commercial way or bought in local markets as fire- energy requirements, but its real technical and economic wood or charcoal. potential is much lower. The WEC Survey of Energy In industrialised countries, biofuels have for a long time Resources (WEC 2001) estimates that bioenergy could been considered as old-fashioned because of their bulky theoretically provide 2900 EJ/y, but that technical and nature and low energy content compared to fossil fuels. economic factors limit its current practical potential to In the last decade, however, interest in bioenergy has just 270 EJ/y. Current use of bioenergy is estimated at increased. Reasons for this include: around 55 EJ/y. • Growing concern about climate change – biofuels can Figure 2 shows the potential and current use of bio- be carbon-neutral if they are produced in a sustainable energy by region, based on data from Kaltschmitt. Even way; with the current resource base, it is clear that the practi- Table 1. Types of plant biomass. Source: UNDP, 2000. Woody biomass Non-woody biomass Processed waste Processed fuels Trees Energy crops such as sugar cane Cereal husks and cobs Charcoal (wood and residues) Shrubs and scrub Cereal straw Bagasse Briquetted or densified biomass Bushes such as coffee and tea Cotton, cassava, tobacco stems Wastes from pineapple and Methanol and ethanol and roots (partly woody) other fruits (wood alcohol) Sweepings from forest floor Grass Plant oil cake Plant oils such as palm, rapeseed (canola) and sunflower Bamboo Bananas and plantains Sawmill wastes Producer gas Palms Soft stems, such as those of Industrial wood bark and Biogas pulses and potatoes logging wastes Swamp and water plants Black liquor from pulp mills Municipal waste
  • 9. Risø Energy Report 2 Role of biomass in global energy supply 9 3 cal potential of bioenergy is much greater than its cur- rent exploitation. Obstacles to greater use of bioenergy include poor matching between demand and resources, their land fallow, and similar schemes in other countries such as the US are making significant areas of land avail- able. Growing biomass crops on this land could help to and high costs compared to other energy sources. re-invigorate rural economies, as well as providing bioen- Projections by the WEC, WEA and IPCC estimate that by ergy and its associated environmental benefits. 2050 bioenergy could supply a maximum of 250–450 In the non-industrialised world, land availability varies EJ/y, representing around a quarter of global final energy between regions and between countries. Some Asian demand. This is consistent with Figure 2, which puts the countries appear to have no, or almost no, spare land technological potential of bioenergy at 25–30% of global that could be used for bioenergy. Even in these countries, energy demand. however, strategies such as agroforestry, efficient energy conversion technologies and the use of agricultural Land availability wastes could create significant amounts of bioenergy. Growing biomass for energy production on a significant Latin America, much of Africa, and several forest-rich scale consumes both land and labour. Land use in countries in Asia have large areas which could be used for particular is a key issue in the production of bioenergy bioenergy, given the right long-term policies. resources, because using land for energy crops means In many developing countries, food and fuel production that less land is available to grow food. can be integrated in complementary land use systems. In It is imperative to ensure that sufficient cropland is avail- fact, at the small to medium scale (100 kW–1 MW), agri- able to produce food for the world's expanding popula- cultural residues and non-arable land can supply vil- tion, taking into consideration that biomass energy can lagers’ energy needs for domestic water, irrigation, light- help enhance development and food production. ing and cooking. Irrigation can greatly increase crop Studies by the FAO and others point to significant yields, so the implication is that at this scale the use of reserves of potential cropland, but these resources are indigenous biofuels does not need to consume extra land not distributed where they will be needed most if present resources. The production of excess biomass can be con- predictions about population growth and competition verted to higher value energy products e.g. charcoal, for land use hold true. electricity or synthetic biofuels, which can be sold on the In the industrialised countries, much of the land being open market. Firewood and charcoal are already signifi- removed from agricultural production could profitably cant income sources in rural areas. and responsibly be used for energy production, because At the larger MW scale, land use conflicts could occur of the associated benefits of such land use. The EC's quot;set- where dedicated energy plantations are to supply a cen- asidequot; policy, which encourages farmers to keep part of tral conversion facility i.e. where a bioenergy market is Figure 2. Technical potential and use of biomass as a percentage of primary energy consumption (PEC) from fossil fuels + hydropower (Based on data from Kaltschmitt 2001). Bioenergy use and potential as (%) of PEC 100 143 195 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 North-America Latin-America & North-America Africa Europe Former USSR Average Caribbean s Use/PEC s Potential/PEC
  • 10. 10 Risø Energy Report 2 Role of biomass in global energy supply 3 Figure 3. Agricultural water withdrawals: FAO (2003): Agriculture, food and water. A contribution to the World Water Development report. FAO, Rome stimulated. Since biomass is a low energy density fuel, Wood, the traditional fuel high transport costs require that the conversion facility Lack of access to convenient and efficient energy is a secure supplies from as close to the plant as possible. major barrier to achieving meaningful and long-lasting Thus, measures to protect the small farmer near to such solutions to poverty. Access to energy is essential in alle- a plant may be necessary. However, concerns must also viating poverty and achieving sustainable development be measured against the benefits accrued by such a plant goals, because it supports strategies for improving i.e. increased rural employment (at all skill levels), a employment, education, water supply, public health, secure market for agricultural products and the provision local self-sufficiency and a host of other development of cheap indigenous supplies of energy. benefits. Bioenergy production can be a way to rehabilitate Fuel wood and charcoal are the dominant sources of marginal and degraded land and bring it back into prof- energy for about half the world’s population. In many itable use. This will only happen, however, if it is sup- countries they also constitute the major forest products. ported by policy. Without such policy, there is a danger Two to three billion people rely on wood for their pri- that bioenergy producers will seek good land, where mary energy needs and to provide a wide range of other yields are higher, and so compete directly with food pro- essential goods and services. duction. For many of these people, wood is far from being a