Recent Advances in Bioenergy Research Volume I

i
Recent Advances in Bioenergy Research

Volume I

Edited by
SACHIN KUMAR, ANIL K. SARMA
Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy, Kapurthala, India

ii

ISBN 978-81-927097-0-3
Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy, Kapurthala-2013
Electronic version published by SSS-NIRE
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
iii

CONTENTS
Preface ix
Contributors xi
Part-I: Biomass Assessment and Management for Energy Purpose 1
1 Characteristics of Biomass 2
A.K. Jain
1.1 Introduction 2
1.2 Physical Properties 3
1.3 Thermal Characteristics 6
1.4 Chemical Analysis 14
1.5 Correlation Models 17
1.6 Conclusions 19
References 19
2 Global warming: A new paradigm for Bio-Energy Research 21
S.K. Sharma
2.1 Introduction 21
2.2 New Research opportunities in Bio Energy 22
2.3 Conclusions 26
References 26
3 Biomass Assessment for Growth of Bioenergy: 28
A Case Study in Assam, India
D.C. Baruah, Moonmoon Hiloidhari
Abstract 28
3.1 Introduction 28
3.2 Materials and methods 31
3.3 Results and discussions 36
3.4 Conclusion 41
References 42
4 Bio Mass Fuel Generation- An Ultimate Energy Resource 44
Ajeet Kumar Upadhyay
Abstract 44
4.1 Introduction 44
4.2 Bio fuels from biomass 46
4.3 Bio ethanol from biomass 48
4.4 Biodiesel from biomass 48
4.5 Methane generation from microbial action 49
4.6 Hydrogen from biomass 50
4.7 Conclusions 51
References 51

iv

Part-II: Thermo-chemical Conversion 52
5 Modeling of Biomass Gasification Processes in Downdraft Gasifiers: 53
A Review
Anjireddy Bhavanam, R.C. Sastry
Abstract 53
5.1 Introduction 53
5.2 Downdraft Gasifiers 55
5.3 Gasification Models 57
5.4 Model Validation 63
5.5 Conclusions 63
References 65
6 Prospect of Bioenergy Substitution in Tea Industries of 67
North East India
B.J. Dutta, D. Baruah, M. Saikia, R. Bhowmik, D.C. Baruah
Abstract 67
6.1 Introduction 67
6.2 Materials and Method 69
6.3 Results and Discussion 73
6.4 Conclusions 76
References 77
7 Drying Of Biomass Fuel Used For Gasifier Using Waste Heat 79
R. Soni, A.K. Jain, B.S. Panesar, P.K. Gupta
7.1 Introduction 79
7.2 Methodology 80
7.4 Conclusions 86
References 87
8 Improved Woodstove Tehtana Experience 89
Usha Bajpai, Suresh C. Bajpai
Abstract 89
8.1 Introduction 90
8.2 Energy, Health and Global Warming 90
8.3 The Indian National Programme on Improved Chulhas 96
8.4 Improved Woodstove at Tehtana 97
8.5 Conclusions 102
References 103
9 Development of a Briquetting Machine for Jatropha Seed Cake 105
H. Raheman, B. Singh, T. Alam, D. Padhee
Abstract 105
9.1 Introduction 105
9.4 Conclusions 113
v

References 113
10 Charcoal Activation at Low Temperature 115
A.P. Singh Chouhan, S.P. Singh
Abstract 115
10.4 Conclusions 125
References 126
Part-III: Biogas & Biohydrogen 128
11 MNRE Policy on Biogas Programme 129
M.L. Bamboriya
11.2 Biogas Programme 129
12 Biogas Plant a Check for Environment Pollution 143
and Global Warming
Sarbjit Singh Sooch
Abstract 143
References 149
13 Todays Waste Tomarrows Fuel: 151
Hyderabad to Get 50MW from Garbage (MSW)
K.K. Jain, J. Praveen
Abstract 151
13.2 RDF Fuel Conversion from MSW 153
(Segregated high CV fraction of MSW)
13.3 Testing Results of RDF 153
13.4 Monitoring Report of 6.6 MW Plant 153
13.5 Emission Characteristics of RDF 154
13.6 Details of 6.6 MW Power Plant 154
13.7 RDF from processed MSW 154
13.8 Case Study of Biogas from Slaughter House Waste to Energy 155
References 157
14 Municipal Solid Waste to Energy: 158
Experimental Studies on Biogas Plant
Usha Bajpai, Puja Singh
Abstract 158
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14.2 Materials and Methods of Experimental Studies 164
References 169
15 Poultry Litter as an Alternate Feed Stock to Cattle Dung for 170
Biogas Production and Power Generation
Sarabjit Singh Sooch, Urmila Gupta, Anand Gautam
Abstract 170
15.2 Methodology 172
15.4 Conclusion 173
16 CFD Modelling of an UASB Reactor for Biogas Production from 176
Industrial Waste/Domestic Sewage
Partha Kundu, I.M. Mishra
Abstract 176
16.2 Methods 179
References 191
17 Algal Bio-Hydrogen- Prospects and Challenges 194
Shailendra Kumar Singh, M.K. Jha, Ajay Bansal, Apurba dey
Abstract 194
17.2 Physiology of H
2
production in green algae 196
17.3 Challenges and prospects 197
17.4 Design and cost of photobioreactors 202
References 204
Part-IV: Production Aspects of Biodiesel 207
18 Jatropha (Jatropha Curcas) L. Plantations and Climate Change 208
Avtar Singh
Abstract 208
18.2 Status of jatropha plantations in the world 209
and future potential for expansion
18.3 Soil for Jatropha cultivation 209
18.4 Genetic improvement in Jatropha 210
18.5 Tissue culture in Jatropha curcas 210
18.6 Seedling production in nursery 211
18.7 Plantation establishment 212
18.8 Plant protection 215
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18.9 Plant responses to climate change 215
18.10 Effect of Jatropha on climate change 217
References 218
19 Biodiesel Production from Algal Species Grown on Dairy Wastewater 221
Richa Kothari, Vinayak V. Pathak, D.P. Singh
Abstract 221
19.2 Materials and Methods 222
References 227
20 Green Technology for Biodiesel Production using 230
Waste Material Based Heterogeneous Catalyst
Anil Kumar Sarma, Ashish P. Singh Chouhan
Abstract 230
20.2 Materials 232
References 238
21 Production and Studied of Fuel Properties of 241
Sunflower Ethyl Ester and its Blends
R. Kumar, A.K. Dixit, S. K. Singh, G.S. Manes, R. Khurana
Abstract 241
References 246
Part-V: Lignocellulosic Ethanol Production 248
22 Thermophiles: smart bugs for ethanol production from 249
agricultural residues
Sachin Kumar, Pratibha Dheeran, Dilip K Adhikari
Abstract 249
22.2 Materials and methods 251
References 256
23 Study of Bioethanol Production from Brewers Spent Grain 258
using Fusarium oxysporum
Abhay Dinker, Arvind Kumar, Madhu Agarwal
viii

Abstract 258
23.3 Results 262
References 263

ix

Preface
Sachin Kumar, A.K. Sarma

Bio-energy research has received tremendous attention all over the world due to
steep hike in petroleum prices and environmental concerns. At the current electricity
generating capacity and other available energy sources, a huge gap exists between the
demand and supply (above 15%) and the Conventional Energy resources of the country
are meagre. Agricultural crop residues production in the country is about 550 Mt/year
and is likely to increase in the coming years. Majority of the crop residues are either
processed in uneconomic way or get destroyed as such.
Apart from the crop residues, other biomass such as animal excreta, forest
wastes and agro-industrial wastes are also available in abundance and can play a major
role in supplementing the energy resources of the country. Waste biomass materials
include various natural and derived materials, such as woody and herbaceous species,
bagasse, agricultural waste, waste from paper, municipal solid waste, industrial waste,
sawdust, grass, food processing waste, waste oil, non-edible oil or shell of oil-bearing
seed, aquatic plants and algae, etc., which could be potentially used for production of
useful fuels and chemicals. The average majority of biomass energy is produced from
wood and wood wastes (64%), followed by municipal solid waste (24%), agricultural
waste (5%) and landfill gases (5%). Waste and degraded lands are generally used for
energy plantation and biomass production.
There is no debate on the issue that renewable energy is the only sustainable
energy in nature. Biomass energy in particular is one of the cleanest form of energy
gifted by nature. This is also the waste to wealth making weapons for the farmers.
Because, all forms of derived agricultural waste can be converted to useful energy that
directly contribute to the income of farmers and nation as well. Moreover, they are
highly beneficial from the viewpoint of environmental pollution control and an asset for
carbon credit.
Keeping in view the need and importance of bioenergy research in our country,
we express pleasure to introduce the first edition of Recent Advances in Bioenergy
Research- Volume-I in the form of a book. The book is divided in five parts viz. Part-I:
Biomass Assessment and Management for Energy Purpose; Part-II: Thermo-chemical
Conversion; Part-III: Biogas & Biohydrogen; Part-IV: Production Aspects of Biodiesel;

x

Part-V: Lignocellulosic Ethanol Production. Each section includes respective chapters
from Eminent Academician, Scientists and Researchers in the field. We are really
grateful for their commendable contribution for this book.
Emphasis is given such that current trends of research and investigation in the
bioenergy sector can be easily worked out from the in-depth study of this book. Our
efforts will be successful if the readers dig up the expected gain out of these articles.
xi

Contributors
Adhikari Dilip Kumar, Biotechnology Area, Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun
Agarwal Madhu, Department of Chemical Engineering, MNIT, Jaipur
Alam T., Agricultural & Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur
Bajpai Suresh C., BSIP, 53, University Road, Lucknow
Bajpai Usha, Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, Department of Physics,
University of Lucknow, Lucknow
Bamboriya M.L., MNRE, New Delhi
Bansal Ajay, Department of Chemical Engineering, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National
Institute of Technology, Jalandhar
Baruah D., Department of Energy, Tezpur University, Napaam, Assam
Baruah D.C., Department of Energy, Tezpur University, Napaam, Assam
Bhavanam Anjireddy, Department of Chemical Engineering, NIT, Warangal
Bhowmik R., Department of Energy, Tezpur University, Napaam, Assam
Chouhan Ashish P. Singh, Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable
Energy, Kapurthala
Dey Apurba, Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology,
Durgapur
Dheeran Pratibha, Biotechnology Area, Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun
Dinker Abhay, Department of Chemical Engineering, MNIT, Jaipur
Dixit A.K., Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Punjab
Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Dutta B.J., Department of Energy, Tezpur University, Napaam, Assam
Gautam Anand, School of Energy Studies for Agriculture, College of Agricultural
Engineering and Technology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Gupta P.K., School of Energy Studies for Agriculture, College of Agricultural

xii

Gupta Urmila, School of Energy Studies for Agriculture, College of Agricultural
Hiloidhari Moonmoon, Department of Energy, Tezpur University, Napaam, Assam
Jain A.K., Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy, Kapurthala
Jain K.K., Ellenki Engineering College, Hyderabad
Jha M.K., Department of Chemical Engineering, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute
of Technology, Jalandhar
Khurana R., Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Punjab
Kothari Richa, School for Environmental Sciences, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar
University, Lucknow
Kumar Arvind, Department of Chemical Engineering, MNIT, Jaipur
Kumar R., Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Punjab Agricultural
University, Ludhiana
Kumar Sachin, Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy,
Kapurthala
Kundu Partha, Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology
Roorkee, Roorkee
Manes G.S., Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Punjab
Mishra I.M., Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology
Roorkee, Roorkee
Padhee D., Agricultural & Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of
Technology, Kharagpur
Panesar B.S., School of Energy Studies for Agriculture, College of Agricultural
Pathak Vinayak V., School for Environmental Sciences, Babasaheb Bhimrao
Ambedkar University, Lucknow
Praveen J., Mall Reddy Engg. College, Hyderabad
xiii

Raheman H., Agricultural & Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of
Technology, Kharagpur
Saikia M., Department of Energy, Tezpur University, Napaam, Assam
Sarma Anil Kumar, Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy,
Kapurthala
Sastry R.C., Department of Chemical Engineering, NIT, Warangal
Sharma S.K., Energy Research Centre, Panjab University, Chandigarh
Singh Avtar, Department of Forestry and N.R., Punjab Agricultural University,
Ludhiana
Singh B., Agricultural & Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur
Singh D.P., School for Environmental Sciences, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar
University, Lucknow
Singh Puja, GCRG Group of Institutions, Bakshi Ka Talab, Lucknow
Singh S.K., Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Punjab
Singh S.K., School of Energy Studies for Agriculture, College of Agricultural
Singh S.P., School of Energy and Environmental Studies, Devi Ahilya
Vishwavidyalaya, Takshila Campus, Khandwa Road, Indore
Singh Shailendra Kumar, Department of Chemical Engineering, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar
Soni R., School of Energy Studies for Agriculture, College of Agricultural Engineering
and Technology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Sooch Sarbjit Singh, School of Energy Studies for Agriculture, College of Agricultural
Upadhyay Ajeet Kumar, Department of Chemical Engineering, IITT College of
Engineering, Pojewal
Part I
Biomass Assessment and Management
for Energy Purpose

2
CHAPTER 1
CHARACTERISTICS OF BIOMASS
A.K. Jain

1.1 Introduction
All the plant materials produced through photosynthesis via carbon dioxide fixation is
biomass. This includes agricultural products and residues, fuel wood trees and agro-
industrial waste materials. Major agricultural products such as grains, fruits, vegetables
etc. are used for human consumption where as crop residues and forestry residues and fuel
woods are very important from energy point of view.
The word biomass in this text would further refer to agricultural crop residues and
fuel woods. Biomass can be used as energy source directly through combustion or can be
converted to gaseous liquid and solid fuels which are more convenient to use and efficient,
through thermochemical (combustion, gasification and pyrolysis) and biochemical
(anaerobic digestion and fermentation) conversion processes.
All agricultural crop residues, agro-industrial wastes and fuel trees are ligno-
cellulosic materials but their individual characteristics vary over a wide range. In the
present scenario of biomass conversion to useful energy products, selection of the biomass
suitable for a specific use or application is extremely important which is possible with
sufficient property data. Therefore, importance of adequate characterization data has been
realized world wide for designing of any thermo-chemical or biochemical conversion
device.
During the last two decades several publications have appeared containing data on
thermodynamic properties of biomass materials. The characteristics of biomass reported in
the literature differ to a large extent. The difference may be attributed to many factors such
as agro-climatic conditions (type of soil and mineral content), variety of crop grown,
sampling technique etc. While conducting laboratory experiment on determination of
characteristics, the author observed the different characteristics of sample from main trunk,
primary and secondary branches of the same tree. The sample from the main trunk had
high ash, density, low calorific value and higher cellulose content compared to primary

3
and second limbs. However the difference was of the order of 1 to 3% in most of the
cases. Another observation is that if a biomass ground sample is put to sieve analysis,
different biomass fractions obtained after the sieve analysis do not exhibit similar
characteristics. It is, therefore essential that the biomass sample should be carefully
selected and should be a true representative sample for reliable results.
Fuel characteristics important to the design and analysis of biomass conversion
processes are; Physical properties, i.e. density, angle of repose and moisture content;
thermal properties i.e. calorific value and proximate analysis and chemical properties
elemental analysis and chemical composition. The physical properties vary considerably
with environment and handling procedures whereas the remaining are intrinsic properties.
These properties are extremely useful in the design of biomass conversion device and
processes analysis.
1.2 Physical Properties
The important physical characteristics of biomass are density, moisture content and angle
of repose.
1.2.1 Density
One of the most important physical characteristics of biomass fuel is its density. It is
usually classified as bulk density and true density.
True density is the weight per unit volume of a single biomass piece. It is
determined using the Archemedies` principle (Pathak and Jain, 1985). It is also referred as
specific density in the literature. It depends on biomass moisture and has a constant value
on dry weight basis. The true density of several species of fast growing fuel wood trees
such as Acacia, Albizia, Eucalyptus, Derris indica, Leucaena Lecocephala, Arjuna etc, are
reported by Jain, 1997. The true density values for these woods vary from 600 to 820
kg/m
3

The bulk is the weight of bulk biomass material divided by the volume occupied.
The weight of the biomass depends on the size, shape and level of its compaction or
densification. It determines the storage capacity of fuel charging hopper and the size of any
furnace, gasifier or other biomass conversion device. It is useful in the evaluation of
transportation cost and storage space for biomass fuel.

4
Bulk density of a fuel is different from that of true or specific density of the single
fuel. For example, the true density of eucalyptus is 700 kg/m
3
, whereas the bulk density of
2-3.5 cm
3
cube pieces of eucalyptus is around 250-300 kg/m
3
. Bulk densities of certain
fuels are given in Table 1.1.
Table 1.1. Bulk density and true density of certain fuel materials
Fuel Density (kg/m
3
)
Coal anthracite
830-900
Coal Bituminous 770-930
Wood hard 20-40mm
3
330
soft 250
Charcoal 130-150
Saw dust 175
Paddy husk 105
Straws 50-80
Bagasse 70
Acacia nilotica 820*
Dalbergia sissoo 710*
Eucalyptus 770*
* true densities
Source: Kaupp and Goss, 1984; Jain, 1997
1.2.2 Angle of Repose
The angle of repose is the angle made by the biomass from the horizontal to the sides of
pile under free falling conditions. It is expressed in degrees. It is a flow property of the
material. It is generally determined by filling a large open ended tube with oven dry
biomass, keeping the tube with its one end on the ground and then lifting the tube in such a
manner that the biomass forms a pile on the ground. The angle made by the pile with the
horizontal base is the angle of repose. The values of angle of repose depend on the size
and moisture content of the biomass.
Angle of repose is useful in the determination of the angle of fuel hopper, fuel
transportation lines to the furnaces or gasifier. During the thermochemical conversion
process the angle of repose changes due to change in shape and size of the fuel particle. If

5
the angle of repose approaches 90 degrees or more it indicates tendency of the fuel
towards bridging. Lower angle of repose is an indication of free flow behavior of biomass
material. As an example the angle of repose for oven dry paddy husk is 58 degrees.
1.2.3 Moisture Content
Most of the biomass are hygroscopic in nature and absorb moisture from the atmosphere.
Moisture in biomass is fundamentally subdivided into inherent, surface and decompo-
sition moisture. Inherent moisture is the moisture a fuel can hold in the capillary openings
of the biomass when in equilibrium with the atmosphere. Surface moisture occurs on the
surface of the biomass and is in excess of inherent moisture. The moisture content of
biomass cited in the literature usually refers to inherent plus surface moisture.
The percent moisture content (MC) of the biomass can be determined by drying
the sample at 110
o
C in hot air oven till a constant weight is obtained. The method is
known as standard oven method. The following expression may be used for computing
percent moisture:
Moisture content of a biomass is usually reported on wet weight basis as indicated
by above equation. Since the moisture content of biomass varies from day to day due to
variation in atmospheric relative humidity and temperature It is, therefore, preferable to
report the biomass characteristic data on dry weight basis. At a relative humidity of 90 to
95%, the moisture content of most biomass ranges from 25 to 35%, which reduce to
around 10% at a relative humidity of 30 to 40%.
The moisture content on wet weight basis can be converted to dry weight basis
using the expression given below. In the following equation M
w
and M
d
are the percent
moisture content on wet and dry weight basis respectively.

During storage, the exposure of biomass to high relative humidity should be
avoided so that the high moisture in biomass due to high relative humidity do not
exceed too much, because higher moisture in biomass lead to its faster decay. The
MC
Wet weight dry weight
Wet weight
x =

(
100
100
100
x
M
M
M
w
w
d (
=

6
chemical reactions during the biological decay of biomass are exothermic and can even
cause burning of the biomass.
It is desirable to use fuel with low moisture content, because considerable part of
the heat is used to evaporate the moisture which is never recovered in any practical
situations and the effective hating value of the biomass gets reduced. It may be noted
that this heat loss represents only the heat of evaporation of inherent and surface
moisture and not the heat loss caused by decomposition moisture.
The net heating value and the moisture content of a biomass can be correlated by
the following expression. In the expression below , M
f
, CV
w
and CV
d
are latent heat
of vaporization, moisture fraction of biomass, heating value of wet and dry biomass
respectively.
CV
w
= (1-M
f
) x CV
d
M
f

The theoretical limit of moisture for cellulose at which the combustion is no
longer self sustaining is 88%, however, in practice, the moisture content at which the
biomass combustion can be sustained is much lower i.e. 70%. For gasifier, the optimum
moisture content of the biomass is 15%, and higher moisture in biomass leads to poor
gasifier performance. Also high moisture lowers the effective heating value of the
biomass and should be avoided while using as fuel in furnaces.
Decomposition moisture is the moisture formed from organic compounds of
biomass during thermal decomposition reactions. It is estimated stoichiometrically that
every kilo gram of biomass yields 450 to 600 gram of water during thermal
decomposition reactions depending on its composition.
1.3 Thermal Characteristics
The Important thermal characteristics are calorific value and proximate analysis.
1.3.1 Heating Value
Heating value or calorific value is the heat released by the fuel under ideal combustion
conditions. It is usually classified as higher heating value (HHV) and lower heating
value (LHV)

7
1.3.1.1 Higher Heating Value
It is the amount of heat liberated when a known quantity of biomass is burned under
ideal combustion condition at constant volume and the decomposition moisture is
condensed i.e. its latent heat of vapourization is taken into account. It is determined
using standard bomb calorimeter, where known weight of biomass material is burnt in a
constant volume bomb in presence of oxygen. The heat liberated is absorbed by known
weight of water. It is a measure of heating value when combustion is taking place at
constant volume and the water formed during combustion or present as moisture in the
biomass is condensed. The latent heat of vaporization of water is also taken into account
and this heating value is usually referred as the higher heating value (HCV). In almost
all the thermochemical conversion devices, operation occurs at constant pressure and
vapors leave with flue gases without getting condensed. The heating value under these
conditions is called lower heating value (LCV). It is therefore, suggested that the LCV
should be used in preference to HCV for the energy and mass balance, and other design
and performance evaluation calculations for a thermo-chemical conversion device.
1.3.1.2 Lower Heating Value
Knowing the elemental analysis and higher heating value of the biomass, the lower
heating value can be determined. It is usually 10 to 15% lower as compared to the higher
heating value. The lower heating value can be linked with the higher heating value by
the following expression. and W
f
are the latent heat of vaporization of water and
weight fraction of water formed during combustion process. The lower heating values of
selected biomass species are given in Table 1.2.
HCV = LCV + W
f
+ expansion work
The heating value of a biomass per unit weight is a function of the moisture content of
the biomass. For a wet biomass available heat per unit weight of biomass is reduced and
also a part of heat is required to vaporize the water present in the biomass as moisture.
1.3.2 Proximate Analysis
Proximate analysis provides information on the combustion characteristics of biomass. It
is a measure of fixed carbon (FC), volatile matter (VM), Ash (A) and Moisture (M) in the
biomass material and expressed as percent. The term volatile matter and fixed carbon

8
does not have clear definitions. The volatile matter of any substance in a broad sense is
the fraction that is driven off by heating the sample to a specific time and temperature.
The total amount of volatile matter and its composition is the function of heating rate as
well as the final temperature. The volatile matter is an important parameter because it
characterises the expected contamination of the raw gas with condensable vapours in
any gasifier or pyrolysis equipment.
Table 1.2. Ultimate analysis of selected fuels
Fuel Material
CV
HCV LCV
Carbon 32.7
Anthracite 30.9
Bituminous 25.1
Charcoal 24.7
Lignite 23.9
Acacia Nilotica 19.2 17.8
Eucalyptus 19.4 18.0
Leucaena Leucocephala 19.4 18.2
Dalbergia sissoo 18.7 17.3
Bagasse 20.0 18.6
Paddy straw 15.0 13.9
Paddy husk 15.5 14.4
Wheat straw 17.2 16.0
Cotton sticks 17.4 16.3
Source: Pathak and Jain, 1984; Reed and Das, 1988.
There are no standard techniques for the proximate analysis of biomass as yet,
however, the most commonly adopted procedure for proximate analysis of coal outlined in
BS 1016 Part 3&4, 1973 are in use for the proximate analysis of biomass as well. The
biomass is placed in a muffle furnace at 915
o
C for 7 minutes in a covered platinum
crucible. The moisture and VM and are driven off and the residue left after 7 minutes is
the fixed carbon and ash.

9
Ash and moisture can be determined separately. Moisture content can be
determined using standard oven method as discussed earlier.
Ash is the mineral content in the fuel that remains in oxidized form after
combustion. The ash content and its composition have a major impact on the operation of
a gasifier or a furnace. Higher ash content lowers the energy available and more space
must be provided where the ash can be discharged, the composition of the ash determines
the slagging temperature of the ash. If the temperature in the combustion zone rises to the
ash melting point, the ash will melt and the molten mass will form clinkers, clinging to the
internal surface, tuyers and grate. It will severely affect the fuel flow and may result in
failure of the complete system.
The most common constituents of ash are SiO
2
, Al
2
O
3
, Fe
2
O
3
, TiO
2
, CaO, MgO,
Na
2
O, K
2
O and SO
3
as these minerals amounts to at least 95% of all minerals in the ash.
It has been found that the most troublesome components of the ash are SiO
2
and oxides
of alkali metals Na
2
O and K
2
O. In most of the biomass SiO
2
content amounts to above
50% and can reach to extreme value of 97% in case of rice husk. These components
lower the ash melting temperature and the most dangerous is their tendency to vaporize
at temperatures usually obtained in gasifiers or combustion furnace. The problem
becomes even more severe when the biomass has sulfur and chlorine and the alkali
metals react to form chlorides and sulfide and sulfates. The melting temperature of these
compounds is much lower and they also form eutectic mixtures having much lower
melting temperature. The melting point of SiO
2
is fairly high i.e. around 2350
o
C but in
most of the cases it melts at much lower temperatures.
The vapors of molten ash reach the engine in extremely fine form (<0.1 micron)
and are highly abrasive and can cause damage to the critical parts of the engine. During
thermal applications the ash vapors condenses on the cold boiler tube surface and reduce
the heat transfer coefficient and tend to deteriorate the overall performance of the
system.
The difficulties in controlling slagging can be overcome by two totally different
types of operation.

10
1. Low temperature operation that keeps the temperature well below the melting point
of ash.
2. High temperature operations that keep the temperature above the melting point of
ash and in addition flux are added to lower the ash melting temperature even more.
Some of the fluxes that lower the melting point of ash are iron ore, feldspar, salt
cake, limestone and dolomite.
For the determination of ash, biomass is heated in a tarred silica crucible in a
muffle furnace at a temperature of 600
o
C for 2 to 3 hours till a constant residual weight is
obtained. The constant weight residue is taken as ash in the biomass. The percent ash
content can be determined using the following expression.
Knowing moisture content and combination of moisture and volatile matter, the
volatile matter of the biomass can be estimated. Also if ash and combination of ash and
FC are determined, fixed carbon content of the fuel can be estimated. The proximate
analysis is represented by the following expression.
Proximate analysis of certain fuel materials is given in Table 1.3. The volatile
matter of the biomass starts distilling off at moderate temperatures of 250-350 C in any
thermochemical conversion process. The vapors thus formed consist of water, oils, tar and
gases. It is, therefore, obvious that biomass fuels having high volatile matter have tendency
to form higher tar during pyrolysis or gasification. Most of the biomass materials have
volatile matter content around 75-80% on dry and ash free basis. Thus biomass tends to
release high tar as compared to materials having low volatile matter such as charcoal
during gasification.
When all the volatile matter is driven off from the biomass, the residue left is fixed
carbon and ash. In a gasification process, the fixed carbon provides favorable
environments where reduction reactions take place to form carbon monoxide, methane and
hydrogen. Thus biomass materials with higher fixed carbon are considered as better feed
Ash
weight of ash
weight of wet biomass
x =

(
100
[ ] FC VM Ash MC + + + = 100

11
stock for gasifiers. In furnaces, the oxidation of fixed carbon component of biomass
releases heat energy and is fully utilized.
Table 1.3. Proximate analysis for selected fuels
Fuel VM FC Ash
Acacia nilotica 5
Bituminous 20-40 40-55 10-15
Lignite 40 46 14
Charcoal 10-30 50-65 5-15
Fuel wood 70-80 15-20 1-10
Crop residues 65-80 12-18 5-20
Paddy husk 71.0 12.5 16.5
Bagasse 15.9 79.2 4.9
Acacia nilotica 16.8 80.8 2.3
Dalbergia sissoo 15.7 80.4 3.9
Eucalyptus 16.6 82.2 0.9
Source: Pathak and Jain, 1984; Reed and Das, 1988
Ash is the inorganic matter in the biomass left after the volatiles, fixed carbon and
moisture are driven off. It contains varying quantities of oxides of silica, sodium,
potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron etc. Higher ash content in the biomass is coupled
with the ash handling problems in a thermochemical conversion device. Ash from some
biomass material fuses at temperatures i.e. 800-1200
o
C which are usually attained in
gasifiers or furnaces and tends to fuse and form large hard clinker of ash. The fused ash
from certain biomass gets vaporized at these temperatures which condenses on relatively
low temperature surfaces such as boiler tubes and tends to plug the gas/air flow channels
in gasifiers and furnaces. Knowledge of slagging behavior of the biomass ash is, therefore,
essential before it is used as a feed stock for gasifier or furnaces. Ash slagging
temperatures of some selected biomass materials are given in Table 1.4.
1.3.3 Thermogravimetric Analysis
In thermogravimetric analysis, the biomass is heated under controlled conditions of
temperature and environment or reaction atmosphere. Thermogravimetric analysis
(TGA) provides information on weight change as a function of temperature and time

12
whereas differential thermogravimetric analysis (DTG) i.e. rate of weight change with
respect to time. It also gives information on differential thermal analysis (DTA), the type
of reaction prevailing at a specific temperature i.e. weather the reaction was exothermic
or endothermic. The weight loss and temperature/time data can be used to work out
quantities of volatile matter, char and ash in the biomass. The data can further be used to
compute the thermal degradation reaction kinetic parameters such as activation energy,
order of reaction and pre-exponential factor.
Table 1.4. Softening and melting temperature of ash from biomass
Biomass
Softening
Temperature (

C)
Melting
Temperature (

C)
Almond shell 860 1350
Cotton gin trash 1010 1380
Maize cobs 900 1020
Maize stalk 820 1091
Rice straw 823 1190
Rice husk 1440 1650
Tree prunings 770 1550
Wood Chips 1050 1190
Mustard stalk 1030 -
Source: Kaupp, 1984.
Thermogravimetric analysis is carried under non-isothermal and isothermal
conditions. When the temperature increase is under a pre-set, programmed or at linear
heating rate, the analysis is non-isothermal. The size of material is normally very small
(20 to 50mg) and only finely ground samples are used. This is the most commonly used
technique for TGA, due to convenience, accuracy and reproducibility. The
instrumentation for this type of analysis is well developed and the operating conditions
can be closely monitored on thermo gravimetric analysis equipment. Also most of the
reported work on thermal analysis is on non-isothermal degradation.
Isothermal degradation is characterised by large samples, bigger size and is
carried out in specially designed thermo balances. The conditions prevailing in such
equipment resemble with the actual conditions during combustion or gasification where

13
large samples are used, to some extent. The kinetic parameters determined using this
technique depend on the type of thermo-balance and differ to a large extent.
The non-isothermal TGA data on residual weigh and temperature/ time can be
used to evaluate the kinetic parameters using the following models (Jain et al., 1997):
ln
ln
ln -
(1- )
T
=
AR
qE
1 -
RT
E
-
E
RT
2

(
2

The above model is valid under the assumption that the first order reaction
mechanism is followed during thermal degradation. For n 1, the following equation is
used.
( )
( )
ln ln
1 1
1
1 2
1
2

(
=
|
\
n
T n
AR
qE
RT
E
E
RT

In the above equations:
=
(W - W)
(W - W )
o
o f

k = Rate constant
W
o
= Initial weight of sample, mg
W = Time dependent weight of
sample, mg
W
f
= Final weight of the sample, mg
= Fraction of A decomposed at any
time t
A = Pre-exponential factor, s
-1
R = Universal gas constant
q = Linear heating rate C min
-1

E = Energy of activation, kJ mole
-1

T = Absolute temperature, K
n = Order of reaction

14
The first term of right hand side of both the above equations tend to be
reasonably constant. Thus, a plot of left hand side against 1/T allows the activation
energy to be determined from the slop E/R. The pre-exponential factor A can be
determined with E known from the above equations. In all the determinations a prior
knowledge of the value of the order of reaction is to be assumed.
Jain et al (1996) reported the thermo gravimetric analysis of paddy husk, cellulose,
and lignin under oxidative, intermediate (O
2
5:N
2
95%) and inert atmospheres at
different linear heating rates (1 to 100
o
C/min). The following observations are reported.
1. Activation energy for thermal degradation of cellulose was the highest followed by
paddy husk and lignin under similar conditions of environment and linear heating
rates.
2. Under oxidative environment, the activation energy was the highest followed by
intermediate and inert reaction environments under similar conditions of linear
heating rates and the biomass materials.
3. With the increasing linear heating rates the activation energy in general decreased.
4. Order of reaction was found to be a function of linear heating rate. At lower heating
rates the thermal degradation reactions followed the first order reaction mechanism
whereas at higher heating rates the appropriate order of reaction was 1.5 or 2.
1.4 Chemical Analysis
Chemical analysis gives information about the chemical composition (cellulose, hemi-
cellulose, pentosan lignin and alcohol benzene extractives) and elemental analysis (carbon,
hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, silica, sodium, potassium etc.) of biomass.
1.4.1 Ultimate Analysis
Ultimate analysis gives information regarding the elemental composition of carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen content of a biomass fuel. Equipment for the analyses of
carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen (CHN analyzer) are now available commercially. Oxygen
is generally determined by the difference.
The ultimate analysis does not reveal the suitability of biomass for gasification,
combustion or any other process but is the main tool for the determination of

15
stoichiometric formula, stoichiometric air requirement and air fuel ratio, gas composition,
temperature limits, gas production rate etc. through a mass and energy balance over the
thermochemical conversion processes. It is also used to predict the lower heating value of
the biomass Ultimate analysis and heating value of some selected fuel is given in Table
1.5. The data in the table is reproduced from Reed and Das (1987) and Jain (1997).
Table 1.5. Ultimate analysis of selected fuels
Fuel Material C H O
Carbon 100 0 0
Anthracite 95.0 1.50 3.50
Bituminous 87.0 5.00 13.00
Charcoal 75.0 5.00 15.00
Lignite 71.0 5.00 24.00
Acacia Nilotica 48.1 6.14 45.76
Eucalyptus 50.3 6.26 43.44
Leucaena Leucocephala 54.1 5.15 40.75
Dalbergia sissoo 48.6 6.2 0.33
Bagasse 48.2 6.1 0.2
Paddy straw 45.5 6.19 48.31
Paddy husk 45.2 5.99 48.81
Wheat straw 47.8 5.89 46.30
Cotton sticks 52. 7 5.07 42.23
Source: Pathak and Jain, 1984; Reed and Das, 1988.
The total carbon in the biomass is different from fixed carbon as determined by
proximate analysis. In order to avoid confusion, the total carbon may be split into base
carbon and volatile carbon. Base carbon represents the carbon that remains after
devolatilization, whereas volatile carbon is defined as the carbon estimated from the
difference between total carbon and base carbon. Base carbon does not equal the fixed
carbon as given by proximate analysis because the fixed carbon includes some other
organic components also which have not been evolved during the process of
devolatilization.

