Bioenergy

Worldwide significant amounts of food waste are generated daily causing serious environmental issues, occupying land and requiring expenditure of resources for its treatment. A smart method for handling this food waste problem is the development of novel processes targeting the conversion of this waste into value added products. Although valorization of food waste to biofuels, biochemicals and bio-polymers have been widely investigated, the utilization of food waste streams into biofertiliser has not been intensively reviewed. Conversion of food waste, especially agriculture residues into biofertiliser would reduce its environmental impact, improve nutrition levels of the soil, decrease requirements for synthetic chemical fertiliser and have a direct benefit on food production. This paper reviews recent progress in the field regarding the production of biofertiliser from food waste, using anaerobic digestion, aerobic composting, chemical hydrolysis, in situ degradation and direct burning methods. This review also highlights the latest field applications of biofertiliser derived from various food waste streams. It confirms that the technology for the conversion of food waste to biofertilisers is viable, but the production efficiency could be improved with better process control strategies, strict quality controls, development of a smart product distribution system and adoption of advanced technologies. Field tests have indicated that biofertilisers which are obtained in proper managed AD plants are safe and could partially replace the use of chemical fertilisers in field application.

http://www.orgonelab.org/cart/xdemeo.htm#ORACBOOK
In the 1940s, the physician and natural scientist Dr. Wilhelm Reich claimed discovery of a new form of energy which charged up living organisms and also existed in the open atmosphere and in high vacuum. Reich's laboratory and clinical findings indicated this new energy, which he called the orgone, could be photographed and measured, and had powerful life-positive biological effects. Reich trained other scientists and physicians in his findings, and together they set about applying the inexpensive orgone treatment methods - using a device called the orgone energy accumulator - against various illness, including cancer, with remarkably good results. His published findings shocked the scientific world of his day, however, ultimately leading to numerous smear articles in the popular press, and trumped-up charges by a power-drunk Food and Drug Administration. The FDA & "investigation" lead to a court trial of much greater significance than the better-known "Scopes Monkey Trial". Ignoring Reich's evidence and declaring "the orgone energy does not exist", US Courts ordered all books on the orgone subject to be literally banned and burned. Reich was thrown into prison, where he died. His work was nearly forgotten except by a small group of supporters. In this book, former university professor Dr. James DeMeo examines Reich's evidence and reports on his own observations and laboratory experiments, which have repeatedly confirmed the reality of the orgone phenomenon. Dr. DeMeo also recounts the observations and experiments of others, particularly physicians working in private European clinics where open use of Reich's controversial orgone energy accumulator proceeds today. This Handbook gives a warning about low-level atomic and electromagnetic radiations, as from nuclear power plants, power-line fields and cell-phones, along with advice on measurement and protection against such toxic energy. The book also gives a discussion on the subject of healing waters from natural hot springs, a form of energy medicine which once was widely used in North America before the rise of the authoritarian MD-hospital system and the powerful federal bureaucracy of the FDA. Dr. DeMeo also gives detailed construction plans for people to build their own orgone energy blankets and accumulators, which are inexpensive and simple to construct, though requiring specific direction as to their materials and environments. This is the Third Revised and Expanded 2010 Edition of the Orgone Accumulator Handbook, nearly 100 pages larger than prior editions and carrying a Foreword by Dr. Eva Reich (the daughter of Dr. Wilhelm Reich), along with many photos, diagrams and charts. It retains all the original construction plans, updated to address new issues about the best materials for orgone accumulator and blanket construction. Two Appendix documents are also included, one which summarizes a double-blind and controlled clinical experiment proving the physiological effects of the orgone accumulator on volunteer subjects in a German university, and another which details the similarities of Reich's orgone energy to the cosmic ether and "dark matter" of modern physics. This new edition also includes a section providing New Evidence on the Persecution of Reich, along with a bibliography, index and many weblinks for added information. It has many new photos and materials extracted from Dr. DeMeo's publications verifying the reality of the orgone energy, and is a must-have for all those interested in the issue of life-energy, subtle-energy or energy-medicine research. This is an excellent introduction to a major scientific discovery, organized for the educated layperson but with sufficient detail and citations to stimulate the curiosity of the open-minded physician and scientist.