clean and efficient energy source, it is simply their only afford- Water restrictions able option. Compared to conventional fossil fuels, One in five developing countries will face water short- wood-fuel and charcoal have low calorific values and are ages by 2030. The biggest consumer of water is agricul- difficult to handle, expensive to transport over long dis- ture, which accounts for around 70% of all freshwater tances and considered dirty in most residential contexts. withdrawals worldwide. With a growing world popula- In many cases, the harvesting of wood-fuels also causes tion, agriculture will face more competition from indus- deforestation and loss of vegetation cover. trial and domestic water users. As a result, agriculture will These negative perceptions are not easily changed, and have to use water more efficiently. they restrict the options open to policymakers. This is Figure 3 shows agricultural water withdrawals by region despite the fact that several countries, both industri- as a percentage of water available, and so indicates the alised and developing, have shown that many of the level of “stress” caused by current agricultural practices. drawbacks can be overcome by using the right techno- If bioenergy resources are to meet their full potential, logy. they will have to match the water consumption of other In fact, it is often not understood that appropriate wood- crops in the same region. based energy systems can contribute significantly to sus-
  • 11. Risø Energy Report 2 Role of biomass in global energy supply 11 3 tainable development, particularly in the poorer areas of developing countries. Wood fuels have some advantages over other energy sources: countries, will aim to increase their use of modern bioenergy technologies. • They contribute to poverty reduction in developing Practical limits to bioenergy expansion countries; Practical limits to bioenergy expansion are set by factors • They meet energy needs at all times, without expensive including: conversion devices; • Resource potential and distribution (as discussed in the • They can deliver energy in all the forms that people Introduction); need (liquid and gaseous fuels, heat and electricity); • Technological development state of the biomass con- • They are CO2-neutral, and can even act as carbon sinks; version technologies; and • Costs of technologies and resources; • They help to restore unproductive and degraded lands, • Lack of social and organisational structures for fuel sup- increasing biodiversity, soil fertility and water reten- ply; tion. • Public acceptability; and • Land-use and environmental aspects. Wood fuels usually form part of larger multi purpose sys- tems within forests or agricultural areas. These systems Most of these barriers to the increased use of bioenergy also provide non-wood forest products, reservoirs of bio- can be overcome through dedicated interventions by diversity, traditional medicines and shelter from the both public- and private-sector entities, focusing on: wind and sun, all at little or no cost to the world’s poor- • Developing and deploying cost-effective conversion est people. Moreover, most of the added value from vil- technologies; lage-scale bioenergy systems is retained locally and helps • Developing and implementing improved dedicated to reduce poverty. bioenergy crop production systems; But although wood fuels are widely available and afford- • Establishing bioenergy markets and organisational able in rural areas of most developing countries, many structures to transport and deliver bioenergy resources resources still remain untapped. For wood energy to ful- and products; and fil its potential as an instrument for sustainable develop- • Valuing the environmental benefits to society, such as ment, a series of technological, institutional, economic on the carbon balance. and social challenges need to be addressed. Driving forces to support these activities will be: Fuel of the Future • Security of energy supply, which can be increased by With the traditional association of bioenergy as old fash- using domestic resources; ioned and for the poor, the recent interest in biomass • Employment and land-use aspects (both for and resources has invented a new term “modern bioenergy” against the increased use of biofuels); which covers a number of technological areas from com- • Global concerns about climate change; and bustion at domestic, industrial or power plant scale, gasi- • Local concerns about health issues related to burning fication, hydrolysis, pyrolysis, extraction, digestion etc. biofuels indoors. Most of these technologies have been available for decades but recent advances in performance have made All of these driving forces in support of biofuels require them economically interesting in view of the resource targeted policy interventions to ensure that the social potential and the possibility of improving environmen- benefits of increased bioenergy use are properly reflected tal performance often along with local employment in the energy markets. In some cases “smart” subsidy opportunities. Details concerning individual bioenergy schemes may even be needed to ensure that new bioen- conversion technologies are presented in chapter 5. ergy resources and technologies get a level playing field in established energy markets. Driving forces and practical limitations A concrete example of a large-scale bioenergy pro- Two trends emerge from the discussions above: gramme is Brazil’s PRO-ALCOOL, in which ethanol from a. Developing countries will in general aim to reduce sugar cane bagasse is used as a transport fuel. In 1999 their dependence on traditional bioenergy as part of Brazil produced and used about 13 billion litres of their development strategies. The relative share of ethanol in this way (UNDP, 2000). bioenergy in the energy balance will therefore go The PRO-ALCOOL programme was launched in 1975 as down, though the number of people depending on a response to the oil crises. In spite of mixed economic traditional bioenergy will probably remain constant, results it has been a technical success, and has provided with corresponding consequences for health and both social and environmental benefits. resources. The cost of producing the ethanol is equivalent to an oil b. Industrialised countries, plus a number of developing price of around USD 30 per barrel. When oil prices are
  • 12. 12 Risø Energy Report 2 Role of biomass in global energy supply 3 below this level, the country must pay to produce fuel that could be imported more cheaply as oil. The beneficial effects of lowering imports by USD 20–30 billion, creating (directly and indirectly) almost a million jobs, cutting air pollution in urban areas and reducing energy-related carbon emissions by 15–20% can be offset against this. Specific national circumstances mean that it may not be possible to replicate the Brazilian example directly. The PRO-ALCOOL programme does show, however, that good policymaking in response to the driving forces mentioned above can create effective bioenergy solu- tions. The programme has contributed significantly to overcoming the technological barriers to the wider use of ethanol, not just in Brazil but also worldwide.