16
1.4.2 Chemical Composition
Cellulose, lignin, hemi-cellulose and pentosan are the major chemical constituents of the
biomass. Cellulose is a linear polymer of anhydroglucose units; hemicellulose is a mixture
of polymer of 5 and 6 carbon anhydrosugars and lignin is an irregular polymer of phenyl
propane units. Pentosan is five carbon anhydrosugars. Composition of cellulose,
hemicellulose and lignin can be determined using the standard techniques described in the
text books for wood chemistry. Chemical analysis of certain biomass species is given in
Table 1.6.
Table 1.6. Chemical analysis of certain biomass
Biomass Cellulose Lignin Pentosan
Eucalyptus 34.20 39.20 12.00
Leucaena leucocephala 44.87 22.36 17.74
Bagasse 40.00 14.80 22.60
Paddy husk 44.00 17.20 17.80
Maize cobs 36.80 11.20 27.80
Paddy straw 41.40 12.10 20.40
Cotton sticks 41.90 27.20 19.00
Source: Jain, 1997.
The chemical analysis gives very useful information regarding the use of biomass
for thermochemical, biochemical conversion processes or for industrial uses such as for
paper and furfural production. Hydrolysis of pentosan yields furfural which is a very useful
intermediate for resin industries and also used as solvent. Thus biomass rich in pentosan
e.g. rice husk, cotton stalks, maize cobs etc are excellent feed stock for furfural production.
Some units for furfural production based on rice husk are commercially operating in India
and other parts of the world. Materials having high cellulose and hemicellulose are good
for biological conversion processes i.e. anaerobic digestion and alcoholic fermentation.
High cellulose also favors the use of biomass for paper and board production. Since lignin
is a irregular polymer of phenyl propane unit, it tend to yield high tar proportion during
thermal decomposition reactions. Thus the biomass rich in lignin are known to generate
producer gas with high tar during thermal gasification.

17
1.5 Correlation Models
Correlation models for predicting the heating value, stoichiometric formula and air fuel
ratio are discussed in the following sections.
1.5.1 Heating Value
Using the ultimate analysis, ash and heating value data, three correlation models were
developed (Jain, 1997). The models are given below.
Model 1 : LCV = 17.89 - 0.21 x A
Model 2 : HCV = 19.24 - 0.22 x A
Model 3 : LCV = 0.19 x C + 0.38365 x
H + 0.217 x O - 3.4363
The first two model correlates lower and higher heating values and ash content
of biomass. It is assumed that the heating value of ash free biomass is constant and is a
linear function of ash content. The LCV or HCV obtained by these models is fairly in
agreement with the experimental values with a variation of 2-3%.
The third model predicts lower heating value knowing carbon hydrogen and
oxygen content of the biomass. In the models LCV and HCV, are lower and higher
heating values (MJ kg
-1
) whereas A, C, O and H are the percent ash, carbon, oxygen and
hydrogen of biomass on dry weight basis respectively. For biomass, which is not fully
characterized, these models can effectively be used to get first hand information of the
characteristics of biomass.
1.5.2 Stoichiometric Formula
Stoichiometric formula gives the atomic composition of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in a
biomass. Knowing the elemental analysis of a biomass, its stoichiometric formula can be
determined. For any biomass if the stoichiometric formula is represented by C H
x
O
y,
where
x and y are atomic ratios of hydrogen and oxygen, x and y can be determined using the
following expressions.
x = H / (C/12)
y = (O/16)/(C/12)

18
The typical atomic ratios for biomass is CH
1.4
O
0.6
and for coal CH
0.9
O
0.1.
Once we
know the stoichiometric formula, the molecular weight and the stoichiometric air fuel ratio
can be determined. The Stoichiometric formula/values of x & y for certain biomass
materials is given in Table 1.7.
Table 1.7. Stoichiometric formula and air fuel ratio of certain biomass
Biomass X Y A/F (Nm
3
/kg)
Arhar stalk 1.055 0.560 4.68
Eucalyptus 1.491 0.646 4.66
Leucaena leucocephala 1.142 0.564 4.78
Bagasse 1.519 0.635 4.55
Paddy husk 1.587 0.807 3.34
Maize cobs 1.273 0.765 3.06
Paddy straw 1.630 0.795 3.30
Cotton sticks 1.153 0.600 4.48
Source: Jain, 1997.
1.5.2 Stoichiometric Air Fuel Ratio
Stoichiometric air fuel ratio is the theoretical air required for complete oxidation for a unit
weight of the biomass. The stoichiometric air fuel ratio is useful for the determination of
air quantity requirement for furnaces or gasifiers and subsequently for designing air and
gas handling system. Using stoichiometric formula of biomass, the following procedure
may be used to determine the stoichiometric air fuel ratio. Combustion of a biomass
material can be represented by the following reaction.
CH
x
O
y
+ n(0.21O
2
+ 0.79N
2
) CO
2
+ x/2 H
2
O + 0.79 (n) N
2
In the above equation air is assumed to have a molar composition as O
2
:N
2
::21:79.
The moles of air in the reaction are represented by n. Writing an oxygen balance over the
above reaction:
y + 0.21 (2n) = 2 + x/2

19
If we substitute the values for x and y in the above equation number of moles of
air required for complete oxidation of biomass material can be determined. The
stoichiometric air fuel ratio for biomass materials varies to a large extent i.e. 3.34 m
3
/kg
for paddy husk to 5.1 m
3
/kg for acacia auriculiformis (Jain, 1996, 1997). The air fuel
ratio for certain biomass materials is given in Table 6.
1.6 Conclusions
On the basis of information on characteristics of biomass some general classification
regarding their suitability for different applications can be worked out. Fuels with low ash
content, high calorific value and density are suitable for gasification and fuel for furnaces.
Biomass with low ash slagging temperature are trouble some fuels. High ash biomass
coupled with poor flow properties such as paddy husk are not suitable for gasification in
down draft gasifier with throat, however, it is good fuel for throat less and updraft gasifiers
and furnaces. Fuels with high volatile matter have tendency to generate considerable tar
and are less suitable for updraft gasification. High moisture in the fuel is not suitable
regarding the application of fuel in gasifiers as well as furnaces. Biomass materials with
high cellulose content are suitable as feed stock for paper industry. High cellulose
materials are appropriate for alcoholic fermentation and anaerobic digestion as well. High
pentosan content in a biomass supports its use for furfural production. High silica biomass
such as paddy straw and paddy husk can be used to produce amorphous and precipitated
silica.
Biomass materials have certain limitations such as less density, high volatile
matter, high ash content, hygroscopic nature etc. But inspite of that there is no doubt that it
has tremendous potential for various energy related applications. It can be converted to
better quality fuels such as producer gas, biogas, methanol, ethanol, tar, charcoal etc. via
thermochemical and biochemical conversion route. It can be directly used as fuel for
industrial boilers and domestic kitchens for thermal application. Biomass also has
potential as feedstock for proper and board, furfural, activated carbon, silica industries.

References
1. Jain A.K. (1996) Mid term review report of the AICRP project on RES Producer
gas component. School of Energy Studies for Agriculture, PAU Ludhiana.

20
2. Jain A.K. (1997) Correlation models for predicting heating value through biomass
characteristics. Journal of Agricultural Engineering 34 (3):12-25.
3. Jain A.K., Sharma S.K. and Singh D. (1999) Reaction Kinetics of paddy husk
thermal decomposition. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering ASME, USA,
121:25-30.
4. Kaupp A. (1984) Gasification of rice hulls-theory and practice. Published by
GATE/GTZ, Germany.
5. Kaupp A. and Goss J.R. (1984) Small scale gas producer engine system. Published
by GATE/GTZ, Germany.
6. Pathak B.S. and Jain A.K. (1985) Biomass Characteristics, Final report of the
project Energy in Agriculture and first report of the School of Energy Studies for
Agriculture. PAU Ludhiana, 49-64.
7. Reed T.B. and Das A. (1988) Handbook of biomass down draft gasifier engine
systems. SERI/SP-271-3022 DE88001135, UC Category: 245, USA.
21

CHAPTER 2
GLOBAL WARMING: A NEW PARADIGM FOR BIO-
ENERGY RESEARCH
S.K. Sharma

2.1 Introduction
Global warming has pushed the use of biomass for bio energy and bio fuels to the center
stage for reducing green house gas emissions in transport and industrial sectors. Bio-fuel
production through first generation bio technologies in 2009 was 750 million liters of
gasoline equivalent. It has been projected by IEA that total biomass use in 2050 will be
3500 MT, which will account for 20% of the total consumption and is analogous to the
current global annual consumption of oil.
Bio-energy is considered renewable due to its origin from and end in carbon
dioxide, as a result of closed carbon cycle. However, a large number of first generation
technologies fail to meet the test of sustainability based on the criteria of ratio of
renewable energy output to fossil energy input; as considerable amount of
primary/secondary energy is needed in biomass process chain during cultivation,
harvesting, transportation, conversion processes, supply chain, use of the products and
disposal. During production process, energy inputs are required for ploughing, sowing,
fertiliser and pesticide production. During production process, energy is required for
pre-treatment, processing, purification of products. As per sustainability criteria, it is not
only the amount of energy but also the source of energy used for processing, which is
important. If sustainability criteria are not applied to biomass it will result in
biodiversity loss from land use change, food insecurity, overuse of water, and
mismanagement of soil. Global warming concerns are becoming an overriding factor all
over the world, resulting in a paradigm shift in the development of bio energy
technologies. This has created a new window of opportunity for the researchers for
developing new technologies and modifying the old technologies. Life cycle analysis for
carbon and water footprints should be used to analyse the global warming impact of the
product.

22

Keeping in view the competition between food and fuel, selection of raw
material for bioenergy should take in to consideration the fact that the first priority of
biomaterials is for food, then animal feed and bio-energy is the last claim. Food enjoys
higher commercial value than bioenergy. Hence, bio-energy has to be subsidised if it is
to compete with food. Best option for the raw material for bio-energy is waste material
from agriculture, animals, human, and non -edible oils etc. It is estimated that more
than 90 million tons of municipal solid waste is generated each year in India. 40% to 60
% of this waste is compostable matter. MNRE has estimated a potential of 2500 MW
under Energy to waste programme.
2.2 New Research opportunities in Bio Energy
2.2.1 Bio fuels
Alkali and acid (homogeneous and heterogeneous) catalysed esterification processes
have been extensively used for the production of bio-Diesel. Esterification Processes for
oils containing high free fatty acid (non edible oils, animal fat, waste oil) are energy
intensive. Use of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysed processes for
transesterification suffer from heat transfer and Mass transfer limitations, as oil and
alcohol are not completely miscible (Canakei and Van Gerpen, 2001; Freedman et al.,
1986; Vicente et al., 2004). Use of Process intensification technologies such as
ultrasonic and microwaves can overcome these problems. It has been estimated that the
use of microwave for transesterification of commercial seed oils with methanol in the
presence of various catalysts gives yields greater than 97% with a reaction times of less
than 2 minutes and are more energy efficient (Balat et al., 2008). Other intensification
technologies such as static mixers, micro-channel oscillatory flow and cavitation are
also very promising. These can reduce molar ratio of alcohol to oil as well as energy
inputs due to increase in heat and mass transfer rates.
Use of enzymatic transesterification of triglycerides is environmentally more
attractive as compared to conventional physiochemical methods (alkali and acid
esterification) (Noureddini et al., 2005; Singh and Singh, 2010). High cost of enzyme is
one of the limitations of this process. This can be partially offset by immobilisation of
the enzymes, which helps in the stability, recovery and reuse of lipases. Different
methods of immobilisation include; physical adsorption on solid support, Covalent
bonding to a solid support and Physical entrapment within a polymer matrix
(Noureddini et al., 2005). However, use of polymer matrix for physical entrapment of
23

lipase by sol- gel method appears to be better option due to ease of preparation and
greater stability and activity of lipase over longer period. A number of studies on
different lipases such as Mucor michi, Candida antartica, Pseudomonas cepacia,
Porcinepancreatic for different triglycerides and alcohols to optimise reaction
parameters such as molar ratios of reactants, kinetics, temperature, enzyme loading,
stability and reusability. Use of multiple enzymes in sequence for varied substrates has
given encouraging results.
However, biggest bottle neck in the use of enzymes for production of biodiesel
lies in their high initial and replacement cost. Research should focus on reducing
enzyme cost and increasing enzyme activity for large scale economically viable
industrial applications.
2.2.2 Bio-oils from Micro Algae
Microalgae have emerged as a potential source of bio oil due to its high oil productivity
as compared to other crops (Nigam and Singh, 2011) as shown in Table 2.2.
There are three main categories of micro algae namely: Diatoms, Green algae
and Golden algae. Each category has thousands of species.
The diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) not only dominate the phytoplankton of the
oceans, but are also found in fresh and brackish water. Approximately 100,000 species
are known to exist. Due to its ability to grow in saline, there is a great potential for them
in the area with brackish water, where it is not possible to grow normal oil crops.
The Golden algae have nearly 1000 species and are also quite similar to diatoms,
with a more complex pigmentation system. The golden algae produce natural oils and
carbohydrates as storage compounds.
The green algae (Chlorophyceae) grow quite abundantly, especially in
freshwater. The main storage compound for green algae is starch, although it is possible
to produced oil under certain conditions
There are number of critical areas which require in depth studies for large scale
exploitation of this energy source. These include; studies on algal biology and
physiology, strain isolation, siting, resource management, regulation and policy,
cultivation, harvesting, dewatering.oil extraction, conversion to fuels, co product
production etc.
24

Table 2.1. Conversion efficiencies of enzymatic esterification process used for different
oils (Singh and Singh, 2010).
S.N. Oil Alcohol Lipase
Conversion
(%)
Solvent
1. Rapeseed 2-Ethyl-1-hexanol C. rugosa 97 None
2.
Mowrah, Mango,
Kernel, Sal,
C,-C, alcohols
M. miehei (Lipozyme IM-
20)
86.8-99.2 None
3. Sunflower Ethanol M. miehei (Lipozyme) 83 None
4. Fish Ethanol C. antarctica 100 None
5.
Recycled
restaurant Grease
Ethanol
J. cepacia (Lipase PS-30)
+ C. antarctica (Lipase
SP435)
85.4 None
6.
Tallow,
Soyabean,
Rapeseed
Primary alcohols: methanol,
ethanol, propanol, butanol, and
isobutanol; Secondary alcohols:
isopropanol and 2-butanol
M. miehei (Lipozyme IM-
60) C. antarctica (SP435)
M. miehei (Lipozyme
IM60)
94.8-98.5;
61.2-83.8;
19.4-65.5
Hexane; Hexane;
None
7. Sunflower Methanol; Ethanol P. juorescens 3; 79; 82
None;
Petroleum ether;
none
8. Palm kernel; Oil Methanol; Ethanol L. cepucin (Lipase PS-30) 15; 72 None : None
9. Soyabean oil Methganol
Rhizomucor miehei
(Lipozyme IM-77)
enzyme amount 0.9
BAUN
92.2 Molar ratio 3:4:1
10. Soyabean oil Methanol C. antarctica lipase 93.8
> molar
equivalent
MeOH
11. Sunflower oil Methanol
Pseudomonas fluorescens
(Amano AK)
(>90)
Oil : methanol
(1: 4.5)
12. Palm oil Methanol Rhizopus oryzae 55 (w/w) Water

2.2.3 Bio- Ethanol
Bio Ethanol production through fermentation is an age old process. Fermentation is
carried out with yeast strains such as Saccharomyees cerevisiae, S. uvarum,
Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Kluyveromyces sp. etc.

25

Table 2.2. The oil productivity of different crops
Oil crops Productivity (gallons per acre per year)
Corn 18
Soybeans 48
Safflower 83
Sunflower 102
Rapeseed 17
Oil palm 635
Microalgae 500015,000

India is second largest producer of bio ethanol from sugar based substrates in the
world after Brazil. 5% alcohol is blended in the petrol sold in the country. With the rise
in the price of oil in the international market, the cost of production has become
favourable and no subsidy is required, in contrast to subsidised bio-ethanol produced in
USA and Europe, where main feed stock is costly grain. However, due to limited
cultivation area available for cane sugar in view of food security issues, it is important
to diversify the feedstock to agricultural residues.
There is a need for the development of genetically modified stable yeast strains
suitable for different feed stocks. Stability of the yeast strain is essential for ensuring a
prolonged continuous process, In order to improve stability of the yeast, new strains
should have better pH, ethanol, osmo and temperature tolerance. High osmo and ethanol
tolerance will allow greater recycling rates of the stillage, thus reducing energy
consumption. This will also result in prolonged stable fermentation process increasing
the overall productivity.
Studies show that bacteria such as Zymomonas mobilis, Clostridium
thermosaccharolyticum, Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus) can also be used for ethanol
fermentation (Nigam and Singh, 2011). Thermophilic bacterial fermentations would
increase energy efficiency in distillation. Many bacteria also have the capability of
fermenting pentose sugars, thus increasing conversion efficiencies. As studies are at
bench scale, sustained efforts are need for the development of full-scale bacterial
ethanol fermentation process.
In addition residual stillage management is essential to further improve the
energy efficiency and economics of the fermentation process. It has been estimated that
26

nearly 75% to 100% of the overall process heat demand could be met from biogass
produced by anaerobic digestion of stillage.
2.2.4 Bio Gas Slurry Management
Management of biogas slurry from large plants is the major bottle neck in large scale
propagation of this technology for power generation. There is a chronic shortage of
chemical fertiliser in the country. A huge subsidy is given to the farmer so as keep the
input costs low. Large foreign exchange is spent on the import of raw material and
fertiliser. There is an urgent need to develop techniques for upgrading organic fertiliser,
which could replace urea based chemical fertilisers. Chemical fertilisers in general
destroy soil flora and fauna, which keep the soil alive. Organic fertiliser adds value to
the crop and open export avenues. In addition, it will reduce crippling subsidy burden of
the government. Value addition of the slurry will make biogas based power units
economically more viable, resulting in achieving the targets of MNRE
2.3 Conclusions
Discussion given above shows that this is a unique period in the history of bioenergy
research. There is huge number of opportunities to develop clean and green bioenergy
technologies with low carbon foot print. There is an urgent need to create teams of
scientists in the diverse areas of biotechnology, chemistry, chemical and mechanical
engineering, microbiology etc to undertake focused and time bound programme for
developing new cost effective bio-energy technologies. NIRE can play a very import
role in this direction. This will help in achieving energy security for the country,
especially in the rural areas. At present nearly 70% of the rural population does not have
access to commercial energy. This is the main reason for deprivation and
underdevelopment of the rural areas. New bio-energy technologies can transform the
face of rural India.

References
1. Balat M., Balat H. and Oz C. (2008) Progress in bioethanol processing. Progress
in Energy and Combustion Science, 34:551-573.
2. Canakei M. and Van Gerpen J. (2001) Transactions of the ASAE, 44:1429-1436.
3. Freedman B., Butterfield R.O. and Pryde E.H. (1986) JACCS. 63(10).
27

4. Nigam P.S. and Singh A. (2011) Progress in Energy and Combustion Science,
37.
5. Noureddini H., Gao X. and Philkana R.S. (2005) Bioresource Technology,
96:769-777.
6. Singh S.P. and Singh D. (2010) Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,
14:200-216.
7. Vicente G., Martinez M. and Aracil J. (2004) Bioresource Technology, 92:297-
305.

28

CHAPTER 3
BIOMASS ASSESSMENT FOR GROWTH OF
BIOENERGY: A CASE STUDY IN ASSAM, INDIA
D.C. Baruah, Moonmoon Hiloidhari

Abstract
Agricultural residue biomass could be a prospective source for decentralized electricity
generation in agriculturally dominant countries like India. A large amount of agricultural
residue is distributed over the rural farm areas of India. Precise assessment of its
availability is important for successful rural biomass energy planning. Application of
Remote sensing and GIS could increase the preciseness of assessment and hence aids in
successful renewable energy planning.
The present study is conducted in a representative district of Assam to assess the
potential agricultural residue biomass production for decentralized electricity
generation. Appropriately validated satellite images and other ancillary data are used in
GIS environment for mapping the potential energy generation. It is observed that, rice
crop residues share maximum portion of electricity generation potential followed by
sugarcane and rapeseed & mustard in the study area. The village level estimated
electricity would be sufficient to fulfill the domestic electricity demand in most of the
rural areas of the region. In view of the existing electricity consumption pattern and
shortage of grid connected electricity supply in rural areas of India, decentralized
biomass based electricity generation could be an attractive option in rural areas of
Assam.
Keywords: Biomass energy, Agricultural residue, Decentralized electricity, GIS
3.1 Introduction
The energy demand has increased many folds in the recent decades. Population growth
and improved living standard, urbanization, industrialization etc. are the obvious factors
contributing to the increased demand for energy. In global scale the increase is at
exponential rate. The similar rates of increase in demand are also common in many
countries including India. The alarming fact is that the uncertainty to fulfill the increased
demand is also increasing. The declining reserve of the fossil fuel has been serious

29

concern. Reserves of our prime energy sources i.e., conventional fossil fuels (oil, coal,
natural gas) are declining at an alarming rate. Climate change catastrophe linked with
fossil fuel consumption has been another issue deepening the energy uncertainty.
Sustainable alternative energy sources have been considered as one of the
solutions to reduce such uncertainty. Renewable energy sources are getting worldwide
attention. There has been national commitment to increase the share of renewable
energy in total energy mix. India is on a fast track path of economic development
through growth and progress in crucial sectors of its economy. It is projected that the
current rate economic development at 8-9% would sustain for next couple of decades.
To achieve the development target, India requires more energy input. However, our
indigenous fossil fuel reserve is not adequate to meet the demand and therefore, a large
quantity of oil is imported from foreign countries. A substantial part of the GDP is
invested for oil import which otherwise could be used for other requirement if we had a
sufficient indigenous oil reserve. To meet the ever increasing energy demand, to fulfill
the international commitments for cleaner development and most importantly to attain
energy security, India has taken serious steps to harness its renewable energy resources.
Due to tropical location, India receives abundant solar radiation most of the year. Many
windy locations in coastal and hilly areas are favorable sites for trapping wind energy.
Numerous rivers and its tributaries are potential sites for harnessing hydro energy. Rich
forests, agricultural diversity opens up opportunities in biomass energy generation.
Ocean and geothermal prospective in the country are also under research consideration.
Thus, all these favorable conditions project India as a highly rich country in the world in
terms of renewable energy development. However, the success of applications of
renewable energy and hence stimulation of its growth to all corners of the territory
requires proper planning. There are several factors which influence the successful
applications and hence growth of renewable energy. The availability of resources,
soundness of conversion technology, prevailing economic competitiveness etc are some
of such factors governing success of renewable energy application. Amongst these
factors, adequacy of resources are considered major factor.
A strategic plan for renewable energy applications in a region could be prepared
and implemented accordingly, if precise assessment on resource availability could be
known. The availability of renewable energy resources is spatial and temporally varying
in nature. Therefore, their assessment should also be made considering spatial and
30

temporal factors. Spatial and temporal assessments help regional planning of renewable
energy programme. Such assessment is also expected to be useful for the state like
Assam, where growth of renewable energy has not been impressive till now. The state of
Assam is one of the richest regions considering its fertile land and adequate rainfall.
However, economically it is one of the backward states of the country. Assessment of its
renewable natural resources is expected to assist growth of renewable energy
applications in this region. Remote sensing and GIS could play a significant role in
assessing the status of renewable energy resources of a region and also for planning
cost-effective exploitation of such resources. The major advantages of remote sensing
and GIS over traditional methods (survey, secondary data collection etc.) are (i) local to
global coverage, (ii) precise and timely information, and (iii) data retrieve and reiterative
capacity at user convenience.
Agricultural residue such as rice straw has been recognized as a potential
biomass energy feedstock. Energy generation from crop residue has been reported from
many parts of the world including Denmark (Nikolaisen et al., 1998). Utilization of rice
residue for heat and electricity generation (Suramaythangkoor and Gheewala, 2010),
bioethanol (Binod et al., 2010), and biogas production (Lei et al., 2010) are reported as
some attractive options. Agricultural residue biomass could be considered as potential
alternative fuel for power generation in rural areas of Assam. Thus, in this context, the
present study is carried out in a representative district in Assam to (i) map spatial
distribution of agricultural residue biomass, and (ii) estimate potential decentralized
electricity generation using agricultural residue biomass.
The present study is conducted in Udalguri District of Assam, India. Udalguri
district is one of the twenty seven districts of Assam. This district is bounded by Bhutan
and Arunachal Pradesh in the north, Sonitpur district in the east, Darrang district in the
south and Baksa district in the west. It covers an area of 1852 sq.km. However, majority
of the areas are rural dominant. Geographically the district is located in 26
0
46 to
27
0
77N and 92
0
08 to 95
0
15E. Geographical location of the district is also shown in
Fig. 3.1. There are 11 development blocks and 802 villages in the district. As per 2011
Census, total population of the district is about 0.83 million. Rice based agriculture is
the major livelihoods for the people of this region. Winter rice cropping during the
month of June to December is widely followed in the district. In some cases summer
rice is also cultivated.
31

Fig. 3.1. Geographical location of the study area (The district is shown as seen in FCC
bands of LISS III satellite image. In the Assam map, undivided Udalguri and Darrang
districts are shown together)
3.2 Materials and methods
3.2.1 Data
Assessment of crop residue biomass has been done using remote sensing data,
geographical data and crop production statistics concerning the study area. Details about
the data are described below.
3.2.1.1 Remote sensing data
IRS-P6 (Indian Remote sensing Satellite) LISS III (Linear Imaging and Self Scanning
Sensor) multi-spectral satellite images (spatial resolution 23.5 m) pertaining to the study
area are collected from National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC, Government of India).
The study area falls across multiple satellite scenes; hence the scenes are subsetted and
then mosaicked to make a single raster layer covering the entire area.

32

3.2.1.2 Geographical data
Following geographical data are also required for the assessment of crop residue
biomass.
a) Survey of India (SOI) 1:50000 topographical maps are used as reference maps
for georeferencing the satellite images.
b) District administrative boundary maps, development block (DB) and village
maps are collected from the district administration of Udalguri district. These
maps are collected in hard copy or soft copy format. These maps are then
processed to make it useful for GIS analysis.
3.2.1.3 Agricultural crop data
The satellite imagery provides the information on area coverage by a crop.
Quantification of the residue requires the productivity data of crop. The spatially varying
productivity data could not be accounted from the satellite imagery. Crop yield data of
the concerned locations reported by recognized agency (Govt. recognized) has been used
for the present study. Based on the information collected during the study, 13 crops are
identified as potential to contribute crop residue biomass (Table 3.1). For mapping of
agricultural residue biomass potential, these 13 crops and their residues are considered
as given in Table 3.1.
3.2.1.4 Processing of satellite image data
Prior to interpreting and mapping the features present in a satellite image, accurate
geometric rectification is an important aspect. The satellite imagery is geometrically
rectified into a Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection using ground control
points (GCP) taken from SOI topographic maps of 1:50000 scale. While georeferencing,
GCPs are chosen in such a way that they can be easily identified both in topographic
map and satellite image (e.g. road and railway line crossings). The image registration is
also verified with the GCPs collected during field verification. A false colour composite
(FCC) of the bands 2 (green), 3 (red) and 4 (near IR) displayed to blue, green and red
colour, respectively, is then created. Similarly, brightness, contrast values of the images
are also adjusted for accurate identification of features present in an image.

33

3.2.2 Mapping of crop residue biomass
Spatial mapping for crop residue biomass is done using information of spatial
distribution of crop residue biomasses from all the crops under consideration on annual
basis. In general, rice based farming system prevails in Assam. Therefore, available
satellite image concerning the growing period of winter rice (June-December), which is
a major crop of this region, is considered to map the cropland. The details of the
mapping procedure are given below.
Table 3.1. Types of crop and their residues
Sl. No Crop Type of residue biomass
1 Rice husk straw
2 Wheat - straw
3 Maize cobs stalk
4 Gram - straw
5 Pigeon pea - stalk
6 Lentil - straw
7 Green gram - straw
8 Black gram - straw
9 Peas and beans - straw
10 Sesame - straw
11 Rapeseed and Mustard - straw
12 Linseed - straw
13 Sugarcane leaves and tops bagasse
3.2.2.1 Mapping of rice cropland
Mapping is carried out using GIS software ArcGIS 9.2. While interpreting and
delineating the rice fields, guidelines for IRS-P6 LISS III image interpretation provided
by the National Remote sensing Centre (NRSC), India are followed. After mapping the
rice fields, village wise availability of rice crop area is estimated by overlaying the rice
field vector layer with the village vector layer using Overlay analysis function of ArcGIS
9.2.

34

3.2.2.2 Mapping of cropland for crops other than rice
The district level production statistics of all other crops (except rice) are used to map
their respective cropland. The village level spatial maps of these crops are generated
with an assumption that crops other than rice are grown in proportion to rice area.
3.2.3 Estimation of crop residue biomass
After mapping the cropland, the spatial availability of crop residue biomass (CRB) is
estimated using the following expression (Hiloidhari and Baruah, 2011a,b):
=
=
n
i
j i A j i Y j i R j TCRB
1
) , ( ) , ( ) , ( ) ( (3.1)
where, TCRB(j) is the theoretical crop residue biomass availability at j
th
location from
all crops, tonne; R(i,j) is the residue production ratio of i
th
crop at j
th
location; Y(i,j) is
the yield of i
th
crop at j
th
location, tonne ha
-1
and A(i,j) is area of i
th
crop at j
th
location,
ha.
Spatial variations of R(i,j) and Y(i,j), attributed mainly by crop variety, soil type,
agricultural practice etc, are not considered in the present study. The value of R(i,j) for
the crops considered in the study have taken from available literature
(http://lab.cgpl.iisc.ernet.in/Atlas/) and given in Table 3.2. Further, five year average
yield of crops grown in the district during 2003 to 2007 as reported by Ministry of
Agriculture, Govt. of India is used (http://agricoop.nic.in/Agristatistics.htm).
Eq. 3.1 is used to estimate the theoretically available CRB. However, the
practical availability of CRB is limited by its competitive uses, harvesting and threshing
practices, and methods of collection of leftover portion. Traditional uses of crop residue,
particularly rice straw as feeds for livestock and as fuel are common for farmers in
Assam. However, in some cases, it is also used to support soil fertility and in
papermaking. More are the competitive uses, lesser is the availability. The harvesting
and threshing practices have remarkable influences on practical availability of CRB.
With manual methods of harvesting, there are wide variations of height of cut and
accordingly its availability. To incorporate such uncertainties, practically available CRB
is estimated using an availability factor as given below:
) , ( ) , ( ) , ( ) , ( ) (
1
j i F j i A j i Y j i R j PCRB
n
i
=

=
(3.2)
35

where, PCRB(J) is the practically available crop residue biomass at j
th
location, tonne;
and F(i,j) is the residue availability factor of i
th
crop at j
th
location. In the present study,
the crop wise as well as spatial variations of F(i,j) is not considered. The value of F(i,j)
for rice straw and other remaining crop residues is taken as 50% and 80%, respectively.
Singh et al. (2008) reported surplus rice straw availability in Punjab as 83.5%. For rice
husk and other crop residues, a similar availability factor of 75% also reported by
Purohit (2007).
Table 3.2. Residue production ratio (RPR) of different crop residues
Crop residue RPR
Rice straw 1.50
Rice husk 0.20
Wheat straw 1.50
Maize cobs, stalk 0.30, 2.00
Gram straw 1.10
Pigeon pea stalk 2.50
Lentil straw 1.80
Green gram straw 1.10
Black gram straw 1.10
Peas and beans straw 0.50
Sesame straw 1.47
Rapeseed and mustard straw 1.80
Linseed straw 1.47
Sugarcane leaves and tops, bagasse 0.05, 0.33

3.2.4 Estimation of crop residue biomass power potential
Conversion of biomass to energy is undertaken using two main process technologies
viz., thermo-chemical, and bio-chemical. Combustion, pyrolysis, gasification and
liquefaction are distinguishable thermo-chemical conversion processes. Similarly, bio-
chemical conversion encompasses digestion (biogas) and fermentation (ethanol).
Among the thermo-chemical conversion technologies, combustion is a matured
technology specifically suitable for loose biomass. The combustion process convert
chemical energy stored in biomass into heat, mechanical power and electricity using
various equipments, e.g. furnaces, boilers, steam turbines and generators. It is possible
36

to burn any type of biomass with a moisture content of less than 50%. Literatures are
available citing typical size of combustion based biomass power plant from a few kW
up to hundreds of MW with net conversion efficiency between 20% and 40%
(Demirbas, 2001; Nussbaumer, 2003).
The Lower heating value (LHV) is an important parameter that is used to
estimate energy potential of CRB. Using the LHV, the energy potential is estimated as
follows:
) , ( ) , ( ) , ( ) , ( ) , ( ) (
1
j i C j i F j i A j i Y j i R j CRBE
n
i
=

=
(3.3)
where CRBE(j) is the crop residue biomass energy at j
th
location, MJ and C(i,j) is
the lower heating value of the i
th
crop at j
th
location, MJ tonne
-1
. The spatial variation of
C(i,j) is not accounted in the present investigation. The LHV of crop residues reported in
literature is used in the present analysis (Singh et al., 2008).
Incorporating net conversion efficiency for biomass combustion and duration of
operation, power potential is determined as given in the following expression
T
j i C j i F j i A j i Y j i R K
j CRBP
n
i
) , ( ) , ( ) , ( ) , ( ) , (
) (
1

=
=
(3.4)
where CRBP(J) is the crop residue biomass power at j
th
location, kW; K is the overall
energy conversion efficiency, and T is the annual operating duration, seconds.
Continuous operation throughout the year is considered for assessment of power. A
conservative value of K as 20% is considered for the present study.
3.3 Results and discussions
3.3.1 Spatial distribution of croplands
Altogether 69592 ha of croplands are spatially distributed in Udalguri district and rice is
cultivated throughout the region. Spatial distribution of croplands in the district is
presented in Fig. 3.2. Rice based mono-cropping has been the predominant practice till
now in Assam. However, with the increase of farm power availability and emphasis by
the Government to increase crop intensity with more number of crops per year, it is
expected that the residue shares of other crops like oil seeds and pulses would also
increase. Moreover, such increase in cropping intensity would also enhance the spatial
and temporal availability of crop residue in near future.
37

Fig. 3.2. Spatial distribution of croplands in Udalguri district
3.3.2 Spatial availability of crop residue biomass (CRB)
District level crop residue biomass availability is presented in Table 3.3. Theoretical
availability of CRB at annual basis in Udalguri district is estimated at 142557.58 tonnes,
out of which 83596.56 tonnes would be practically available for bio-energy. Rice,
sugarcane, rapeseed and mustard are the crops contributing major portion of residues in
the region.
Rice based mono-cropping has been the predominant practice till now in Assam.
However, with the increase of farm power availability and emphasis by the Government
to increase crop intensity with more number of crops per year, it is expected that the
residue shares of other crops like oil seeds and pulses would also increase. Moreover,
such increase in cropping intensity would also enhance the spatial and temporal
availability of crop residue in near future.
3.3.2 Spatial availability of crop residue biomass (CRB): village level
Village level CRB potential is assessed and presented in Fig. 3.1. It is noticed that the
cropped areas are typically sandwiched between reserve forests, rural settlement and the
rivers. The spatial distributions of surplus crop residue biomass are also presented as
38

CRB intensity (CRB availability per ha of geographical areas) for Udalguri is presented
in Fig. 3.2. Based on the CRB intensity (tonne ha
-1
), villages are classified as high (>1),
medium (0.5-1) and low (<0.5).
Table 3.3. District level crop residue biomass availability in Udalguri district
S.No. Residue type
Availability of biomass (tonnes)
Theoretical Practical
1 Rice straw 101498.35 50749.17
2 Rice husk 13533.11 10826.49
3 Wheat straw 5567.62 4454.10
4 Maize straw 350.74 280.60
5 Maize cob 52.61 42.09
6 Gram straw 46.70 37.36
7 Arhar stalk 313.16 250.53
8 Lentil stalk 651.38 521.11
9 Green gram straw 358.26 286.61
10 Black gram straw 1087.80 870.24
11 Peas and beans straw 226.17 180.94
12 Sesame straw 761.12 608.89
13
Rapeseed & mustard
straw
7776.51 6221.21
14 Linseed straw 377.49 301.99
15 Sugarcane leaves & tops 1310.07 1048.06
16 Sugarcane bagasse 8646.48 6917.18
Total 142557.58 83596.56
4.3. Spatial availability of crop residue biomass power (CRBP)
Overall, accumulated CRBP potential in Udalguri district is estimated as 5.53 MW on
annual basis as shown in Table 3.4.
At crop level, the highest power potential of 3.32 MW is contribute by rice crop
followed by 0.71 MW from sugarcane, 0.68 MW from rapeseed & mustard, respectively
(Table 3.4). Village level CRBP potential in Udalguri is presented in Fig. 3.3.
In the present study, the sizes of the potential power plant have been determined
for continuous operation throughout the year. However, considering the existing pattern
39

of rural electricity demand, the duration of power generation could be reduced.
Presently, only domestic loads containing lighting, fan, and TV etc. dominate the rural
electricity demand. Accordingly, the larger size power plant could be planned than the
assessment made above, if operating hours are reduced. For example, sizes of the plant
would be double, if generation is planned for twelve hours a day, which would fulfill the
critical needs of the rural people. While planning the installation of residue based power
plants, due consideration must be given for the characteristics of connected loads,
existing as well as future, case to case basis.

