and Aqua Enviro Limited builds upon research originally conducted by Stopford looking at using a mixture of digestates derived from anaerobic digestion and ash from burnt biomass as an alternative to existing crop fertilizers.
and provide additional income to biomass and anaerobic digestion operators. This could make these forms of renewable energy
and biomass energy plants to create a new safe and sustainable source of nutrients for agriculture.
Previous studies by Stopford Energy & Environment have shown that biomass-ash and digestate can be useful nutrient sources for crops in conditions low in nutrients.
It has long been known that biomass burning--burning forests to create agricultural lands burning savannah as a ritual slash
Atmospheres is based on a three-dimensional computer model simulation of the impacts of biomass burning. His findings indicate that burning biomass is playing a much bigger role in climate change
and human health issues than previously thought. We calculate that 5 to 10 percent of worldwide air pollution mortalities are due to biomass burning Jacobson said.
That means that it causes the premature deaths of about 250000 people each year. Carbon of course is associated with global warming.
or human-created carbon dioxide emissions excluding biomass burning now stand at more than 39 billion tons annually.
That incorporates everything associated with non-biomass-burning human activity from coal-fired power plants to automobile emissions from concrete factories to cattle feedlots.
--or about 18 percent of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions-comes from biomass burning. But Jacobson's research also demonstrates that it isn't just the CO2 from biomass burning that's the problem.
Black carbon and brown carbon maximize the thermal impacts of such fires. They essentially allow biomass burning to cause much more global warming per unit weight than other human-associated carbon sources.
Black and brown carbon particles increase atmospheric warming in three ways. First they enter the minuscule water droplets that form clouds.
Finally Jacobson said carbon particles released from burning biomass settle on snow and ice contributing to further warming.
and CO2 emissions generated by biomass combustion to derive a net effect. Jacobson said the sum of warming caused by all anthropogenic greenhouse gases--CO2 methane nitrous oxide chlorofluorocarbons
Of that net gain we've calculated that biomass burning accounts for about 0. 4 C. Jacobson's model also tracks the impact of the direct heat produced by combusting biomass.
The direct heat generated by burning biomass is significant and contributes to cloud evaporation by decreasing relative humidity Jacobson said.
We've determined that 7 percent of the total net warming caused by biomass burning--that is 7 percent of the 0. 4 C net warming gain--can be attributed to the direct heat caused by the fires.
Biomass burning also includes the combustion of agricultural and lumber waste for energy production. Such power generation often is promoted as a sustainable alternative to burning fossil fuels.
The bottom line is that biomass burning is neither clean nor climate-neutral he said. If you're serious about addressing global warming you have to deal with biomass burning as well.
Exposure to biomass burning particles is associated strongly with cardiovascular disease respiratory illness lung cancer asthma and low birth weights.
As the rate of biomass burning increases so do the impacts to human health. Story Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by Stanford School of engineering. The original article was written by Glen Martin. Note:
and biomass of the plant said Carlos Alberto Martinez project coordinator and first author of the study.
After cultivating the plants with these temperature differences for 30 days the researchers measured photosynthetic energy dissipation and conducted aboveground biochemical and biomass analyses.
and a 16%increase in aboveground biomass production compared with plants grown at normal temperature according to Martinez The increase in temperature during the period of the experiment was favorable for the development of the biochemical and biophysical processes involved in plant growth he stated.
According to Martinez some possible explanations for the increase in photosynthetic activity in addition to the leaf area index and biomass production from samples of Stylosanthes capitata that experienced temperature increases were the plant's thermal and photosynthetic acclimatization.
The researchers found that there was less partitioning of biomass to the leaves relative to the stem of plants cultivated under these conditions.
in the production of stems and a decrease in biomass in the leaves of the plant.
Using the extensive data set researchers are able to separate the response of ozone concentrations to the changes in human activity such as biomass burning from its response to natural forcing such as El Niã o. Studies like these that investigate how the composition
aboveground biomass (live plants) dead organic matter leaf litter (layer that contains a combination of fragments of leaves branches
and suggest that it is the chemistry of plant biomass added to soil rather than the total amount of biomass that has the greatest influence on the ability of soil to harbor stable carbon.
and lentils that have a higher proportion of nitrogen in its biomass can accelerate the storage of carbon in soils Tharayil said.