  • 13. Risø Energy Report 2 Trends and perspectives in bioenergy supply in Denmark 13 4 Trends and perspectives in bioenergy supply in Denmark MORTEN GYLLING, DANISH RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF FOOD ECONOMICS, NIELS HEDING, DANISH FOREST AND LANDSCAPE RESEARCH INSTITUTE AND SØREN K. RASMUSSEN, RISØ NATIONAL LABORATORY Introduction Energy security and environmental protection have been As a result, Danish commitment to the Kyoto Protocol the objectives of Danish energy policy over the last few has become a strong driving force for energy and envi- decades. ronmental policy, resulting in various energy plans with Energy security was the main driving force for several specific targets for greenhouse gas reductions and ways years after the energy crisis of 1973–4. The idea was to of reaching these targets. In support of this, the Danish make Denmark less dependent on foreign energy, espe- Parliament has decided that no new coal-fired power cially imported oil, by adopting multiple energy sources, plants will be built. Parliament has also decided that especially natural gas, and developing new “alternative” nuclear fission, which by its nature is CO2-neutral, will energy sources. not be used for power production in Denmark. Support programmes and tax incentives were launched to promote the development of renewable energy Bioenergy sources, including bioenergy, wind power and CHP, and Danish energy production based on biomass from agri- of systems to increase energy efficiency and improve culture and forestry, including biogas, made up around supply security for Denmark’s own oil and gas. 45% of the country’s total renewable energy production In bioenergy, the most important factor was a political in 2001 (Table 2). Straw and firewood are the most agreement in 1993 which obliged large power plants to important biofuels, followed by industrial wood waste. burn 1.2 million t/y of straw and 0.2 million t/y of wood Wood fuel in Denmark is available as industrial wood before 2000. This was followed by a decision to convert waste (raw or as wood pellets), forest chips, firewood and a number of district heating plants to biofuels and CHP. a very small amount of coppice willow from short-rota- In the past few years the political focus has shifted tion forestry. Firewood, and to an increasing extent towards opening up the natural gas and power markets wood pellets, are mainly used to heat private houses. as part of Denmark’s transition to a free market within Most industrial wood waste is used for industrial heating, the European Union. Support for energy R&D has been while wood chips are primarily used in CHP plants. much reduced since the end of 2001. Wood as an energy resource contributes 25.5 PJ (Table 2), Since the 1992 Rio “Earth Summit”, however, growing equivalent to approximately 0.6 million tones of oil. concern for the global environment has replaced the old Table 2 illustrates the distribution among the individual agenda of supply security with a new mandate to main- wood fuels, but does not include wood waste in the form tain and enlarge Denmark's role as a pioneer in sustain- of broken or worn-out furniture, paper etc. able development. Table 2. Bioenergy production from agriculture and forestry (2001) Fuel type Resource contribution (PJ) Non-wood Straw 13.7 Urban waste 33.0 Biogas 3.0 Wood Firewood 12.6 Industrial wood waste 7.2 Wood chips 3.2 (6.5 in 2002) Wood pellets 2.5 (4 in 2002) Total 75.2 (approximately 80.0 in 2002) Note: 1 PJ is equivalent to the lower calorific value of 23,810 t of oil. Source: Energistatistik 2001; Danish Energy Agency.