Fig. 3.1. Village wise distribution of surplus CRB in Udalguri district

Fig. 3.2. Village wise distribution of CRB intensity in Udalguri district
High (>1 tonne ha
-1
), medium (0.5-1 tonne ha
-1
) and low (<0.5 tonne ha
-1
)
40

Table 3.4. Crop wise potential of CRBP in Udalguri district
Crop residue Crop wise potential of CRBP, kW
Rice 3326
Wheat 484
Maize 34
Gram 4
Arhar 30
Lentil 53
Green gram 29
Black gram 88
Pulses 18
Sesame 55
Rapeseed & Mustard 671
Linseed 27
Sugarcane 713
District total, kW 5533

The prevailing practice of single cropping with the field remain vacate for about
six months opens up possibilities of growing some other suitable crop. This would
increase the prospect of crop residue availability in the region. Further, the productivity
of rice in Udalguri district is also lower than the national average. Lack of modern
farming facilities, poor economic condition of the farmers and lack of awareness are
believed to be some causes of lower productivity. The additional generation and assured
supply of electricity to the rural communities are expected to take care of these issues.
The plan for appropriate pattern of decentralized generation (size and number)
would require further study involving transport network and demand pattern. The output
of the present investigation is expected to promote such plan. The village level
electricity demand needs to be investigated for determining straw-fired power plant
sizes. Electricity consumption pattern at village level in the district could not be
investigated in the present study. However, from a related study conducted in a nearby
village (Napaam village of Sonitpur district), the peak electricity demand in a rural
household cluster was found to range between 18 kW and 65 kW (Hazarika, 2010).
Thus, it could be expected that power achievable from the straw-fired plants in rural
areas would provide a significant portion of electricity demand in rural areas.
41

Fig. 3.3. CRBP potential among the villages in Udalguri district
3.4 Conclusion
Spatial assessment of biomass resources availability is important bioenergy planning.
Satellite data in remote sensing and GIS platform have been widely used for such
assessment. Use of such tools increases the preciseness of assessment and hence aids in
successful planning.
Rice dominated agriculture characterized by single cropping prevails in this
region. Major chunk of crop residue remains unutilized or underutilized. The village
level mapping of the crop residue biomass resources and the generated information
could be useful for decentralized renewable energy planning. There exist spatial
variations of the availability of these resources amongst the villages. The availability of
surplus crop residue biomass could be increased further with increase in crop
productivity and crop intensity. The village level estimated power would be sufficient
to fulfill the domestic electricity demand in most of the rural area.
Considering the deficient and inadequate supply of grid-electricity, the power
generation through any of the proven routes could be feasible. However, besides
technological aspect, the environmental aspect should also be considered while making
effective plan of the utilization of these resources.
42

In view of the existing electricity consumption pattern and shortage of grid
connected electricity supply in rural areas of India, decentralized biomass based
electricity generation could be an attractive option in rural areas of Assam.
Acknowledgments
The authors duly acknowledge the Natural Resources Data Management System
(NRDMS) of Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India for providing
financial assistance for the research work.
References
1. Binod P., Sindhu R., Singhania R.R., Vikram S., Devi L., Nagalakshmi S. et al.
(2010) Bioethanol production from rice straw: An overview. Bioresour.
Technol., 101:4767-4774.
2. Biomass Resource Atlas of India. CGPL: Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
http://lab.cgpl.iisc.ernet.in/Atlas/.
3. Demirbas A. (2001) Biomass resource facilities and biomass conversion
processing for fuels and chemicals. Energy Convers. Manage., 42:1357-1378.
4. Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of
India. Agricultural statistics at a glance 2010.
http://agricoop.nic.in/Agristatistics.htm.
5. Hazarika S. (2010) Reduction of line losses (I
2
R) in electrical network using
geo-electrical options: a case study in a rural area of Assam (India). Unpublished
M. Tech. Thesis, Department of Energy, Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam,
India.
6. Hiloidhari M. and Baruah D.C. (2011a) Rice straw residue biomass potential for
decentralized electricity generation: a GIS based study in Lakhimpur district of
Assam, India. Energy Sustain. Dev. 15:214-222.
7. Hiloidhari M. and Baruah D.C. (2011b) Crop residue biomass for decentralized
electrical power generation in rural areas (part 1): Investigation of spatial
availability. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 15:1885-1892.
8. Lei Z., Chen J., Zhang Z. and Sugiura N. (2010) Methane production from rice
straw with acclimated anaerobic sludge: Effect of phosphate supplementation.
Bioresour. Technol. 101:4343-4348.
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9. Nikolaisen L., Nielsen C., Larsen M.G., Nielsen V., Zielke U., Kristensen J.K.,
et al. (1998) Straw for Energy Production: Technology-Environment- Economy.
2nd ed. Denmark: The Centre for Biomass Technology.
10. Nussbaumer T. (2003) Combustion and co-combustion of biomass:
Fundamentals, technologies, and primary measures for emission reduction.
Energy Fuels, 17:1510-1521.
11. Purohit P. (2007) Assessment of CDM potential of Biomass Gagifier based
power projects in India. In: Proceedings of the 1
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National conference) on Advances in Energy research. Indian Institute of
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12. Singh J., Panesar B.S. and Sharma S.K. (2008) Energy potential through
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13. Suramaythangkoor T. and Gheewala S.H. (2010) Potential alternatives of heat
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87:128-133.
44

CHAPTER 4
BIO MASS FUEL GENERATION- AN ULTIMATE
ENERGY RESOURCE
Ajeet Kumar Upadhyay

Abstract
The three main fossil fuels namely coal, natural gas and petro-oil applying current
technology and assuming continued consumption of present day rates are respectively
less than 1000 years, 35 years and 16 years. Modern industry is all most totally
dependent on these limited supplies. Approximately 93 % of fossil fuel consumed
throughout the world is for energy production, with only 7 % being used by industry for
the production of solvents, plastics and other important organic chemicals. The
continual depletion of global fossil fuel energy has generated an ever increasing need to
seek out alternative sources of energy. It cannot doubted that fossil fuel will disappears
completely in the not too distant future, there is now a growing appreciation of
biological energy systems and that bio technological advances in this areas may soon
bring economic reality to selected processes, bio mass such as forest, agricultural and
animal residues and industrial and domestic organic wastes can now be converted by
physico-chemical and / or fermentation processes to clean fuels and petrochemical
substitutes, as fossil fuel resources are depleted and become increasingly expensive,
conversion of organic residues to liquid fuels becomes a more economically attractive
consideration. Bio mass can be considered as a renewable energy source, and can be
converted in to either direct energy or energy carrier compounds by direct combustion,
anaerobic digestion systems, destructive distillation, gasification chemical hydrolysis
and bio chemical hydrolysis. Bio mass is the only alternative energy resource and re-
generable supply of feed stocks for the chemical industry.
Key words: global fossil fuel energy, fermentation processes, renewable energy
source.
4.1 Introduction
Energy for industrial, commercial and residential purposes, electricity generation and
transportation is primarily supplied by fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil) and nuclear power.

45

It is now widely believed that climate change (Belamy and Barrett, 2007) is strongly
linked to the increased level of green house gases in the atmosphere, and that human
activity especially through the combustion of fossil fuels is a major contributing factor.
One of the main greenhouse gases, accounting for 65% of global warming, is
carbon dioxide. Fossil fuels are the stored energy or ancient sunlight of aeons and
millennia ago that mankind has been burning extensively over a few centuries and more
prolifically in recent decades. When such fossil fuels are burned for energy, carbon
dioxide that has been locked away for all those years is released into the atmosphere
greatly adding to global green house gases. In contrast, when present-day plant material
is burned the carbon locked into the biomass for relatively short period of time is
released back into the atmosphere thus recycling the carbon dioxide. Consequently, the
system is relatively carbon neutral unlike the burning of fossil fuels.
Global emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels over the first five years of
this third millennium were four times greater than for the preceding ten years, despite
the decisions of the Kyoto agreement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Levels of
carbon dioxide in the world atmosphere are 380 ppm, about 100 ppm higher than before
the industrial revolution 200 years ago. It is belived that should carbon di oxide levels
increase to about 450-500 ppm there could be irreversible climate change.
Energy issues have now become a subject of global concern and there has been a
noticeable escalation of public and political interest. Everyone has an interest in the
future of our planet! Energy demand is expected to double between 2000 and 2050 as a
result of the increase in global populations and the consequent growth in gross domestic
product. As a result, the future demand for, and supply of, energy is an increasingly
important issue for nations worldwide.
Fossil fuel energy sources have been the lifeblood of all industrial civilizations,
and have greatly contributed to the current concern over green house gases. While most
industrialized nations are now attempting to curtail their carbon emissions it is now
required of them to help developing economics who seek to improve living standards by
assisting them to by-pass their current use of ineffectual and dirty energy technologies
that fuelled the industrial development of the former, but mortgaged the environment in
the process.

46

4.2 Bio fuels from biomass
Bio energy (bio fuel) is basically the production of combustible/usable energy from
biological sources. This can be liquid fuels, e.g. bio ethanol, biodiesel; gaseous fuels,
e.g. methane; or direct solid heat energy, e.g. wood.
What are the main biological energy sources or crops? (Bevan and Franseen,
2006)
Sugar crops sugar cane, sugar beet: sugars extracted and fermented to bioethanol.
Starch crops maize (corn), barley, wheat, oats, cassava: starch
enzymatically hydrolysed to sugars and fermented to bio
ethanol.
Cellulose crops/wastes straw, bagasse, woody wastes, cropped trees: the
hemicelluloses can be enzymatically hydrolysed to
sugars and fermented to bio ethanol.
Oil crops rapeseed, linseed, sunflower, castor oil, ground-nut: oils
extracted and transesterified to biodiesel.
Organic wastes/manures complex microbial fermentations to methane/ methanol.
Solid energy crops coppiced trees, sorghum, reeds, grasses, eucalyptus: direct
burning alone or with other conventional sources, e.g.
coal.
Many woody crops such as alder, willow and birch, which can be readily
coppiced, can be grown to offer direct fuel sources to be used in power stations to
generate electricity. Some considerable success has already been achieved in
Scandinavia and Canada. In other parts of Europe with considerable redundant farmland
resulting from reductions in cereal cultivation, this land could be used for the cultivation
of woody perennials or coppiced trees for fuel energy production.
The recent non-food crop initiative in the UK encourages the cultivation of crops
that can be processed into biofuels (Burke, 2007), construction materials, packaging,
specialty chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Similar programmes occur in other EU
countries using set- aside land to reduce overproduction of food crops. The conversion
of biomass to usable fuels can be accomplished by biological or chemical means or by a
combination of both. The main end-products are methane, ethanol and biodiesel,
47

although other products may arise depending on initial biomass and the processes
utilized, e.g. solid fuels, hydrogen, low-energy gases, methanol and longer-chain
hydrocarbons.
The concept of cultivating plant biomass especially for energy supply is based on
the fact that much higher yields of fixed carbon are attainable from well planned
plantation methods than from harvesting natural vegetation or collecting agricultural or
industrial wastes (Herrera, 2006). Programmes of this type are now being extensively
planned and practiced in many countries throughout the world. Sugar cane and corn are
the two principal crops that are being developed (primarily for bio ethanol production)
in Brazil, Australia, the USA and South Africa, whereas more lignocelluloses-based
programmes are being developed in Sweden, Canada and the USA. In the latter case,
plans are being made to grow forests for conversion into liquid fuels. Cost analysis of all
of these processes offers considerable encouragement, in particular with sugar cane
conversion.
Energy-crop plantations will undoubtedly supply meaningful amounts of energy
in the near future. The problem of water deficiency is very real, however, and rainfall is
most often the limiting factor operating in other-wise ideal conditions of solar radiation
intensity, annual hours of sunshine, mild winters and an abundance of good-quality land.
In certain areas of the world it is possible that such plantations will centre on the use of
organic wastes, namely agricultural, municipal and industrial. Conversion to bio fuels
could well serve as substitutes for petroleum energy and as a chemical feedstock.
The technical processing of the bio mass depends on many factors including
moisture level and chemical complexity. With materials having a high water content,
aqueous processing is normal to avoid the need for substrate drying. Alcoholic
fermentation to ethanol, anaerobic digestion to methane, as well as chemical reduction
to oily hydrocarbons, are all possible. Low moisture level materials such as wood, straw
and bagasse can be burnt to give heat or to raise steam for electricity generation;
subjected to thermo chemical processes such as gaseous oil, char and eventually
methanol and ammonia; or treated by alkaline or biological hydrolysis to produce
chemical feed stocks for use in further biological energy conversions.

48

4.3 Bio ethanol from biomass
The production of alcohol by fermentation of sugars and starch is an ancient art and is
often considered to be one of the first microbial processes used by humans.
C
6
H
12
O
6
------------------------ 2CH
3
CH
2
OH + 2CO
2

Production of industrial alcohol by fermentation draws heavily upon the
accumulated knowledge of the brewer and the distiller. At present industrial alcohol
production is largely synthetic, i.e. non-microbial, deriving from petrochemical
processes. Petrochemical ethanol is made by the hydration of ethane, and the decline of
microbial production of alcohol dates from large-scale production of ethane from the
1940s. within 20 years of development of large scale petroleum cracking, industrial
production of fermentation alcohol fell below potable alcohol production in most
industrialized nations. Thus, in technologically more advanced countries ethanol is
produced by chemical means. In many developing countries where cheap raw materials
are available, ethanol is still produced for industrial purposes using traditional
fermentation techniques (Anonymous, 2006).
While the benefits of ethanol as a fuel are considerable, it is energy-efficient,
does not produce toxic carbon monoxide during combustion and is, therefore, much less
polluting than by fermentation processes at current oil prices. In this way, ethanol usage,
as with other alternative fuels, is economically hindered in industrialized countries until
oil prices once again take on an upward rise. It is inevitable that it will happen, but
exactly when is hard to predict. However, the world concern of global warming is now
dramatically influencing fuel choice.
A dramatic change in the economics in the alcohol production resulted from the
massive increases in the world prices have more than quadrupled since 1975; the price
of suitable cheap carbohydrates has risen far less on average. Oil-importing nations are
anxious to reduce their import costs and many now subsidies home-produced
alternatives. Since ethanol can be used as a partial or complete substitute for motor fuel
and can also be converted readily into ethane and related compounds, its production
from indigenous and renewable resources is now an attractive alternative strategy.
4.4 Biodiesel from biomass
Biodiesel has chemical characteristics similar to those of conventional diesel fuel in
terms of combustion within modern diesel engines. The oils that can be used include
49

rapeseed, soybean, canola and also waste cooking oils, the methanol is readily obtained
from natural gas, biogas or coal, while the glycerol is a valuable and easily saleable by-
product, which can offset some of the production costs. This basic method is now
widely used throughout the world, especially in parts of Europe and the USA (Loewrier,
1998).
What are the main advantages of biodiesel over fossil fuel-derived diesel?
1. Reduces the dependence on fossil fuel use/imports.
2. Has a lower flash point and does not ignite.
3. Free of toxic aromatic and sulphur compounds.
4. Biodegradable- reducing environmental damage due to spillage.
5. Bio diesel is renewable.
Conventional diesel engines do not require modification to run on biodiesel used
alone or blended with diesel. The fuel economy and power generated are relatively
similar. The most important accolade is that unlike diesel there is no net increase in
carbon di oxide released into the atmosphere with combustion i.e it is carbon neutral.
Biodiesel production is still more expensive than conventional diesel fuel but
governments are now implementing various forms of tax incentives to stimulate usage,
i.e lower fuel tax derogation compared with fossil fuels. Also the subsiding of rapeseed
in EU countries encourages farmers to grow a crop for industrial, economic and
ecological importance rather than continuing with conventional cash food crops.
However, in other parts of the world the substitutability of biodiesel will be determined
by the farmland acreage that can be redirected from food production to vegetable oil
production to serve as bio fuel feed stock. Bio methanol could also be used to replace
the methanol of fossil origin used in the esterification reaction. In this way, bio ethanol
usage would be increased and the biodiesel would be derived from entirely renewable
resources.
4.5 Methane generation from microbial action
Methane gas can be used for generation of mechanical, electrical, and heat energy, and
is now extensively used as fuel source for domestic and heat energy, and is now
extensively used as a fuel source for domestic and industrial purposes through national
gas pipelines or can be converted to methanol and use as fuel in internal combustion
50

engines (Morton, 2006). Such natural gas sources were originally derived from biomass
in ancient times.
Methane gas also exists in the atmosphere and is mainly derived from microbial
action in natural wetlands, rice paddies and enteric fermentation in animals, contributing
about 20%, 20% and 15% respectively to the total methane flux. Domestic cattle are the
major contributors producing about 75% of all animal emissions whereas humans
produce about 0.45. after carbon dioxide, methane is considered to be the next most
important greenhouse gas and is expected to contribute 18% of future warming.
The microbiology of methane production is complex involving mixtures of
anaerobic fermentation of complex organic mixtures is believed to proceed through
three main biochemical phases, each of which requires specific microbiological
parameters. The initial stage requires specific microbiological parameters. The initial
stage requires the solubilisation of complex molecules such as cellulose, fats and
proteins, which make up most raw organic matter. The resultant soluble, low molecular
weight products of this stage are then converted to organic acids; in the final phase of
microbial activity, these acids are specifically decomposed by the methanogenic bacteria
to methane and carbon dioxide.
Methane as an energy source may well have economic value at local small-scale
production levels, but there is considerable doubt about the future of large-scale
commercial processes for methane production (Schubert, 2006). However, anaerobic
digestion of municipal, industrial and agricultural wastes can have positive
environmental value, since it can combine waste removal and stabilization with net fuel
(biogas) formation. The solid or liquid residues can further be used as fertilizer, soil
conditioner or animal feed. Biogas production will continue to have high priority in
alternative energy research.
4.6 Hydrogen from biomass
Hydrogen production can occur by way of photosynthetic bacteria, bio photolysis of
water and by fermentation. In the first two systems, encouraging production of hydrogen
has been achieved, but much research is needed to assess the significance of these
methods at an applied level. It has been estimated that at least 20 to 30 years of research
is needed before any type of functional system is obtained. Although it is possible to
generate hydrogen from glucose by bacterial action, the production rate is too small to
make microbial genesis of hydrogen economic. The efficiency of hydrogen production
51

by anaerobic fermentation is much less than that of methane production by the same
method. Since methane also has higher energy content it would appear that methane
production by microbial processes has much higher practical potential than hydrogen.
4.7 Conclusions
Bio fuel consider as ecological alternatives to fossil fuels, since they are primarily
manufactured by plants and when utilized as fuel the carbon emitted is recycled back
into plants-they are carbon neutral. However, life cycle studies, which examine the
overall energy balance for individual bio fuels, have identified many aspects of net
energy balance for individual bio fuels, have identified many aspects of net energy
balance for individual bio fuels, have identified many aspects of net energy inputs in the
making of a bio fuel: the type of plants, i.e. sugar-cane, corn, soybean, lignocelluloses;
level of fertilizers required; collection and transport to the refinery; pre-treatment needs,
i.e. maceration, enzymatic /acid hydrolysis; bio fuel recovery; by product purification
and valorization; waste treatment; and finally bio fuel storage and distribution.
Acknowledgement
I am grateful thank the management of IITT College of Engineering for providing me
with the necessary setup to perform this paper work and also thanks to Mr. Rakesh
Punia (Lecturer of Chemical Engg.) and Dr. Pankaj , Assistant Prof. MIT college of
Engineering, Honorary Fellow awarded by Australian Institute of High Energetic
Material.
References
1. Anonymous, (2006) House of lords: The EU strategy on biofuels: from field to
fuel. www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/lets-elect/ldeu.com/
2. Belamy D. and Barrett J. (2007) Climate stability: an inconvenient proof. Civil
Engineering, 160:66-72.
3. Bevan M.W. and Franseen M.C.R. (2006) Investing in green and white
biotechnology. Nature Biotechnology, 24:765-767.
4. Burke D. (2007) Biofuels is there a role for GM? Biologist, 54:52-56.
5. Herrera S. (2006) Bonkers about biofuels. Nature Biotechnology, 24:755-760.
6. Loewrier A. (1998) Biodiesel: tomorrows liquid gold. Biologist, 45:17-21.
7. Morton O. (2006) Biofuelling the future. Nature, 444:669-678.
8. Schubert C. (2006) Can biofuels finally take center stage? Nature Biotechnology,
24:777-784.
52

Part II
Thermo-chemical Conversion

53

CHAPTER 5
MODELING OF BIOMASS GASIFICATION PROCESSES
IN DOWNDRAFT GASIFIERS: A REVIEW
Anjireddy Bhavanam, R.C. Sastry

Abstract
Gasification is the conversion of solid carbonaceous fuel into combustible gas by partial
combustion. The gasification of biomass into useful fuel enhances its potential as a
renewable energy resource. Downdraft gasifiers are one among the fixed bed
gasification systems. Downdraft gasification technology has an increased interest among
researchers worldwide due to the possibility to produce mechanical and electrical power
from biomass in small-scale to an affordable price. Downdraft gasification generally
produces a low particulate and low tar (1-2 g/Nm
3
) and is therefore suited for power
generation in small scale applications. Generally gasifier needs to be designed either
based on experimental data on similar fuel fed into a gasifier of similar size or by using
mathematical models of the gasification process in the reactor. The first approach,
though most reliable, is not always practical, leaving modeling as the next best option.
In view of the considerable interest in the gasification process worldwide, it is necessary
to model and predict the performance of the gasifier in priori. There are four basic
approaches to model the gasification process in any system, whether it is fluidized bed,
fixed bed or entrained bed: Kinetic, Equilibrium, Neural network, Computational fluid
dynamics. This paper mainly emphasizes on first two models, which are used to predict
the composition of producer gas, reaction temperature and analyzes the reaction kinetics
and its application in modeling gasification of biomass in downdraft gasification
systems. The contribution of this paper encompasses a sustainable review on modeling
of gasification process.
5.1 Introduction
Biomass is in various forms and it is abundant in many areas of the world. Due to its
abundance, its energy content, and the low emissions to the atmosphere, it could
play a major role in meeting world energy demand. Biomass gasication has
emerged as a very promising technology to fulll the need of a decentralized quality

54

power supply to remote rural areas. Countries like India, where there is no National
power grid, Distributed generation (DG) of power has a great potential for supplying
power to the remote areas (Sharma, 2007). The distributed generation scheme becomes
particularly successful with locally available energy resources. The use of gas engine
integrated with biomass gasier is a technologically and commercially viable option for
the decentralized generation (Banerjee, 2008). In a downdraft fixed bed, the biomass
undergoes combustion, pyrolysis and gasification, one after the other (Gao and Li,
2008). In view of the considerable interest in the gasification process worldwide, it is
necessary to model and predict the performance of the gasifier in priori. Babu and
Chaurasia (2003 a,b) in their studies reported extensive results on modeling and
simulation of various zones in Gasification process. An equilibrium model based on
minimization of Gibbs free energy for wood waste (saw dust), has been simulated
by Altafini et al. (2003). The effects of oxygen factor and moisture content of wood on
gas composition, reaction temperature and calorific values are investigated. The calorific
values of the producer gas decreases as the oxygen factor increases and also as the
moisture content increases (Babu and Sheth, 2004). Melgar et al. (2007) combine the
chemical equilibrium and thermodynamic equilibrium of the global reaction to predict
the final composition of the producer gas. Zainal et al. (2001) have studied an
equilibrium gasification model based on equilibrium constants, to simulate the
gasification process in a downdraft gasifier. They have confirmed that the residence
time of the reactants can be considered to be high enough to reach chemical
equilibrium. From the exhaustive review, It is observed that most of the stoichiometric
equilibrium models of biomass gasication developed in the past describe the equilibria
of reduction reactions, viz. methanecarbon reaction (heterogeneous reaction) and water
gas shift reaction (homogeneous reaction) assuming: (1) the drying, pyrolysis and
gasication processes are lumped together in a single zone, (2) residence time for
reactants is suciently high in order to establish chemical equilibrium and (3) all the
carbon is gasied. Recent theoretical studies include kinetic or non-equilibrium
modeling of the reduction reactions of a downdraft biomass gasier (Wang and
Kinoshita, 1993). These models describe the char reduction process using kinetic rate
expressions obtained from experiments and permit better simulation of the experimental
data where the residence time of gas and biomass is relatively short. The kinetic model
of Wang and Kinoshita (1993) is based on a mechanism of surface reactions in the
reduction zone assuming a given residence time and reaction temperature, while Giltrap
55

et al. (2003) assigned a constant value of char reactivity factor and adopted the kinetics
rate expressions of Wang and Kinoshita in their model to predict the gas concentration
and reaction temperature along the char reduction zone of a downdraft gasier. Babu
and Sheth (2006) suggested an exponentially varying char reactivity factor in order
to predict better simulation of the temperature profile in the reduction reaction
zone. They have also compared the role of constant, linearly varying, and
exponentially varying char reactivity factors on the model predictions; many researchers
(Wang and Kinoshita, 1993; Giltrap et al., 2003; Babu and Sheth, 2006; Sharma, 2008)
adopted the kinetic modeling in the reduction zone of the gasiers after considering
chemical equilibrium of species in the pyrolysis/oxidation zone. This is based on the
fact that char reduction rate, being a surface phenomenon, is slow and the overall
gasication is controlled by char reduction zone (Wang and Kinoshita, 1993).
5.2 Downdraft Gasifiers
There exist mainly two designs for downdraft gasifiers: the Imbert gasifier (Throated or
closed top gasifier) and the stratified downdraft gasifier (Throatless or open core
gasifier). The gasifiers have been used for gasification of bark, wood blocks, chips and
pellets, straw, maize cobs, refuse derived fuel (RDF), and waste pellets with air and O
2

as the gasifying media. The Imbert downdraft or throated downdraft gasifiers are
suitable to handle biomass fuel having ash and moisture content less than five per cent
and 20% respectively. Modifications in the design of grate and hopper of Imbert
downdraft gasifiers have been suggested to gasify non-woody biomass such as coir dust,
cotton stalks, wheat straw, hazelnut shells, leather residues, sludge etc. Throatless
downdraft gasifiers have been developed to overcome the problems of bridging and
channelling in Imbert downdraft gasifiers. The various downdraft gasifier types (Imbert
Closed top and Stratified open top) with design modifications are shown in Fig. 5.1.
5.2.1 Drying
The typical moisture content of freshly cut wood ranges from 30 to 60%, and for some
biomass it can exceed 90%.Every kilogram of moisture in the biomass takes away a
minimum of 2260 kJ of extra energy from the gasifier to vaporize water, and that energy
is not recoverable. For a high level of moisture this loss is a concern, especially for
energy applications. While we cannot do much about the inherent moisture residing
within the cell structure, efforts may be made to drive away the external or surface
56

moisture. A certain amount of predrying is thus necessary to remove as much
moisture from the biomass as possible before it is fed into the gasifier.