This narrative describes the deeper root of bio-viral weaponization and consciousness warfare in distant human history with the negative aliens. It is explicated that this form of nefarious strive to create genetic mutation and consciousness-bioenergetic reversal goes as far back as humanity was first thriving as a 12D crystalline solar organic consciousness being in the Nebadon Universe, which most likely goes back as far back as 550 million years ago, and only 10 million years after its embodiment to experience physical experiential sojourns within the first 9 dimensions of this universe. In fact, the main problem started after the Lyran Wars, when the negative aliens having constructed a black hole system through making rips in the space-time and joining the resulting wormholes to one another, later began to engage in wars culminating in blowing up the 12 th universal stargate that was Lyra. Beyond, this, with the failure of the Metatronic Collective to attempt to put the pieces of the Lyran grid back together after having fallen into the Milky Way Galaxy and in pursuit of repairing the stargate system and the universal 12D grid and its timeline structure, it led to the advent of 'Metatronic Reversal' through a 'Fibonacci form of consciousness progression sequence' and the advent of the 'Yahweh matrix,' and what is referred to as the 'Caduceus Network,' whose symbol our medical industry today ignorantly boasts to display as its plaque representing healthcare and medicine. Thus, as they say, "the rabbit hole is much deeper as it seems," as the parasitic negative aliens have constantly used these technologies to invade our Lightbody and nadial system, not to only consistently siphon our precious divine energies to feed themselves and their nefarious AI machinery, but to inflict 'death seals' upon humanity, culminating in humanity undergoing a series of futile cycles of birth and physical death through repetitive reincarnations, confining us within a timeline loop that has been seemingly endless. And, the advent of this current, purportedly pandemic bio-viral infection referred to as the "Coronavirus," epitomizes yet another one of their ploys in bio-viral weaponization and warfare, with the delusional intent to, once for all, make a fully docile race out of humans as automatons subjecting us to their AI machinery or whims, through what is now to be followed by a transhumanistic-hybridization movement, using electromagnetic energies and radiation poisoning together with the aid of nanotechnology, devising yet another retrovirus against us. However, the time of their atrocities and crimes committed against humanity and its consciousness is now over, with the advent of a group of benevolent extradimensional and transdimensional and much higher frequential consciousness beings helping us to finally collect up our fragmented soul pieces in order to be restored to our original 12D DNA strand crystalline genetics, that we refer to as full Ascension.

Crop residues are common in rural Ghana due to the predominant role agriculture plays in livelihood activities in these communities. In this paper we investigate the prospects of exploiting agricultural crop residues for rural development in Ghana through bioenergy schemes. A theoretical energy potential of 623.84 PJ per year, which is equivalent to 19,781 MW was estimated using crop production data from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and residue-to-product ratios. Ghana has a total installed generation capacity of 4577 MW which is four times less the energy potential of crop residues in the country. Cocoa pod husks were identified as important biomass resources for energy generation as they are currently wasted. To further assess the energy potential of cocoa pod husks, different cocoa pod husks samples were collected across the six cocoa growing regions in Ghana and thermo-chemically characterised using proximate and ultimate analysis. The low levels of nitrogen and sulphur observed, together with the high heating value, suggest that cocoa pod husks and for that matter crop residues are eco-friendly feedstock that can be used to power rural communities in Ghana.

The present study deals with the biohydrogen production from starch-containing wastewater collected from the textile industry in Taiwan. The effects of inoculums collected from different sources (sewage sludge, soil and cow dung), substrate concentrations (5–25 g COD/L) and pH (4.0–8.0) on hydrogen production from wastewater were investigated.The cow dung seed had the highest hydrogen production of 101 mL with hydrogen content in biogas of 32.2%. It corresponds to a hydrogen yield (HY) of 1.56 mol H2/mol hexose and hydrogen production rate (HPR) of 0.93 L/L/d. Response surface methodology was used to evaluate the effects of initial cultivation pH (4.0–8.0) and substrate concentration (5–25 g COD/L) on the hydrogen production at 35 °C. At pH 7.0 with a wastewater concentration of 20 g COD/L, a maximum hydrogen production of 66 mL with 31.9% H2 and corresponding to an HY of 0.97 mol H2/mol hexose and an HPR of 1.14 L/L/d were obtained. According to the response surface analysis, the optimal conditions for high HPR were a wastewater concentration of 13 g COD/L at an initial cultivation pH of 7.0. The main soluble metabolic products were acetate and butyrate for hydrogen fermentation from textile wastewater.► The textile wastewater containing starch is a potential energy resource for anaerobic hydrogen fermentation. ► The optimum initial cultivation pH for H2production was 7.0. ► The optimum wastewater concentration for H2 production was 13 g COD/L. ► The main soluble metabolic products were acetate and butyrate.