  • 14. 14 Risø Energy Report 2 Trends and perspectives in bioenergy supply in Denmark 4 Since the late 1990s there has been an increasing inter- national trade in wood chips and wood pellets, and Den- mark now imports substantial amounts of these. Total Another novel concept is to use manure and wheat straw in a combined process that yields bioethanol as well as biogas (Chapter 6.4). Danish consumption of wood is approximately 8 million Reference 2 also lists a large number of manufacturers t/y, of which 6 million t/y is imported and Danish forests and suppliers of wood-fired boilers. supply the rest. The intention is that most of this wood ends up as fuel, either directly or after having been used Rapeseed is the only oilseed crop currently grown by for other purposes first. In the latter case, however, Danish farmers. Several mills are now refining cold- national statistics class the wood simply as “waste”, mak- pressed rapeseed oil so that it can be used in heating sys- ing it hard to distinguish from other kinds of waste. tems. Under the 1993 “bioenergy agreement” two new CHP The potential for using rapeseed oil as a source of plants started production in 2002, one using 200,000 t/y biodiesel has not yet been fully explored in Denmark. of wood chips and the other 150,000 t/y of straw. Emmelev Mølle is the only producer of rapeseed oil Only a very small part of Denmark’s approximately 30 methyl esters (RME, or biodiesel). Due to lack of national million t/y of animal manure is currently used to pro- tax exemptions for liquid biofuels most of this is duce biogas. A number of relatively large on-farm biogas exported to Sweden and Germany instead of being used plants started production in 2002, the last centralised in Denmark. biogas plant having been put into production in 1998. When biomass such as wood and straw burns, a number Changes in subsidies for green electricity produced on of chemical processes convert the carbonaceous material new plants built after 2002 have put an economic halt to into a mixture of gases which are subsequently com- new biogas plants. However, the recent agreement for busted. It is possible to use the energy contained in the subsidies for electricity from new biogas plants has biomass more efficiently by separating the processes of opened up for a number of new biogas initiatives. gasification and combustion. New two-stage gasifier (Table 3) plants use fixed-bed or fluidised-bed reactors to The Danish bioenergy industry produce a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, The bioenergy technologies currently most developed in which can then be burned either alone or combined with Denmark are those for biogas production (Table 3). The gas from other sources. A challenge for gasification tech- basic raw material is animal manure, of which Danish nology is to remove the corrosive ash created by the high farms produce 34.1 million t/y (including 27.0 million levels of chloride and potassium present in plant t/y of slurry). biomass or high molecular tars and hydrocarbons from Green Farm Energy A/S has developed an advanced bio- the pyrolysis and gasification process. Ashes from gas plant that runs on manure, supplemented with other biomass only, are recycled to agriculture and forestry. agricultural waste products containing less water, such as Denmark’s forest area of approximately 0.5 million ha straw or future energy crops. The plant also removes supplies an increasing amount of firewood and forest nitrogen and phosphate from its waste stream, thus solv- chips. In the light of the Government’s plan to double ing the problem of how to stop these two nutrients pol- this area of forest, Denmark’s total wood fuel resources luting watercourses. will increase in the years to come. Afforestation takes place on agricultural land and will therefore result in a Table 3. Bioenergy industry in Denmark. Company Technology type Bioscan A/S Biogas GasCon Biogas Gosmer Smeden On-farm biogas Dansk Biogas A/S Biogas Green Farm Energy A/S Biogas Lundsby Bioenergi Biogas Emmelev Mølle RME, biodiesel Cowi with DTU / Vølund Gasification Danish Fluid Bed Technology Gasification Hollensen Gasification Carbona / Skanska Gasification Source: this manuscript.
  • 15. Risø Energy Report 2 Trends and perspectives in bioenergy supply in Denmark 15 4 proportional decrease in the straw and energy crop potential. ing approach towards global sustainable development. This has been replaced by a new balance between general economic growth and the development of energy tech- Environment nology. The priority in energy policy is now liberalisa- As a small country, Denmark is heavily influenced by tion, with the aim of meeting Denmark’s international international agreements on energy and environmental environmental commitments and at the same time issues, and the increasing internationalisation of mar- expanding the economy. kets. To avoid being swamped by outside forces, Den- The Kyoto Protocol’s flexible mechanism shall be used as mark must therefore secure the greatest possible influ- an integrated part of the Danish climate change policy in ence in international affairs concerning energy and the order to fulfil the Kyoto commitment. The Danish Gov- environment. This will help the country achieve its goals ernment has started a process in order to analyse how cli- and create the best conditions for its domestic environ- mate target in Denmark is to be obtained most cost effec- ment and economy. tively. The use of the Mechanism plays a central role in The EU Directive has set as an “indicative goal” that by the planning of the process. The planning is carried out 2010, 29% of Denmark’s electricity should be produced in co-operation between the Ministry of Finance, Envi- from renewable sources, including biomass and bio- ronment, Foreign Affairs, Taxation and the Ministry of waste. Agriculture and forestry provides 47 PJ in 2002 Economic and Business Affairs (Energy) to assist the and urban waste is predicted to contribute with constant energy industry in implementation of the JI and the amount of 33 PJ. CDM tools. The JI projects are expected to be launched Forest chips result from first and second thinning, from primarily in the Eastern Europe while CDM projects are harvesting over-mature and partly-dying pine planta- to be carried out in the developing countries. tions, and from tops following clear-cutting. Wood chips have become even more important as a fuel over the two Future bioenergy resources last decades, and their significance is underlined by the Danish bioenergy from agriculture and forestry is cur- Danish national obligation to reduce CO2 emissions. rently based mainly on waste materials such as straw, The production of biogas from manure will also affect waste from the wood industry and forest thinnings. the environment. In particular, the ability of large on- Under the revised bioenergy agreement, by the end of farm biogas plants to remove nitrogen and phosphate 2004 the electricity companies are obliged to use 1.4 mil- will reduce the quantities of these nutrients polluting lion t/y of biomass, including 930,000 t/y of straw. Agri- watercourses