Fig. 5.1. Various downdraft gasifier types (Imbert Closed top and Stratified open top)
with design modifications
5.2.2 Pyrolysis
As the temperature of the dry feedstock increases, pyrolysis takes place and the
feedstock is converted to char. Depending on the origin of the feedstock, the volatiles
may include H
2
O, H
2
, N
2
, O
2
, CO
2
, CO, CH
4
, H
2
S, NH
3
, C
2
H
6
, and very low levels of
unsaturated hydrocarbons such as acetylenes, olens, and aromatics and tars. Char is the
residual solids consisting of organic and inorganic materials. After pyrolysis, the char
has a higher concentration of carbon than the dry feedstock.
5.2.3 Combustion
The thermal energy that derives gasication reactions must be provided directly, by
combusting some of the char or dry feedstock and in some cases the volatiles within the
gasier, or indirectly, by combusting some of the feedstock, char, or clean syngas
separately and transferring the required heat to the gasier. The following chemical and
thermal reactions my take place when char or dry feedstock is burned.
C + O
2
CO
2
(R1) C + 1/2O
2
CO (R2) H
2
+ 1/2O
2
H
2
O (R3)
Combustion of char or feedstock produces ash, unreacted organic material,
which can be melted into liquid slag. Slag can be resolidied to form clinker. In addition
57

to heat, the combustion products are CO
2
and H
2
O when clean syngas is burned to
provide the required thermal energy.
5.2.4 Char Gasification
Char gasification, though one of the three steps of gasification is most important and
critical of all steps. It is the final step of thermal conversion. Though char may not
constitute the major mass fraction of the fuel, its conversion (kinetics) controls the
performance of a gasifier because gasification of char is the slowest of three processes.
It takes an order of magnitude longer time than that for pyrolysis or drying. Char
gasification being the rate limiting step, reactor size, gasification efficiency etc are
determined by the extent and rate of char gasification. Thus the model of gasifier often
turns out to be a char gasification model. Char Gasication is the result of chemical
reactions between carbon in the char and steam, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen in the
gasier vessel as well as chemical reactions between the resulting gases. The reactions
can be represented by:
C + CO
2
2CO (R4) C + H
2
O CO + H
2
(R5) C + 2H
2
CH
4
(R6)
C + 2H
2
O CO
2
+ 2H
2
(R7) CH
4
+ H
2
O CO + 3H
2
(R8) CO + H
2
O CO
2
+
H
2
(R9)
5.3 Gasification Models
Gasifier simulation models may be broadly classified into the following groups. In this
paper only thermodynamic equilibrium and Kinetic models are discussed.
Thermodynamic equilibrium
Kinetic
Computational fluid dynamics
Artificial neural network
5.3.1 Thermodynamic Equilibrium Models
Thermodynamic equilibrium calculation is independent of gasifier design and so is
convenient for studying the influence of fuel and process parameters. Though
chemical or thermodynamic equilibrium may not be reached within the gasifier, this
model provides the designer with a reasonable prediction of the maximum achievable
yield of a desired product. However, it cannot predict the influence of hydrodynamic
58

or geometric parameters, like fluidizing velocity, or design variables, like gasifier
height. Chemical equilibrium is determined by either of the following:
The equilibrium constant
Minimization of the Gibbs free energy
Prior to 1958 all equilibrium computations were carried out using the
equilibrium constant formulation of the governing equations (Zeleznik and Gordon,
1968). Later, computation of equilibrium compositions by Gibbs free energy
minimization became an accepted alternative. From a thermodynamic point of view, the
equilibrium state gives the maximum conversion for a given reaction condition. The
reaction is considered to be zero dimensional and there are no changes with time (Li et
al., 2001). An equilibrium model is effective at higher temperatures (>1500 K), where it
can show useful trends in operating parameter variations (Altafini et al., 2003). For
equilibrium modeling, one may use stoichiometric or nonstoichiometric methods.
5.3.1.1 Stoichiometric Equilibrium Models
In the stoichiometric method, the model incorporates the chemical reactions and species
involved. It usually starts by selecting all species containing C, H, and O, or any other
dominant elements. If other elements form a minor part of the product gas, they are
often neglected. Let us take the example of 1 mole of biomass being gasified in d moles
of steam and e moles of air. The reaction of the biomass with air (3.76 moles of
nitrogen, 1 mole of oxygen) and steam may then be represented by
CH
a
O
b
N
c
+ dH
2
O + e (O
2
+3.72N
2
) n
1
C+n
2
H
2
+ n
3
CO + n
4
H
2
O + n
5
CO
2
+ n
6
CH
4
+
n
7
N
2
(R10)

Where n
1
n
7
are stoichiometric coefficients. Here, CH
a
O
b
N
c
is the chemical
representation of the biomass and a, b, and c are the mole ratios (H/C, O/C, and N/C)
determined from the ultimate analysis of the biomass. With d and e as input parameters,
the total number of unknowns is seven. An atomic balance of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,
and nitrogen gives
C: n
1
+ n
3
+ n
5
+ n
6
= 1 (E1) H: 2n
2
+ 2n
4
+4n
6
= a+2d (E2)
O: n
3
+ n
4
+2n
5
= b+d+2e (E3) N: n
7
= c+7.52e (E4)
During the gasification process, reactions (R4), (R5), (R6), and (R9) take place.
The watergas shift reaction, R6, can be considered a result of the subtraction of the
59

steam gasification and Boudouard reactions, so we consider the equilibrium of reactions
(R4, (R5), and (R6) alone. For a gasifier pressure, P, the equilibrium constants for
reactions (R4), (R5), and (R6) are given by
= ..(E5) = ..(E6) = ..(E7)
where y
i
is the mole fraction for species i of CO, H
2
, H
2
O, and CO
2
.The two sets
of equations (stoichiometric and equilibrium) may be solved simultaneously to find
the coefficients, (n1n7), and hence the product gas composition in an
equilibrium state. Thus, by solving seven equations (Eqs.E1 to E7) we can find
seven unknowns (n
1
n
7
), which give both the yield and the product of the
gasification for a given air/steam-to-biomass ratio. The approach is based on the
simplified reaction path and the chemical formula of the biomass. This is a greatly
simplified example of the stoichiometric modeling of a gasification reaction. The
complexity increases with the number of equations considered. For a known reaction
mechanism, the stoichiometric equilibrium model predicts the maximum achievable
yield of a desired product or the possible limiting behavior of a reacting system.
5.3.1.2 Nonstoichiometric Equilibrium Models
In nonstoichiometric modeling, no knowledge of a particular reaction mechanism is
required to solve the problem. In a reacting system, a stable equilibrium condition is
reached when the Gibbs free energy of the system is at the minimum. So, this method is
based on minimizing the total Gibbs free energy. The only input needed is the elemental
composition of the feed, which is known from its ultimate analysis. This method is
particularly suitable for fuels like biomass, the exact chemical formula of which is not
clearly known. The Gibbs free energy, G
total
for the gasification product
comprising N species (i = 1N) is given by: = +
. (E8)
Where, G
0
f, i
, is the Gibbs free energy of formation of species i at standard
pressure of 1 bar. Equation (E8) is to be solved for unknown values of n
i
to minimize
G
total
, bearing in mind that it is subject to the overall mass balance of individual
elements.
For example, irrespective of the reaction path, type, or chemical formula of the
fuel, the amount of carbon determined by ultimate analysis must be equal to the sum
60

total of all carbon in the gas mixture produced. Thus, for each j
th
element we can write
as: . (E9)
Where, a
i,j
is the number of atoms of the j
th
element in the i
th
species, and A
j
is
the total number of atoms of element j entering the reactor. The value of n
i
should
be found such that G
total
will be minimum. We can use the Lagrange multiplier methods
to solve these equations. The Lagrange function (L) is defined as: L =
kJ/mol. (E10)
Where, is the Lagrangian multiplier for the j
th
element. To find the extreme
point, we divide Eq. (E10) by RT and take the derivative: = 0.. (E11)
Substituting the value of G
total
from Eq. (E8) in Eq. (E10), and then taking its
partial derivative, the final equation is of the form given by: = +
+ = 0. (E12)
5.3.2 Kinetic Models
Gas composition measurements for gasifiers often vary significantly from those
predicted by equilibrium models (Li et al., 2001). This shows the inadequacy of
equilibrium models and underscores the need of kinetic models to simulate gasifier
behavior. A kinetic model gives the gas yield and product composition a gasifier
achieves after a finite time (or in a finite volume in a lowing medium). Thus, it involves
parameters such as reaction rate, residence time of particles, and reactor
hydrodynamics. For a given operating condition and gasifier configuration, the kinetic
model can predict the profiles of gas composition and temperature inside the gasifier
and overall gasifier performance. The model couples the hydrodynamics of the gasifier
reactor with the kinetics of gasification reactions inside the gasifier. At low reaction
temperatures, the reaction rate is very slow, so the residence time required for
complete conversion is long. Therefore, kinetic modeling is more suitable and accurate
at relatively low operating temperatures (<800 C) (Altafini et al., 2003). Kinetic
modeling has two components: (1) reaction kinetics and (2) reactor hydrodynamics.
5.3.2.1 Reaction Kinetics
Reaction kinetics must be solved simultaneously with bed hydrodynamics and mass and
energy balances to obtain the yields of gas, tar, and char at a given operating condition.
61

As the gasification of a biomass particle proceeds, the resulting mass loss is manifested
either through reduction in size with unchanged density or reduction in density with
unchanged size. In both cases the rate is expressed in terms of the external surface area
of the biomass char. Some models, where the reaction is made up of char alone, can
define a reaction rate based on reactor volume. There are thus three ways of
defining the char gasification reaction for biomass: (1) shrinking core model, (2)
shrinking particle model, and (3) volu-metric reaction rate model.
5.3.2.2 Reactor Hydrodynamics
The kinetic model considers the physical mixing process and therefore requires
knowledge of reactor hydrodynamics. The hydrodynamics may be defined in terms of
the following types with increasing sophistication and accuracy:
Zero dimensional (stirred tank reactor)
One dimensional (plug low)
Two dimensional
Three dimensional
Unlike other models, the kinetic model is sensitive to the gassolid contacting
process involved in the gasifier. Wang and Kinoshita (1993) in their kinetic model of
biomass used an additional relation to solve the above equations. The initial amount of
CO
2
, H
2
O and moisture content were related by n
4
= n
5
+ d. (E13)
Wang and Kinoshita (1993) assumed =1 and neglected the initial
concentrations of carbon monoxide and hydrogen at high temperature.
Four most commonly considered reactions in gasification modeling are
Boudouard reaction, Water gas reaction, Methanation reaction, and Steam reforming of
methane. Wang and Kinoshita (1993) derived the following mass balance equations for
the above gasification reactions. Each of them gives the disappearance rate of a gas as
indicated below
= ..(E14) = (E15) =
..(E16)
= .. (E17) = .. (E18) =
.... (E19)
62

Where n
1
is moles of carbon, n
2
is moles of hydrogen, n
3
is moles of carbon
monoxide,n
4
is moles of steam,n
5
is moles of carbon dioxide, n
6
is moles of methane
and r
1
, r
2
, r
3
, r
8
are the reaction rates for reactions. For Boudouard reaction one may use
the LangmuirHinshelwood rate that takes into account the CO inhibition (Blasi, 2009):
.. (E20)
Where r
1
is the apparent gasification reaction rate (1/s), P
CO2
is the CO
2
partial
pressure on the char surface (bar). The rate constants for three intermediate steps of
Boudouard reaction (Blasi, 2009) are k
1
, k
2
, k
3
. These are written as with Arrhenius
expression as:
.. (E21)
A is the pre-exponential factor (barn.s
-1
), E is the activation energy (kJ mol
-1
),
T is the temperature (K), and R is the gas constant (kJ.mol
-1
. K).
5.3.2.3 Kinetic Model applications
This section briefly discusses how kinetic models can be applied to fixed bed
(downdraft) gasifier.A basic moving-bed or fixed-bed gasifier can use the following
assumptions:
The reactor is uniform radially (i.e., no temperature or concentration
gradient exists in the radial direction).
The solids low downward (in a updraft gasifier) as a plug low.
The gas lows upward as a plug low.
The interchange between two phases takes place by diffusion.
The mass balance of a gas species, j, can be written (Souza-Santos, 2004) as
. (E22)
where u
g
is the superficial gas velocity, z is the distance,
g,j
is the density of
the j
th
gas, and D
g,j
is the diffusivity of the j
th
gas. R
m,j
, the production or
consumption of the j
th
gas element, is related to Q
gasification
heat generation or
absorption. Similarly, an energy balance equation can be written for a dz element as
.. (E23)
Where, Q
gasification
, Q
conv
, Q
rad
, and Q
mass
are the net heat low into the element due
to gasification, convection, radiation, and mass transfer, respectively. These terms can
be positive or negative.
g
, C
pg
, and
g
are the density, specific heat, and thermal
63

conductivity of the bulk gas, respectively. Equations (E22) and (E23) can be solved
simultaneously with appropriate expression for the reaction rate, R
m,j
.
5.4 Model Validation
The final step in the modeling exercise is its validation against experiments. Validation
of models developed is a major challenge especially for kinetic models. Data from
commercial gasifiers are scarce for confidentiality. Furthermore, very few commercial
gasifiers have provision for gas sampling from points along the height of the gasifier.
The gas sampling ports are generally kept after gas cleaning station. During this long
trip from the gasifier exit to the cooled cleaning port downstream considerable
backward/forward or side reaction is possible. Thus the composition of gas measured
downstream after cleaning and cooling of the gas do not necessarily give a good
measure of what was at the exit of the gasifier. Even in well-controlled bench scale
gasifiers, gas quenching necessary for the detecting transducers could alter the gas
composition. The only parameter that can be measured accurately in the gasifier is the
temperature, which is but an indirect output of a gasifier model. Carbon fractions in the
bed, char particle size are some of those parameter often used as fitting parameters. For
this reason at times very sophisticated models considering large number of complex
chemical reactions and gas-solid mixing parameter, use such fitting parameter, thereby
compromising the predictive power of the model. These are inherent shortcomings of
the complex gasification models. To this end thermodynamic equilibrium models appear
to be more certain as limitations of these models are well known and therefore
uncertainties are less.
5.5 Conclusions
The gasification process in a reactor can be analyzed using kinetic, equilibrium based
models. The models may combine different approaches to handle process complexities
and achieve higher prediction accuracy. Experimental data from commercial plants
required for validation of the model are difficult to obtain due to measurement
difficulties, but such data are necessary to make the model comprehensive and reliable.
Owing to the lack of representative data the prediction capability of even the most
sophisticated model goes untested. Kinetic models identify fuel type, fuel size, fuel
moisture content, gas superficial velocity and reaction temperature. The gasification
agent, fuel type and size also have a strong influence on the gasification reaction. To
optimize the gasification process, one can use a model by varying model parameters,
64

like equivalence ratio, fuel type, bed material type and reactor dimensions and find the
best combination for the desired result. Equilibrium model defines the limiting yield or
gas composition for a set of operating parameters, while kinetic model defines the effect
of reactor hydrodynamics on it. Models developed for coal gasification are not
necessarily applicable to biomass gasification unless suitable modifications are made.
The major obstacle is to correctly fit the kinetic parameters on experimental observation,
which is able to depict a wide range of operating cases.
Table 5.1. Different models used and Parameters investigated by various authors for
modeling of biomass gasification in Downdraft gasification systems.
Fuel Model type Zones
Parameters
investigated
Optimum obtained
results
Reference
Pine Saw
dust
Equilibrium
model (Based on
Minimization of
Gibbs free energy)
Reduction zone
cg
at
MC=10% and
T
r
= 800
0
C,
HV,A/F
HHV= 5042
kJ/Nm
3
,
cg
= 67.99%,A/F
=1.957,
Altafini et
al. (2003)
Pine bark Thermochemical
Equilibrium model
Reduction zone Composition
of Syngas,
cg
, MC, F, T
ad
,
F/A
2.5<F<5,MC<25,
cg
>80%LHV=1999
7 kJ/kg(dry ash
free),T
ad
=800-
1000K
Melgar et
al. (2007)
Rubber
wood

Equilibrium and
Kinetic models
( for comparison)
Reduction zone ER,MC,CV,
, L
cr,
T
cr

L
cr
=25cm,T
cr
for E
and K =932K and
950K,CV4600(for
E and K), 0.76
and 0.74
Sharma
(2008)
Cow dung
and Saw
dust
Equilibrium and
Kinetic models
Pyrolysis-
oxidation zone,
Reduction zone
ER, HV, Gas
yield,
Conversion
Efficiency,
Heating value
increases by 46.8%
and Conversion
Efficiency by 45%,
Amitava et
al. (2010)
Grass/
Plants
Equilibrium model Dryer and
Gasification
section
A/F ratio(),
for both
sections
gasif
= 1.28,
drier
=
2.75
Marias et
al. (2011)
Where, ER=Equivalence ratio, HV= Heating Value, CV= Calorific Value,A/F = Air to
Fuel ratio,MC= Moisture content, T
ad
= Adiabatic Temperature, T
cr
= Temperature at L
cr,
L
cr
= Critical length of char bed, = Efficiency
65

References
1. Altafini C.R., Wander P.R. and Barreto, R.M. (2003) Prediction of the working
parameters of a wood waste gasifier through an equilibrium model. Energy
Conversion and Management, 44:2763-2777.
2. Babu B.V. and Chaurasia A.S. (2003) Modeling for pyrolysis of solid particle:
kinetics and heat transfer effects. Energy Conversion and Management, 44:
2251-2275.
3. Babu B.V. and Chaurasia A.S. (2003) Modeling, simulation, and estimation of
optimum parameters in pyrolysis of biomas. Energy Conversion and
Management, 44:2135-2158.
4. Babu B.V. and Sheth P.N. (2004) Modeling and simulation of downdraft
biomass gasifier, presented at the 57
th
Indian Chemical Engineering Congress,
CHEMCON.
5. Babu B.V. and Sheth P.N. (2006) Modelling and simulation of reduction zone of
downdraft biomass gasifier: effect of char reactivity factor. Energy Conversion
and Management, 47:2602-2611.
6. Banerjee R. (2008) Comparison of options for distributed generation in India.
Energy Policy, 34:101-111.
7. Blasi C.D. (2009) Combustion and gasification rates of lignocellulosic chars.
Progress in Energy and Combustion Science 35:121140.
8. Datta A., Roy P.C. and Chakraborty N. (2010) Assessment of cow dung as
supplementary fuel in a downdraft biomass gasier. Renewable Energy, 35:379-
386.
9. Gao N. and Li A. (2008) Modeling and simulation of combined paralysis and
reduction zone for a downdraft biomass gasifier. Energy Conversion and
Management, 49:3483-3490.
10. Giltrap D.L., McKibbin R. and Barnes G.R.G. (2003) A steady state model of
gas-char reactions in a downdraft biomass gasier. Solar Energy, 74:85-91.
11. Li X.T., Grace J.R., Watkinson A.P., Lim C.J. and Ergdenler A. (2001)
Equilibrium modeling of gasification: a free energy minimization approach and
its application to a circulating fluidized bed coal gasifier. Fuel, 80:195207.
12. Marias F., Deydier A., Bernada P., Couture F. and Michon U. (2011)
Equilibrium model for a travelling bed gasifier. Biomass and Bioenergy, 35:133-
145.
66

13. Melgar A., Perez J.F., Laget H. and Horillo A. (2007) Thermochemical
equilibrium modelling of a gasifying process. Energy Conversion and
Management, 48(1):59-67.
14. Sharma A.K. (2008) Equilibrium and kinetic modeling of char reduction
reactions in a downdraft biomass gasier: a comparison. Solar Energy, 82:918-
28.
15. Sharma D.C. (2007) Transforming rural lives through decentralized green power.
Futures, 39:583-596.
16. Souza-Santos M.L.D. (2004) Solid fuels combustion and gasification. CRC
Press.
17. Wang Y. and Kinoshita C.M. (1993) Kinetic model of biomass gasication.
Solar Energy, 51(1):1925.
18. Zainal Z.A., Ali R., Lean C.H. and Seetharamu K.N. (2001) Prediction of
performance of a downdraft gasifier using equilibrium modelling for different
biomass materials. Energy Conversion and Management, 42:1499-1515.
19. Zeleznik F.J. and Gordon S. (1968) Calculation of complex chemical equilibria.
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry 60:27-57.
67

CHAPTER 6
PROSPECT OF BIOENERGY SUBSTITUTION IN TEA
INDUSTRIES OF NORTH EAST INDIA
B.J. Dutta, D. Baruah, M. Saikia, R. Bhowmik, D.C. Baruah

Abstract
Tea industry plays a major part in the economy of the North Eastern region of India.
About 54% of the tea produced in India comes from North East region. The energy
requirement of the industry is high and is being provided by utilization of conventional
fuel till now. But the increasing prices of fossil fuel have affected the economy of the
industry and the production prices have gone up. This study is aimed at investigation of
the prospect of switching over from conventional fuels to bioenergy in tea industry to a
possible degree. The major areas of energy usage in a tea estate could be categorized as
(i) thermal energy for process heat, (ii) electricity for machine operations, (iii) petroleum
fuel for transportation and plantation and (iv) thermal and electrical energy for domestic
purposes. Process heat and electricity are two major energy consuming areas in the
industry. Biomass could be a possible alternative for supplementing and replacing the
conventional fuel for these areas. Surplus agro-residues from nearby areas can be used
for process heat. Biodiesel from locally produced non-farm and non-edible oil seeds
could be alternative to petroleum fuel provided related issues are appropriately
addressed. Densification of locally available loose biomass in conjunction with
improved cook stove could reduce the consumption of wood. The economic feasibilities
of these bioenergy technologies in the thrust areas are analyzed.
Key words: Tea industry, bioenergy, economics, North East India
6.1 Introduction
The eight states comprising the North Eastern part of India, i.e. Assam, Arunachal
Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, covers about
262000 Sqkm, accounting for about 7.9% of Indias total geographical area. The region
is rich in natural, mineral and material resources, but these resources have not been
tapped to their full potential. The population is mainly agrarian in nature with more than
70% engaged in agriculture. Agriculture however is not quite productive for this region

68

and characterized by lower level of inputs, resulting lack of self-sufficiency of food
grain and poor economy. Tea is a dominant cash crop of northeastern region, Assam
being the major contributor of tea of this region (Table 6.1). Northeastern states produce
around 54% of Indias total tea production with Assam alone contributing 51% of
Indias total and about one-sixth of the tea produced in the world. India is the second
largest producer of tea after China, so it is notable that tea industry presents a sizeable
chunk in the economy of the country.
Table 6.1. State-wise production of tea in North east India, (Source- Tea Board of India)
State 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
(Figures in thousand kgs.)
Assam 453587 433327 434759 435649 487487 502041 511885
Tripura 6506 6632 8577 7168 7515 7128 7856
Arunachal
Pradesh
1047 950 1745 2219 2624 3748 5842
Nagaland 75 206 195 190 190 191 191
Manipur 101 100 119 110 108 110 110
Sikkim 110 81 107 150 157 167 82
Meghalaya 41 35 81 99 99 139 259
Mizoram 41 45 78 72 73 75 75

Apart from its direct contribution to the national economy, tea industry also
employs a large section of population directly in production and processing sectors.
Having several competitors in global as well as in domestic markets, reduction of
production cost becomes a serious requirements for the tea producer. However, the
rising prices of the energy involved in tea production have caused difficulties to combat
price rise. The average tea auction prices in Guwahati Tea Auction centre in 2006 was
about Rs 68 per kg, however, average price in 2010 becomes Rs 110, i.e. an increase of
61% in just 4 years (http://www.teaboard.gov.in/) Major part of the price hike is
attributed to the rise in fuel prices.
With the crisis of conventional energy systems, advocacy of bio-energy options
like gasification, biofuels, agro-residue utilization and briquetting have become
noticeable in recent times. There have also been some encouraging results, particularly
in the fields of successful demonstrations of bioenergy in industries in India as well as
69

abroad (Jorapur and Rajvanshi, 1997; Tippayawong et al., 2010). Such attempts could
not been seen for the tea industry, particularly in northeastern region. It is believed that
in-depth analysis of the possibilities of bioenergy application in tea industry could
evolve some useful outcomes for the benefit of the tea industry.
The requirement of energy in tea processing industry is high with around 21%
required as electrical energy and the remaining 79% supplied by conventional fuels
(Baruah et al., 1996). It has been reported that the total specific thermal energy
consumption in India varies between 4.45 to 6.84 kWh/kg of made tea while specific
electrical energy consumption in India between 0.4 to 0.7kWh per kg of made tea
(Sundaram and Kumar). The plantation and transportation sector in an estate also
consumes a large amount of energy in the form of petro-fuels. And finally the working
section of the industry also consumes energy for their household purpose in the form of
firewood. Keeping in view of the above, the present investigation has been undertaken
to analyze the feasibility of above-mentioned bioenergy options in tea industry both
technologically and economically such that conventionally used fuels can be sustainably
and economically be replaced.
6.2 Materials and Method
The present investigation aims to analyze the feasibility of bioenergy options in tea
industry. This is done primarily through energy economic analyses as discussed below.
6.2.1 Biomass gasification
Biomass gasification results fuel gas with prospect of utilization in process heating and
electricity generation. The methods of estimating the economical feasibility for process
heating and electricity generation are discussed below.
6.2.1.1 Process heating
The details of the technology and other parameters considered for this option (Biomass
gasification) of bioenergy are presented in Table 6.2.
Calculation is done considering the consumption of feed in both the routes to
produce the same amount of thermal energy as per requirements of the mentioned tea
estate. Bamboo is considered as feed for biomass gasification route as it is widely
available in the North East region of India. Producer gas generation for woody biomass
such as bamboo is about 2.5 m
3
per kg of feed. It may be added that the biomass
consumption will be lower than as per above calculation as producer gas can be directly
70

fired and flue gases can be used in the drier without contamination. Whereas in case of
coal-firing, a heat exchanger becomes necessary as the flue gases from coal combustion
cannot be directly used in the drier due to high degree of pollutants that would taint the
tea.
Table 6.2. Parameters for analysis
Technology Feed
Cost/kg (delivered
at site as per 2010)
Thermal energy Firing type
Coal-fired drier Coal Rs. 4.6
25 MJ/kg for
North East coal
Indirect
Biomass gasifier
based drier
Bamboo Rs. 2
5 MJ/ m
3
of
producer gas
Direct

6.2.1.2 Electricity generation
Producer gas could be used for captive power generation. Two routes for power
production are shown: one is by the use of dual fuel engines where producer gas can
substitute up to more than 70% of the diesel, and the other is by utilization of producer
gas to run 100% gas engines. In both cases, proper cleaning of gas is very necessary as
the tar in producer gas tends to clog the inlets and valves of the engine. For the purpose
of power generation by dual fuel engine mode, a 500 kW gasifier system with two units
of 250 kW gensets is considered. Bamboo requirement for such a system is about 5 kg
per litre of diesel replaced. Thus, bamboo and diesel consumption to meet the
requirement are 350 kg per hour at the rate of Rs. 2 per kg and 30 liters at a rate of Rs 37
per litre respectively. Alternately, 100% gas engines can also be used to nullify the
dependence on diesel but producer gas being a very low calorific value gas, there are a
number of technical difficulties it its utilization. However, Cummins have recently made
available commercial models of producer gas engines developed in conjunction with
CGPL, IISc.
6.2.2 Process heating in tea industry by direct firing of agro residue route
Process heat can be produced via direct firing of paddy. Paddy available in nearby areas
was assessed by multiplying area under rice cultivation and productivity per hectare.
Using GIS technique the area under paddy crop cultivation in 14 development blocks of
Sonitpur district was determined. Considering paddy straw yield of Sonitpur district to
71

be 1487 kg per hectare (Mahilary, 2009), annual rice straw production was assessed. To
compare cost effectiveness of direct paddy firing with coal fired systems, cost of
production of thermal energy by both methods was determined.
Economic analysis of crop residue is done to determine the cost of rice straw.
For the purpose, the costs of production, harvesting, collection, transportation and
storage of the residue are taken into account.
6.2.2.1 Production cost
A certain fraction of total cost of crop production is attributed to crop residue. Thus,
crop residue production rate is the product of total cost of crop production and 5%
residue fraction (Mahilary, 2009).
6.2.2.2 Harvesting cost
Assuming harvesting is done manually, cost associated with harvesting can be
determined by dividing daily wage rate (Rs per day) with harvesting capacity (Tonnes
per day).
6.2.2.3 Collection cost
The collection cost is estimated by dividing daily wage rate by carrying capacity (tonne
per trip).
6.2.2.4 Transportation cost
Transportation cost can be determined by two methods.
1. Transportation by bullock cart or manual cart
(km/h) speed ation transport mode ive transport of capacity Carrying
hour per wage drivers fuel of cost operation of hour per n consumptio Fuel
+

6.2.2.5 Storage cost
Storage cost includes handling and capital invested for storage facility. Storage cost
could be rental cost of the space or the cost incurred to cover the residues to protect
them from rain. Generally residues are dumped in open space and immediately fed to the
system. Therefore, cost of storage is assumed to be negligible.
6.2.2.6 Total cost
Total cost is sum of production, harvesting, collection, transportation and storage cost.
72

6.2.3 Economics of biodiesel in transportation section of tea estate
The diesel demand in the surveyed estate is about 40000 litres annually. Replacing 20%
of diesel fuel requires 8000 litre of biodiesel. In this study, we propose to cultivate non
edible oil bearing plants in fencing area. From the very first beginning of cultivation to
blending, all the cost incurred is considered for checking feasibility of three different
species such as nahor (Mesua ferrea Linn), ratanjyot (Jatropha curcas) and karanja
(Pongamia glabra). A pilot biodiesel plant of 50 lt per day running for 8 hrs per day is
assumed for biodiesel production. During economic analysis of biodiesel production, the
residual value of the machine is taken as 5% of the purchase price of the machine; rate
of interest rate on investment is taken as 11.5% of the average price of the machine; rate
of insurance and taxes is taken as 2% of the average price of the machine; housing and
shelter is taken as 1.5 % of the average price of the machine. The operational cost of
biodiesel production involves the fixed cost and the variable cost. Fixed cost is the cost
incurred by the ownership with or without the running the machine which can be
calculated taking into account i) depreciation ii) interest on investment iii) insurance and
taxes iv) investment on shelter for machinery whereas variable cost involves the i) cost
of chemicals ii)electricity iii)repair and maintenance iv) wages.
6.2.4 Procedure of economic analysis to determine feasibility of wet briquetting
and improved cook stove as an energy saving combustion device
6.2.4.1 Wet briquetting
It is a simple procedure which involves decomposition of biomass, pressing of
decomposed matter and drying of pressed briquettes which can be used as cooking fuel
instead of wood. Unlike the screw press and extrusion type technology, it requires small
investment that is why wet briquetting is proposed for the temporary works in the
referred tea estate.
6.2.4.2 Economic analysis procedure/ simple cost benefit analysis
The parameters considered for analysis are based on village energy consumption survey.
The aim is to estimate cost of production per day per family taking into consideration of
parameters as given in Table 6.3.
Now comparing the cost per day per family to the cost of fuel wood usage per
day per family we can determine whether briquette production is feasible or not for this
group.
73

Table 6.3. Parameters of economic analysis
Parameters Value
Daily wood requirement for a family of 4 members 7
Cost of wood per kg( Taking average), Rs 5
Daily fuel wood cost, Rs 35
Worker cost ,Rs 150
Requirement of worker for the project 6
Maintenance and equipment cost added to worker cost,% 15

6.2.4.3 Conservation assessment improved cook stove
In rural households, generally earthen cook stoves are used. In this study, the saving one
could do in monetary terms simply by using improved cook stoves is assessed in the
households. Per capita consumption before and after use of improved cook stove is
compared to assess the saving in energy in general. The parameters taken for
consideration are given in Table 6.4.
Table 6.4. Parameters used in conservation determination calculation
Parameters Value
Fuel wood consumption for a family of 5 members, kg 7
Fuel wood cost, Rs 5
Fuel wood consumption reduction by improved cook stoves, % 40

6.3 Results and Discussion
6.3.1 Biomass gasification for process heat and electricity
By surveying in referred tea estate, coal consumed per hour was assessed to be 190 kg
per hour. From the coal consumption rate, the thermal requirements is calculated is 1.3
MW and cost of coal per hour is Rs 874. If we wish to substitute coal with gasification
of bamboo for producing same amount of thermal energy, cost of fuel becomes Rs 754
per hour which shows clearly a saving of Rs120 per hour. The electrical consumption of
the tea estate under study is about 894600 kWh monthly which includes the
consumption in unit processes of manufacture and housing purposes. The monthly
expenditure on electricity considering both grid charges and diesel consumption is
around Rs.4.5 lakhs. The use of dual fuel engines, a 500kW gasifier system with two
74

units of 250kW generator sets running with 70% substitution of diesel, shows a cost of
Rs 4.35 Lakhs resulting in a saving of Rs 15, 000. Calculation for 100% gas engines has
not been done in this study due to unavailability of data.
6.3.2 Process heating in tea industry by direct firing of agro residue route
For the annual thermal energy need of 12592 GJ, total annual cost of coal for the factory
reached Rs. 23 Lakhs for 2010 working year. Therefore, while thinking of using rice
straw in place of coal, the cost of agro residue from field to factory should come at par
with a price lesser than coal. The comparison of utilization of coal and rice straw for
process heat in the tea industry is shown in table. The cost of coal and straw for process
heating of tea is calculated by considering cost of coal and straw as Rs. 3.50 per kg and
Rs. 1.37 per kg respectively. Thus, if coal is substituted by straw, the factory will make
profit of approximately Rs. 11.6 lakhs annually.
Table 6.5. Comparison between utilization of coal and straw:
Parameters Coal Straw
Calorific value of fuel (MJ/kg) 25.00 14.50
Fuel requirement annually (MT) 504 869
Cost of fuel per kg (Rs.) 4.60 1.37
Fuel required per kg made tea (kg) 0.73 1.26
Cost of fuel annually approximately (Rs. in lakhs) 23.00 11.9
Approximately saving (Rs. in lakhs) 11.6
Though 132.26 million kg of straw is produced annually in this district, the straw
available for energy purpose is estimated to be 116.19 million kg annually which is
more than adequate. As rice straw has CV lower than that of coal, rice straw is required
twice in amount that of coal and at a cost lower than coal.
Keeping in mind the above mentioned profits, Department of Energy of Tezpur
University has developed a combustion device with heat exchanger which is compatible
to tea dryer of the tea estate under study. Currently, the device is showing thermal
efficiency of 61%. Further research on improvement is going on with additional
insulation and modification to raise the thermal efficiency.

75

6.3.3 Use of biodiesel blended fuel transportation and plantation section
It is evident from the analysis that nahor (Mesua ferrea linn) and karanja (Pongamia
glabra) among the three species taken for study have feasibility of meeting the demand
of 20% substitution of petrodiesel.
Table 6.6. Brief analysis of biodiesel seed production with reference to Rupajuli tea
estate:
Parameters Nahor (Mesua
ferrea Linn).
Ratanjyot
(Jatropha curcas)
Karanja
(Pongamia glabra)
Tea plantation area, hectare 386.69 386.69 386.69
Tea plantation area, m
2
3866900 3866900 3866900
Length per side, m 1966 1966 1966
Plant spacing in meter, m 8 2.9 3
Total no of plants in fencing 976 2704 2616
Seed yield per plant per annum, kg 20 1.5 16
Percentage recovery,% 70 25 33
Total biodiesel available@ 85%
sp.gr, litre
11614 861 11746

As per Government of India, the price of biodiesel is Rs 25 per litre
(http://petroleum.nic.in/) and if we go for biodiesel production taking a biodiesel plant
capacity of 50 litre per day running for 270 days taking seed cost as Rs 10 per kg then
also the production price comes to be around Rs 27.70 per litre (Table 7). Annual fuel
cost saving after 20% replacement comes around Rs 74,400 in all types of species. But,
considering the cultivation cost of non edible oil seed bearing plants nahor will be able
to provide a feasible option of biodiesel cultivation and thereby production which could
generate actual profit of around Rs 30,400 yearly taking into account the average
cultivation cost.
6.3.4 Feasibility of wet briquette technology and fuel saving by use of improved
cook stove
6.3.4.1 Economic analysis of wet briquette technology
The low cost and guaranteed availability of densified biomass is the key motivation for
fuel switch off. The economic analysis of wet briquetting project does satisfy the first
76

criteria as briquettes could be provided at a much lower cost than wood. The fuel cost
per day per family is estimated to be Rs 35. If briquette production cost is Rs 21 per
family per day, than we can say the project is economically feasible. These projects
engage a group of people. So, they have potential of being funded by Government under
Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (http://rural.nic.in/).
Table 6.7: Cost of biodiesel production economics
Parameters Units Values
Capacity litre 50
Life of the machine years 10
Cost of seed Rs 10
Purchase price Rs 500000
Total hourly fixed cost Rs/l 7.57
Variable cost per litre of BD production Rs/l 28.13
Total Cost per litre of BD production Rs/l 35.70
Glycerol cost per litre of BD production Rs/l 8.00
Cost per litre of BD production Rs/l 27.70

6.3.4.2 Improved cook stoves for fuel economy and betterment of indoor air quality
Only fuel switching does not help in conservation of energy. Improved cook stoves with
40% reduction in wood consumption can lower fuel cost by 60% for a family.
Moreover, it is seen that fuel consumption per head comes down from 2.8 kg to 0.56 kg.
Government of India has taken steps in this direction and launched National Biomass
Cook stoves Initiative (NCI) to develop next generation of cooking stoves having better
feature of efficiency and fuel conservation. Apart from savings and fast operation, it
helps to remove indoor air pollution by its exhaust removal features. This will surely
relieve the women from frequent coughing and disease like asthma and other lung
diseases.
6.4 Conclusions
The possible substitution by gasification route showed a saving of Rs 15, 000 by using
bamboo as a feed material. More than adequate availability of agro residue like rice
straw in Sonitpur district has made direct firing of rice straw a lucrative option with a
huge profit margin of Rs 11.6 Lakhs. Similarly, in fuel use sector, by blending of diesel
77

up to 20% saw a decrease in fuel cost by Rs 30,400. Improved cook stoves with 40%
reduction in wood consumption can lower fuel cost by 60% for a family. Moreover, the
above discussed thermal or power producing options are renewable and able to mitigate
GHG and thereby making itself a good candidate for Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM).
Acknowledgements
The authors sincerely acknowledge the staff of Rupajuli Tea Estate for their valuable
suggestions and information on which this study is based. The authors would also like to
thank Mr. Haradip Mahilary for providing the background for this work.