The idea behind what is being called the JBEI GT Collection is to provide a functional genomic resource for researchers seeking to extract the sugars in plant biomass
This is a major drawback for bioenergy research where the goal is to modify plant biomass for maximum fuel yields.
so they're actually promoting a higher biomass of high-quality habitat for livestock. So it's a win-win in the sense that you're creating a situation in
Outcomes also revealed that high irradiance levels resulted in the highest vegetative biomass and fruit production for all ratios.
The results showed that the highest biomass production (excluding fruit) occurred using the 19:1 ratio while higher fruit production was obtained using the 5: 1 ratio.
They also determined that an increase in red light increased biomass production and slightly lowered the amount of fruit production.
If we can convert this cheap easily available biomass into a high-quality homogeneous fuel that is easy to handle that would have major consequences in terms of the use of biofuel in Norway.
which biomass is heated under pressure. From one to thousands of units of energy This is all
One biomass unit of energy in results in thousands of units of energy out in the form of electricity produced by the solar cell during its lifetime.
so that it will contain as much as possible of the biomass's energy. It must be of a quality that is good enough to use as a reducing agent in the metal industry and as a fuel.
ARID could have wide uses Woli said. â#oearid has potential to predict various responses by a crop that are related water stress â such as grain yield total biomass produced pest
and biomaterials production and provide a stable year-round source of biomass that doesn't compete with food crops.
Approximately 80 percent of the woody biomass in a Eucalyptus is made of cellulose and hemicellulose both long chains of sugars with the remaining biomass primarily composed of lignin the tough glue that holds it all together.
A major challenge for achieving a sustainable energy future is our understanding of the molecular basis of superior growth
and adaptation in woody plants suitable for biomass production said Myburg. Our comparative analysis of the complex traits associated with the Eucalyptus genome
and other large perennials offers new opportunities for accelerating breeding cycles for sustainable biomass productivity and optimal wood quality noted Grattapaglia.
Our analysis provides a much more comprehensive understanding of the genetic control of carbon allocation towards cell wall biopolymers in woody plants--a crucial step toward the development of future biomass crops.
for the Department of energy their energy-rich cellulosic biomass makes them one of the principal candidate biomass energy crops.
and suggest that Eucalyptus may have followed an evolutionary path that highlighted specific genes for woody biomass production.
By analysing the young Perch that had been born that year scientists were able to determine that at least 34%of the fish biomass comes from vegetation increasing to 66%in areas surrounded by rich forest.
We found fish that had almost 70%of their biomass made from carbon that came from trees
#Current trends for forest biomass for energy in EUTHE EU aims to get 20%of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
Renewables include wind solar hydroelectric and tidal power as well as geothermal energy and biomass. These ambitious targets set in the Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC) have led to concerns about the levels of woody biomass from forests
which would need to be mobilized to meet them. Recently three NGOS--Birdlife Europe European Environment Bureau and Transport and Environment--contracted EFI along with the International Institute for Sustainability Analysis and Strategy (IINAS) and Joanneum Research to conduct a study
on current trends in forest biomass for energy in Europe carbon balance and the sustainable potential.
EFI presented two alternative mobilizations of forest biomass. The reference mobilization was based on a dynamic response to Renewable Energy Directive targets with increasing infrastructure and mechanization and stronger forest owner groups to 2020 and beyond.
This mobilization would see a potential availability of 880 million m3 of woody biomass by 2020.
The low mobilization assumed much stricter environmental constraints on forest biomass removal such as prohibition of stump removal no fertilizer use to replace nutrients lost
When compared with the reference this mobilization resulted in a 33%lower availability of total biomass from forests in 2020 to 583 million m3.
To place this in context approximately 470 million m3 of woody biomass was harvested from European forests in 2010.
The amount of forest-derived and woody biomass was estimated then that could be supplied sustainably for energy uses without compromising material uses of wood.
#Supply of woody biomass for energy from privately owned forests in Europe overestimatedthe European commission expects the use of biomass for energy in the EU to increase significantly to meet a legally binding target of at least 20%of the EU's total energy use
In response to the increased demand the EU member states have estimated the direct supply of biomass from their forests to increase by 45%on a volume basis between 2006 and 2020.