and coastal areas. Instead, farmers will be culture, forestry and the wood industry can easily supply able to recycle the nitrogen and phosphate for crop pro- these quantities of biomass. duction. Given the present political strategies for energy and the environment, it is difficult to foresee any substantial What can be done? increase in the demand for solid biofuels from agricul- In previous decades Danish energy policy was marked by ture beyond 2004. At present there is no tax exemptions strong public involvement at every stage and a pioneer- or subsidies for liquid biofuels and the future national Table 4. Estimated biomass resources from agriculture for energy purposes, 2015. Based on Gylling et al. 2001. Scenario 2000 2015 2015 2015 Unit Current Reference Environmental Market Total straw production tonne 6,484,000 5,857,000 4,840,000 6,758,000 Available straw for energy purposes tonne 2,663,000 2,445,000 1,414,000 3,494,000 PJ 37.4 34.3 19.8 49.0 Available area for energy crops ha 186,000 168,800 160,000* 85,000 Potential energy production PJ 27.9 25.3 24.0 12.8 Total potential straw and energy crops PJ 65.3 59.6 43.8 61.8 * 85,000 hectares ESA – set-aside. + 75,000 hectares set-aside
  • 16. 16 Risø Energy Report 2 Trends and perspectives in bioenergy supply in Denmark 4 politics is not yet known. If demand were to increase, however, current biofuel resources would soon be fully utilised. The logical next step would be to grow dedicated the same quality as wood pellets, as long as the right ingredients and additives are used. Most firewood comes from thinning and clear-cutting of energy crops, though under the present Common Agri- hardwood stands, in the form of smaller trees, tops and cultural Policy (CAP) this would only be economic on branches. Official statistics show that Danish forestry set-aside land. produces approximately 450,000 m3/y (solid volume) of A study by the Danish Research Institute of Food Eco- firewood, but this does not take into account firewood nomics estimates potential production of biomass for taken from gardens and parks. energy in the range 44–62 PJ/y, depending on develop- There have been three assessments of forest fuel ments in the framework conditions for Danish agricul- resources in Denmark. Table 5 shows predictions for fuel- ture (Table 4). wood resources (forest chips plus forest firewood) taken The study outlines three different agricultural scenarios from the most recent of these assessments (Nord-Larsen up to 2015. The first scenario is a reference case in which & Heding, 2003), which extrapolates from the current current trends are simply extrapolated. The “environ- national forest inventory using models for forest growth mental” scenario proposes a higher degree of environ- and yield. The figures cover three ten-year periods mental awareness, while the “market” scenario imagines (2000–2009, 2010–2019 and 2020–2029), each under a future in which agriculture becomes more competitive three scenarios in which utilisation of forest resources in economic terms. becomes progressively more intense. The estimate of total biomass available for energy pro- duction is based on the assumption that set-aside land is The three scenarios are: used to grow a mixture of energy crops; whole crop 1. Whole-tree chips from early thinning and from final wheat and triticale, plus willow coppice. The average felling of over-mature pine. annual yield is estimated at 9 t/ha of dry matter. The ref- 2. In addition to Scenario 1, forest chips from branches erence and market scenarios estimate the amount of and tops harvested during final felling. energy available from biomass at 59.6 PJ and 61.8 PJ 3. In addition to Scenario 2, forest chips from tops and respectively, though the market scenario includes about branches harvested during later thinning. 40% more straw because grain production is higher. The Under all three scenarios, potential production of forest environmental scenario yields only 43.8 PJ of bioenergy, chips exceeds the current figure by a factor of 1.5–2. mainly because grain production is lower. Straw and energy crops (whole crop grain, willow and Research Miscantus) are to a large extent interchangeable in large Research on wood fuels has changed direction over the multi-fuel burners (Gylling 2001), but differences in stor- years. In the 1980s the focus was on harvesting tech- age characteristics need to be taken into account when niques and long-term storage. In the 1990s emphasis setting up the biofuel production chain in order to secure changed to the physical characterisation of wood chips, an economic efficient all year supply. their storage properties, and how to optimise silvicul- Fuel pellets seem to be an expanding market. Wood pel- tural regimes to produce more chipping material. lets currently account for almost the entire market, but a Current research topics include reducing the harmful recent Danish study (Nikolaisen 2002) found that fuel effects of mould and understanding the nutrient bal- pellets made from mixed biomass sources can provide ances associated with intensive chip harvesting from Table 5. Danish fuel-wood resources for three scenarios over the next 30 years. Source: Nord-Larsen & Heding, 2003. Time period Scenario Fuel-wood production 2000–2009 2010–2019 2020–2029 1 Volume (million m3 solid volume/y) 0.9–1.3 0.9–1.3 0.9–1.3 Energy (PJ/y) 8–11 8–11 8–11 2 Volume (million m3 solid volume/y) 1.1–1.5 1.1–1.5 1.2–1.6 Energy (PJ/y) 9–12 9–12 9–13 3 Volume (million m3 solid volume/y) 1.3–1.7 1.3–1.7 1.4–1.8 Energy (PJ/y) 11–14 9–14 9–15
  • 17. Risø Energy Report 2 Trends and perspectives in bioenergy supply in Denmark 17 4 whole trees. More use of forest fuels means more wood ash, and another research topic is how ash can be returned to the forest floor – a disposal route that is hin- other reason than its advantages in crop rotation, so a significant and predictable amount of rapeseed oil can be expected. To make it ideal for biodiesel (RME) produc- dered by current regulations. Yet another research area is tion, however, rapeseed needs to be developed so that its how to improve the performance of the wood fuel sup- oil is more resistant to high temperatures and oxidation. ply chain, which at the moment is very tight. Other technical advances would allow rapeseed to be Future R&D should also aim to create new plant strains used to create biolubricants as well. with high energy contents and other characteristics to To meet these goals a multitude of instruments are used make them suitable as biofuels. New chemical and bio- by Danish R&D connecting public and private sector. logical transformations, as well as improvements to The funding is provided by the public, national as well as existing separation and concentration processes, are EU and for some specialized issues by DOE. Private needed for the production of bioethanol, biodiesel and investors show increasing interest in this field to develop hydrogen and other biofuels. local industry which address European agrofuels chal- Danish farmers will continue to grow rapeseed if for no lenges, because the Danish market is limited in size.