References
1. Anonymous (2009) Biomass Briquetting: An Overview. Bioenergy India, 2:21-
27.
2. Baruah D.C. and Bhattacharya P.C. (1996) Energy utilization pattern in the
manufacture of black tea. Journal of Agricultural Mechanization in Asia, Africa
and Latin America, 27:65-70.
3. Das S. and Jash T. (2009) District-level biomass resource assessment: A case
study of an Indian State West Bengal. Biomass and Bioenergy, 33:137-143.
4. Francis G., Edinger R. and Becker K. (2005) A concept for simultaneous
wasteland reclamation, fuel production, and socio-economic development in
degraded areas in India: Need, potential and perspectives of Jatropha plantations.
Natural Resources Forum, 29:12-24.
5. Grover P.D. (1996) Biomass briquetting: Technology and Practices, published
by FAO Regional Wood Energy Development Programme in Asia, Bangkok,
Thailand.
6. http://petroleum.nic.in/, Biodiesel purchase policy, Ministry of Petroleum and
Natural Gas, Government of India.
7. http://rural.nic.in/, Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana, Ministry of Rural
Development, Government of India.
8. http://www.coal.nic.in, Ministry of Coal, Govt. of India.
9. http://www.nedfi.com/, North Eastern Development Finance Corporation
Limited.
78

10. http://www.nrega.nic.in/, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005.
11. http://www.teaboard.gov.in/, Tea Board of India.
12. Jorapur A. and Rajvanshi A.K. (1997) Sugarcane leaf-bagasse gasifiers for
industrial heating applications. Biomass and Bioenergy, 13: 141-146.
13. Mahilary H. (2009) Design and development of loose biomass fired furnace with
an aim to substitute fossil fuel in tea industry. M.Tech. project thesis,
Department of Energy, Tezpur University.
14. Nussbaumer T. (2003) Combustion and co-combustion of biomass:
fundamentals, technologies, and primary measures for emission reduction.
Energy and Fuels, 17:1510-1521.
15. Robinson A.L., Junker H. and Baxter L.L. (2002) Pilot-scale investigation of the
influence of coal-biomass cofiring on ash deposition. Energy and Fuels, 16:343-
355.
16. Sharma Y.C., Singh B. and Korstad J. (2010) High yield and conversion of
biodiesel from a nonedible feedstock (Pongamia pinnata). Journal of Agriculture
and. Food Chemistry, 58:242-247.
17. Singh J. and Gu S. (2010) Biomass conversion to energy in IndiaA critique.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 14:13671378.
18. Sundaram E.G. and Kumar K.R.S. Energy and environmental issues in tea
industries: A Case Study. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Velammal
Engineering College, Tamil Nadu, India.
19. Tippayawong N., Chaichana C., Promwangkwa A., Rerkkriangkrai P. (2010)
Gasication of cashew nut shells for thermal application in local food processing
factory. (In press)
20. Venkataraman C., Sagar A.D., Habib G., Lam N. and Smith K.R. (2010) The
Indian national initiative for advanced biomass cookstoves: The benefits of clean
combustion. Energy for Sustainable Development, 14:63-72.
79

CHAPTER 7
DRYING OF BIOMASS FUEL USED FOR GASIFIER
USING WASTE HEAT
R. Soni, A.K. Jain, B.S. Panesar, P.K. Gupta

7.1 Introduction
Gasification is an advanced process for the thermochemical conversion of biomass.
Performance of gasifier depends on many factors including the moisture content of fuel.
The optimum biomass moisture level for smooth and satisfactory operation of most of the
small scale down draft gasifiers is around 15%. The fresh biomass at the time of harvest
has very high moisture content of the order of 45-60% (wet basis). Therefore, the fuel
wood supplied to the user immediately after the harvest, especially during winter season,
contains moisture almost of the same level as that at the time of harvest (45-60%). Such
high moisture content in the biomass causes a lot of problems in the operation of the
gasifier due to release of large quantity of tar in the producer gas. These problems include
bridging, high tar deposits in the gas pipes of cooling & cleaning train, frequent
maintenance of gas cleaning train, sticking of intake valves etc. Producer gas from a
gasifier can be used for thermal as well as mechanical application. In both cases, there is
quite good amount of heat loss in the form of unused sensible heat of the flue/exhaust
gases. Therefore, efforts are required to be made for utilising this waste heat for drying of
the fuel for the gasifier.
There are a number of industries, particularly in cities like Ludhiana, Jalandhar and
Amritsar in Punjab State of India, which require the drying of their products. Presently,
most of them are having furnaces using wood, coal, and biomass like paddy husk etc.
These furnaces are quite inefficient and also cause environmental pollution. There is good
scope for these industries to adopt the gasifier system in thermal mode. However,
experience with one of the industries indicated that they have to go for sun drying of the
gasifier fuel as and when they are supplied with fuel having high moisture. This requires
large area thus causing a lot of inconvenience to them. On the other hand, they are wasting
a large amount of heat in the form of sensible heat of the flue gases going out of the
factory chimney. The gasifiers are also being used for engine applications for production
of mechanical power and electric power. The waste heat available from exhaust gases can

80

also be used for drying of fresh wood. Reed and Das (1998) made the following
observations:
A particularly attractive application for the waste heat from engines is the drying
of biomass feed stoke before using it in the gasifier. The 50% moisture contained in fresh
wood chips can be removed effectively by drying the chips with the engines exhaust gas.
There is drying capacity to spare if high-efficiency drying methods are used.Because the
engines exhaust gas is hot enough (600
o
-700
o
C) to decomposed biomass, it must be
tempered (substantially diluted with cooler gases) before being used. One of the best ways
to dilute is to take the warm, humid gas leaving the outlet of the biomass dryer, add about
10% by volume of engine exhaust gas, and recycle the mixture to the gas entry port of the
dryer. Reusing the outlet gas from the dryer instead of using ambient air to temper engine
exhaust gas offers several advantages.
Modelling studies by Karlson (2008) showed that external heating of the wood
chips by the engines exhaust gases increases the gasification efficiency from 75 % to over
90 %. A number of companies/organisations are using this concept for drying of biomass
to be fed to the gasifier all over the world (Babu, 2006, Jakobsen and Helge, 2005;
Peacocke).
However, in case of thermal applications where the heat is used for drying of
products, the exhaust temperature in flue gases can be as low as 200
o
C .Therefore, if a
waste heat utilisation system for drying the fuel wood is developed for these systems, it
will have immediate acceptance in the industries going for adoption of the gasifier system.
Research data on the utilization of waste heat needs to be generated to design suitable
dryers to dry the fuel.
7.2 Methodology
The main objective is to utilize the waste heat from the exhaust of the gasifier system for
drying of the fuel used for gasifier. However, the exhaust temperature of the gasifier
system varies with time which makes it difficult to gather scientific data on the drying of
the fuel. Considering the limitations of the gasifier based system, it was decided to have a
system supplying electrically heated air so that the flow rate and temperature could be
varied for getting meaningful data that could be used for designing the dryer for any
industry (using wood based gasifier system). A cylindrical dryer of 30-cm diameter and
100 cm length was used. A 1.5 kW heater was fitted at the bottom of the dryer for
81

supplying hot air (Fig. 7.1). Arrangements were made to vary hot air temperature. This
was done by varying the voltage input to the heater. Provision was also made to vary the
airflow rate (Fig. 7.2). Instruments such as orifice meter, pressure transducers, digital
temperature indicator etc. were used to measure airflow rate and the temperatures.
Experiments were conducted at different airflow rates (13 to 20 m
3
per hour) and
different air temperatures (84 to 174
o
C). Each time, 15 kg of freshly cut wood pieces
were used in the trial. Wood sample was collected at the start of the experiment for
measuring the moisture content. The total amount of wood was weighed at the start as
well as at intervals of one hour during the experiment to determine the total moisture loss
at different time intervals. Total duration of the experiment was kept as four hours. The
moisture loss was computed as follows:
W
0
W
i

ML (%) = ----------- x 10000
m W
0

Where, ML = Percent moisture loss, %
W
0
= Mass of wood at the start of experiment
W
i
= Mass of wood after i hours
m = Initial moisture content of wood, % wet basis
Fig. 7.1. Details of electrically operated dryer
82

Fig. 7.2. Line diagram of complete electrically heated system
The results of wood drying after 1, 2, 3, and 4 hours of drying at different airflow rates
and air temperatures are presented in Table 7.1. It is clear from the data that moisture in
wood decreased as the duration of the drying was increased. The moisture of wood after
four hours of drying at an airflow rate of 13.7 m
3
/hr was 24.3, 27.2, 19.0 and 13.2
percent when the hot air temperature was 94
o
C, 148.4
o
C and 173.3
o
C respectively. This
indicates that as the air temperature is increased, the moisture loss also increases.
Similar trend was also observed at other airflow rates. Since moisture loss is related
with the airflow rate and hot air temperature, the percent moisture loss was calculated
and the same is given in Table 7.2 and depicted in Fig. 7.3.
It was observed that the rate of loss of moisture decreased with increase in
duration indicating that the relationship is saturation exponential. As the maximum loss
of moisture is limited to 100%, the following saturation exponential function between
the loss of moisture and duration of drying was hypothesized.
ML = 100(1 e
t/K
) ...1
Where, ML = moisture loss,
K = time constant, and
t = duration of drying

83

Table 7.1. Observed values of moisture content obtained during drying
Temperature,
o
C
Airflow rate,
m
3
/h-cm
2

Initial moisture,
%
Moisture content on wet mass basis
after every hour, %
1 hrs 2 hrs 3 hrs 4 hrs
94.0 0.01877 41.0 37.0 32.3 27.3 24.3
81.5 0.02297 46.2 42.9 39.2 35.5 33.9
84.9 0.02653 38.5 34.5 30.8 27.2 23.8
148.4 0.01877 46.0 39.3 32.3 25.7 19.0
135.5 0.02297 53.5 46.8 39.8 33.5 27.2
117.5 0.02653 45.0 38.0 30.3 22.5 16.1
173.3 0.01877 48.0 39.9 31.5 22.2 13.2
169.2 0.02297 51.0 41.7 32.0 23.0 14.7
148.4 0.02653 48.0 39.7 31.3 24.0 16.7

Table 7.2. Total moisture loss at different hot air temperatures and air flow rates
Temperature,
o
C
Airflow rate,
m
3
/h-cm
2

Initial
moisture, %
Percent moisture loss after every hour,
%
0 hrs 1 hrs 2 hrs 3 hrs 4 hrs
94.0 0.01877 41.0 0.00 15.49 31.34 45.96 53.81
81.5 0.02297 46.2 0.00 12.51 24.92 35.91 40.28
84.9 0.02653 38.5 0.00 15.86 28.90 40.32 50.11
148.4 0.01877 46.0 0.00 24.00 43.99 59.39 72.46
135.5 0.02297 53.5 0.00 23.54 42.54 56.22 67.53
117.5 0.02653 45.0 0.00 25.09 46.87 64.52 76.55
173.3 0.01877 48.0 0.00 28.08 50.18 69.09 83.53
169.2 0.02297 51.0 0.00 31.28 54.79 71.30 83.44
148.4 0.02653 48.0 0.00 28.68 50.64 65.79 78.28

84

Fig 7.3. Effect of hot air temperature and air flow rate on total moisture loss
The time constant K depends on the initial moisture content of wood, airflow
rate and temperature of hot air. Therefore, a linear regression of time constant with
airflow rate, hot air temperature and initial moisture content was tried in the form given
below.
K = A
0
+ A
1
M + A
2
T + A
3
F ... 2
Where, M = initial moisture content of wood, percent on wet weight basis
T = the hot air temperature in
o
C, and
F = the airflow rate in m
3
/h per cm
2
.
The results of linear regression indicate that the constant A
1
was positive but
non-significant, whereas the constant A
2
and A
3
were negative and significant. Further,
the intercept A
0
was also positive and significant. Since initial moisture content did not
significantly affect the time constant, another linear regression by dropping initial
moisture content was developed. The results of this linear regression are given in Table
7.3.
It is clear that predicted values are very close to observed values of moisture
loss. From Equation 1, it is clear that the moisture loss is 63.2% and 86.5% when the
drying period is K and 2K hours respectively.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0 1 2 3 4
%
L
o
s
s
Time, Hours
AF = 13.70 & T = 94.0
AF = 16.77 & T = 81.5
AF = 19.37 & T = 84.9
AF = 13.70 & T = 148.4
AF = 16.77 & T = 135.5
AF = 19.37 & T = 117.5
AF = 13.70 & T = 173.3
AF = 16.77 & T = 169.2
AF = 19.37 & T = 148.4
AF is Air Flow Rate in m
3
/h
Tis Temperature in
o
C
85

Table 7.3. Linear regression
K = 12.131 - 0.04546T - 0.9744F R
2
= 0.8471
Temp.,
o
C
Flow,
m
3
/h/cm
2

Value of K, Hrs
Calculated Modeled
94.0 0.01877 5.16 5.95
81.5 0.02297 7.25 6.09,
84.9 0.02653 5.79 5.57
148.4 0.01877 3.32 3.48
135.5 0.02297 3.61 3.64
117.5 0.02653 2.99 4.09
173.3 0.01877 2.62 2.35
169.2 0.02297 2.44 2.10
148.4 0.02653 2.78 2.69

7.3.1 Design of Wood Dryer
It is normally observed that moisture in fresh wood is about 50% (wet weight basis),
whereas the gasifier requires wood dried at 14-15% (wet weight basis) moisture content.
Therefore, a moisture loss of about 85% would be needed to dry wood from 50% to 14-
15%. This would require the drying period of 2K as per the saturation exponential
function developed above. The flue gases from thermal application of 20 kW Gasifier
system would have a temperature of 200
o
C and above. It will be on safer side to assume
a value of 180
o
C.
For 8 hour batch operation of 20 kW gasifier, about 200 kg of wood would be
required. Making provision for 15% extra wood, the dryer needed to be designed for
drying about 230 kg of wood during 8 hours of batch operation. The bulk density of
chopped wood pieces of 50-57 mm size, would be about 300 kg/m
3
. Thus, total volume
of wood storage space in the dryer was determined to be 0.77m
3
. Assuming a diameter
of 1 m, the height of storage space worked out to be around 0.98 m or 1 meter. The
dimensions of the dryer were determined by providing free space above and below the
wood storage space for uniform distribution of gas. The designed dryer is schematically
shown in Fig. 7.4.
86

The flue gas output from 20 kW gasifier burner system would be about 100
m
3
/hr at N.T.P. Assuming, that whole of the flue gases pass through the dryer, the gas
flow rate will work out to be 0.0127 m
3
/h per cm
2
cross-sectional area of the dryer. As
discussed earlier, the flue gas temperature were assumed to be 180
o
C. Therefore, the
time constant comes out to be 2.71 hours. Thus, the wood for 8 hour operation of the
gasifier will be dried in about 5.5 hours. This will leave 2.5 hours time, enough time for
emptying and refilling of the dryer, in every 8-hour batch of gasifier operation.
Figure 7.4. Dryer designed for drying wood for a 20 kW Gasifier
7.4 Conclusions
The following conclusions could be drawn from the studies:
1000 mm
100 mm
1200 mm
200 mm
200 mm
Grate
Diameter should
Match Chimney
Diameter should
Match Chimney
Filler Opening
for Wood
Opening for
Wood Removal
Flue Gases In
Flue Gases Out
87

Moisture in wood decreased as the duration of the drying was increased. As the air
temperature was increased, the percent moisture loss also increased. This trend was
observed at all the airflow rates. However, the rate of loss of moisture decreased
with increase in duration.
The following saturation exponential function between the loss of moisture and
duration of drying was hypothesized.
ML = 100(1 e
t/K
) where ML = moisture loss, K = time constant, and
t = duration of drying
Effect of initial moisture content of wood on the value of the time constant K was
found to be insignificant. Therefore, a linear regression of time constant with only
the airflow rate, and hot air temperature was developed in the form
K = 12.131 - 0.04546T - 0.9744F with R
2
= 0.8471
Where, T = the hot air temperature in
o
C, and F = the airflow rate in m
3
/h per cm
2
.
Assuming moisture in fresh wood to be about 50% (wb), the moisture of dried wood to
be about 14-15% (wb) and the temperature of the flue gases from thermal application
to be above 180
o
C, a dryer has been designed with a capacity of about 200 kg wood for
one batch operation of a 20 kW Gasifier system.
Acknowledgements
The financial assistance provided under All India Coordinated Research Project on
Renewable Sources of Energy for Agriculture and Agro-based Industries (ICAR, New
Delhi) is duly acknowledged.

References
1. Babu S.P. (2006) Perspectives in Biomass gasification. Presented in workshop 1
of Task 33 of IEA as Task Leader of Task 33 Thermal Gasification of Biomass.
http://media.godashboard.com/gti/IEA/IEAWS1Report5-06rev%5B1%5D7-
07.pdf [Accessed 12-10-2011].
2. Jakobsen H.H. and Helge T. (2005) Gasification breakthrough in biomass.
http://www.dbdh.dk/images/uploads/pdf-ren-energy/side14-17.pdf [Accessed
12-10-2011].
88

3. Karlson E. (2008) Modeling of a highly efficient gasifier engine system for
small-scale CHP. http://www.chemeng.lth.se/exjobb/E487.pdf [Accessed 12-10-
2011].
4. Peacocke C. Biomass Engineering Ltd. projects: Biomass and Wastes
Gasification.
http://www.noest.ecoundco.at/news/docs/1277_Biomass_Engineering_UK.pdf
[Accessed 12-10-2011].
5. Reed T.B. and Das A. (1998) Handbook of Biomass Downdraft Gasifier Engine
Systems. The Biomass Energy Foundation Press, USA.
89

CHAPTER 8
IMPROVED WOODSTOVE TEHTANA EXPERIENCE
Usha Bajpai, Suresh C. Bajpai

Abstract
Energy derived from biomass plays a vital role in meeting energy demand for cooking in
most of the rural and remote areas in India. In traditional way of cooking using local
chulhas is highly polluting and these chulhas have a very low thermal efficiency.
Inefficient and excessive usage of firewood results in emission of toxic gases like
carbon monoxide and damages the indoor air quality adversely, which affects the heath
of the workers, especially the women and children. In short energy, health and global
warming is closely related in the use of firewood for cooking purposes in the exiting
manner. Sustainable development must aim at creating universal access to cleaner
household technology at least to the extent required to satisfy basic human needs.
In India, a total number of 35.2 million improved chulhas were installed by 2003
under the MNREs programme with varying degree of success in different regions in the
country. Some models had better acceptability than others in specific regions. Certain
regions showed greater enthusiasm on the part of the users to adopt new designs. For a
variety of reasons the programme brought a mixed bag of experiences. This MNREs
programme was formally declared closed in 2004. The programme is again being
reactivated. The MNRE has recently launched a new portal on its website.
A three-pot improved woodstove was designed and fabricated at the Renewable
Energy Research Laboratory at the University of Lucknow. This improved woodstove
was extensively tested under water boiling test, controlled cooking test and kitchen
performance test. Based upon the results, some design modifications were made. The
modified model of this improved woodstove has been fabricated at Tehtana village in
Lucknow District for mid-day meals in the primary school located at Tehtana. The paper
described the results obtained from this two-pot improved woodstove integrated with a
chimney to have smoke-free kitchen. The socio-economic aspects of this improved
woodstove are also discussed in the paper.
With the encouraging results obtained from field-testing of this improved
woodstove, plans are underway for mass popularization of the improved woodstove.

90

8.1 Introduction
It is well known that energy plays a crucial role in improving the lives of poor people
and in underpinning efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. But the
number of people in need of energy services in enormous. 1.6 billion people across the
world still rely on fuel-wood and open fires for cooking and two billion have no access
to electricity.
For more than 700 million rural dwellers in India, biomass sources and kerosene
continue to be main fuels for meeting the domestic energy needs of cooking and
lighting. India has an extensive firewood shortage problem. Per capita consumption of
firewood has been steady for the past two decades, while the total population has grown
alarmingly by nearly two-thirds. A rapid increase in the price of commercial fuels
(kerosene, coal and charcoal) over the last two decades has led to poorer groups
depending on firewood/biomass as the means of household energy. Again, the firewood
shortage in various rural areas has caused many families to turn to burning dung and
straw for fuel thus steering them down the energy ladder. The recent survey conducted
by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has testified that people in rural areas are
using firewood, dung-cakes and agricultural waste as the main source of energy for
cooking. Although the ratios of firewood, dung-cake and agricultural waste vary from
region to region depending upon the availability, by and large people are still using the
traditional stoves for their cooking needs.
8.2 Energy, Health and Global Warming
Today, India still relies on firewood to satisfy 24% of total energy consumption. Indias
forests can sustainably provide 41 x 10
6
m
3
of firewood per year, even though current
annual demand for wood remains at 241 x 10
6
m
3
. In India, in the household sector, the
bulk of energy is spending on cooking. According to 1991 census, about 30% of the
urban population uses firewood and twigs whereas in rural sector, about 80% of the
population relies on firewood and twigs. According to the survey, cooking accounts for
about 85% of the total energy consumed in the rural domestic sector. The women in
rural India, especially the poor, have to trudge long distances for forage for scraps of
firewood.
To put the products of incomplete combustion in an energy context, each
constituent needs to be weighted by its energy content, i.e. the amount of energy that
91

could have been released if it had been burnt all the way to CO
2.
As shows in Fig. 8.1,
the result is that the products of incomplete combustion contain about 11% of the energy
originally in the wood, i.e. the combustion efficiency is about 89%. In other words, all
else being equal, if the combustion efficiency was raised to 100% the stove would
require about 14% less fuel. This inefficiency is part of the reason why traditional stoves
use more fuel than they should. The other major technical reason is, of course, the low
heat transfer efficiency (the fraction of heat released from the fuel that is taken into the
cooking utensil).

Fig. 8.1. The woodstove energy cycle
(TNMOC Total Non-Methane Organic Compounds, RSP - Respirable Suspended
Particulate and PIC - Products of Incomplete Combustion)
Some questions worth asking about fuel, cooking and ventilation are as follows:
Type of Fuel - Biomass: Wood, Agricultural waste, Grass, Leaves, etc,
Manure or Dried Dung
- Biogas
- Wood Alcohol
- Fossil Fuel: Coal, Coke, Oil, Natural Gas, Propane or
Kerosene
Type of Stove - Chulha: Stone Tripod, Hole in the ground, Clay or Metal
Location - Inside one-room hut, Special indoor cooking area or
Outdoors
92

Uses - Cooking only or Cooking and Heating
Ventilation - None, Windows, Hole in roof or Chimney
Fuel Gathering - Women, Women and Children, Children or Men
Hours/Day fuel gathering?
Hours/Day at stove?
Who cooks, who tends fire?
Visible evidence of indoor air pollution?
Respiratory symptoms?
Persons in household, persons directly exposed?
As far as rural India is concerned, mainly the answers of the above questions are:
type of fuel is biomass, type of stove is chulha or stone tripod, location is inside hut, use
is for cooking and heating, ventilation is none and fuel gathering is women and children.
Obviously, the answers to question no. 7 to 12 are obvious.
Types of ill-health associated with indoor air pollution from biomass fuel
combustion include the following:
Chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD) i.e. chronic bronchitis, emphysema
and asthma and associated heart conditions such as cor pulmonale ;
Acute respiratory infections ;
Low birth weight and elevated mortality/morbidity rate of infants whose mothers
are exposed during pregnancy ;
Respiratory system cancers, particularly of lung ;
Nasopharyngeal cancer ;
Depressed immune response.
For many years, health and development agencies have been aware that the
combustion of biomass fuels in inadequately ventilated dwellings contributes to severe
health problems for millions of people. A number of factors, however, have militated
against any concerted attempt to alleviate these problems. These factors, which
comprise a large proportion of social and cultural aspects, include the following:
93

The majority of biomass fuel users are in rural areas, frequently beyond the range
of extension programmes.
The results of prolonged inhalation of biomass fuel smoke are difficult to
separate from other health impairing factors linked with rural poverty. For this
reason, the medical world is experiencing some difficulty in proclaiming precise
correlations between specific health effects and biomass fuel use; it is clear,
however, that a severe health risk exists.
As a purely domestic issue, indoor air pollution tends to receive less prominence
than issues regarded as non-domestic and treatable at a more general level.
Treating issues on the individual, household level is perceived as highly complex
and less certain of successful outcome.
This perception of complexity is directly linked to the social factors involved in
household issues. The variety of circumstances contribution to health and
sickness within a household, compounded by widely varying social customs,
practices and traditions, preclude such issues being addressed as general health
policy matters. While the requirement for in-depth community knowledge is
often recognized, its fulfillment absorbs more time and resources than are
generally available for proposed projects. Others with more easily identifiable
goals and quickly perceptible results, therefore tend to be selected.
There is a major cognitive problem with biomass fuel and related problems at
community level. This is due to the predominant responsibility of women for
both fuel and food provision. As womens problems, both fail to find substantial
focus as either a community problem or a national problem and thus fail to
benefit from either trickle- up or trickle-down.
The bulk of development planning tends to be carried out with little social
science input. Thus, many projects are planned and implemented without
detailed knowledge of the real needs, wishes and perceptions of the designated
beneficiaries. Community input sought through other disciplines risks producing
information that does not reflect the views and position of all its members, or of
those who will be most affected by proposed changes. This in turn directly
affects the successful or otherwise implementation of any proposed behavioural
change.
Biomass smoke contains significant amounts of several of the important
pollutants, for which most countries have set standards: carbon monoxide, particulates,
94

hydrocarbons and, to a lesser extent, nitrogen oxides. The air pollutants from fuel-
burning appliances occur as mixtures of gases, solids (suspended particulates) and
liquids (suspended droplets). A mixture of particulates and droplets is commonly called
an aerosol. Biomass smoke as used here refers to the mixture of pollutants resulting
from combustion. It contains many organic compounds, which may be toxic,
carcinogenic, mutagenic or otherwise problematic. Coal smoke contains these pollutants
plus additional ones, such as sulphur oxides, inorganic ash particulates and heavy metals
such as lead.
The exposure levels reported in field studies in rural areas of developing
countries are generally very high. Reviews of studies in India and other developing
countries show that the indoor air concentrations for the four major pollutants are often
in the following ranges : total suspended particulates (TSP) 1 20 mg/m
3
, benzo-alpha-
pyrene (BaP) 1 -20 g/m
3
, carbon monoxide (CO) 10 50 mg/m
3
and nitrogen
dioxide (NO
2
) 0.1 0.3 mg/m
3
. These values are generally close to or above the WHO
air quality guidelines for ambient air which for daily exposures are: TSP 0.12 mg/m
3
,
CO 10 mg/m
3
and NO
2
0.15 mg/m
3
. For BaP, the WHO guideline is expressed in terms
of lung cancer risk, stating that 9 of 100,000 people will develop cancer after a life-time
exposure to 0.001 g BaP/m
3
.
The actual human exposure depends not only on the air concentrations of
pollutants, but also on the deviations of exposures. Household time allocation studies
have shown that a rural woman in developing countries spends 1-6 hours each day
cooking. On the basis of the assumptions of an average of about 3 hours cooking
time per day and average air concentrations of about 7 mg TSP/m
3
and 4 g BaP/m
3
,
calculated that the annual inhaled doses of BaP and TSP would be about 3.2 mg and
5800 mg respectively.
For comparison, one can calculate the equivalent does for a cigarette smoker.
Experimental studies have shown that one non-filter cigarette provides 10-50 ng of BaP
in the inhaled smoke and 15-40 mg of TSP. A filter cigarette produces about half of
these amounts. If we assume that on average a non-filter cigarette produces 30 ng of
BaP and 30 mg of TSP, the inhaled does of BaP and TSP from indoor air pollution,
referred to above, would be equivalent to smoking about 450 non-filter cigarettes (BaP)
each day, or about 1 non-filter cigarette each day (TSP). Based on these estimates, it is
95

clear that exposure to biomass smoke in rural kitchens of developing countries can
create major health risks.
As well as representing an energy loss, the 126 g of the products of incomplete
combustion represent the main health-damaging air pollutants from wood combustion.
One way they can be aggregated and compared is by the use of the Relative Hazard
Index (RHI) as shown in Fig. 8.2. This is simply the amount of air it could take to
sufficiently dilute each pollutant until it reached the relevant health-based concentration
standard. With standards as shown, the total RHI of the products of incomplete
combustion is about 120,000 m
3
. CO
2
is not much of a health hazard as shown by the
relatively small RHI, 1800 m
3
(Different standards would obviously result in different
relative weightings for the pollutants).

Fig. 8.2. The woodstove health cycle
Fig. 8.3 evaluates the same products of incomplete combustion in terms of their
greenhouse gas potential. To do this, it is necessary to apply some index so that the
different gases can be combined. This is so because the gases have different heat-
trapping abilities, lifetimes and interactions with other gases in the atmosphere. Here,
the Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change have been used. These are given as a ratio to CO
2
(i.e. per molecule or
carbon atom) and thus can be interpreted as the degree to which the total warming of
each compares to CO
2
. Since all the gases have different atmospheric lifetimes, the
relative impact (GWP) depends on the chosen time horizon. Shown here are the results
for time horizons of 20, 100 and 500 years. In general, shorter time horizons make the
96

non-CO
2
gases look more important relative to CO
2
since CO
2
is the longest lived of this
group.

Figure 8.3. The woodstove carbon cycle
(GWP Global Warming Potential)
The result is that, depending on the time horizon chosen, the non-CO
2

greenhouse gases, i.e. the products of incomplete combustion have a total global
warming potential of 20-110% as much as the CO
2
itself. This implies that looking only
at the CO
2
emissions of woodstoves may not give a good picture of the global warming
implications. It also implies that improvements in combustion efficiency could result in
much larger reductions in total GWP than would be indicated simply by changes in CO
2

emissions.
8.3 The Indian National Programme on Improved Chulhas
Hoping to reduce this need for fire-wood, the Indian National Programme on Improved
Chulhas (NPIC) was launched in 1983, to be implemented in all states and union
territories. The programme aimed to disseminate improved clay and mud stoves
(equipped with chimneys) of traditional stoves and reduce indoor air pollution. It was
managed by the Central governmental bureaucracy, along with six regional officers and
numerous other State and District officers. By September 2000, 32 million stoves of
various types had been promoted, touching 25% of the total potential of 120 million
households. A 1995-96 survey conducted by National Council of Applied Economic
Research in 18 States indicated that 71% of the woodstoves were in working order and
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60% were in use. The Indian Government invested in a lot of promotion to disseminate
the improved stove in rural India through National Programme on Improved Chulhas. A
key element of the dissemination policy was the provision of a government subsidy to
all households purchasing an improved stove. However, the primary drawback in this
method gradually became evident as multiple levels of government bureaucracy
complicated the initiative. Programme administration was truly cumbersome and
fragmented. In addition, the budget was insufficient for the level of supervision and
assessment, which the programme required. Problems were not noticed and rectified in
good time. Lastly, the programme was soon scaled down, being only one of several
national campaigns occurring at the time. With these problems, the situation today has
changed and majority of the woodstoves are not functioning in rural areas. This situation
may also be due to lack of maintenance facilities and lack of public awareness
programmes as well.
With the mix reaction of the first phase of MNREs programme, a fresh initiative
has been made by the MNRE on the title Biomass Cookstoves: Opportunities for
Learning and Collaboration. This portal provides the information for new Indian
cookstove initiative, cookstove network, models, testing and certification, institutions,
successful initiatives, etc. The portal provides technical details of the models the sanjha
chulha/earth cook stove, laxmi chulha, bhagyalaxmi chulha, grihlaxmi chulha, parvati
chulha, vivek chulha, oorja chulha, sampada chulha, agni (Tlud model) chulha, anila
chulha and philips model chulha. The portal also provide the information about NGOs
like TIDE, Winrock International India, ARTI, AVANI, TERI and Shell Foundation
which are involved in promotion and dissemination of improved woodstoves.
8.4 Improved Woodstove at Tehtana
Based upon the encouraging results obtained from the three-pot improved woodstove
fabricated and tested at the Renewable Energy Laboratory at the Department of Physics,
University of Lucknow by performing water boiling test, controlled cooking test and
kitchen performing test, it was decided to select a village in which such woodstove can
be fabricated, tested and evaluated.
Tehtana village in Block Mall in the District of Lucknow was chosen for the
study. Tehtana village is a remote village, located 25 kms from Lucknow and is at the
bank of the river Gomti. There is no road link and we have to cross the river Gomti by
boat (Fig. 8.4).
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Fig. 8.4. Remote location of Tehtana village on the bank of river Gomti
The village has over one thousand population, mostly living under the poverty
line. It has a primary school and there are no medical facilities in the village. The
primary school has five classes from 01 to 05 and there are 58 children in school (Fig.
8.5). Midday meals are served in the school. The improved woodstove, which was
fabricated, was for the serving of midday meals to the primary school children.

Fig. 8.5. Primary school at Tehtana
The design of improved woodstove was modified from three-pot to two-pot
because the midday meals served in the primary schools have only two dishes namely
rice and vegetable or roti with vegetable or rice with dal or tahri with chatni, etc. The
Fig. 8.6 depicts the notice on display at the primary school on the menu of midday
meals.
The design of woodstove is given in Fig. 8.7. It is 125 cm long and 80 cm wide.
At the end of the length, chimney of 12 cm diameter and 3.35 m height has been fitted.
99

The diameter of first hole is 28 cm and that of second hole is 20 cm. An opening of 25
cm x 25 cm has been provided for the firebox.

Fig. 8.6. Day-wise menu of midday meals

Fig. 8.7. Schematic diagram of the improved woodstove
The improved woodstove has been fabricated with bricks and clay and some
steel rods have been used to provide to the strength. Chimney is that of cement pipe and
cement bend has been used to direct the smoke outside the kitchen (Fig. 8.8). Baffles
have been provided in the improved woodstove and a damper regulates the flow of
smoke through the chimney.
The water-boiling test has been performed in the improved woodstove
simulating the cooking process. The water in the cooking pots is heated to evaluate the
thermal efficiency and associated a mission generation through combustion. This test is
100

essential to provide and initial assessment of woodstove performance, design evolution
during development and to compare the effectiveness to meet the design specifications.
Fig. 8.9 represent the variation of temperature with time in pot 1, pot 2 and the exits end
of the chimney recorded on one particular day. The efficiency of the Tehtana woodstove
is of the order of 22-23% computed from the water-boiling test.

