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Recent Advances in Biofuels Production and Usage: Challenges and Solutions
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Recent Advances in Biofuels Production and Usage: Challenges and Solutions

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A4: Bio-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 1293

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Radu Mirea

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Romanian Research and Development Institute for Gas Turbines—COMOTI, 220D Iuliu Maniu Blvd., 061126 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: carbon-based materials; catalysts; biodiesel production; biofuels burning and gaseous emissions impact assessment
Dr. Grigore Cican

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 1-7 Polizu Street, 1, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: biofuel use; gaseous emissions measurements; sustainability; engines parameters assessment
Dr. Radu Kuncser

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Romanian Research and Development Institute for Gas Turbines—COMOTI, 220D Iuliu Maniu Blvd., 061126 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: organic waste to biofuels conversion; pyrolysis; biofuels characterization and testing; gaseous emissions impact assessment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The 21st century is dealing with some extraordinary challenges, namely, increased energy demands and consumption, decreased fuel reserves and climate changes. The latest report on fossil fuels contribution to the global energy consumed in 2021 declares the following contributions to energy consumed: 29% crude oil, 27% coal, and 24% natural gas. Thus, 80% of consumed energy was assured by means of fossil fuels. On the other hand, from the total of 20% ensured by renewable sources (RES), 10% was biomass.

Biofuels are liquid or gaseous transport fuels, such as biodiesel and bioethanol, made from biomass. They serve as a renewable alternative to fossil fuels in the transport sector, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the quality of life and security of supply. Liquid biofuels are of particular interest because of the vast infrastructure already in place to use them, especially for transportation. The liquid biofuel in greatest production is ethanol (ethyl alcohol). The second most common liquid biofuel is biodiesel, which is made primarily from oily plants (such as the soybean or oil palm) and to a lesser extent from other oily sources (such as waste cooking fat from restaurant deep-frying). Biodiesel, which has found greatest acceptance in Europe, is used in diesel engines and usually blended with petroleum diesel fuel in various percentages. The use of algae and cyanobacteria as a source of “third-generation” biodiesel holds promise but has been difficult to develop economically.

We are looking for contributions in the following areas:

  • Technologies: novel/emerging technologies for biofuels production including but not limited to thermochemical, biochemical and (photo)electrochemical conversion.
  • Tools/methods: multi-/interdisciplinary approaches are particularly welcome. Both computational modelling and experimental studies are welcome and should demonstrate a holistic assessment in terms of technical, economic and environmental dimensions. We also encourage research that demonstrates resource efficiency enhancement through process integration and intensification strategies. Studies based on purely experimental research without a holistic assessment are not within the scope of this Special Issue.
  • Sustainability analysis: techno-economic analysis, life cycle assessment (LCA) and any other assessments of the novel/emerging production technologies will be considered.
  • Case studies: local/regional/national/international case studies; small/large-scale systems; and policy recommendations are also welcome.

Dr. Radu Mirea
Dr. Grigore Cican
Dr. Radu Kuncser
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biofuels
  • production technology solutions
  • gaseous emission
  • biodiesel use
  • catalysts for biofuels production
  • biofuels burning assessment

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 2175 KiB  
Article
Experimental Investigation of Glycerol Derivatives and C1–C4 Alcohols as Gasoline Oxygenates
by André L. Olson, Martin Tunér and Sebastian Verhelst
Energies 2024, 17(7), 1701; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17071701 - 2 Apr 2024
Viewed by 424
Abstract
Certain oxygenated compounds, when blended with gasoline, have the ability to inhibit the occurrence and decrease the intensity of engine knock, helping improve engine efficiency. Although ethanol has had widespread use as an oxygenate, higher alcohols, such as butanol, exhibit superior properties in [...] Read more.
Certain oxygenated compounds, when blended with gasoline, have the ability to inhibit the occurrence and decrease the intensity of engine knock, helping improve engine efficiency. Although ethanol has had widespread use as an oxygenate, higher alcohols, such as butanol, exhibit superior properties in some respects. Besides alcohols, glycerol derivatives such as glycerol tert-butyl ether (GTBE), among others, also have the potential to be used as gasoline oxygenates. This work provides a direct comparison, performed on a modified Waukesha CFR engine, of C1–C4 alcohols and the glycerol derivatives GTBE, solketal, and triacetin, all blended with a gasoline surrogate in different concentrations. The tests focused on how these oxygenated compounds affected the knocking behavior of the fuel blends, since it directly impacts engine efficiency. The test matrices comprised spark-timing sweeps at two different compression ratios, at stoichiometric conditions and constant engine speed. The results showed that, in general, the C1–C4 alcohols and the glycerol derivatives were effective in decreasing knock intensity. n-Butanol and solketal were the noteworthy exceptions, due to their demonstrated inferior knock-inhibiting abilities. On the other hand, isopropanol, isobutanol, and GTBE performed particularly well, indicating their potential to be used as gasoline oxygenates for future engines, as alternatives to ethanol. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Biofuels Production and Usage: Challenges and Solutions)
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19 pages, 6922 KiB  
Article
Synthesis of Guanidine and Its Deposition on Bacterial Cellulose as Green Heterogeneous Catalyst for Transesterification to Methyl Esters
by Cristian Eugen Răducanu, Tănase Dobre, Dan Eduard Mihăiescu, Alina Moroşan, Roxana Jidveian, Doinița Roxana Cioroiu Tîrpan, Alexandru Dan Vasiliu, Cristina Ionela Gogoaşă, Oana Cristina Pârvulescu and Bogdan Trică
Energies 2024, 17(6), 1344; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17061344 - 11 Mar 2024
Viewed by 536
Abstract
Green catalysts used in the transesterification reaction of biodiesel must have biodegradability and non-toxicity as their main characteristics, being thus friendly to the environment, since they perform in processes in which the content of CO2, which is increasing from year to [...] Read more.
Green catalysts used in the transesterification reaction of biodiesel must have biodegradability and non-toxicity as their main characteristics, being thus friendly to the environment, since they perform in processes in which the content of CO2, which is increasing from year to year, should be reduced. As a consequence, their manufacture can be extremely rigorous. This work presents the two-step construction, synthesis, and deposition of such a green heterogeneous catalyst and its testing in the catalysis of the transesterification of triglycerides with methanol, resulting in methyl esters. A CSTR-type reactor was used to perform transesterification, and the biodiesel yields obtained had values in the range of 91.7–95.7%, using 2, 3, and 4 g/g catalyst to oil, under conditions like those for obtaining commercial biodiesel in homogeneous catalysis, i.e., a 65 °C process temperature and a 4:1, 5:1 or 6:1 methanol-to-oil molar ratio. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Biofuels Production and Usage: Challenges and Solutions)
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: On the Exploitation of Lignin Pyrolysis Oils
Authors: Guido Busca
Affiliation: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Chimica e Ambientale, Università di Genova, Via Opera Pia 15, 16145 Genova, Italy

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