  • 18. 18 Risø Energy Report 2 Emerging and future bioenergy technologies 5 Emerging and future bioenergy technologies PER DANNEMAND ANDERSEN, JOHN CHRISTENSEN AND JENS KOSSMANN, RISØ NATIONAL LABORATORY, EMMANUEL KOUKIOS, NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS, GREECE Introduction In recent years biotechnology has featured in most “top biotechnology, is related to the technical use of fer- ten” lists of emerging technologies. Energy supply based mentation processes or enzymes in downstream pro- on biomass occupies a similar position in the list of cesses of biomass conversion. This is firmly established emerging technologies for renewable energy, and yet the and an integral part of the processes described below. interface between biotechnology and power generation remains in most cases wide open for development. b) The area of green biotechnology is related to the There is no generally acknowledged definition of the genetic engineering of plants in order to tailor term “emerging technologies”. A recent book from biomass with respect to their efficiency as energy Wharton Business School defines emerging technologies resource. This area is only emerging and has only been as “science based innovations that have the potential to explored superficially. To date almost only biomass as create a new industry or transform an existing one1”. The energy source has been investigated that was available authors distinguish between two kinds of emerging tech- from traditional cropping or foresting systems. The nologies: discontinuous and evolutionary. challenge is now to establish small scale prediction Discontinuous technologies derive from radical science- systems allowing to establish structure-function rela- based innovations, while evolutionary technologies arise tionships between biomass composition and its con- at the junctions of research streams that were previously vertibility in energy conversion systems, in order to separate. The latter definition applies especially to explore a broad range of generated biodiversity also in biomass-based energy technologies, where enormous energy cropping systems. synergies could be gained from joining together discon- nected areas of scientific investigation. The IEA has set up a useful taxonomy setting out the dif- One of the biggest challenges to the continuing use of ferent fields of research whose integration will help cre- fossil fuels is associated with global warming caused by ate sustainable biomass-based energy technologies (Fig- CO2 emissions. This report concentrates on biomass- ure 4). The field of biomass resources is mainly concerned based energy technologies, but biotechnology could also with optimising existing production systems for maxi- contribute to the development of CO2-neutral power mum energy output. Here especially, green biotechno- generation systems based on fossil fuels. There are essen- logy will provide tools to broaden genetic variability and tially two distinct areas where biotechnology can con- develop novel feedstocks for energy production systems. tribute: Supply systems represent the largest technical challenge a) The area of traditional biotechnology, so-called white in optimising bioenergy generation and use, as supply is 1 Day and Shoemaker, 2000; 2 Figure 4. The IEA taxonomy shows the different fields of research whose integration will aid the development of sustainable biomass-based energy technologies. Biomass resources Conventional forestry Conversion End products Short rotational forestry Supply systems Biochemical Transportation fuels Agriculture crops and Harvesting, collection Thermochemical Heat and electricity residues handling and storage Physical/Chemical Solid fuels Oil-bearing plants processes Municipal solid waste Integration research across the value chain: environmental and economic sustainability, system studies. standards. etc.