Fig. 8.8. Fabrication of improved woodstove at Tehtana
The control-cooking test was performed to analyze how the improved woodstove
performed compared to the woodstove that was being used earlier. The menu which
were being prepared for midday meals of the Tehtana primary school children were
cooked using improved woodstove and were compared with the woodstove which was
installed earlier. It was found that there was roughly 50% of saving of wood (saving in
fuel-wood from average of 30 kg for one week i.e. six days cooking previously to
average of 20 kg for one week with improved woodstove). As for as the time taken in
cooking is concerned, previously the time was roughly one and half-hours which were
reduced to roughly one hour for cooking of 4 kg of rice and 2 kg of vegetables. During
the control-cooking test, it was notice that the emissions, which were made during the
traditional usage of woodstove, were more or less zero with improved woodstove.
With these encouraging result of water boiling test and control cooking test, the
kitchen performance test was carried out in the Tehtana primary school and the cooks
Ms Anita and Ms Kaushalya are very happy with the usage of improved woodstove in
terms of saving of fuel-wood, saving of time and emission of unwanted smoke through
the chimney (Fig. 8.10).

101

Fig. 8.9. Variation of temperature with time in the improved woodstove
The cost of improved woodstove fabricated at Tehtana is less then Rs. 300/-. The
main cost component is the chimney and the bend for the chimney. Since the wood is
purchased in the school, the pay-back period may be one or one and half months only.
With the successful experience of the improved woodstove at Tehtana, the
villagers want this design of improved woodstove to be fabricated at their houses. The
other villages in the Lucknow District also want to adopt the design of the improved
woodstove at Tehtana.

Fig. 8.10. Improved woodstove at Tehtana
102

The improved woodstove at Tehtana has shown that in addition to saving the
time in the cooking, the woodstove saves about 50% of the fuel previously used in
conventional stove, which in term will reduce a substantial emission of CO
2
per year.
The improved wood stove also brings hygiene in the kitchen area by reducing smoke
and soot in the air. Concentration of carbon monoxide can be brought down to
480g/m
3
from 4260 g/m
3
in the indoor air. Room temperature of the kitchen can also
be brought down by at least 6-8C. This has a direct impact on the health of the people
working in the kitchen and indirectly contributes to their increased productivity.
Improved woodstove can also lead to employment generation. They provide
employment to masons and fabricators and many people may get employment as the
popularity of improved woodstove increases. The technology is very easy to replicate
and costs involved are very low. Due to these factors, improved woodstoves have huge
potential for replication not only in Lucknow District but all over UP and India
wherever, conventional stoves are used for cooking food in way side hotels, dhabas and
individual households.
8.5 Conclusions
Doubling the overall efficiency of existing biomass woodstoves would seem to be a
technically feasible and, with less certainty, a realistic programme target. Without
consideration of the harvesting system and assuming that increased efficiency can be
achieved without simultaneously increasing the emission factors for the products of
incomplete combustion greenhouse gases, it might seem that this could reduce the
global greenhouse impact of woodstove biofuel by 1-2% from its current contribution of
2-4%.
Because some improved stove designs increase overall efficiency by improving
heat transfer efficiency at the expense of combustion efficiency, however, the emissions
of CO, methane and non-methane hydrocarbons can increase. Thus, depending on the
mixture of greenhouse-related materials in the products of incomplete combustion and
their greenhouse weighting, the resultant decrease in greenhouse impact could actually
be much smaller, negligible, or even a net increase. In any case, it seems accurate to say
that changes in greenhouse impact will be less than that indicated by the changes in
overall stove efficiency along because there are significant differences among the
various emission constituents.
103

For health, a great deal depends on the existence and effectiveness of the flue or
chimney. All too often such devices do not work as intended and indoor pollutant
exposures are not lowered. If properly operating, however, a flue/chimney can reduce
exposures even when the overall products of incomplete combustion is not changed or
even increased.
Some successful improved woodstove have no flues/chimneys but attempt to
increase combustion as well as thermal transfer efficiency. Examples are the portable
metal improved woodstove found in India and other developing countries. The
Government has reviewed the National Programme on Improved Chulhas and is trying
to overcome the drawbacks found.
The Tehtana experience of designing and fabricating an improved woodstove
and performing water boiling test, control cooking test and kitchen performance test to
provide midday meals to primary school children are very encouraging. The villagers are
very excited to get the improved woodstove fabricated in their houses. The nearby
villages and other villages in UP and India where our success story of Tehtana is told,
are also willing to adapt to this design of the improved woodstove. This is a novel
objective not only to conserve the forest and reduce global warming, but also to improve
the health of rural women and children.

References
1. Ahmed I., Bajpai S.C., Danshehu B.G. and Sulaiman A.T. (1985) Fabrication
and Performance Analysis of some Traditional and Improved Woodstoves,
Nigerian Journal of Solar Energy, 4: 65-70.
2. Bajpai S.C. and Sulaiman A.T. (1986) Performance Studies of some Improved
Woodstoves, Nigerian Journal of Solar Energy, 5:106-110.
3. Alkali S., Maishanu S.M. and Bajpai S.C. (1989) Saving fuelwood with
improved woodstoves: Danjawa Experience, National Solar Energy Forum,
Nsukka, Nigeria.
4. Bajpai S.C. (1994) Clean and efficient use of firewood, NCSCT - Network.
National Workshop on National Children's Science Congress - 94, Lucknow,
India.
104

5. Bajpai S.C. (2008) Wood stoves in perspective: energy, health and global
warming, Proceeding National Seminar Renewable Energy Sources, Government
Autonomous Post Graduate College, Chhindwara, MP, India, pp. 26-31.
6. http://www/winrockindia.org/mnre/home.htm
105

CHAPTER 9
DEVELOPMENT OF A BRIQUETTING MACHINE FOR
JATROPHA SEED CAKE
H. Raheman, B. Singh, T. Alam, D. Padhee

Abstract
The developed briquetting machine is a vertical extrusion machine comprising of a die
of 170 mm diameter and 60 mm thick, two rollers each of 75 mm diameter and 50 mm
length which were powered by a three phase 5.6 kW electric motor. Tapered holes of
diameter 18 mm were made in the die for increasing its compressive strength. The ratio
of length to diameter of holes made in the die was kept as 3.3. The performance of the
machine was evaluated in terms of size, density, compressive strength, and percentage
formation of briquettes by varying the operating parameters such as rotational speed of
the die (193 435 rpm) and moisture content of the feedstock (16 - 32%). The results
revealed that the best configuration for operation was at the speed of 386 rpm of the die
with 24% moisture content of the feedstock for making briquettes of size 18 mm
diameter suitable for use in small and medium size gasifier handling 25 kg/h of
feedstock. At this combination, percentage of briquettes formation, average length and
density of briquette as well as compressive strength of the briquette were 85%, 28.2
mm, 1115.6 kg/m
3
and 3.93 MPa, respectively. The density of the seed cake was
increased about 1.5 to 2 times through briquetting. Hence, the briquettes produced from
Jatropha seed cake could help in reducing handling, storage and transportation problems
and would become suitable for small size gasifiers.
Keywords: Jatropha seed cake, Briquettes, Roller, Die, compressive strength, moisture
content
9.1 Introduction
Global warming alerts and threats are on the rise due to the utilization of fossil fuels.
Alternative fuel sources like biomass and biodiesel are being used to combat against
these threats. Steep increase in international price of crude oil during the last few years
and concern about environmental degradation have brought into focus the use of
biodiesel as extender for petroleum based fuels particularly in automobiles and rural

106

applications. Several countries including India have already begun substituting the
conventional diesel by a certain amount of biodiesel. Worldwide biodiesel production is
mainly from edible oils such as soybean, sunflower and canola oils. Since, India is not
self sufficient in edible oil production, hence, some non-edible oil seeds available in the
country are to be tapped for biodiesel production. Jatropha curcas has been identified as
potential bio-diesel crop because of 30-35% oil content in its seeds. Out of which 25-
30% can be recovered through mechanical expellers. Then the rest 70-75% of the seeds
are byproduct known as seed cake (Akintayo, 2004; Gubitz et al., 1997). But de-oiled
seed cake, which is the major byproduct of oil extraction, contains certain phytotoxins
like curcin (Anonymous, 2008). Hence, it cannot be directly used either for animal feed
or as fertilizer for plant growth. However, this residue can serve as good substrate in
gasifier based power plant for electricity generation owing to rural upliftment.
Jatropha production is forecasted about 2500 kg/ha under Indian conditions.
Considering 25-30% oil in it, the extraction will generate approximately 1750-1875kg
of seed cake per hectare. Analysis of seed cake showed that its calorific value is 20
MJ/kg (Akintayo, 2004; Gubitz et al., 1997). Despite of its high-energy potential, the
major disadvantage of using loose de-oiled seed cake as a fuel is their low bulk density,
which makes handling difficult, transport and storage expensive and gives rise to poor
combustion properties. The ideal answer in this situation is to convert these residues
into high density (1200 kg/m
3
) and high value solid fuel (3500 to 5000 kcal/kg), i.e.
briquettes (Singh and Patel, 2001). Use of incompletely formed briquettes (density less
than 750 kg/m
3
) leads to crumbling of the briquettes during combustion operation in a
gasifier and increases the pressure drop across the reactor of the gasifier. This can be
avoided by use of briquettes of density greater than 750 kg/m
3
(Singh et al., 2007). Most
of the briquetting machine produced briquettes of diameter 60 to 90 mm. These sizes of
briquettes are difficult to use in small and medium gasifiers (Henmans, 1991). There is a
need to produce Jatropha seed cake briquettes of smaller diameter for extensive use in
these gasifiers.
Among the various options of densification process, rollers and die mechanism
is selected for making the briquettes of Jatropha seed cake. The feed material is
compressed through the holes in rotating die by the help of rollers which is rotated due
to frictional forces between rollers and die. In this study, a briquetting machine is
designed and the physical properties of Jatropha seed cake briquettes such as density,
107

compressive strength, percentage of briquettes formed and length of the briquettes are
investigated by varying the operating parameters such as moisture content and speed of
the die.
9.2 Materials and Methods
9.2.1 Properties of Jatropha seed cake
Fuel properties of Jatropha cake such as moisture content, calorific value, ash content
and volatile matter content were determined. For determining the moisture content,
Jatropha cake sample was dried in an infrared moisture meter maintained at 105
o
C until
a constant weight was reached. Then the moisture content of cake was determined on
dry basis. Calorific value of the seed cake was determined with the help of bomb
calorimeter. A certain amount of weighed cake sample was kept in muffle furnace at
550C to determine its ash content. Volatile matter presented in the seed cake was
determined by establishing the loss in weight resulting from heating the seed cake under
rigidly controlled condition. Method followed to determine the volatile matter content
was as per ASTM D 3175-02.
9.2.2 Design of briquetting machine
The basic function of the briquetting machine is to form densified product of suitable
size. The feed material was pressed through open-ended cylindrical holes (dies) made in
a circular thick plate. Two rollers pushed the feed material into the die holes from upper
side of the plate. The skin friction between the feed particles and the wall of the die
resisted the free flow of feed and thus the particles were compressed against each other
inside the die to form briquette. The main parts of this machine were die and roller.
Larger the die length to diameter (l/d) ratio the higher is the briquettes durability.
Increasing die-thickness (i.e. die length) would increase the amount of shear force
applied to the briquette, thereby increasing its strength and durability. However, too
much shearing force would block the machine. Durability were significantly enhanced
with the use of the thicker die, however, production rates were significantly reduced
(Heffner and Pfost, 1973; Kaliyan and Morey, 2009; Richards, 1990). For the
gasification purpose the die of holes was selected as 18 mm and for that diameter of
holes, length of the holes were selected as 60 mm to maintain the l/d ratio as 3.3. Holes
were arranged in the die in a hexagonal fashion.
108

Roller was simply a cylinder idling on bearings. The only driving force on the
roller assembly was the frictional force from contact with a very thin mat of feed
between the die and roll. The machine was provided with two rollers. The main purpose
of the roller is to help the feed to get into the die holes, thus the shape and construction
of the roller was designed for preventing slippage of feed and to give a rough surface for
better feeding. The maximum throughput can be achieved when the roller radius to die
radius is equal to 0.58 (Kaliyan and Morey, 2009; Thomas et al., 1997). Thus, diameter
and length of the roller were selected as 75 mm and 50 mm, respectively.
High die speed (about 10 m/s) is suggested for small briquettes (36 mm
diameter), and low die speed (about 67 m/s) is suggested for large briquettes and cubes
(Henmans, 1991) (Henmans, 1991; Thomas et al., 1997). Henmans (1991)
recommended a low peripheral die speed of 45 m/s for low bulk density materials,
where a large volume of air must be expelled during pelleting. Assuming the maximum
peripheral speed, 7 m/s power requirement was calculated to be 5.6 kW.
9.2.3 Performance Evaluation of the Developed Machine
Performance parameters of the briquetting machine such as percentage of briquette
formed, length of the briquette, density and compressive strength were measured by
varying the operating parameters such as speed (193 to 435 rpm) and moisture content
of the feed (16% to 32%). The briquette and dust were separated by sieving and the ratio
of the weight of the briquette and the total weight of the briquette and dust were taken to
determine the percentage of briquette formed. Compressive strength of the briquette was
measured using Instron machine. The length and diameter of the briquette were
measured with the help of vernier caliper. Density of the briquette was measured by
taking the weight and volume. Weight of the briquette was taken with the help of
weighing machine of least count 0.001g.
9.3.1 Properties of Jatropha seed cake and its characteristics
Fuel properties of seed cake such as calorific value, moisture content and ash content
were determined. Its characteristics such as density, and volatile matter content were
also determined as per procedure explained. All these properties are summarized in
Table 9.1.

109

Table 9.1 Properties of Jatropha de-oiled seed cake
Parameters Value
Calorific Value, MJ/kg 23.93
Moisture content (wb), % 8.5
Ash content, % 4.02
Density, kg/m
3
633
Volatile matter, % 72.13

9.3.2 Evaluation of the Performance of the Developed Machine by Varying the
Operating Parameters
A vertical extrusion briquetting machine was developed at Agricultural and Food
Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur. Its specifications are given in Table 9.2. The
pictorial view of the machine and its components are shown in Fig. 9.1. The machine
could produce briquettes of diameter 19 mm with an output of 20 kg/h (Fig. 9.2).
Performance of the developed machine was evaluated in terms of percentage of
briquettes formed, length of the briquette, density and compressive strength of the
briquettes by varying the operating parameters such as moisture content and speed of the
die.
Table 9.2 Specifications of the die
Parameters Dimensions
Hole diameter, mm 18
Thickness of the die, mm 60
Number of holes 31
Wall thickness between holes, mm 3
Outer Diameter of the die, mm 170

9.3.2.1 Percentage of briquette formed
The variations of percentage of briquette formed at different rpm of the die and moisture
content of seed cake have been plotted in Fig. 9.3. From this figure it can be seen that
percentage of briquette formed in each rpm of the die tested, increased initially with
increase in moisture content of seed cake and then it decreased with further increase in
moisture content of seed cake. Initial increase in moisture content developed more
Vander Waals force due to increase in contact area between particles. Hence, increase in
110

binding force helped in forming higher percentage of briquettes. However with further
increase in moisture content fluidity of the material was increased resulting in reduction
of binding force and higher breakage of the briquettes (Singh et al., 2007; Kaliyan and
Morey, 2009; Richards, 1990; Robohm and Apelt, 1989).

Fig. 9.1. Developed briquetting machine and its components

Fig. 9.2 Briquettes produced from Jatropha seed cake using the developed machine
9.3.2.2 Compressive strength of the briquette (CSB)
Compressive strength of the briquette (CSB) indicates the durability of the material. The
data on CSB before and after drying the briquettes to moisture content around 111%
are summarized in Table 9.3. From the table it can be seen that the CSB (before drying)
at any of the speed tested decreased with increase in moisture content of the seed cake
due to decrease in binding force and for the same moisture content, it increased with
increase in rpm up to a certain limit i.e. 386 rpm of die and with further increase in rpm
Roller with
Lower
casing
Upper
casing
Die Rotating
plate
111

of the die it decreased. For maximum compaction there was an optimum value of speed
of the die. Compaction occurs due to frictional force between the materials and the holes
of the die and there was an optimum value of the frictional force. As the speed
increased, more materials were pushed through the holes, frictional force increased
hence, more compression occurred. Further increase in speed of the die, the frictional
force might have exceeded the optimum value, which would not have helped in
compacting the briquettes further.

Fig. 9.3. Percentage of briquettes at different moisture content and speed of die with 18
mm hole
Table 9.3. Compressive strength of the briquette at different initial moisture content of
feedstock and speed of the die
Initial
moisture
content wt
(%)
Compressive strength of the briquette (kPa)
193 rpm 217 rpm 386 rpm 435 rpm
Before
drying
After
drying
Before
drying
After
drying
Before
drying
After
drying
Before
drying
After
drying
16 930.28 2346.06 945.29 2377.32 1209.73 2432.02 1250.37 1457.93
20 850 3197.47 929 3254.71 1133.57 3283.21 894.01 1798.03
24 494.94 1880.38 763.28 3296.33 1088.85 3845.85 605.18 2443.97
28 257.23 1764.45 574.71 2520.36 736.83 2746.89 408.69 2280.24
32 222.86 620.69 286.89 1027.54 381.18 1656.74 230 879.49

112

9.3.2.3 Length of the briquettes
The average length of the briquettes formed at different moisture content of Jatropha
seed cake and speed of the die has been shown in Fig. 9.4. From this figure, it can be
seen that at any moisture content tested, the average length of the briquettes formed
decreased with increase in speed of the die. This might be due to increase in air
resistance and centrifugal force with increase in speed of the die. From the figure it can
also be seen that at a given speed of the die, length of the briquettes decreased with
increase in moisture content. This is due to the fact that with increasing moisture,
fluidity increases which causes separation of particles. The average length of briquettes
for Jatropha seed cake was found to be 28.2 mm and it was produced at 386 rpm and
24% moisture content of seed cake.

Fig. 9.4. Length of briquettes at different moisture content and speed of die
9.3.2.4 Density of the briquettes
Initial density of the seed cake at around 10% moisture content was found to be 637
kg/m
3
. Due to compression of the seed cake, the density of the briquette got increased by
1.52 times. Briquettes formed at different moisture content were dried up to 111%
moisture content. The variations of average density of the briquette of Jatropha seed
cake at different initial moisture content of the seed cake and rpm of the die are shown
in Fig. 9.5. This figure shows that at each speed tested, the density of the briquette
decreased with increase in moisture content. This might be due to formation of more
void spaces during drying for briquette samples of higher moisture content.
Taking all these factors into consideration, it was found that the combination of
24% moisture content and 386 rpm of the die was found to be optimum for making
113

Jatropha seed cake briquettes for 18 mm hole diameter and 60 mm thickness of the die.
At this combination, percentage of briquettes formation, length and density of briquette
as well as compressive strength of the briquette before and after drying were 85%, 28.2
mm, 1115.6 kg/m
3
, 1088.85 kPa and 3845.85 kPa, respectively.

Fig. 9.5. Density of briquettes at different initial moisture content and speed of die
9.4 Conclusions
The developed machine with a l/d (die thickness to die diameter) ratio of 3.3 could
successfully produce briquettes from Jatropha seed cake at a production rate of 20 kg/h.
Physical properties of Jatropha seed cake briquettes were greatly affected by the
moisture content of the feedstock and speed of the die. The developed machine could
successfully produce briquettes from Jatropha seed cake of diameter 18 mm and length
28.2 mm at 24% moisture content and at a die speed of 386 rpm. The compressive
strength of the briquette was 3.84 MPa after drying and its density increased by almost
1.6 times as compared to loose seed cake. Hence, briquetting of seed cake by the
developed machine could help in reducing the handling, storage, and transportation
problems and it would become a suitable feedstock for small size gasifiers.

References
1. Akintayo E.T. (2004) Characteristics and composition of Parkia biglobbossa and
Jatropha curcas oils and cakes. Bioresource Technology, 92:307-310.
114

2. Anonymous, (2008) Jatropha Production Technology. Tamil Nadu Agricultural
University, Coimbatore 18 Nov. Available at:
http://www.tnau.ac.in/tech/swc/evJatropha.pdf.
3. Gubitz G.M., Mittelbatch M. and Trabi M. (1997) Exploitation of the tropical oil
seed plant Jatropha curcas L. Bioresource Technology, 67:73-82.
4. Heffner L.E. and Pfost H.B. (1973) Gelatinization during pelleting. Feedstuff,
1973:33-45.
5. Henmans H. (1991) The interaction of practical experience and the construction
of new pelleting and cooling machinery. Advances in Feed Tech, 1991:24-38.
6. Kaliyan N. and Morey R. (2009) Factors affecting strength and durability of
densified biomass products. Biomass and Bioenergy, 33:337-359.
7. Richards S.R. (1990) Physical testing of fuel briquette. Fuel Processing
Technology, 25:89-100.
8. Robohm K.F. and Apelt J. (1989) Die automatische Spaltweitenverstellung. Die
Muhle und Mischerfutterterchnik, 126:271-275.
9. Singh R.N. and Patel S.R. (2001) Potential feedstock for gasifier-biomass
briquettes. Proceedings of two days national workshop on role of renewable
energy in 21
st
century held at BN College of Engineering, Pusad (MS), pp. 1-11.
10. Singh R.N., Bhoi P.R. and Patel S.R. (2007) Modification of commercial
briquetting machine to produce 35mm diameter briquettes suitable for
gasification and combustion. Renewable Energy, 32:474-479.
11. Thomas M., Zuilichem D.J. and Poel A.F.B. (1997) Physical quality of pelleted
animal feed. Contribution of processes and its conditions. Animal Feed Science
115

CHAPTER 10
CHARCOAL ACTIVATION AT LOW TEMPERATURE
A.P. Singh Chouhan, S.P. Singh

Abstract
Cotton stalk and wood saw dust biomass wastes were selected for this study. Cotton
stalk and wood saw dust biomass wastes were pyrolyzed at 600
o
C temperature and
maintained at operating conditions 20
o
C/min. heating rate and 20 ml/min. flow rate of
nitrogen gas and subsequent pyrolysis products obtained were 17.14% bio-oil, 38 %
charcoal and 44.86% gases from cotton stalk biomass and 22.41 % bio-oil, 30%
charcoal and 47.59% gas from wood saw dust biomass. Charcoal and pyro gases were
the by product and bio-oil was the main product. Charcoal has high carbon content and
it can be used as a secondary fuel and after activation it can be upgraded into a porous
uniform activated charcoal. Charcoal collected from pyrolysis of cotton stalk and wood
saw dust was chemically treated with KOH and activated in a vacuum oven at a
temperature of 200
o
C. This article focused about the activation of the charcoal and
characterization of untreated and activated charcoal with X-ray diffraction and SEM
analysis for the determination of the porosity. In contrast to the conventional charcoal
activation method, it was found that charcoal could be successfully activated at low
temperature as well. This study can be useful for the activation of charcoal at low
temperatures for various applications of industrial and pharmaceutical purposes.
10.1 Introduction
Activated charcoal is a uniform microcrystalline with a porous structure and high
adsorption capacity processed to develop its internal porosity (Ajmal et al., 1996).
Activated charcoal is an effective adsorbent for many pollutant compounds (organic,
inorganic, and biological) of concern in water and wastewater treatment. Activated
charcoal techniques developed during the World War I for the use as an adsorbent for
certain poisonous gases in gas masks (Serrano et al., 1998; Bansode et al., 2003;
Kadirvelu et al., 2001). Pyrolysis, gasification are produced charcoal as byproduct, this
remaining charcoal can be utilized for the development of making of activated charcoal.
Charcoal can be activated through using two methods viz. physical (or gas) activation
and chemical activation and combination of both the process can also activate the

116

charcoal. The physical activation method involves carbonization of the raw material and
the subsequent activation at high temperature in a carbon dioxide or steam atmosphere.
The chemical activation method involves the carbonization of the raw material
previously impregnated with a chemical agent. Different chemical agents, known for a
long time, can be used in the chemical activation process, and out of all of them the
activation with KOH (Mills, 1977; Wennerberg and OGrady, 1997; Marsh et al., 1984)
and H
3
PO
4
(Jagtoyen and Derbyshire, 1998; Teng et al., 1998; Benaddi et al., 1998) are
two of the more used methods.
The major applications of activated carbon is in solution purification and for the
removal of taste, color, odors and other objectionable impurities from liquids, water
supplies and vegetable and animal oils. In recent years it has been increasingly used for
the prevention of environmental pollution and antipollution laws have increased the
sales of activated carbon for control of air and water pollution. Activated carbon is a
broad-spectrum agent that effectively removes toxic and biorefractive substances such
as insecticides, herbicides, chlorinated hydrocarbons, and phenols, typically present in
many water supplies (Khalkhali and Omidvari, 2005). Activated charcoal utilized for
various applications in pharmaceutical and industrial use it is illustrated in Fig. 10.1.

Fig. 10.1. Applications of activated charcoal
Slow pyrolysis resulted bio-oil, charcoal and gas yields. Bio-oil is the main
product and charcoal and pyro gases were the secondary products. Bio-oil can be used
for the engine applications after the upgradation, pyro gases has good calorific value
117

around 4000 Kcal/kg (Raveendran et al., 1995) and could be recycled into the reactor
and remaining charcoal could be activated. Activation of charcoal has multifaceted use.
Activation of charcoal can be commercialized for the industrial uses and pharmaceutical
purposes.
In this article efforts were made to activate the charcoal at low temperature
(200
o
C) with using chemical treatment (charcoal mixing with KOH at ratio 1:2) and it
characterized for porosity development on internal particles of activated charcoal.
Structure analysis of activated charcoal analyzed with XRD and SEM analysis and
elemental analysis for organic and in-organic material performed with SEM-EDX.
10.2 Material and methods
This studies had performed with consists following methods for activation of charcoal at
low temperature.
10.2.1 Activation of charcoal
The charcoal obtained from pyrolysis of biomass was mixed with KOH in the ratio of
1:2. For proper mixing of charcoal and KOH, it was agitated for 2 hours using agitator
and was left overnight at room temperature. Here KOH was used as an activation
reagent. Later it was dried in an oven maintaining a temperature of 110
o
C for 24 hours.
Dried charcoal was kept in a vacuum oven at 200
o
C for 1 hour to complete the
activation process of charcoal. After completion of the activation process it was cooled
and weighed. To remove the unused KOH it was washed successively several times with
0.2 N HCl followed by hot water and cold water until the pH value became neutral. The
washed charcoal was again dried at 110
o
C and finally weighed.
10.2.2 XRD analysis of charcoal and activated charcoal
XRD studies were carried out on Rigaku diffractometer. The Cu K light source was
used with an applied voltage and current of about 40 KV and 40 mA. Cu K wavelength
was maintained at 1.54 and 2 angles ranged from 20
o
C to 90
o
C at a speed of 2
o
C /min.
10.2.3 Structure analysis of charcoal through XRD analysis
The determination of the particle size and d- spacing of the charcoal layers identified
structure of charcoal samples. It was measured by the full width half maxima method of
the Gaussian fitting using Braggs and Scherers equation.
Particle size (D.B) = 0.9 / Cos
118

Where, is the wavelength of known source = (2 d sin ) /n, generally it is taken as 1.54
for copper source and d is the spacing between the particles = n / 2 sin . n = 1, used
for first order scattering diffraction, is Gaussian profile height and is the scattering
angle and could be calculated from the XRD- Gaussian fitting curves.
10.2.4 SEM and EDX analysis of charcoal
The electron scanning microscopy had the following specifications:
Model JEOL JSM 5600, Made by INCA Oxford Image memory 1280 x 960 pixels
Resolution 3.5 nm, Magnification: X18 to 300, 000 (In 136 steps), Accelerating voltage
0.5 to 30 KV (53 steps) Displayed image 640 x 480 pixel. For the analysis of the sample,
the samples were kept on the sample port (made of gold) by a gold sputtering device for a
clear visibility of the surface morphology. Scanning electron microscopy was used to
visualize the surface morphology of the charcoal and activated charcoal. EDX analysis
was carried out for the activated charcoal (wood saw dust and cotton stalk). Carbon,
oxygen and alkali metals were also analyzed with EDX using SEM (Model JEOL JSM
5600, Made by INCA Oxford).
10.2.5 Experimental
Pyrolysis of cotton stalk and wood saw dust had been performed at 600
o
C temperature
with maintained heating rate around 20
o
C/min with 20 ml/min. flow rate of nitrogen gas
in a fixed bed tubular reactor and output products obtained which are bio-oil, char and
pyro gas. Bio-oil is a main product and char and pyro gases are the secondary products.
Output yields of the both of the used biomass illustrated into Fig. 10.2.
10.3 Results and discussion
10.3.1 Bio-oil production
Cotton stalk and wood stalk pyrolysed at 600
o
C temperature in a fixed bed tubular
reactor with using operating conditions 20 ml/min. flow rate of nitrogen gas and 20
o
C/min. heating rate of reactor. Fig. 10.2 illustrated about the bio-oil, char and gas
yield. Wood saw dust was presented good potential of the bio-oil due to the higher
carbon content (54.96%) and higher volatile matter (72.99 %) as compared to cotton
stalk (67%).

119

10.3.2 Charcoal characterization
Charcoal can be used as a secondary solid alternative combustible fuel because it has high
calorific value but low density. In the case of low density, it should be used after
briquetting for convenient combustion. Critical review of Table 10.1 indicated that wood
saw dust char had higher calorific value as compared to the cotton stalk charcoal and wood
saw dust also presented the higher volatile matter and fixed carbon as compared to the
cotton stalk char. Wood saw dust char has presented good capability for the activation.

Fig. 10.2 Product yields from pyrolysis of biomass
10.3.3 X-Ray diffraction of untreated charcoal
X- ray diffraction study was carried out on the charcoal obtained from the tested
biomass to find the particle size, d spacing and crystillanity of the charcoal.
Table 10.2 summarized the values of d spacing showed distance between the
charcoal particle layers. X-ray diffraction is the function of particle sizes. Sharp X-ray
peaks shown by the Gaussian fitting curves indicate the presence of alkali substances in
the charcoal having crystalline structure; however diffraction pattern shows continuous
type structure or porous structure of the samples. Similar results were reported by Zanzi
(2001), while working with olive wastes and bagasse.
Figs. 10.3 & 10.4 illustrated that cotton stalk was more crystalline as compared
to wood saw dust, after the activation crystallinity of the charcoal can be removed due to
the development of the porosity into the internal surfaces of the activated char particles.

120

Table 10.1. Characterization of charcoal (untreated)
Contents Cotton stalk Wood saw dust
Calorific value of charcoal Kcal/kg 5714.62 5941.38
Density of charcoal gm/cc 0.39 0.35
Moisture (%) 2.05 0.34
Volatile matter (%) 30.24 32.6
Ash (%) 6.21 3.75
Fixed carbon (%) 61.5 63.3

Table 10.2. Characterization of untreated charcoal
S.No.
Biomass charcoal
Samples
Peak
Identity
d-
spacing
Particle size of
charcoal samples
Property of charcoal
samples
1 Cotton stalk Peak A 3.33
568.03 X 10
-10
m
Crystalline structure
2 Cotton stalk Peak B 3.19
871.15 X 10
-10
m
3 Cotton stalk Peak C 3.0
1.03 X 10
-10
m
4 Wood saw dust Peak A 3.04
358.32 X 10
-10
m

10.3.4 X-ray diffraction of activated charcoal
Structure of activated charcoal samples were also identified through XRD for
determination of particle size and d- spacing of the activated charcoal layers.
Figs. 10.5 & Fig. 10.6 illustrated that activation of charcoal increased the
amorphous and porous structure, which help in increasing the quality and hardness of
the charcoal. Sharp peaks in the XRD charcoals had shown the presence of alkali
substances in the charcoal having crystalline structure. It may be due to minor presence
of KOH. The XRD pattern showed that the compounds formed were K
2
O and K
2
CO
3
,
SiO
2
, graphite. Formation of K
2
CO
3
occurs due to the reaction of KOH with CO
2
.

121

Fig. 10.3. XRD fitting curve of cotton stalk charcoal

Fig. 10.4. XRD fitting curve of wood saw dust
10.3.5 Structure analysis of untreated charcoal
d-spacing, particle size of charcoal samples analyzed from Figs. 10.3 and 10.4. Table
10.2 presented that cotton stalk and wood saw dust both were presented crystalline
structure.
10.3.6 Particle size and d-spacing of activated charcoal
Table 10.3 presents the results about the cotton stalk and wood saw dust activation; both
were presented crystalline and amorphous nature.

122

Fig. 10.5. XRD pattern of Cotton stalk activated charcoal

Fig. 10.6. XRD pattern of wood saw dust activated charcoal
10.3.7 SEM analysis of untreated charcoal
SEM analysis of untreated charcoal resulted into Fig. 10.7 & 10.8 it showed that cotton
stalk and wood saw dust presented crystalline nature on the morphological view.
10.3.8 SEM analysis of activated charcoal
Figs. 10.9 & 10.10 presented that development of porosity into the surface of the
activated charcoal particles. Micropores developed into the activated surface it
illustrated into these pictures. Wood saw dust presented higher porosity development as
compared to cotton stalk activated char, similar results also found by Mopoung (2008).
123

Table 10.3. Characterization of activated charcoal
S.No. Charcoal Sample Particle size (m) d-spacing Nature of charcoal
1
Cotton stalk
activated charcoal
0.038 X 10
10

3.03
Crystalline and
amorphous nature
2
Wood saw dust
activated charcoal
0.03 X 10
10

3.03
Crystalline and
amorphous in nature

10.3.9 EDX analysis of activated charcoal
EDX analysis are presented in Figs. 10.11 & 10.12 and Table 10.4, it presented about
the identification and atomic weight (%) of organic and in-organic compounds into the
activated charcoal. Carbon content increased after the activation wood saw dust
presented 78.07% and cotton stalk presented 67.93% carbon and sulfur content found
very less into the activated charcoal.

Fig. 10.7. Morphology analysis of cotton stalk charcoal (untreated)

Fig. 10.8. Morphology analysis of wood saw dust charcoal (untreated)

124

Fig. 10.9. Morphology analysis of activated charcoal of cotton stalk

Fig. 10.10. Morphology analysis of activated charcoal of wood saw dust
Table 10.4. Atomic weight % of elements analyzed by EDX analysis of activated
charcoal

Sr.No. Cotton stalk Wood saw dust
Element Atomic % Atomic %
1 C 67.93 78.07
2 O 25.91 19.02
3 Ca 1.69 0.74
4 K 1.41 1.54
5 Fe 0.66 0.1
6 Si 1.02 0.16
7 Al 0.53 0.06
8 Mg 0.53 0.13
9 P 0.1 0.02
10 Na 0.12 0.13
11 Cl 0.05 0.03
12 S 0.05 0.01

125

Fig. 10.11. EDX of Cotton stalk activated charcoal

Fig. 10.12. EDX of Wood saw dust activated charcoal
Both of the activated charcoal was presented higher carbon content and less amount of
sulfur and identification of fewer amounts of other metallic contents including Ca, K,
Fe, Al, Si, Mg, P, Na and Cl.