Ideal bacterial support medium for fixed film denitrification processes/bioreactors must be inexpensive, durable and possess large surface area with sufficient porosity. The present study has been focussed on removing nitrate nitrogen at two different nitrate nitrogen loading rates (60 (NLR I) and 120 (NLR II) mg l-1) from simulated aquaculture wastewater. Coconut coir fibre and a commercially available synthetic reticulated plastic media (Fujino Spirals) were used as packing medium in two independent upflow anaerobic packed bed column reactors. Removal of nitrate nitrogen was studied in correlation with other nutrients (COD, TKN, dissolved orthophosphate). Maximum removal of 97% at NLR-I and 99% at NLR – II of nitrate nitrogen was observed in with either media. Greater consistency in the case of COD removal of upto 81% was observed at NLR II where coconut coir was used as support medium compared to 72% COD removal by Fujino Spirals. The results observed indicate that the organic support medium is just as efficient in nitrate nitrogen removal as conventionally used synthetic support medium. The study is important as it specifically focuses on denitrification of aquaculture wastewater using cheaper organic support medium in anoxic bioreactors for the removal of nitrate nitrogen; which is seldom addressed as a significant problem.

In Europe, the establishment of short rotation coppice (SRC) systems for biomass production has been expanding in the last decades. Several studies have considered the impacts of SRC on soil properties; many have focused on studying its effect on biochemical properties while only a few have addressed physical and hydraulic properties. This study reports the assessment of soil physical and hydraulic properties on two SRC sites on sandy soils planted with 3-year-old poplar trees and an adjacent conventional agricultural field in Western Slovakia. All sites contain a comparable sandy loam soil texture and both SRC fields differed only in the groundwater accessibility. Water infiltration experiments were conducted in the field with subsequent sampling of the upper topsoil (0–5 cm depth). The samples were further processed in the laboratory to obtain the water retention and hydraulic conductivity functions of the soil covering a wide range of soil pore saturation. These hydraulic functio...

Biomass from palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) is considered as potential renewable energy sources to be developed in Indonesia. Palm EFB can be efficiently converted into valuable and useful methanol products through gasification. Research about methanol synthesis from various biomass has been done. However, Little research about methanol production based on palm empty fruit bunch gasification has been found, and no research yet on technoeconomic analysis of methanol plant construction based on palm empty fruit bunch gasification. The purpose of this research is to find early-stage feasibility of small-scale methanol plant model based on gasification of palm EFB. Method methanol plant design, investment cost estimation, operating cost estimation, and calculation to estimate profitability in terms of economic feasibility parameters. Economic analysis calculated that the total investment to build a methanol plant in this study was USD 87 508 479 with manufacturing cost per annum USD 6 127 014. Net Present Value (NPV) calculated was USD-51 721 064 and IRR at 1.1 %. Based on NPV and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) value, the construction of methanol plant is not feasible. Feasibility predicted to be obtained when the capacity of the plant increased fivefold.

The process of bioethanol production from non-edible of plant biomass (bagasse, corn stover and switchgrass) has been studied. This process included pretreatment of the initial biomass (IB) with dilute acid, enzymatic saccharification, conversion of fermentable sugar into ethanol and distillation of the hydrated alcohol. It was shown that about 20% of IB only are spent for production of bioethanol, while about of 55% of IB remained as solid residues. The calorimetric measurements and calculations revealed that the residues have energetic potential of 20 MJ/kg. Thus, burning of all amounts of the accumulated residues yields about 3.2 MWh of energy for $320. As it follows from economic calculations, the income from utilization of solid residues for energy generation covers the main part of total expenses, which reduces the final production price of bioethanol to $1.2 per gal. As a result, the production of fuel ethanol from non-food plant biomass can be competitive. Furthermore, utilization of the solid waste decreases expenses of their transportation and landfilling.