  • 19. Risø Energy Report 2 Emerging and future bioenergy technologies 19 5 always related to energy consumption and may well be influenced by the development of decentralised power generation systems. Conversion depends in part on the and for poor people. To distinguish modern technology from traditional practices, the term “modern bioenergy” is sometimes used to cover more sophisticated combus- development of white biotechnologies to establish com- tion systems (at domestic, industrial or power-plant mercially-feasible energy production systems, whereas scale), gasification, hydrolysis, pyrolysis, extraction and research into end products is oriented more towards engi- digestion technologies. neering and the optimisation of plant and machinery for Most of these technologies have been available for use with biomass. decades, but have not been economic. Recent advances in performance have made them much more attractive, Current developments especially in view of their ability to improve the envi- Table 6 uses the IEA taxonomy to summarise the major ronment and create jobs at the same time as making use emerging and future technologies in bioenergy. Emerg- of available energy resources. ing technologies are defined as above, while future tech- There are five fundamental forms of bioenergy use: nologies are those that will take more than ten years to 1. quot;Traditional domesticquot; use in developing countries, reach the market. burning firewood, charcoal or agricultural waste for “Bioenergy” is sometimes thought of as old-fashioned household cooking (e.g. the quot;three stone firequot;), light- Table 6. Emerging and future technologies in bioenergy. Stage Emerging technologies Future technologies Biomass resources New energy crops Bioengineering of new energy plants New oilseed crops Development of low-energy agricultural production Bio-waste management systems Aquatic biomass (algae) IT methods in land and biological systems management Supply systems Use of new agro-machinery Biorefining Biomass densification Biotech-based quality monitoring throughout the Other simple pretreatments (e.g. leaching) whole procurement chain Logistics of supply chains IT tools for supply chain modelling and optimal management Conversion Advanced combustion Biohydrogen (hydrogen from bioconversion of Co-combustion biomass) Gasification Plasma-based conversions Pyrolysis Advanced bioconversion schemes Bioethanol from sugar and starch Other novel conversion pathways Bioethanol from lignocellulosic material (e.g. electrochemical) Biodiesel from vegetable oils Novel schemes for down-stream processing (e.g. of Advanced anaerobic digestion pyrolytic liquids or synthetic FT-biofuels) End products Bioheat Use of hydrogen in fuel cells Bioelectricity Use of FT-biofuels in new motor-concepts e. g. CCS Transport biofuels (Combined Combustion Systems) Upgraded solid biofuels New bio-products (biotech) Complex, multi-product systems (IT) CO2 sequestration; other new end-use “cultures” (e.g., user-friendliness, “closed cycle”) System integration Normalisation and standards IT-based management Best practices Socio-technical and cultural design of applications Economic/ecological modelling and Sustainability based on global as well as local effects optimisation
  • 20. 20 Risø Energy Report 2 Emerging and future bioenergy technologies 5 ing and space heating. Energy conversion efficiency is generally 5–15%. 2. quot;Traditional industrialquot; use for processing tobacco, tea, characteristics, allowing them to be used in internal combustion engines and gas turbines. pig iron, bricks, tiles etc. The biomass feedstock is Carbonisation often regarded as quot;freequot;, so there is generally little Combustion is an age-old process optimised for making incentive to use it efficiently and energy conversion charcoal. In traditional charcoal-making, wood is placed efficiency is commonly 15% or less. in mounds or pits, covered with earth to keep out oxy- 3. quot;Modern industrialquot; use, in which industries are gen, and set alight. Modern charcoal processes are more experimenting with technologically-advanced ther- efficient; large-scale industrial production of charcoal in mal conversion technologies. Expected conversion Brazil, for instance, achieves efficiencies of over 30% by efficiencies are in the range 30–55%. weight. 4. Newer quot;chemical conversionquot; technologies (fuel cells). These are capable of bypassing the entropy-dictated Pyrolysis Carnot restriction that limits the conversion efficien- Pyrolysis is a step on from carbonisation in which cies of thermal conversion units. biomass is processed at high temperatures and the 5. quot;Biological conversionquot; techniques, including anaero- absence of oxygen, sometimes at elevated pressure. The bic digestion for biogas production and fermentation shortage of oxygen prevents complete combustion, and for alcohol e. g. from lignocellulosic raw material. instead the biomass is broken down to a mixture of sim- ple molecules (methane, carbon monoxide and hydro- In general, biomass-to-energy conversion technologies gen) known as producer gas. Charcoal, coke and other have to deal with feedstocks that vary widely in their heavy materials are often produced as residue. mass and energy density, size, moisture content and availability. Modern industrial installations therefore Gasification often employ hybrid technologies, in which fossil fuels With careful control of temperature and oxygen level it are used to dry and pre-heat the biomass before it is is possible to convert virtually all the raw material into burned, and to maintain production when biomass is gas. Gasification, which is a further development of unavailable. pyrolysis, takes place in two stages. First, the biomass is partially burned to form producer gas and charcoal. In Bioenergy conversion technologies the second stage, the carbon dioxide and water produced Among the most important bioenergy conversion tech- in the first stage are chemically reduced by the charcoal, nologies are: forming carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The composi- tion of the resulting gas is 18–20% hydrogen, 18–20% Direct-combustion processes carbon monoxide, 2–3% methane, 8–10% carbon diox- Feedstocks for direct combustion are often residues such ide and the rest nitrogen. Gasification requires tempera- as woodchips, sawdust, bark, hogfuel, black liquor, tures of around 800°C or more to minimize the residues bagasse, straw, municipal solid waste (MSW) and wastes of tars and high hydrocarbons in the product gas. from the food industry. Direct-combustion furnaces are used to produce either direct heat or steam. Catalytic liquefaction Catalytic liquefaction has the potential to produce Co-firing higher-quality products of greater energy density than A modern practice is the co-firing of a fossil-fuel, usually are possible with other thermochemical processes. These coal, with a bioenergy feedstock. Co-firing has a number products should also require less processing to get them of advantages, especially for electricity production. It into marketable form. Catalytic liquefaction is a low- may be relatively cheap to