A new study led by Kristina Blennow from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) shows for the first time that European private forest owners are not as ready to increase the supply of woody biomass for energy as assumed.
The private forest owners'attitudes towards supplying biomass for energy so that the targets can be met
This study shows that the future supply of woody biomass for energy from privately owned forests in Europe
and the effectiveness of economic policy instruments to mobilise woody biomass from them have been overestimatedan international team of scientists from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences the European Forest Institute the Technical University of Lisbon (Portugal)
although the forest owners generally asserted strong belief in a persistent and strong demand for woody biomass for energy use their readiness to change the management objective to woody biomass for energy in forest stands currently managed for stemwood is low
This shows that the attitudes of those who make decisions at the local level strongly influence the supply of woody biomass for energy from the European forest sector.
or strongly positive attitude to convert to producing woody biomass for energy at a profit in forest stands currently managed for stemwood.
and strongly positive attitude towards making the change from stemwood to biomass for energy will indeed make the change
how strongly do forest owners believe in a persistent demand for woody biomass for energy how likely is it that forest owners continue to manage the forest for stemwood
The findings of the team of researchers have strong implications for meeting the forest biomass share of the legally binding 2020 target for renewable energy in the EU and for the design of effective renewable energy policy.
Livestock now represents the largest biomass among terrestrial vertebrates ahead of that of the human population and far ahead of that of wild animals.
or woody vines can reduce net forest biomass accumulation by nearly 20 percent Researchers called this estimate conservative in findings published this month in Ecology.
This paper represents the first experimental quantification of the effects of lianas on biomass said lead author Stefan Schnitzer a research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
In gaps created by fallen trees lianas were shown to reduce tree biomass accumulation by nearly 300 percent.
There is a net positive increment in biomass in Norway--it is growing faster than it is being consumed.
Aston University's experience in fast pyrolysis and biofuel production technologies for biomass and biofuel products will contribute considerably in making that goal a reality.
Straw from crops such as wheat barley oats and oilseed rape is seen as a potential source of biomass for second generation biofuel production.
which involves'pressure-cooking'the biomass to drive a number of chemical reactions. A rapid pressure-release then causes the material to be ripped open to further improve accessibility.
It may even be possible to improve the straw itself for example to reduce the uronic acid content in the biomass as suggested by these findings.
Study of these microbes may have unrealized potential for agriculture biomass digestion for bioenergy crops or other discovery research applications.
However Clay points out the amount of biomass--the stem and leaves--was not significantly different.
Trees are taller for a given diameter in Southeast asia compared with South america meaning they gain more biomass per unit of diameter growth
Aboveground wood production is the amount of biomass gained in the woody parts of a tree.
With growing global datasets collected using standardised methods further comparisons will be possible across the tropics to help elucidate the nature and causes of variation in plant biomass growth.
Sure enough the team reported in Ecology Letters that excluding predators for a single growing season rapidly led to a more than 100-percent increase in Sesarma herbivory a more than 60-percent decrease in aboveground cordgrass biomass a more than 95-percent
In northern marine areas the diversity and biomass of fish populations have increased. Water warming has altered also the distribution of large species of fish found in the open sea.
and biomass but we must ensure we have sufficient ecological ground data to correctly interpret
This improved understanding of plant growth and development in microgravity has important implications for improving plant growth and biomass production On earth.
whereas nutrient-rich forests can use that carbon to enhance biomass production. Until now scientific models to predict forest carbon sequestration on a global scale had considered only the amount of nitrogen in the soil
and so the plants produce less biomass says Obersteiner. Furthermore the study showed that nutrient-rich ecosystems also generally have more stable ground organic material
and become a source of biomass suitable for producing bioethanol. As Jon Veramendi head of the plant Agrobiotechnology research group explained tobacco plants as a source of biomass for producing bioethanol could be an alternative to traditional tobacco growing
which is in decline in the USA and in Europe because it cannot compete with emerging countries like China.
and the output is taken to the biomass processing factory. That way it is possible to obtain up to 160 tonnes of matter per hectare over the whole cycle.