Background Pretreatment is a critical step in the conversion of lignocellulose to fermentable sugars. Although many pretreatment processes are currently under investigation, none of them are entirely satisfactory in regard to effectiveness, cost, or environmental impact. The use of hydrogen peroxide at pH 11.5 (alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP)) was shown by Gould and coworkers to be an effective pretreatment of grass stovers and other plant materials in the context of animal nutrition and ethanol production. Our earlier experiments indicated that AHP performed well when compared against two other alkaline pretreatments. Here, we explored several key parameters to test the potential of AHP for further improvement relevant to lignocellulosic ethanol production. Results The effects of biomass loading, hydrogen peroxide loading, residence time, and pH control were tested in combination with subsequent digestion with a commercial enzyme preparation, optimized mixtures of four commercial ...

This paper addresses the agroenergy as a response to the self-confrontation with development and modernity side effects, in a risk society context. Brazil stands out in this scenario with a consolidated production of ethanol, and a recent program that encourages the biodiesel production. We argue, however, that such forms of production do not generate, necessarily, positive effects on rural development, neither socio-economically, neither environmentally. Nevertheless, agrofuel production experiences arise, headed by family farmers, which can be considered as a self-confrontation to side effects of the traditional Brazilian agroenergy model, based on large and modern monocultures. Through two initiatives in Rio Grande do Sul, we demonstrate how the family farmers make agrofuels in an integrated way with food, strengthening their agency capacity in promoting and driving rural development processes more sustainable. Thus, agroenergy arises as an alternative to diversify the family far...

The use of macroalgae (seaweed) as a potential source of biofuels has attracted considerable worldwide interest. Since brown algae, especially the giant kelp, grow very rapidly and contain considerable amounts of polysaccharides, coupled with low lignin content, they represent attractive candidates for bioconversion to ethanol through yeast fermentation processes. In the current study, powdered dried seaweeds (Ascophylum nodosum and Laminaria digitata) were pre-treated with dilute sulphuric acid and hydrolysed with commercially available enzymes to liberate fermentable sugars. Higher sugar concentrations were obtained from L. digitata compared with A. nodosum with glucose and rhamnose being the predominant sugars, respectively, liberated from these seaweeds. Fermentation of the resultant seaweed sugars was performed using two non-conventional yeast strains: Scheffersomyces (Pichia) stipitis and Kluyveromyces marxianus based on their abilities to utilise a wide range of sugars. Altho...

Abstract: Worldwide increasing bioenergy production is on the political agenda. It is well known that bioenergy production comes at a cost – several trade-offs with food production, water quality and quantity issues, biodiversity and ecosystem services are known but a quantification of these trade-offs is missing. Hence, we show in this study an analysis of trade-offs between bioenergy production, food production, water quality and water quantity aspects in the Parthe catchment in Central Germany. The analysis is based on using SWAT and a multi-objective genetic algorithm (NSGA II). The genetic algorithm is used to find Pareto-optimal configurations of crop rotation schemes. The Pareto-optimality describes solutions in which an objective cannot be improved without decreasing other objectives. This allows us to quantify the costs at which several levels of increase in bioenergy production come and to derive recommendations for policy makers.

Wood-based biochars were used as microbial fuel cell electrodes to significantly reduce cost and carbon
footprint. The biochar was made using forestry residue (BCc) and compressed milling residue (BCp). Sideby-
side comparison show the specific area of BCp (469.9 m2 g1) and BCc (428.6 cm2 g1) is lower than
granular activated carbon (GAC) (1247.8 m2 g1) but higher than graphite granule (GG) (0.44 m2 g1).
Both biochars showed power outputs of 532 ± 18 mWm2 (BCp) and 457 ± 20 mWm2 (BCc), comparable
with GAC (674 ± 10 mWm2) and GG (566 ± 5mW m2). However, lower material expenses made
their power output cost 17–35 US$W1, 90% cheaper than GAC (402 US$W1) or GG (392 US$W1).
Biochar from waste also reduced the energy and carbon footprint associated with electrode manufacturing
and the disposal of which could have additional agronomic benefits.