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Thermal Processing of Biomass and Solid Waste for Energy Production

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Dear Colleagues,

The increasing demand for energy, as well as the increased price and reduced availability of conventional fuels, has resulted in a search for new energy sources and carriers. Source of readily available energy with good potential are biomass and solid waste. Additionally, conventional combustion is often not the optimal solution for converting the chemical energy of fuels into heat, so the thermal processes of fuel treatment are worth researching.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to collect papers on the thermal processes to which biomass and waste are subjected, with works focusing on processes carried out for energy purposes. Topics of interest include processes such as torrefaction, pyrolysis, gasification, and combustion, and papers may discuss thermochemical conversion processes for both the production of secondary fuels and direct energy production. Areas of interest include the production and combustion of producer gas, the production of liquid fuels in the pyrolysis process, the production of gaseous fuels, and chars as alternatives to coal.

Dr. Paweł Kazimierski
Prof. Dr. Dariusz Kardaś
Dr. Katarzyna Januszewicz
Dr. Paulina Kosmela
Dr. Jacek Kluska
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25 pages, 3381 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Application of Leather Waste Fractions and Their Biochars as Organic Fertilisers for Ryegrass Growth: Agri-Environmental Aspects and Plants Response Modelling

by Ksawery Kuligowski, Adam Cenian, Izabela Konkol, Lesław Świerczek, Katarzyna Chojnacka, Grzegorz Izydorczyk, Dawid Skrzypczak and Paulina Bandrów

Energies 2023, 16(9), 3883; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16093883 - 4 May 2023

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3063

Abstract

The automotive upholstery industry, which processes bovine leathers, has struggled with vast amounts of solid waste, of which the majority are fractions, such as shavings and splits and offcuts, both containing chromium (Cr) and free of Cr. In this work, a novel leather waste-to-fertiliser approach has been tested: four lightly processed (incubation with effective microorganisms) and three aggressively processed (using pyrolysis or hydrolysis processes) tanned leather waste fractions were used. They were applied as organic nitrogen-based fertilisers in two separate glasshouse experiments, consisting of four subsequent harvests, under spring–autumn conditions in northern Poland. The Cr stressing effect caused by bovine shavings containing Cr and splits and offcuts containing Cr stimulated an increase in ryegrass growth after 30 days, providing twice the dry matter yield than bovine shavings free of Cr and splits and offcuts free of Cr, then (after 90 and 120 days) it inhibited growth. The Monod kinetics model was developed using the best fitting procedure (R² > 0.94) for the efficiency of internal N use in ryegrass for the lightly processed fractions of tanned leather-waste fractions and each harvest. In the case of the processed leather waste-fractions, the relation was quasi linear, evidencing less growth inhibition and no over-fertilisation effects. The acid hydrolysate of bovine shavings containing Cr showed the best performance, reaching a relative agronomic effectiveness (RAE, N utilization-based) equal to 89%, 95%, 19%, and 38% for 30, 60, 90, and 120 days, respectively, and 71% in total. For the lightly processed fractions, it was lower than 12%. The future perspective should focus on steps including scaling up the tests to field conditions; transportation, storage, and application methods; effectiveness for other crops; usage in crop rotation systems; environmental impact assessment; production carbon footprint; commercial potential; and optimizing the production processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal Processing of Biomass and Solid Waste for Energy Production)

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