modify existing fossil-fuel temperature, high-pressure thermochemical conversion equipment for co-firing, so this can be a cost-effective process carried out in the liquid phase. It requires either way to cut fuel bills or meet new emission targets. a catalyst or a high partial pressure of hydrogen. Techni- cal problems have so far limited the applications of this Thermochemical processes technology but the quality of the products justifies the Thermochemical processes do not necessarily produce expenses. Further R&D activities for optimal concepts of useful energy directly. Instead, they use controlled con- these conversion strategies must be applied ditions of temperature and oxygen level to convert the original bioenergy feedstock into more convenient Biochemical processes energy carriers such as producer gas, oil or methanol. The use of yeast to produce ethanol is an ancient art. Compared to the original biomass, these energy carriers However, in more recent times micro-organisms have either have higher energy densities – and lower transport become regarded as biochemical quot;factoriesquot; for treating costs – or more predictable and convenient combustion and converting most forms of human-generated organic
  • 21. Risø Energy Report 2 Emerging and future bioenergy technologies 21 5 waste. Microbial engineering has encouraged the use of fermentation technologies (aerobic and anaerobic) for the production of energy (biogas) and fertilisers, and for Ethanol fermentation Improvements in fermentation technology have made bioethanol economically competitive, as well as envi- removing unwanted products from water and waste ronmentally beneficial, as a petroleum substitute and streams. fuel enhancer. Bioethanol programmes exist in Brazil, Zimbabwe, and the USA. Anaerobic fermentation The commonest bioethanol feedstock in developing Anaerobic reactors are generally used to make methane- countries is sugar cane, due to its high productivity when rich biogas from manure (human and animal) and crop supplied with sufficient water. Where water availability residues. Anaerobic digesters of various types are widely is limited, sweet sorghum or cassava may be preferred. distributed throughout China and India. They are ideal Other feedstocks include saccharide-rich sugar beet and for rural areas because they improve sanitation as well as carbohydrate-rich potatoes, wheat and maize. Recent producing fuel and fertiliser. Large digesters are becom- advances in the use of cellulosic feedstock may allow ing useful in environmental protection applications bioethanol to be made competitively from woody agri- such as removing nitrates from water supplies. cultural residues and trees. Methane production in landfills Biodiesel Anaerobic digestion in landfills is brought about by the Vegetable oils have been used as fuel in diesel engines for microbial decomposition of the organic matter in refuse. over a century. Whilst it is feasible to run diesel engines Landfill gas is on average 60% methane and 40% carbon on raw vegetable oils, in general these oils must first be dioxide. Figure 5. Development in governmental R&D expenditures from 1974 to 1998. Figures are in millions of USD with a 2002 price level. Data down- loaded via: http://www.iea.org/stats/files/rd.htm Million USD (2002) 16000 1200 14000 1000 12000 800 10000 8000 600 6000 400 4000 200 2000 0 0 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 Left axis: s Total energy R&D s Total renewable energy Right axis: s Geothermal s Biomass s Ocean s Wind s Solar
  • 22. 22 Risø Energy Report 2 Emerging and future bioenergy technologies 5 Million USD (2002) 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 s Biomass energy R&D s Total energy R&D Figure 6 . Development in Danish governmental R&D expenditures from 1975 to 2002. Figures are in millions of USD with a 2002 price level. Data downloaded via: http://www.iea.org/stats/files/rd.htm. No figures available for 1988. chemically transformed so that they more closely resem- R&D indicators in biomass for energy ble petroleum-based diesel. Since emerging technologies, on the Wharton defini- The raw oil can be obtained from a variety of annual and tion, are closely related to science-based innovations, it perennial plant species. Perennials include oil palms, is logical to examine some traditional indicators of coconut palms, physica nut and Chinese tallow tree. research and development activity in biomass energy Annuals include sunflower, groundnut, soybean and technologies. rapeseed. Many of these plants can produce high yields It is well known that global government R&D spending of oil, with positive energy and carbon balances. on energy has decreased steadily since its peak at around As a rule, most of the emerging biomass technologies are the time of the second oil embargo in 1979. According to those now receiving R&D funding from government and the IEA, total expenditure on government energy R&D in other sources. Future technologies, on the other hand, IEA member countries fell by more than half during the depend strongly on interactions between current emerg- 1980s and 1990s, but with relatively large variations ing technologies and generic developments in biotech- between individual countries and between technologies. nology and IT. These interactions can only be reliably Biomass-related energy R&D has managed to increase its achieved by systematically steering biotech and IT share of government spending, in both relative and abso- research towards bioenergy subjects – a critical task on lute terms, in the last decade or so (Figure 5). The oppo- the research agenda for the next decade. We should also site is the case for Denmark where the biomass related mention the critical role that social and cultural aspects governmental R&D has decreased after a peak in early are expected to play in the future of this complex field. 1990’s (Figure 6). Breakthroughs in energy-related biotechnology do not have to stem from targeted energy research, of course. They can equally well be a consequence of generic research programmes.
  • 23. Risø Energy Report 2 Bioenergy technologies 23 6 Bioenergy technologies in global, European and Danish perspective The following chapter presents the status of R&D in overview is based on a qualitative quot;best estimationquot; – progress for selected bioenergy technologies. Selection is with the uncertainty this implies – on a time scale pre- based on evaluation of technologies characterized by a senting the phases of the technology from breakthrough larger research effort and a longer time scale. The pre- to commercial contribution. Each phase presents some sented technologies are assessed with respect to status, examples of the necessary steps to exploit the potentials trends and perspectives for the technology together with of the technology and move it to the next phase all the international R&D plans. way to commercial contribution. The last-mentioned Conclusions are drawn for each technology in the form phase indicates the point of time when the first units of of a simple, graphical overview for the technology. The the technology are for sale on a commercial basis.