Published Date
Palm Oil 2012, Pages625–652,doi:10.1016/B978-0-9818936-9-3.50024-1
Author
Anis Mokhtar
Kamarudin Hassan
Astimar Abdul Aziz
Choo Yuen May
Publisher Summary
Based on the research and development findings by Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and various agencies, oil palm biomass has a great potential as a raw material for producing products for the wood-based industry. The product quality showed that it is comparable with the products made from tropical wood. However, in the process line and parameters, it needs to be adjusted accordingly based on the oil palm biomass characteristic as compared with normal wood. One of the alternative raw materials for some of the products that have traditionally been made from wood is felled Oil Palm Stems (OPT), a sustainable non-wood source that is available in abundance at replanting operations. In spite of their availability, the commercial use of OPT to act as raw materials for the manufacture of plywood, sawn lumber, and fiber-based biocomposites has yet to reach the desired level. The commercial exploitation of oil palm trunks for a variety of products depends on a number of factors. These include a long security of sustainable supply, the economic system for handling them, and a reliable design of processing and manufacturing equipment to cater for their physical forms and sizes.
Published Date
Renewable Energy July 2017, Vol.107:36–41,doi:10.1016/j.renene.2017.01.037
Author
Syarilaida Zulkefli a
Emilia Abdulmalek a,b,,
Mohd. Basyaruddin Abdul Rahman a,b
aDepartment of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
bEnzyme and Microbial Technology Research, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Received 15 April 2016. Revised 6 January 2017. Accepted 19 January 2017. Available online 21 January 2017.
Highlights
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Utilization of deep eutectic solvent (DES) in pretreatment of biomass provides a safe process.
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Maximum dissolution (58%) of oil palm trunk (OPT) was achieved in DES of ethylammonium chloride: ethylene glycol (EAC:EG).
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EAC:EG pretreated OPT has reduced lignin and hemicellulose content with an increase in cellulose content and shown the best glucose production.
Abstract Deep eutectic solvents (DES) were utilised as pretreatment media on oil palm trunk (OPT) fibre in order to change the morphology of the highly crystalline cellulose prior to enzymatic hydrolysis. Among all the DESs tested, ethylammonium chloride: ethylene glycol (EAC:EG) was found to be the most efficient solvent for the pretreatment of OPT fibre. The pretreatment of OPT by EAC:EG had removed 42% lignin and 83% hemicellulose with the ability to dissolve the OPT biomass (58%) after heating at 100 °C for 48 h. FTIR analysis was used in determining the chemical characteristic changes where OPT treated in EAC:EG had more disruption of hydroxyl bond and indication of delignification compared to OPT treated with other DESs. Enzymatic hydrolysis was carried out on OPT treated in EAC:EG and the highest glucose production (74%) was achieved at 50 °C after 24 h with 15 mg/mL substrate concentration, 50 FPU/g of Celluclast 1.5 L and 100 CBU/ml of Novozyme 188. Keywords
Abstract: Hydrogen owing to its high energy content, zero emission of pollutants after combustion and easy availability of substrates for its production has been identified as a model alternative for conventional carbon based energy sources. Biological methods of hydrogen production such as fermentation reactions (dark and photo) or biophotolysis are although the most commonly studied methods, but they results in lower yield and rate. Electrohydrogenesis has been identified as an ideal technology for biohydrogen production which surpasses other biological methods with respect to production yield, rate and energy efficiency. The near complete oxidation of organic substrates and their conversion into biohydrogen ensures it to be an energy efficient and economic process for biohydrogen production. Nevertheless, a number of parameters that govern the process need to be optimized in order to achieve maximum process efficiency. The review briefly discusses the mechanism of hydrogen production in MECs, followed by a detailed review of the major MEC design and process related factors that have been studied and optimized to enhance the economics and energy efficiency of the hydrogen production by electrohydrogenesis.
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Abstract: As one of the most populous provinces in China, Sichuan is also the most important regions for ecology protection and rural poverty alleviation in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The rural energy industry of Sichuan Province has a national ecological and political significance for reducing excessive utilization for fossil fuels, protecting ecosystem, fostering equal development for urban-rural economy. However, this industry of Sichuan remains to be deteriorated by multiple risks. Hitherto, risk management research on rural energy industry is rather limited. Therefore, according to the fault tree analysis and catastrophe model, this study has implemented a complete and comprehensive risk management procedure on rural energy industry of Sichuan Province based on data of 31 provinces ranging from 2008 to 2012 in China. Based on the fault tree analysis for risk identification, four categories of risks have been revealed: financial risks, service networks risks, energy provision risks as well as enterprises risks. Furthermore, 13 risk indicators have been identified because they have imposed negative impacts upon rural energy industry in Sichuan to a large extent. The catastrophe model for risk evaluation has presented that the risk value of Sichuan rural energy industry (A) reaches the highest risk level. Simultaneously, financial risks (M1), energy provision risks (M3), enterprises risks (M4) have also been ranked as the highest risk grade. The result of risk response indicates that X9 (poor construction for wind energy provision projects), X13 (low output values for energy-saving stoves and kangs production enterprises), M4 (enterprises risks) have the priorities for risk response. This paper suggests that it is urgent and paramount to establish an exclusive risk supervising center which can integrate government ministries, financial agencies, universities and research institutions, non-government organizations via joint participation and interactive communication in risk identification, risk evaluation, risk response as well as risk supervising.