And the amount of branching also influences how much biomass a plant has--of particular interest
because stems represent the bulk of the biomass that we can harvest for biofuels. Understanding the factors that influence branching in the pea plants used in this study may offer valuable insights to help optimize the growth of bioenergy grasses such as switchgrass
Amazonian grasses sometimes called macrophytes convert atmospheric carbon to plant biomass which is processed then by aquatic microorganisms upon decomposition.
The EU is planning to extend its specific sustainability criteria based on greenhouse gas emissions for biofuels to renewable energy produced from solid biomass.
Now that we've unlocked its genetic secrets loblolly pine will take on even greater importance as we look for new sources of biomass to drive our nation's bioeconomy
When there is more CO2 in the atmosphere the leaves of plants can capture more of it resulting in an overall increase in the biomass of the plant.
They showed a smaller effect for small invertebrates such as termites that also contribute to decomposition of plant biomass.
and the plant biomass Mousseau says. That would end up moving radio-cesium and other contaminants via smoke into populated areas.
and reduced plant biomass less recruitment of woody species and relatively fewer native species. And the deer's negative impact on seed banks resulted in significantly decreased overall species richness and relatively more short-lived species
The ORNL technology offers a new pathway to biomass-derived renewable fuels that can lower greenhouse gas emissions and decrease U s. reliance on foreign sources of oil.
Commercialization will lead to the widespread use of proprietary Vertimass technology for low cost production of sustainable transportation fuels for aircraft and heavy and light duty vehicles from multiple sources of biomass on a large scale.
and total amount of plants or biomass grown over time. They used this information to quantify species diversity and ecosystem stability.
which aims to use every element of a biomass. It can cope with extreme conditions from salt caves in the Antarctic to salt pans in the tropics.
and international institutions that will contribute to satisfy the demand of woody biomass and other financial needs of Ethiopian farmers.
Therefore it will contribute to satisfy the demand of woody biomass which is used for fuel and constructions.
When plants die some of their biomass is trapped in areas that are devoid of oxygen such as the bottom of lakes.
The team used a high-resolution data set of vegetation carbon stock (VCS) to map 16257 corridors through areas of the highest biomass between 5600 protected areas in the tropics.
Seedlings were assessed for number and biomass of cluster roots plant size and growth and foliar phosphorus levels.
Based on biomass and chemical analyses four dominant factors were identified: soil P soil N foliar P and seedling age.
The number of cluster roots was significantly higher in large seedlings yet biomass investment in cluster roots was greater for small seedlings.
#More to biofuel production than yieldwhen it comes to biofuels corn leads the all-important category of biomass yield.
Biomass yield is obviously a key goal but it appears to come at the expense of many other environmental benefits that society may desire from rural landscapes.
but with the exception of biomass yield all other services were greater in the perennial grass crops Landis said.
Reynier told CNN they had looked also at biomass and other renewable technologies for the business before opting for biogas.
And biomass, particularly wood pellets from the U s.,is needed critically to meet those targets. But this massive export opportunity for the U s. is being held up for a lack of infrastructure, policy incentives
Burgeoning demand At Infocast's Biomass Trade and Transport Summit in Charlotte, North carolina last week,
Sean Ebnet is the director of biomass origination for the UK utility Drax Power, whose 4, 000-megawatt coal-fired power plant generates about 7 percent of the UK's electricity.
and ultimately rely on biomass for the majority of its fuel. According to Jonathan Rager of Georgia-based Poyry Management Consulting, a 50 Mt gap will open between global supply and demand for pellets by 2020.
which is expected to grow to 10 Mt in 2017, according to Seth Walker, an economist with global biomass information provider RISI.
The new process could turn agricultural waste and biomass into biofuel, which would cut down the cost of transporting the biomass back to a central refinery.
By using a method called fast-hydropyrolysis-hydrodeoxygenation, hydrogen is added to the mobile biomass-processing reactor.
Once the biomass and hydrogen go into this high-pressure reactor, it only takes seconds until it gets as hot as 900 degrees Fahrenheit.
The hydrogen and catalysts turn the biomass into a liquid fuel on the mobile platform.