10.4 Conclusion
This study may be concluded as
1. The untreated charcoal has good heating value 5714.62 Kcal/kg (cotton stalk
charcoal) and 5941.38 Kcal/kg (wood saw dust charcoal).
2. The untreated charcoal XRD represented that sharp peaks due to the alkali
metals. Activation decreased the alkali metals and increased the carbon content.
3. Activation of charcoal increased the uniform porosity of activated charcoal.
4. EDX analysis is presented that the elemental analysis of the activated charcoals.
126

5. Carbon found in cotton stalk 67.93 % and in wood saw dust 78.07%.

References
1. Ajamal M., Rao R.A.K. and Siddiqui B.A. (1996) Studies on removal and
recovery of Cr(VI) from electroplating wastes. Water Resource, 30:1478-1482.
2. Bansode R.R., Losso J.N., Marshall W.E., Rao R.M. and Portier R.J. (2003)
Adsorption of metal ions by pecan shell-based granular activated carbons.
Bioresource Technology, 89:115-119.
3. Benaddi H., Legras D., Rouzaud J.N. and Beguin F. (1998) Influence of the
atmosphere in the chemical activation of wood by phosphoric acid. Carbon,
36:306-309.
4. Jagtoyen M. and Derbyshire F. (1998) activated carbons from yellow poplar and
white oak by H
3
PO
4
activation. Carbon 36: 1085-97.
5. Kadirvelu K., Thamaraiselvi K. and Namasivayam C. (2001) Removal of heavy
metals from industrial wastewaters by adsorption onto activated carbon prepared
from an agricultural solid waste. Bioresource Technology, 76:63-65.
6. Khalkhali A.R. and Omidvari R. (2005) Adsorption of Mercuric Ion from
Aqueous Solutions Using Activated Carbon. Polish Journal of Environmental
Studies, 14:185-188.
7. Marsh H., Yan D.S., OGrady T.M. and Wennerberg A. (1984) Surface of active
carbons from cokes using potassium hydroxide. Treated activated carbons as
catalysts for the dehydratation. Carbon, 22:603-611.
8. Mills G.A. (1977) Alternate fuels from coal. Chemtech., 7:418-423.
9. Mopoung S. (2008) Surface Image of Charcoal and Activated Charcoal from
Banana Peel. Journal of Microscopy Society of Thailand, 22:15-19.
10. Raveendran K., Ganesh A. and Khilart K.C. (1995) Influence of mineral matter
on biomass pyrolysis characteristics. Fuel, 12:1812-1822.
11. Serrano G., Macias-Garcia A., Espinosa-Mansilla A. and Valenzuela-Calahorro
C. (1998) Adsorption of mercury, cadmium and lead from aqueous solution on
heat-treated and sulphurised activated carbon. Water Res., 1:32.
127

12. Teng H., Yeh T.S. and Hsu L.Y. (1998) Preparation of activated carbon from
bituminous coal with phosphoric acid activation. Carbon, 36:1387-1395.
13. Wennerberg A. and OGrady T.M. (1997) US Patent 4082694, 1978. Trans.,
93(12):2211-2215.
14. Zanzi R. (2001) Report on Pyrolysis of biomass. Royal Institute of Technology,
Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Chemical Technology.
Stockholm, TRITA-KET R144, ISSN 1104-3466, ISRN-KTH/KET/R-144-SE.
128

Part III
Biogas & Biohydrogen

129

CHAPTER 11
MNRE POLICY ON BIOGAS PROGRAMME
M.L. Bamboriya

11.1 Introduction
Historically, traditional biomass has been a major source of household energy in India.
Today, the total energy supply in India is composed of approximately 40% non-
commercial energy sources such as wood and cow dung. Rural households in India
predominantly use wood and cow dung as fuel for cooking and water heating due to lack
of electricity. Modern biomass energy is derived from organic material and can be used
in a variety of conversion processes to yield power, heat/steam, and fuel. In India, the
use is focused on waste materials such as municipal, agricultural, or forest residues.
Biomass is generally divided into three categories: biogas, solid biomass, and liquid
biofuels.
Keeping in view the energy shortage in the country there is a need to tap biomass
resources such as cattle dung, kitchen waste, agricultural waste etc. for generation of
biogas through the involvement of entrepreneurs and industries to set up decentralized
biogas based energy infrastructure in the country, especially in rural areas at the
potential sites where biomass available in plenty.
11.2 Biogas Programme
Biogas production is a clean low carbon technology for efficient management and
conversion of organic wastes into clean renewable biogas and organic/ biogas fertilizer.
It has the potential for leveraging sustainable livelihood development as well as tackling
local and global land, air and water pollution. Biogas obtained by anaerobic digestion of
cattle dung and other loose and leafy organic matters/ biomass wastes can be used as an
energy source for various applications namely, cooking, heating, space cooling/
refrigeration, electricity generation and gaseous fuel for vehicular application. Based on
the availability of cattle dung alone from about 304 million cattle, there exists an
estimated potential of about 18,240 million cubic meter of biogas generation annually.
The increasing number of poultry farms is another source and can generate biogas of
2173 million cubic meters annually with 649 million numbers of birds. Non-edible de-

130

oiled cake from Jatropha and other plants also has a big potential, which also needs to
be handled once produced in huge quantity as envisaged in the Bio-fuel Mission. In
addition, kitchens of all the institutions, universities, restaurants, barat-ghars, industries,
parks and gardens in urban and semi-urban areas also offer a very large potential. There
is a need for treating these wastes for better environmental condition and reducing
methane emission affecting climatic change. In addition to gaseous fuel, biogas plants
do provide high quality organic/ biogas fertilizer with soil nutrients which improves its
fertility required for sustainable production and improving productivity. Thus, there is a
huge potential for the installation of medium size biogas plants in the country. The
potential can be translated to an aggregated estimated capacity of 8165 MW per day
power generation or 22,06,789 LPG cylinders and 21304 lakh kg of urea equivalent or
3974 lakh tones of organic/ biogas fertilizer per day.
There is a need to take up Research and Development Programme in the area of
biogas and bio-energy are also taken up in accordance with R&D Policy guidelines of
the Ministry for biogas purification and bottling, testing & standards, development of
newer models of biogas plants and development of bio-energy refinery concept for
complete utilization of all the components of biomass in its solid and liquid forms for
generation of energy, biogas fertilizers and chemicals in a focused manner.
The various programmes launched by the Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy (MNRE) under Biogas programme. The Ministry has been supporting
programmes such as National Biogas and Manure Management Programme (NBMMP)
which is being implemented in the country since 1981-82 for promotion of biogas plants
based on cattle dung and other organic wastes. In addition, the Ministry has started a
scheme Biogas based Distributed/ Grid Power Generation Programme (BGPG
programme) from January, 2006 with a view to promote biogas based power generation,
especially in the small capacity range, based on the availability of large quantity of
animal wastes and wastes from forestry, rural based industries (agro/ food processing),
kitchen wastes, etc. During the year 2008-09, Demonstration of Integrated Technology
Package on Biogas Generation Purification and Bottling was also taken up as a part of
R&D and technology demonstration. Ministry is also supporting R&D activities under
biogas programme.

131

11.2.1 National Biogas and Manure Management Programme (NBMMP)
The Central Sector Scheme on National Biogas and Manure Management Programme,
which mainly caters to setting up of family type biogas plants, has been under
implementation since 1981-82. The NBMMP mainly caters to setting up of family type
biogas plants for meeting the cooking energy needs in rural areas of the country. The
availability of clean energy mitigates drudgery of rural women, reduces pressure on
forests and accentuates social benefits. The existing institutional network for
implementation of the programme includes State Nodal Departments/ State Nodal
Agencies, and Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) following a muliti-
model and multi-agency approach. These agencies, in-turn, involve their State/ District
level network institutions, trained turn-key workers and private entrepreneurs. The
Panchayats are also involved for selection of the beneficiaries and monitoring of the
programme. In order to provide training support and technical back-up, 13 Biogas
Development and Training Centers (BDTCs) have been set up in Universities, Indian
Institute of Technology (IITs) and other Technical Institutes. National Biogas and
Manure Management Programme provides for central subsidy in fixed amounts, turn-
key job fee linked with five years free maintenance warranty; financial support for
repair of old-nonfunctional plants; training of users, masons, entrepreneurs, etc.;
publicity and extension; service charges or staff support; State level Biogas
Development and Training Centres (BDTC).
The main objectives of this programme are:-
i. To provide clean bio- gaseous fuel mainly for cooking purposes and also for
other applications for reducing use of LPG and other conventional fuels;
ii. To meet lifeline energy needs for cooking as envisaged in Integrated Energy
Policy;
iii. To provide biogas fertilizer/ organic manure to reduce use of chemical
fertilizers;
iv. To mitigate drudgery of rural women, reduce pressure on forests and accentuate
social benefits;
v. To improve sanitation in villages by linking sanitary toilets with biogas plants;
vi. To mitigate Climate Change by preventing black carbon and methane emissions.
There is an estimated potential of installation of around 12 million cattle dung
based family type biogas plants in the country. Pattern of Central Financial Assistance
132

under National Biogas and Manure Management Programme is given in Table 11.1.
The details of the State-wise estimated potential of cattle dung based family type biogas
plants and its realization upto the end of 2010-11 under National Biogas and Manure
Management Programme (NBMMP) is given in Table 11.2. The potential increases with
the use of kitchen wastes, garden wastes and other green biomass wastes available in
rural, semi-urban and urban areas. With this biogas plants has reached in almost all
States, Districts and Blocks of the country and has become popular in rural areas
particularly amongst small and marginal farmers. There is a need to take these plants to
semi-urban and urban areas with the installation of pre-fabricated models.
Table 11.1. Pattern of Central Financial Assistance under National Biogas and
Manure Management Programme w.e.f 1
st
Nov. 2009 for 11
th
Plan
Sl.
No
Items for Central Financial
Assistance (CFA)
Family type Biogas
Plants under CDM
Family type Biogas plants
under NBMMP**
1 cum 2-4 cum 1 cum 2-4 cum
A. Central Financial Assistance to beneficiaries of Biogas Plant (in Rs. per plant)
1. NER States, Sikkim
(except plain areas of Assam)
11,700 11,700 14,700 14,700
2. Plain areas of Assam 9,000 9,000 9,000 10,000
3. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal
Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Niligiri of
Tamil Nadu, Sadar Kursoong &
Kalimkpong Sub-Divisions of
Darjeeling, Sunderbans (W.B.)
and Andaman & Nicobar Islands
3,500 4,500 4,000 10,000
4. All others 2,100 2,700 4,000 8,000
B. Turn-Key Job Fee including
warranty for five years
7,00 1,500
C. Additional CFA for toilet linked
Biogas Plants (in Rs. per plant)
5,00 1,000
D. Incentive for saving Diesel and
other conventional fuels by
using biogas in engines/ gensets
and/ or biogas based
refrigerators (in Rs. per plant)
2,500 5,000
133

E. Administrative Charges- for target range of plants (in Rs.)
1. 100-3,000 50,000@ 1,00,000^
2. 3,001-7,000 8,90,000# 10,50,000^^
3. Above 7,001 14,90,000$ 24,50,000 *
F. Training Courses (in Rs.)
1. Users course 1,000 2,000
2. Staff Course 5,000 8,000
3. Refresher/ Construction- cum
maintenance course
19,000 35,000
4. Turkey-key operator &
Management course for workers of
38,500 67,500
G. Biogas Development & Training
Centers

As per existing
pattern
As per existing pattern
H. Communication & Publicity for target range of plants (in Rs.)
1. Up to 1,000 1,00,000 1,00,000
2. 1,001- 10,000 2,50,000 2,50,000
3. More than 10,000 5,00,000 5,00,000
I. Support for Repair of Non-
functional Plants with the
restriction of utilization of upto
5% of the outlay of the programme
Nil 50% of applicable CFA
category subject to sharing
of 50% of the cost of repair
by the beneficiary.

Existing incentives for encouraging biogas production include financial
incentives for turnkey operations in rural areas, loans for developing biogas plants in
agricultural priority areas, and automatic refinancing offered by the National Bank for
Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
Table 11.2. National Biogas and Manure Management Programme (NBMMP) State-
wise Estimated Potential and Cumulative Achievement under National Biogas and
Manure Management Programme (NBMMP) since inception in 1981-82 to 2010-11
S.
No.
State/ Union
Territories
Estimated
potential
Cumulative Achievements
as on 31.3.2011
Percentage of Achievement
over potential
1. Andhra Pradesh 1065000 474213 44.52
2. Arunachal Pradesh 7500 3132 41.76
3. Assam 307000 88324 28.77
4. Bihar 733000 126238 17.22
5. Goa 8000 3911 48.88
134

6. Gujarat 554000 418055 75.46
7. Haryana 300000 55462 18.48
8. Himachal Pradesh 125000 46161 36.92
9. Jammu & Kashmir 128000 2603 2.03
10. Karnataka 680000 433223 63.7
11. Kerala 150000 130404 86.93
12. Madhya Pradesh 1491000 312322 20.94
13. Maharashtra 897000 801983 89.4
14. Manipur 38000 2128 5.6
15. Meghalaya 24000 7936 33.06
16. Mizoram 5000 3920 78.4
17. Nagaland 6700 5324 79.46
18. Orissa 605000 245868 40.63
19. Punjab 411000 128989 31.38
20. Rajasthan 915000 67623 7.39
21. Sikkim 7300 7691 105.35
22. Tamilnadu 615000 218009 35.44
23. Tripura 28000 2882 10.29
24. Uttar Pradesh 1938000 426872 22.02
25. West Bengal 695000 335510 48.27
26. A&N Islands 2200 137 6.22
27. Chandigarh 1400 97 6.92
28. Dadra & Nagar 2000 169 8.45
29. Delhi/ New Delhi 12900 680 5.27
30. Pondicherry 4300 578 13.44
31. Chattisgarh 400000 35882 8.97
32. Jharkhand 100000 5846 5.85
33. Uttarakhand 83000 12590 15.16
Total 1233930 4404762 35.7

11.2.2 Biogas based distributed / grid power generation programme
Biogas based Distributed/ Grid Power Generation Programme (BPGP) was launched in
January, 2006 for installation of biogas based power projects in the capacity range of 3
kW to 250 kW to provide electricity to individual/ community/ grid. The pattern of
Central Financial Assistance of Rs. 30,000/-, Rs. 35,000/- and Rs. 40,000/- per kW is
provided for the capacity range of >100kW to 250 kW, >20kW to 100 kW and 3 kW to
20 kW respectively in addition to assistance for DPR preparation and administrative
charges to State Nodal Departments/ Agencies and support for organizations of training
and workshops/ seminars. The details are given in Table 11.3.
135

Family type biogas plant (FRP model) Family type biogas plant (Dinbandhu Model)
The projects are taken up by village level organizations, institutions and private
entrepreneurs for their captive use and/ or sale of electricity to individual/ community/
grid etc. Since inception 353 nos. of projects with aggregated power generation capacity
of 6.95 MW having cumulative biogas generation capacity of 68,447 m
3
have been
sanctioned in 18 states. 113 nos. of these plants with 1.27 MW aggregated power
generation capacity have been installed up to March 2011. State-wise Biogas Based
Distributed/ Grid Power Generation Projects installed since inception are given in Table
11.4.
11.2.3 Demonstration of Integrated Technology Package on Biogas-Fertilizer
Plants (BGFP) for Generation, Purification/ Enrichment, Bottling and
Piped Distribution of Biogas under RDD&D
During the year 2008-09, a new initiative was taken for demonstration of Integrated
Technology-package, in entrepreneurial mode, for installation of medium size mixed
feed biogas-fertilizer plants (BGFP) for generation, purification/enrichment, bottling and
piped distribution of biogas. Installation of such plants aims at production of CNG
quality of Compressed Biogas (CBG) to be used as vehicular fuel in addition to meeting
stationary and motive power, cooling, refrigeration and electricity generation needs in a
decentralized manner through establishment of a sustainable business model in this
sector. There is a huge potential of installation of medium size biogas-fertilizer plants in
various villages and other areas and agro/ food processing industry of the country. Under
the demonstration phase, the Ministry was providing a central financial assistance
(excluding cost of land) for a limited number of such projects for implementation
following an entrepreneurial mode. The pattern of Central Financial Assistance for
BGFP plant was provided @ 50% of the cost of the project for 200 to 1,000 cubic meter
136

and @ 40% of the cost of the project for 1,100 to 5,000 cubic meter per day capacity
excluding cost of land. It is proposed to make dissemination programme on Biogas
Bottling for the 12
th
Plan. So far 21 numbers of BGFP projects (200 - 5,000 cum/day)
with aggregate capacity of 37,016m
3
/day have been sanctioned in ten states namely
Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, U.P., Andhra
Pradesh and Rajasthan for their implementation at a total cost of Rs. 50.03 crore with
MNRE share of Rs. 23.18 crore. The details of sanctioned projects are given in Table
11.5.
Table 11.3. Pattern of Central Financial Assistance for Biogas based Distributed/ Grid
Power Generation Programme (BPGP)
Power
generating
capacity
Biogas plant
capacity
Maximum
support for
preparation of
DPR
CFA/subsidy limited to
the following ceiling or
40% of the cost of the
system whichever is less
3 -20 kW 25 cu. m to 85 cu.m No DPR required Rs.40,000 per kW
>20 kW to 100
kW
Any combination of
above plants or
alternate capacity
/design
Rs.20000 per
plant
Rs.35,000 per kW
>100 kW to 250
kW
Any combination of
above plants or
alternate capacity /
design
RS.1,00,000 per
plant above 100
kW
Rs.30,000 per kW
Service Charges* to State Nodal
Department/ Agencies for providing
technical, supervision, training support
and to initiate action on power
purchase agreement with state
electricity board, etc.
10% of the CFA 15% of the CFA (upto
20 kW capacity for
which no assistance for
DPR is provided) 10%
of the CFA(20 kW - 250
kW)
* The programme provides support for a variety of workshops, seminars, meetings,
training programmes to the implementing agencies / specialized organizations / Biogas
Development & Training Centres (BDTCs).
137

Table 11.4. State-wise Biogas Based Distributed/ Grid Power Generation Projects
installed since inception 2005-06 to 2010-11
Sl.
No.
Name of the state
Plants installed (as on 31-03-2011)
Nos. M
3
KW
1. Andhra Pradesh 18 1880 193
2. Chhattisgarh 1 170 45.00
3. Gujarat 1 200 20.00
4. Karnataka 5 590 66.00
5. Kerala 40 1110 113.50
6. Madhya Pradesh 1 350 25.00
7. Maharashtra 26 3720 374.5
8. Tamil Nadu 11 1405 164
9. Uttarakhand 3 205 21
10. West Bengal 1 340 60.00
11. Punjab 5 625 72.5
12. Haryana 1 2200 115
Total 113 12795 1269.5

Biogas Power Generation project in Thiruvananthapuram district (Kerala)
The BGFP project sanctioned to Ashoka Biogreen at villiage- Talwade Distt.
Nashik (Maharashtra) and Anand Energy, at Abohar, Distt. Firozpur (Punjab) have been
commissioned and the remaining projects are under installation. The biogas generated
from the BGFP plant installed at Ashoka Biogreen at villiage- Talwade Distt. Nashik
138

(Maharashtra) has been purified and a purity of 98.4% methane has been achieved
through a test conducted by Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, Delhi (NABL).
The purified biogas is compressed at 150 bar pressure and filled in CNG cylinders for
various applications in accordance with the approval given by Petroleum Explosive and
Safety Organization (PESO). Standards for biogas composition has also been developed
and are being processed through Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and likely to be
finalized during the year 2011-12.
Table 11.5. Details of BGFP Sanctioned Projects for 2009-10 to 2011-12
Sl.
No.
State
Name of the project /
organization
Capacity of
the plant
(m
3
/day)
Project cost
recommended by
RDPAC (in Lakh)
1. Gujarat
P.N. Desai Aranyak Foundation,
Valsad, Gujarat
1000
(600+400)
152.43
2. Maharashtra
Ashok Biogreen Pvt. Ltd., Nasik,
Maharashtra
500 100.00
3. Punjab Anand Energy, Abohar, Punjab 600 91.00
4. Karnataka
M/s Terra Firma Biotechnologies
Ltd., Bangalore, (Karnataka)
1000 153.00
5. Chhattisgarh
R.G. Organics, Raipur,
(Chhattisgarh)
1000 135.66
6. Rajasthan
Singla Bio-Energy,
Sri Ganganagar (Rajasthan)
1000 145.00
7. Punjab
SASK Energy,
Muktsar (Punjab)
1000 145.00
8. Haryana
Option Energy Pvt. Ltd,
Hissar (Haryana)
1000 183.43
9. Karnataka
Maltose Agri Products Pvt. Ltd.,
Bangalore rural (Karnataka)
1000 136.00
10. Maharashtra
Mrs. Chhaya Vilas Kudale
Pune (Maharashtra)
1000 136.00
11. Maharashtra
Global Bioenergy,
Buldhana (Maharahstra)
600 85.00
139

12. Haryana
Shashi Energies,
Dist.- Fatehabad (Haryana)
600 85.00
13. Maharashtra
SEEPZ SEZ
Andheri, Mumbai (Maharashtra)
300 57.50
14. U.P.
Krish Power & Gas Project (P)
Ltd., Meerut (U.P.)
5000 650.00
15. Haryana
21st Century Enviro Engineers
Pvt. Ltd., Sirsa (Haryana)
4216 499.00
16.
Madhya
Pradesh
Ashoka Biogreen Pvt. Ltd.
Indore (M.P.)
4500 585.00
17. Maharashtra
Ashoka Biogreen Pvt. Ltd.
Nashik (Maharashtra)
5000 650.00
18. Punjab
Sanjh Deep Gas Energy,
Bhatinda (Punjab)
5000 650.00
19. Haryana
Amit & Sumit Dairy Farm,
Jhajjar (Haryana)
700 94.50
20. Gujarat
Enhanced Energy Inc.
Vadodara (Gujarat)
1000 135.00
21.
Andhra
Pradesh
Brahma Enterprises,
Rangareddy (Andhra Pradesh)
1000 135.00
Total 37016 5003.52

The salient features of BGFP project that was installed by Ashoka Biogreen at
villiage- Talwade Distt. Nashik (Maharashtra), about 12.5 Metric tons per day of
Organic waste (cowdung, agricultural waste etc) were utilized to generate 500 Nm3 of
raw Biogas. Out of which 270 Nm3 of purified biogas is obtained. 81 Nm3 of purified
biogas was used for power generation (160 units per day) for captive use and the
remaining 189 Nm3 of purified biogas was filled in cylinders at 150 bar (16 Cylinders of
9 kg each filled), which is Equivalent to Rs. 5,040/- of CNG or Rs. 7,200/- of
commercial LPG. The slurry that was obtained after digestion was 20,000 liters/ day was
used as liquid fertilizer substituting chemical fertilizer worth Rs. 10,000/-.
140

2
nd
Biogas bottling project at Anand Energy, Abohar, Dist. Ferozpur (Punjab)
of 600 cum/day has been commissioned and compressed biogas is filled in CNG
cylinder and supplied to mid-day meal scheme for cooking.
5.2.4 Ongoing R&D projects
The Ministry supports Research, Design, Development and Demonstration (RDD&D) to
develop new and renewable technologies, processes, materials, components, sub-
systems, products & services, standards and resource assessment so as to indigenously
manufacture for renewable energy products and systems may be developed. The ongoing
R&D project on biogas is given at Table 11.6.

BGFP plat Village-Talwade, Taluka-
Trimbakeshwar, District-Nashik
(Maharashtra)
Cascade of 20 cylinders of 80 ltr. Capacity
each

BGFP project at Abohar, Ferozepur (Punjab)

Development of a Household Wastes & Sanitation Device (HWSD) with Biogas
recovery by NIIST, CSIR, Thiruvananthapuram. Two models were developed for the
above and are tested at present. One is a compact model having the size of 3,400 litres in
which both anaerobic and aerobic processes are coexisted to recover biogas and effect
the treatments. The second model with 7, 000 litres volume has two compartments, one
anaerobic for biogas recovery and followed by an aerobic compartment. The anaerobic
141

part receives both black water and kitchen wastes while the aerobic part is designed to
get the discharges from anaerobic compartment and grey water from the house.
Table 11.6. On-going biogas R&D projects
S. N. Name of the Project Institution Status
1.
Addressing Novel applications of current
generation using microorganisms.
Central Electro Chemical
Research Institute,
(CECRI), Karaikudi
On going
2. State of art review of global research &
development in poly-generation facilities for
the production of the liquid fuels & chemicals
for co-generation of power through IGCC
route and the bio-refinery concept.
Indian Institute of
Technology(IIT), Bombay
On going
3. Development of Integrated Ultrasonically
Aided Bio-Methanation Plant with pre & post
Treatment of Materials for Enhanced & Faster
Biogas Generation from Leafy Biomass &
Kitchen/ Vegetables Waste.
Institute Of Minerals &
Materials Technology
(IMMT) Bhubaneswar

On going
4. Biogas refrigerator for urban, semi-urban and
rural applications.
Anna University, Chennai On going
5.
Design & development of prefabricated high
rate digester for rapid biogas production.
Indian Institute of
Chemical Technology
(IICT), Hyderabad
On going
6. High efficiency biogas gensets prototype
development & new engine technology.
Indian Institute of Science
(IISc), Bangalore
On going
7. Synthesis of green transportation fuels.
(Biomass gasification integrated Fischer-
Tropsch synthesis)
Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT),
Guwahati
On going
8. Development of a thermophilic bio-digester
for decentralized treatment of organic wastes
(Prototype development Project)
The Energy Resources
Institute (TERI), New
Delhi
Completed
9. Development of household wastes and
sanitation device (HWSD) with biogas
recovery.
National Institute for
Interdisciplinary Science
& Technology (NIIST),
On going
142

Thiruvananathapuram
10.
Anaerobic Technology for biogas recovery
and stabilization of unsorted municipal solid
Wastes.
National Institute for
Interdisciplinary Science
& Technology (NIIST),
Thiruvananathapuram
On going
11. Build Process Development Unit (PDU) with
one Tonne per day (TDP) technology
demonstration plant for complete fractionation
and liquefaction of Ligno cellulosic Biomass
(Agro waste) to produce Biofuels using Novel
Catalyst and Process
Lignoil Technologies Pvt.
Limited, Mumbai

On going
12. Biogas Slurry Handling and Bio-manure
Management
Indian Institute of
Technology, Delhi
On going
13. Comparative Evaluations of Performance and
Mass Emissions of an Automotive Passenger
Vehicle fuelled with the Enriched Biogas
using Field Trial Tests
Indian Institute of
Technology, Delhi
On going
14. Integrated Research, Development and
Demonstration of Biogas Generation from
Leaves, Fruit hull & De-oiled cake of Jatropha
using CSTR Digester
University of Petroleum &
Energy Studies, Energy
Acre, Bidholi, Prem
Nagar, Dehradun-248007
On going

Model 1 Compact Household sanitation
device
Model 2 Household sanitation device installed in the
laboratory campus
143

CHAPTER 12
BIOGAS PLANT A CHECK FOR ENVIRONMENT
POLLUTION AND GLOBAL WARMING
Sarbjit Singh Sooch

Abstract
Biogas produce by anaerobic digestion of organic wastes generated by human
population, cattle and poultry is a rich source of clean and environmental friendly
renewable energy for kitchen and power generation. Author in this paper have
developed a large biogas plant for digesting wastes from a dairy with 500 animals to
meet the demand for the kitchen and electricity of the dairy. The biogas plant is fully
functional for the past three years to cater demand of the dairy.
The whole of biogas plant digester and dome (gas holder) is under ground to
keep it warm during winter and the space above the plant can be utilized for any other
purpose like storage of fodder etc. The plant generates 250 m
3
of biogas per day
sufficient to produce 300 kilo watts of electricity. Three labours are required to bring the
dung from the sheds in animal driven car to charge the plant daily and run the generator.
The digested slurry waste so produced is a rich source of organic manure free
from smell and odour for the field. The plant is most cost effective which can be
recovered within five years period. The owner of the dairy is most satisfied with the
performance and result is more and more dairy farmers are adopting this technology.
Key words: Large capacity biogas plants, power generation, economics
12.1 Introduction
Under crop diversification, most of the farmers have adopted dairy farming as an
alternative. Even educated youths are very much attracted towards modern dairy farms
for white revolution. Although it is not easy to keep livestock healthy for dairy without
proper green fodder, nutritional feed and neat and clean water. The atmosphere all
around the dairy area should be free from smell as cattle produce lot of semisolid and
liquid organic waste which would attract flies and rodents to cause health problem for
human and animals. This would require proper sanitary management for organic waste

144

handling from the animal sheds and handle it scientifically. Biogas plant is the only
remedy to handle the solid and liquid waste coming out of the dairy sheds. This not only
stabilize the waste anaerobically and make waste free from odour but at the same time
plenty of biogas is produced for cooking and power generations at the dairy farm for
running tubewell and other appliances. The digested organic waste is good quality
manure for crops at the farm. The whole process is a step to stop global warming.
In Punjab alone, thousands of family size biogas plants are satisfactorily
functioning for the past two decades for 5-10 cattle heads, but now the concept is
slightly changing for keeping large herds of cattle as a whole time job for the keepers. In
Punjab, there are around 3000 diary farms for the production of milk each having
capacity from 50-500 cattle. Thus, there is huge quantity of cattle dung is available for
the production of biogas. So, large capacity (50-300 m
3
) biogas plants based on cattle
dung are being installed in Punjab with such dairy farms.
12.2 Materials and Method
To meet the increasing demand of dairy farmers for efficient and economical biogas plant
of large capacity is developed at PAU, having its gas holder fixed one and of
hemispherical shape. The hemispherical dome is structurally safer and crack free because
whole of the dome is under compressive force and there is no tensile force in any part. The
construction of dome is also easy.
The new design of large capacity fixed hemispherical dome type ( New
Inexpensive Modified PAU Model) biogas plant prepared for different capacities of
biogas per day are prepared, the dimensions and materials for these capacities biogas
plants are calculated. The detail of this biogas plant is shown in Fig. 12.1. The
dimensions and approximate cost of these plants for power generation having different
capacity are given in Tables 12.1 and 12.2, respectively.

145

Fig. 12.1. Dimensions of New Modified PAU Janta Model Biogas Plants

146

Table 12.1. Dimensions of New Modified PAU Janta Model Biogas Plants
(H.R.T. = 40 days) [Ref. Fig. 12.1]
Dimensions in
(ft)
Symbol
Capacity of Biogas Plant (m
3
)
50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 300
Diameter of
Digester
D 15.50 19 20.5 23.5 24 27 28 29.50 30.50 35
Inner radius of
digester
r 7.75 9.5 10.25 11.75 12 13.50 14 14.75 15.25 17.50
Depth of digester H 14.50 14.50 15.50 14 16.25 14 14 14.50 14.50 11
Depth of digester
up to smaller
portion of outlet
chamber
H
1
7.25 7.25 7.75 7 8.25 7 7 7.25 7.25 5.50
Height of smaller
portion of outlet
chamber
H
2
12 13.75 15 15.75 17.25 17.50 18 19 19.50 19
Length of bigger
portion of outlet
chamber (M)
M 18 22 25 31 31 33 34 36 37 40
Width of bigger
portion of outlet
chamber
N 13 17 19 20 23 26 28 30.50 32 35.50
Diameter of
mixing tank
R 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
Height of mixing
tank
P 2.5 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

147

Table 12.2. Project Cost of Large Capacity Fixed Dome Biogas Plants for Power Generation
Capacity
of Biogas
Plant
( m
3
)
Recommended
capacity of
Gen-set (kW)
Cost of Construction
of Biogas Plant &
Gas Pipe Line
System
(Rs. in lac)
Cost of dual fuel
Gen-set with
other accessories
(Rs. in lac)
Cost of Bio -
digested slurry
handling system
(Rs in lac)
Total Cost
of the
Project
(Rs in lac)
25 3 2.50 2.50 1.00 7.00
50 6 4.00 3.00 1.00 9.00
75 9 5.00 4.00 1.00 11.00
100 12 6.00 4.50 1.50 13.50
125 15 8.00 5.00 1.50 15.00
150 18 10.00 5.50 1.50 18.50
175 21 11.50 6.00 1.50 20.50
200 24 13.00 6.50 1.50 23.50
225 27 14.50 7.00 2.00 25.50
250 30 16.00 7.50 2.00 27.50
275 33 17.50 8.00 2.00 29.50
300 36 19.00 8.50 2.00 31.50
325 40 21.00 10.00 2.00 35.00

NOTE:
(i) Cattle dung available from one cattle = 15 kg.
(ii) 1 Kg of cattle dung will produce 0.04m
3
of biogas
(iii) Cattle dung required for production of 1m
3
of biogas = 25 kg
(iv) 25m
3
of biogas will generate approximately 3kW of Power
This plant can be constructed with around 60-65% cost as compared to the cost of other
conventional floating drum type biogas plant available in India. On the basis of the
performance of these biogas plants, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE),
Govt. of India (which is the nodal agency for providing financial assistance to install non-
conventional energy techniques in the field) accepted this design for installation at users
sites for power generation and starts providing financial assistance to the users of these
plants. At present around 100 such biogas plants have been installed in Punjab and all of
these plants have been performing very well. Before the installation of big plants, these
farmers were using dung cakes or wood as fuel for cooking meals which was very
148

hazardous and a constant source of smoke and atmospheric pollution. The kitchens were
black from inside due to smoke and irritant to the eyes. These biogas plants provide neat
and clean kitchens and free from eye irritation. This also provides good quality of manure
for the fields free from weeds and any smell. Thus the whole process after installation of
biogas plant is eco friendly for handling organic wastes from the dairy sheds and a step to
prevent global warming.