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Abstract: This paper applies a spatial autocorrelation method to empirical data about the Huaihe River and provides a reference for research concerning other rivers. It uses the method of spatial econometrics to determine the relationship between the existing “Cancer Villages” on the Huaihe River and the economic development and polluting emissions of nearby urban areas, using combined pollution frequency of BOD, COD, Ammonia and industrial wastewater as indices of pollution levels, through the establishment of spatial regression and cross section analysis models. The study aims to analyze cancer villages’ spillover effect on big cities and the importance of the different model parameters. Results show that the ordinary OLS (Ordinary Least Squares) goodness-of-fit is lower than the goodness-of-fit of the SAR (Spatial Auto-Regressive) model on average, further confirming the disadvantage of the OLS model, failing to consider the spatial correlations. Parameter estimation results show the change rate of GDP per capita size is 0.11%, 0.20%, 0.28%, and 0.22% when industrial wastewater emissions increase by 1% in Jiangsu Province, Anhui Province, Henan Province, and Shandong Province, respectively. This method could be used in future research works to highlight some facets of the relationship that are completely hidden in regional relationships and allow the investigator to raise questions about the origin and dynamics of cancer villages, an irreversible damage to the environment and society.
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Abstract: Measuring biofuel sustainability requires dealing with a wide variety of complex and conflicting values at stake. Consequently, the biofuel capacity to contribute to one specific value cannot lead to any absolute conclusion about the overall sustainability of biofuel. The scope of the sustainability concept may vary depending on individuals’ preferences, the time scale and the geographical region. Based on the 5 pillars sustainability concept that includes social, economic, environmental, legal and cultural considerations, the present study proposes to assess several biofuel sustainability options for France by 2030 through a stakeholder-driven approach. Rather than seeking to reach a consensus, our approach allows us to capture the wide diversity of stakeholders’ perspectives and preferences. French stakeholders perceive 22 different sustainability criteria for biofuels with a very low level of agreement between the different segments of professions (feedstock producers, biofuel producers, refining industry, fuel distributors, car manufacturers, end-users, government and NGOs). In order to operationalize the sustainability assessment, a set of indicators has been identified with stakeholders that allows us to measure the capacity of biofuels to fulfill each of their criteria. Seventeen biofuel options were assessed with regards to economic, social, environmental, cultural and legal considerations, allowing the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of each biofuel.
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Abstract: Thermal insulations have begun to play an increasing important role in realizing building energy saving in the past years. Thermal insulations made of biomasses like agro-residues, forest residues, etc., are developing very fast recently, although their research and development history is relatively short. In order to help researchers to achieve a global viewpoint of the research on this topic and to improve the research and application progress, a systematic review is presented in this study. After review and screening, 144 original research journal papers were selected as samples and analyzed to investigate the following topics: Historical development of bio-insulations from 1974 up to April 2016, from viewpoint of number of papers published and corresponding journals; Geo-graphical distribution of researchers, according to country and continent categories; Kinds of biomasses under research including agro-residues, forestry residues, economic plants, etc.; Analysis methodologies and research scale of bio-insulations; Common types, manufacturing methods and properties of bio-insulation; Experimental equipment, software, and corresponding standards. Moreover, the shortcomings of the current research are discussed in details. Finally, some suggestions are presented, including: a scientific plan on bio-insulation research; selection of suitable types; traditional and innovative treatments for improving specific properties; the required properties testing order; scientific presentation of research results. This study can help to achieve a more precise comprehension about bio-insulations research status, find suitable experimental equipment for effectively testing various properties, adopt innovative ways to improve specific properties, avoid making mistakes during the research and provide a better expression of the research results. Furthermore, this study can stimulate the research and application of bio-insulations to get a great-leap-forward development in the near future, especially in the fabricated building field.
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Abstract: Energy consumption is one of the main source of air pollution, greenhouse gas
emission, and global warming. Reducing household energy consumption is a key goal of policymakers. We develop statistical models using socio-economics and demographics, building characteristics, location, temperature, and energy prices to estimate household energy expenditure in the U.S. We use household energy expenditure for more than 560,000 households in the U.S. from 2010 to 2012. We first employ multivariate regression models to investigate and identify the impacts of the explanatory variables on household energy expenditure. Next, we use Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to convert correlated co-linear explanatory variables into orthogonal components and estimate household energy expenditure by principal component regression. We find newer attached buildings to be effective in decreasing household energy expenditure, particularly among educated people in metropolitan areas. With sufficient data availability, our model could be used by state, regional, or even city-level policymakers and planners to optimize their infrastructural investments.
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Abstract: Generation expansion planning consists of finding the optimal long-term plan for the construction of new generation capacity subject to various economic and technical constraints. It usually involves solving a large-scale, non-linear discrete and dynamic optimisation problem in a highly constrained and uncertain environment. Traditional approaches to capacity planning have focused on achieving a least-cost plan. During the last two decades however, new paradigms for expansion planning have emerged that are driven by environmental and political factors. This has resulted in the formulation of multi-criteria approaches that enable power system planners to simultaneously consider multiple and conflicting objectives in the decision-making process. More recently, the increasing integration of intermittent renewable energy sources in the grid to sustain power system decarbonisation and energy security has introduced new challenges. Such a transition spawns new dynamics pertaining to the variability and uncertainty of these generation resources in determining the best mix. In addition to ensuring adequacy of generation capacity, it is essential to consider the operational characteristics of the generation sources in the planning process. In this paper, we first review the evolution of generation expansion planning techniques in the face of more stringent environmental policies and growing uncertainty. More importantly, we highlight the emerging challenges presented by the intermittent nature of some renewable energy sources. In particular, we discuss the power supply adequacy and operational flexibility issues introduced by variable renewable sources as well as the attempts made to address them. Finally, we identify important future research directions.
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