It will sort of work like a garbage truck where it takes the trash from your house and transports it to a landfill.
But in this case, the mobile unit would turn the biomass into liquid biofuel before transporting it back to the main processing facility.
The researchers anticipate that it will be much cheaper to transport liquid biofuel than biomass in bulk.
Furthermore, what's important is that you can process all kinds of available biomass--wood chips, switch grass, corn stover, rice husks, wheat straw ââ Â,
Diversifying the source of biomass is a good thing considering that more than 1 billion tons of biomass is available annually.
But for now, this patented idea will have to prove itself in the laboratory before it ever makes its way into the market.
Virent has made fuels and chemicals from sugars in cellulosic biomass before. But this project used Virdia's sugars generated from pine trees,
and established a viable route to drop in hydrocarbons from biomass. Virdia uses acid hydrolysis to convert cellulose found in biomass into fermentable sugars and lignin,
a process the company says is more effective and cheaper than extracting sugar from corn or sugarcane.
If we grow more biomass how do we ensure those plants are not susceptible to diseases?
We have collaborations with the Doe in our challenge of producing an appropriate biomass that can be converted to biofuels.
A number of years ago we started looking pretty seriously at biomass. We need a lot of energy
Which is turned why you to biomass specialist  Envergent. DC: Envergent was really putting the finishing touches on the development side of bringing this forward.
The size of the original plant that we had looked at for the traditional biomass approach...
and just switched it around for biomass. We established the joint venture in November of 2008.
You create a densified power source out of biomass, which is 50 percent water. You take that and densify it into a liquid with lower moisture content and higher density,
This is a great example of how the latest biomass technology can be used to solve a messy problem.
So we're using cellulosic biomass waste streams--corn cobs, treetops and limbs, dead pine trees from pine beetles.
the plants absorb the gas during photosynthesis. Biomass will be utilized in the future, Lynn noted. The underlying building receives the added benefit of a 20 percent energy cost reduction,
this biomass even if just the woody scraps on the forest floor is the wrong way to go.
Harvesting the biomass for just fire prevention would result in a 2 percent increase. Lead author Tara Hudiburg of Oregon State university says in a statement:
however, the biomass could still be better than burning fossil fuels. In the study, bioenergy production did result in fewer emissions in one scenario:
The remaining amount includes 1 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel fuel and four billion gallons of advanced renewable biofuels other than ethanol from cornstarch and that achieve a lifecycle threshold of at least 50 percent.
The NRC expects the U s. to meet conventional biofuel and biomass-based diesel fuel production mandates.
Not a single commercially viable biorefinery exists for converting cellulosic biomass to fuel, the NRC said.
because the process of breaking down plant biomass and converting it into fermentable sugars so it can be refined into fuel is too expensive to be commercially viable.
and increasing the conversion yield from biomass to fuels--something that's already happening, albeit more at a more limited scale than is perhaps necessary.
We produce it using specially-designed proprietary kilns that quickly heat biomass up to very high temperatures with no oxygen.
It is targeted primarily for operations with a lot of biomass in a small area so forestry operations or large farms, for instance.
With the help of corresponding ground data, they calculated the amount of aboveground biomass and thus
bamboo has provided biomass fuel at power plants in the Philippines. Don't worry graphene. As far as I know,
because the process of breaking down plant biomass and converting it into fermentable sugars so it can be refined into fuel is too expensive to be commercially viable.
The Energy department has several research projects aimed at finding heat tolerant enzymes from fungi and microbes such as cellulases that break down plant cell walls and convert biomass into fermentable sugars.
and biomass burning--tropical forest fires, deforestation, prairie fires and so forth--emits smoke that blocks solar radiation. That's not to say smoke
Not a single commercially viable biorefinery exists for converting cellulosic biomass to fuel, the NRC said.
RTI International received a $1. 3 million grant to fund the development of a self-contained toulet system disinfects liquid waste and turns solid waste into fuel or electricity through a biomass energy
The so-called Cellic CTEC3 enzyme--like other enzymes on the market--is used to break down biomass pulp--from corn husks
Novozymes says its new enzyme has a better biomass-to-ethanol conversion rate and biofuel producers need only one-fifth of the enzyme dose compared to its competitors,
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