View of the complete biogas plant along with
precast slabs and mixing tank
View of the complete biogas plant with
precast concrete slabs on the displacement
chamber
Economic views of the owner of this plant have been collected and presented as
below:
GADVASU saves Rs 1,000 a day by generating electricity through biogas
Educational institutions and social organisations may be generating a lot of
awareness among the masses to save electricity but the Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and
Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) has done a remarkable job to promote the
cause. About 200 units of electricity (per day) are generated through the recently started
biogas plant at the animal varsity and latter has been able to save up to Rs 1,000 daily.
This biogas plant runs for about eight hours in a day.
Vice-chancellor Dr VK Taneja is the brain child behind the plant. It saves Rs
1,71,000 a month in the form of electricity, slurry and carbon dioxide. Talking to the
Ludhiana Tribune, Dr VK Taneja said, The plant was set-up during the month of April
to curb environmental degradation and add valuable products back to the environment
as the raw dung is being used as a fertilizer. In Kerala, animal owners install digesters to
produce electricity through dung, sufficient to run their houses. In Punjab, mostly
149

farmers have animals, they can utilise the cow dung by installing digesters and power
can be generated. GADVASU has been saving Rs 30,000 (per month) on electricity, Rs
1,35,000 on slurry (per month) and Rs 6000 (per month) on carbon-dioxide.
Besides, the biogas is used as a domestic fuel, for street lighting and for the
generation of electricity. The plant reduces burden on forests and fossil fuels, helps in
controlling air-pollution, provides a nutrient rich nitrogen/phosphorus) manure for
plants and controls water pollution by decomposing sewage, animal dung and human
excreta, the VC added. The effluent from the digester can be returned to the fields as a
source of nutrient.
12.4 Conclusions
It is concluded that this biogas plant proved very successful and liked very much by the
owner of the dairy cattle. This plant is functional and the owner is making use of biogas
for power generation. He is very happy with performance of the biogas plant, with
results more and more people are coming forward for the installation of large capacity
biogas plants. All these farmers are very happy with the performance of the biogas
plants and making full use of biogas for cooking food of the labourers, and running
diesel engine for power generation or for their Tubewells. The digested slurry coming
out of the biogas plants is either used at their own farms for raising fodder or sells it to
the other farmers at reasonable rates. These farmers are saving in lacs by using biogas
instead of conventional fuels.

References
1. Singh J.K. and Sooch S.S. (2004) Comparative Study of Economics of Different
Models of Family Size Biogas Plants for State of Punjab, India. Energy
Conversion and Management, 45:1329-41.
2. Singh S.K., Singh S. and Sanjeev A. (2000) Biogas Plants Development
Programme in India. Journal of the Institution of Public Health Engineers India,
2000:36-43.
3. Sooch S.S. (2010) Biogas Plants An Essential Part of Modern Dairy Farming
published in Newsletter of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy - Renewable
Energy Akshay Urja, 3(4):38-39.
150

4. Sooch S.S., Jain R. and Gupta U. (2009) Large Capacity Low Cost Biogas Plants
for Digestion of Cattle Dung published by Coodination Cell, AICRP on
Renewable Sources of Energy for Agriculture & Agro-based Industries, Central
Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal (M.P.) pp. 1-17.
5. Sooch S.S., Jain R. and Khullar N.K. (2009) Installation of Large Capacity Fixed
dome type Biogas Plants A Case Study. Paper published in the proceeding of
International Conference on Changing Environmental Trends and Sustainable
Development (CETAS-2009) at G.J. University of Sciences and Technology,
Hisar on 9-11 February, 2009, pp. 46-48.
6. Sooch S.S., Jain R., Khullar N.K. and Gupta U. (2009) Design Aspects of New
Modified PAU Janta Large Capacity Fixed Dome Type Biogas Plants A Case
Study. Published in the proceedings of International Congress on Renewable
Energy organised by Solar Energy Society of India (SESI) at New Delhi.

151

CHAPTER 13
TODAYS WASTE TOMARROWS FUEL: HYDERABAD
TO GET 50MW FROM GARBAGE (MSW)
(AN ENERGY RECOVERY FROM MSW MANAGEMENT)
K.K. Jain, J. Praveen

Abstract
In the day to day life, the individuals and industry are generating enormous waste
.Generation of waste is directly related to population growth and level of development.
Waste generation is a side effect of consumption and production activities and tends to
rise with the level of economic advance. Rapid growth of population mechanization and
urbanization have caused generation of large quantities of waste, which finds its way
mostly in to the environment due to lack of treatment and proper waste management
facilities. In most of cities, waste is dumped on open ground (trenched grounds).these
are potential source of many health hazards. Methane is formed by decomposition of
organic matter in dump yards, which is 24 times more global warming potential than
that of CO
2
. Uncontrolled burning in open trench grounds leads to emission of nitrous
oxides, which has 179 times more global warming potential than that of CO
2
besides
creating air and water (surface and underground) pollution, degradation in the quality of
land etc these dump yards provide a base for breeding of mosquitoes and other insects
which cause health hazards to community. Hence, waste management is todays need
for every citiy. With adoption of this new technology todays waste would be
tomorrows fuel. Municipalities and corporations should go for power generation from
waste and follow the MSW rules 2000.
Keywords: GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation), RDF (refused derived
fuel), MSW (municipal solid waste)
13.1 Introduction
Hyderabad (A.P) is generating 3500MT garbage everyday. GHMC has adopted new
technology of energy recovery from MSW management. It is already generating 6.6
MW. Electricity from 400MT garbage (MSW) daily. GHMC plans to generate 50MW

152

power from 3500MT garbage available. Aim of this paper is to create awareness of this
conversion technology from MSW to Eco-friendly RDF fuel. By using RDF in boilers
SELCO (International) Ltd is generating 6.6 MW Electricity since 8 Nov 2003. Its
calorific value comes between 2500-3000Kc/kg which is comparable to TPS (Thermal
Power station) coal having CV between (3000-3500 kcal/kg.
India is generating 1lakh tons MSW per day as per government of India MNES
report 2001.Hence having potential of generation 1500MW from MSW. By 2012 MSW
is estimated to generate 2, 00,000(2lakhs) tons/day hence it is estimated to generate
3000MW electrical power in India Vigors efforts have to be made. Now and ON
WARDS.
By using conversion technology of west to fuel which is called RDF .M/S
SELCO (International) Ltd Hyderabad has installed MSW processing unit at
Gandhamguda at Hyderabad. Converting 400MT/day .RDF is used in boilers of power
stations located at Elikatta village Shadnagar district, Mahaboobnagar (A.P) 509416.
GHMC has also entered with MOU with two more firms Viz.
Garbage (MSW) Expected to start generation
(1) RDF Power Projects -11MW 700MT/Day 1 July 2010
(2) Venkateshwara Power Project-12MW 700MT/Day 1 July 2010
The generated power shall be purchased by M/S Tata power trading Company at
rate 3.60 Rs/UNIT, thus there would be further generation of power 23MW from
1400MT garbage per day.
In third phase of HMC have invited tenders from national and international firms
from balance 1700MT garbage which may generate 21MW of power.
Thus 100% garbage disposal will make pollution free city from MSW-hazards
point of view and garbage will become additional source of income by getting royalty
10Rs/MT garbage.
At present M/S SELCO Hyderabad. Who is pioneer in conversion technology
from waste to energy are selling power to APTRANSCO W.E.F. 8 Nov 2003 and
already sold 11(cores) UNITS at rate Rs 3.48/unit up to Feb 2007 and has consumed
5,30,000 MT garbage(MSW).Figures are going upwards daily on wards from Feb 2007
till date. GHMC is also getting royalty of Rs10/Tonn on garbage.
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13.2 RDF Fuel Conversion from MSW (Segregated high CV fraction of MSW)
SALIENT FEATURES OF MSW PROCESSING PLANT-
1. There is one MSW processing UNIT of M/S SELCO (International) Ltd at
Gandhamguda, Rajendra Nagar Mandal HYD and power plant using RDF fuel
is at Elikatta.village Farooqnagar Mandal ShadNagar Mahboobnagar Distt AP
2. Land is given by GHMC on nominal lease for 30 years and garbage shall be
getting from GHMC
3. Garbage to RDF fuel conversion plant is operative since year 1999 running
successfully till date.
4. Totally indigenous technology
5. Drying of garbage with solar thermal panels.
6. Online drying of garbage with rotary kilns.
7. Automatic segregation of garbage.
8. Similar plant is operating at Jaipur also for cement industry.

13.3 Testing Results of RDF [Refuse Derived Fuel]
It is garbage based and has been tested for proximate and ultimate analysis to know the
quality of equivalent to coal. Calorofic value is 3000Kcal/kg. Results are as follows:
Proximate analysis Ultimate analysis
Moisture 10.1% Carbon 35.70
Volatile matter 61.7% H
2
5.30
Ash contents 21.9% N
2
1.21
Fixed carbon 6.3% Sulphur 0.32

13.4 Monitoring Report of 6.6 MW Plant

Running
Hours
MSW RDF Others
Power
generation
Auxiliary
consumption
Exported Ash
2004 5695 1,49,917 56232 900 2,80,79,300 28,98,580 2,41,46,900 11651
2005 4707 1,42,212 53162 859 2,47,36,400 27,04,940 2,14,1500 10701
2006 1388 1,14,700 28500 461 59,05,500 335600 5039900 7493
2007 410 77223 18972 134,85,200 24880 1136400 2260

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13.5 Emission Characteristics of RDF
Fuel emission of RDF Fuel is sulphur compared to coal with less NO
2
, SO
2
, CO & CO
2
.
RDF burning in place of coal is an eco friendly fuel. By product fly ash is used for
manufacture the bricks. Thus, new technically provided waste is also useful & todays
waste is tomorrows fuel.
13.6 Details of 6.6 MW Power Plant
(Elikatta village Farooqnager Mandal, Shadnager, dist, Mahaboobnagar) A.P.,
Components supplied by
i. Boiler ----------- Thermal system (hyd) Pvt Ltd.
ii. Turbo generator Triveni engg industry (Bangalore)-
iii. Ro plant- Ion exchange
iv. cooling towers Pahadpur industries
v. ID ,SA&FD- Algappa engg
vi. ESP - ALSTOM project India
vii. Electrical panels Mega Tech controls
FUEL HANDLING EQUIPMENTS
I. Primary shredder High-tech agro powers
II. Secondary shredder
III. Air classifier
IV. Rotary sieve
13.7 RDF from processed MSW
1. Separation at source
2. Sorting or Mechanical Separator
3. Size Reduction
4. Separation &Screening
5. Blending
6. Drying & palletizing
7. Packaging
8. Storage
CV of components of MSW/Heat value
1. Plastic------40MJ/kg
2. Wood-------15-17MJ/kg

155

3. Tyre ---------30 MJ/kg
4. Sewage Sludge1617MJ/kg
5. Animal waste 1617 MJ/kg
Projects are partially funded by technology development Board and Indian
renewable energy development agency (IREDA) and promoter equity. Applications of
RDF is done in cement plants, paper industries, and small power plants (stroker fired
Boilers) in India and abroad.
13.8 Case Study of Biogas from Slaughter House Waste to Energy
There in one meat processing unit in Rudraaram village Patancheru Hyderabad, AP.
This unit is generating 1400 m3 of liquid waste and 60 tones of solid waste per day. The
waste water treatment plant consists of equalization tank, screen chamber, primary
digester, secondary UASB reactor, secondary setting tank, aeration tank, secondary
clarifier, polishing pond and the sludge drying bed. The liquid waste treatment plant
generates about 1800 m3 of biogas and 500kg of bio sludge per day. It was perceived
that the
Implementation of high rate biomethanation plants for the solid waste would
also generate sufficient of biogas to generate electrical energy and bio manure with a
view to reduce the green house gas emission to the atmosphere. This plant was
commissioned in November 2001.
This is first full-scale demonstration plant for energy recovery from solid waste
of Abattoir in India. The demonstration plant employs high rate biomethanation
technology developed by Entec, Austria and adapted to Indian conditions with
international collaboration. It is proposed to install a gas engine to generate electricity
with the Biogas
Generated from liquid and solid waste treatment plant. At present biogas
generated is being utilized for generating steam to use in the meat processing unit as
well as to maintain the temperature for operating the digester under mesophphilic
condition.
The demonstration plant implemented at Hyderabad is expected to the
comprehensive solution for liquid and solid waste disposal problems in abattoir section.

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Salient Features of the solid waste biomethanation plant
Capacity of biomethanation plant 60 TPD
number of the digesters One
volume of the anaerobic digester 2250 m
Temperature of digester 33c to 38c
HRT of the digester 25 days
TS feed rate 7750 kg/day
VS feed rate 5425 kg/day
Organic loading rate 2.46 kg/m/day
Designed percentage of VS destruction 55%
Designed specific gas production 0.82 m/kg of VS destroyed
Biogas generation 2600 m3/day + 5%
Process Control
Automatic microprocessor based Programmable logic
control(PLC) system
Power required for the solid waste
Biomethanation plant
420 kwh/day
Electrical Equivalent to Biogas produced 5500 kwh/day
Bio manure generated 7 tonnes/day
Type of gas holder and volume Membrane type 500 m
Biogas composition CH 60-65% H S -0.5%,CO 35-40%

13.9 Conclusions
The municipal solid waste should be considered as alternate source of energy.
Processing of heterogeneous rag picked low calorific and high moisture content garbage
is the most critical part of the technology which may appear as a simple process. The
incineration technology has been established for the 1
st
time in our country successfully.
New technology of conversion of msw (garbage) to useful rdf (fuel) is todays
requirement. Low grade coal used in power stations are having high ash content from
40-45 % while RDF fuel is having 20-25 % ash content is considered better quality due
to less ash contents and less pollutant. Every municipal corporation should use this
technology to reduced pollution, preserve coal, and reduce production of green house
gases protection the ozone layer., co
2
reduction can earn CDM funds carbon credits

157

through clean development mechanism .further to above ministry of non conventional
energy sources has estimated 2 lac ton garbage by 2012 mt which can generate 3000
MW electricity. Further it is estimated that by year 2017 the msw will go up to 3, 00,000
tones per day which may generate 5000 mw electricity. Above had shown abattoir
(meat) waste to energy was also illustrated .This dream has to be full- field by hard work
and dedication

References
1. www.ghmc.gov.in.

158

CHAPTER 14
MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE TO ENERGY:
EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON BIOGAS PLANT
Usha Bajpai, Puja Singh

Abstract
The waste management strategies and their negative impacts on the environment can be
given in terms of maximum to minimum as open dump, landfill, incineration without
energy recovery, incineration with energy recovery, recycle, reuse and reduce waste. The
sustainable waste management needs to be environmentally effective, economically
affordable and socially acceptable. The reasons for improper management of waste in
India range from lack of planning, proper institutional setup, technically trained
manpower, community involvement, expertise and exposure to city waste management
using modern techniques/best practices, awareness creation mechanism, management
information systems, funds and indifferent attitude to levy user charges and
sustainability. In terms of municipal waste, the recommended approaches to waste
processing and disposal can be classified in four ways: 1. Wealth from waste
(processing of organic waste) which may include waste to compost - aerobic/anaerobic
composting and vermi-composting and waste to energy- refuse derived fuel
(RDF)/pelletization and bio-methanation; 2. Recycling of waste; 3. Sanitary land filling
and 4.Treatment of bio-medical waste separately.
India, being a tropical country, has tremendous potential for energy generation
through biomass in rural areas as well as urban areas. Globally, India is in the fourth
position in generating power through biomass and with a huge potential, is poised to
become a world leader in utilization of biomass. The production of biogas is of
particular significance in India because of its large cattle population and availability of
agricultural and municipal solid waste. The biogas technology is well established in
India. However, the maintenance problem is the key factor hindering mass
popularization of the plants. Cleaning of plants, bottling, pipeline distribution and
application of biogas are focus for research and development.

159

A proto-type biogas plant has been fabricated at the Renewable Energy Research
Laboratory for experimental studies on generation of biogas from various types of
municipal solid wastes. So far, kitchen solid waste, which constitute substantial
proportion of municipal solid waste, and used-flower waste available at temples,
bouquet halls, cremation sites, etc. have been investigated for production of biogas.
Although, there are little problems encountered in production of biogas from kitchen
waste, the problems from feeding the used-flowers are significant, particularly the pH
value. The experimental studies include the composition of the biogas produced using
different feed-stocks and variation of the production of biogas with the ambient
temperature. The results are given in this paper.
It is concluded that use of these types of portable biogas plants can reduce the
menace of municipal solid waste to a large extent.
14.1 Introduction
The term environment means surroundings and it is considered as a composite term for
the conditions in which organisms live and thus, consists of air, water, food and sunlight
which are the basic needs of all biotic lives to carry on their life-functions. The biotic
environment refers to the relationship existing among different organisms. Environment
creates favorable conditions for the existence and development of living organism.
Abandoned piles of household garbage, bags of yard waste, appliances, old barrels, used
tires and debris such as lumber, shingles, pipes and asbestos can threaten the health of
humans, wildlife and the environment.
Open dumps create a public nuisance, divert land from more productive uses and
depress the value of surrounding land.
Open dumps have become the feeding grounds for children from poor homes.
Municipal solid waste (MSW), also called urban solid waste, is a waste type that
includes predominantly household waste (domestic waste) with sometimes the addition
of commercial wastes collected by a municipality within a given area. They are in either
solid or semisolid form and generally exclude industrial hazardous wastes. The term
residual waste relates to waste left from household sources containing materials that
have not been separated out or sent for reprocessing.
Biodegradable waste: food and kitchen waste, green waste, paper (can also be
recycled).
Recyclable material: paper, glass, bottles, cans, metals, certain plastics, etc.

160

Inert waste: construction and demolition waste, dirt, rocks, debris.
Composite wastes: waste clothing, Tetra Paks, waste plastics such as toys.
Domestic hazardous waste (also called "household hazardous waste") and toxic
waste: medication, e-waste, paints, chemicals, light bulbs, fluorescent tubes,
spray cans, fertilizer and pesticide containers, batteries, shoe polish.
Municipal solid waste can be used to generate energy. Several technologies have
been developed that make the processing of MSW for energy generation cleaner and
more economical than ever before, including landfill gas capture, combustion, pyrolysis,
gasification and plasma arc gasification. While older waste incineration plants emitted
high levels of pollutants, recent regulatory changes and new technologies have
significantly reduced this concern. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations
in 1995 and 2000 under the Clean Air Act have succeeded in reducing emissions of
dioxins from waste-to-energy facilities by more than 99 percent below 1990 levels,
while mercury emissions have been by over 90 percent. The EPA noted these
improvements in 2003, citing waste-to-energy as a power source with less
environmental impact than almost any other source of electricity.
India is implementing one of the worlds largest programmes in renewable
energy. The country ranks second in the world in biogas utilization and fifth in wind
power and photovoltaic production. Renewable sources already contribute to about 5%
of the total power generating capacity in the country. India is being a tropical country,
has tremendous potential of energy generation through biomass in rural areas as well as
urban areas. Globally, India is in the fourth position in generating power through
biomass and with a huge potential, is poised to become a world leader in utilization of
biomass.
Biogas represents an alternative source of energy, derived mainly from organic
wastes. In India, the use of biogas derived from animal waste, primarily cow-dung has
been promoted for over three decades now.
According to the 1997 Livestock Census, the cattle population in the country is
about 290 million. The estimated potential of household biogas plants based on animal
waste in India is 12 million. Till December 2004, under the National Biogas
Programme, over 3.7 million biogas plants in the capacity of 1-6 m
3
had been installed.
Larger units have also been set up in many villages, farms, and cattle houses.

161

Energy from biomass is one of the most widely used options. With the
availability of new technologies, there were various means to convert biomass into
useful energy efficiently. The biogas yield from cow-dung is very low as compared to
various other biomass materials like kitchen waste based, night soil based, leaf based
biogas plant, flower waste etc. Therefore there is a need to design biogas plants for
digestion of other efficient materials. A prototype experimental setup has been
developed to find the quality of biogas produced by flower waste with the help of gas
chromatographer. The experiment was conducted in the composite climatic conditions
of Lucknow. Prototype digesters of 2 m
3
capacity were used and fed with kitchen and
flower waste which was digested in daily feeding for a retention period of summer and
winter seasons. Preliminary results indicate that the process is effective in reducing the
pollution potential of the municipal solid waste. Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy has recognized the following types of biogas plants:
Floating-drum plant with a cylinder digester (KVIC model).
Fixed-dome plant with a brick reinforced, molded dome (Janata model).
Floating-drum plant with a hemisphere digester (Pragati model).
Fixed-dome plant with a hemisphere digester (Deenbandhu model).
Floating-drum plant made of angular steel and plastic foil (Ganesh model).
Floating-drum plant made of pre-fabricated reinforced concrete compound units.
Floating-drum plant made of fibreglass reinforced polyester.
14.1.1 Biomass and Biogas
Biomass has been defined as contemporary plant matter formed by photosynthetic
capture of sun, as energy and stored as chemical energy. The recent energy crisis has
considerable interest in the exploration of renewable energy sources. Bio-energy will be
the most significant renewable energy source in the next few decades until solar or wind
energy production offers an economically attractive large-scale alternative. The energy
that biomass contains can be reclaimed by various methods. Methane production from
biomass is an interesting option for increasing the energy independence and efficient
waste management. The animal wastes with their relatively low carbon to nitrogen
ratios, improved for digestion purposes by adding cellulosic wastes such as crop
residues, grasses, straw, etc beside feed density.
Biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion of biological wastes such as cattle-
dung, vegetable wastes, sheep and poultry droppings, municipal solid waste, industrial

162

waste water, land fill, etc. It is an environment friendly, clean, cheap and versatile fuel.
Historically, the biogas technology is over a hundred years old in India. Biogas
generates under anaerobic (in the absence of air) conditions from bacteria in process of
biological degradation of organic material. The natural generation of biogas is an
important part of the biogeochemical carbon cycle. Methanogens (methane producing
bacteria) are the last link in a chain of micro-organisms which degrade organic material
and return the decomposition products to the environment. Methanogenesis in microbial
process involves many complexes and differently interacting species. Biogas is a clean
fuel produced through anaerobic digestion of a variety of organic wastes: animal,
agricultural, domestic and industrial. Anaerobic digestion comprises three steps:
Decomposition (hydrolysis) of plant or animal matter to break down complex
organic materials into simple organic substances.
Conversion of decomposed matter into organic acids.
Conversion of acids into methane gas.
As the process temperature affects the rate of digestion, it should be maintained
in the mesophilic range (30C40C) with an optimum of 35C. It is also possible to
operate plants in the thermophilic range (55C65C) under controlled conditions.
Apart from temperature, the rate of biogas production also depends on factors such as
the carbon: nitrogen ratio, hydraulic retention time, solid concentration and types of
feedstock.
14.1.2 Raw Materials for Biogas Production and Their Characteristics
The following are the various kinds of organic matter with potential for biogas
production (Fig. 14.1):
14.1.2.1 Land based resources
Crop wastes, sugarcane trash, weeds, corn and related crops, straw, spoilt fodder, forest
litter like leaves, roots, urban solid wastes, etc. By-products from agro based industries:
oil cakes, bagasse, rice bran, tobacco wastes and seeds, waste from fruits and vegetables
processing, press mud from factories, tea wastes, cotton dust from textile mills, etc.

163

Fig. 14.1. Methane yielding biomass
14.1.2.2 Animal based resources
Animal waste, cattle shed wastes (dung, urine, litter), poultry litter, sheep and goat
droppings, slaughter house waste (blood, meat), fishery wastes, wool waste, human
waste like excreta, urine, etc. Table 14.1 shows the amount of biogas generated from
animal waste and agricultural residue.
Table 14.1. Amount of biogas generated from different raw material
Raw Materials Gas produced L/kg- Solid
Pig Waste 340-550
Cow Dung 90-310
Chicken dropping 310-620
Horse manure 200-300
Sheep manure 90-310
Straw 105
Grasses 280-550
Peanut Shell 365
Water Hyacinth 375

14.1.3 Composition of biogas
Biogas is a colourless, tasteless, odourless, non-toxic, inflammable gas, produced by the
decomposition of organic waste and biomass. It is a mixture of gases that is composed
chiefly of as given in Table 14.2.

164

Table 14.2. Composition of biogas
Components (%)
Methane (CH
4
) 50-70
Carbon dioxide (CO
2
) 30-50
Hydrogen (H
2
) 0-1
Hydrogen sulfide (H
2
S) 0-3

14.1.4 Stages involved in biogas production
Methanogenesis is a microbial process, involving many complexes and differently
interacting species, but most notably, the methane-producing bacteria. The biogas
process consists of three stages:
14.1.4.1 Hydrolysis
In the first stage of enzymatic hydrolysis, the extracellular enzymes of microbes, such as
cellulase, protease, amylase and lipase externally enzymolize organic material. Bacteria
decompose the complex carbohydrates, lipids and proteins in cellulosic biomass into
more simple compounds.
14.1.4.2 Acidification
During the second stage, acid-producing bacteria convert the simplified compounds into
acetic acid (CH
3
COOH), hydrogen (H
2
) and carbon dioxide (CO
2
). In the process of
acidification, the facultatively anaerobic bacteria utilize oxygen and carbon, thereby
creating the necessary anaerobic conditions necessary for methanogenesis.
14.1.4.3 Methane Formation
In the final stage, the obligatory anaerobes that are involved in methane formation
decompose compounds with a low molecular weight, (CH
3
COOH, H
2,
CO
2
), to form
methane (CH
4
) and CO
2
.
14.2 Materials and Methods of Experimental Studies
14.2.1 Study area
A 2 m
3
proto-type biogas plant was fabricated and installed at the new campus of the
University of Lucknow, Lucknow. Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh is situated 123
m above sea level. It is situated on 26.30 and 27.10 North latitude and 80.30 and 81.13

165

East longitude. Lucknow covers an area of 3,244 sq.km. The population of district
Lucknow as per census 2001 is 36,81,416.
14.2.2 Characteristic of feedstock
Municipal solid waste such as kitchen waste, flower waste used as the feedstock was
collected. The raw materials were analyzed for moisture content, pH, carbon, nitrogen,
total solids and volatile solids as per standard methods and the results are reported .The
kitchen waste and flower waste contained around 95 % 90 % of biodegradable
materials respectively.
14.2.3 Experimental setup
The setup comprised of 2 m
3
capacity biogas plant and fitted with pressure analyzer and
thermometers. The whole setup was made airtight. The digester was connected with
pipes for taking away gas from the digester. The gas was collected in gas collector for
testing the ratio of methane and carbon dioxide. Biogas produced in the digester was
measured once a day by reading the level of saline water displaced by gas pressure. The
digester were started with 2 kg of kitchen and flower waste, 5 kg of cow-dung, 30 l of
water and methanogenic bacteria and then only daily fed with 2 kg of municipal solid
waste. The experiment was carried out in the composite climatic conditions of Lucknow
and the various parameters were analyzed at a regular period of time.
14.2.4 Analysis of Biogas Generation from Kitchen Waste
Typical results for winter season (December-January, 2008-09) in climatic conditions of
Lucknow, India are given in Table 14.3 and Fig. 14.2.
Table 14.3. Analysis of biogas generation from kitchen waste during December -
February
Months (Year) Methane (%) Carbon dioxide (%) Other Gases (%)
December (2009) 48.5 45.5 6
January (2010) 48 45.5 6.5
February (2010) 50 45 5

166

Fig. 14.2. Production of methane and carbon dioxide (%) during cold months from
kitchen waste
Typical results for the summer season (March-May, 2009) in climatic conditions
of Lucknow are given in Table 14.4 and Fig. 14.3.
Table 14.4. Analysis of biogas generation from kitchen waste during March-May
March (2010) 54 42.5 3.5
April (2010) 55.5 40.2 4.3
May (2010) 59.4 35 5.6

Fig. 14.3. Production of methane and carbon dioxide (%) during hot months from
kitchen wastes

14.2.5 Analysis of Biogas Generation from Flower Waste

167

Typical results for winter season (December-January, 2009-10) in climatic conditions of
Lucknow are given in Table 14.5 and Fig. 14.4.
Table 14.5. Analysis of biogas generation from flower waste during December -
February
December (2009) 43 50 7
January (2010) 44 50 6
February (2010) 50 44 6

Fig. 14.4. Production of methane and carbon dioxide (%) during cold months from
flower waste
Typical results for the summer season (March- May, 2010) in climatic conditions of
Lucknow are given in Table 14.6 and Fig. 14.5.
Table 14.6. Analysis of biogas generation from flower waste during March-May
March (2010) 50 43 7
April (2010) 52 42 6
May (2010) 54 40 6

168

Fig. 14.5. Production of methane and carbon dioxide (%) during hot months from
flower wastes
The reactor was operated with daily feeding and the setup was studied for both winter
and summer season for two different municipal solid wastes and compared its
performance. The pH, temperature, and biogas production were monitored continuously
at regular period of time. The biogas plant has performed satisfactorily in hot months of
the composite climatic conditions of Lucknow. The experimental studies include the
composition of the biogas produced using different feed-stocks and variation between
the efficiency of kitchen waste and flower waste.
The process removed a lot of environmental pollutants as total solids, BOD, etc
respectively, along with biogas production. The results of the biogas from kitchen and
flower waste are compared as 48 - 50% methane (CH
4
) and 42.5 - 45.5% carbon dioxide
(CO
2
) during winter season (December to February, 2008-2009) and 54 59.4%
methane (CH
4
) and 35 - 42.5% carbon dioxide (CO
2
) during summer season (March to
May, 2009) and 43 - 50% methane (CH
4
) and 44 - 50% carbon dioxide (CO
2
) during
winter season (December to February, 2009-2010) and 50 - 54% methane (CH
4
) and 40
- 43% carbon dioxide (CO
2
) during summer season (March to May, 2010) respectively.
The result shows that kitchen waste is little more efficient than flower waste
because difference between pH conditions.
These types of biogas plants will go along way in solving the problems of
municipal solid waste disposal in urban as well as rural areas of developing countries
including India.

169

References
1. Anonymous, (1998) APHA, Standard Methods for the Examination of Water
and Wastewater, American Public Health Association, Washington.
2. Bajpai U. (2003) A study of night soil based biogas plant. Proceeding of the
Twenty Sixth National Renewable Energy Convention of Solar Energy Society
of India and International Conference on New Millennium - Alternative Energy
Solutions for Sustainable Development, pp. 511-515.
3. Bajpai U. and Singh P. (2011) Bio-methanation route for utilizing kitchen waste
in rural and urban families. National Conference on Changing Status of
Families: Impact on Resources and Quality of Life, Sam Higginbottom
Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, India.
4. Kalia A.K. and Kanwar S.S. (1998) Long-term evaluation of a fixed dome
Janata biogas plant in hilly conditions. Bioresource Technology, 65:61-63.
5. Singh P. and Bajpai U. (2008) Biogas technology development in India. Bull.
Env. Sci., 27(1):27-37.
6. Singh P. and Bajpai U. (2010) Utilization of organic waste for generating
biogas. International Conference on Frontiers in Biological Sciences
(InCoFIBS-2010), National Institute of Technology Rourkela, India.
7. Singh P. and Bajpai U. (2011) Anaerobic digestion of flower waste for methane
production: an alternative energy source. International Journal of
Environmental Progress and Sustainable Energy.
8. Singh P. and Bajpai U. (2011) Comparative study of bio-methanation from
flower waste and kitchen waste. The Society of Earth Scientists National
Conference on Science of Climate Change and Earths Sustainability: Issues
and Challenges A Scientists-People Partnership, Lucknow, India.
9. Singh P. and Bajpai U. (2011) Experimental analysis of proto-type biogas plant
using kitchen waste as a raw material. International Journal of Environmental
Engineering and Management, 2(1):101-106.
10. Singh P., Singh S. and Bajpai U. (2008) Prospects and Perspective of Biomass
Energy for Rural Population, National Conference on Scientific and Legal
Challenges of Global Warming, Brahmanand College, C.S.J.M. University,
Kanpur.

170

CHAPTER 15
POULTRY LITTER AS AN ALTERNATE FEED
STOCK TO CATTLE DUNG FOR BIOGAS
PRODUCTION AND POWER GENERATION
Sarabjit Singh Sooch, Urmila Gupta, Anand Gautam

Abstract
There are about 150 million hens and 1700 million broiler in India approx 2000 poultry
farms are present in Punjab each having the capacity of 10000 3,00,000 birds.
Generation of poultry waste to the extent of 3.6 million tons per annum in India makes
its management and disposal a crucial aspect of sustainable poultry farming. Wastes
generated during poultry farming include droppings, feathers, spillover feed and egg
shells. Poultry droppings (cage manure) contain high moisture with 70-80 % organic
matter and substantial nitrogen. Poultry litter is a very good alternate feed stock of
biogas production. It not only produces higher amount of biogas than cattle dung but
also helps in the management of poultry waste. Thus a large number of biogas plants
based on poultry droppings/litter can be installed in India. The School of Energy Studies
for Agriculture, PAU, Ludhiana has worked on poultry based biogas plants and
standardized operation parameters for maximum biogas production. A number of plants
(Capacity 20- 150 m
3
) have been constructed, installed and evaluated in Punjab, which
are running successfully. These plants are now in big demand power generation also.
Key words: Poultry litter, Alternate feed stock, Biogas, Power
15.1 Introduction
Day by day the natural resources of energy are being depleted exhaustively and
uneconomically in a developing country like ours. In order to combat with such a problem,
one needs conservation of energy as well as harnessing of natural resources of energy.
India being a developing country, it needs to reorient its different methods of use of energy
so that it can be used effectively as well as economically. It is evident that there is a
continued demand of energy for various purposes which has negative impact on
environment. Conventional energy sources continue to be the major energy inputs even

171

though they are expensive and unreliable in supply. Non conventional energy source like
biogas is becoming very much useful, clean, efficient, economical and pollution free
source of energy. Poultry droppings/litters can be used as feeding material along with/in
place of cattle dung for biogas production as the biogas production from poultry
droppings/litter is very high as compared to the cattle dung from a unit digester.
India is endowed with rich source of poultry breeds including improved
germplasm. The poultry industry is growing at a faster pace putting pressure on various
inputs for profitable produce. Lack of bio security and sanitation due to improper handling
of poultry waste is an important limiting factor in raising commercial poultry. Large
quantities of poultry litter including slaughter wastes are either not properly managed or
improperly dispose of leading to air, water and soil pollution and sometimes out break of
diseases. Poultry litter/droppings is considered to be a good organic source of bio energy
and bio manure.
There are about 150 million hens and 1700 broiler presently in India. Generation
of poultry waste to the extent of 3.6 million tons per annum in India makes its
management and disposal a crucial aspect of sustainable poultry farming. Wastes
generated during poultry farming include droppings, feathers, spillover feed and egg
shells. Poultry droppings (cage manure) contain high moisture with 70-80 % organic
matter and substantial nitrogen.
As conventional practice, use of untreated poultry droppings for crops/fish ponds
may result in air, water and soil pollution apart from the spread of pathogens. Poultry
manure recycling as a feed ingredient is also discouraged due to the risk of bacterial
contamination and infections. Accumulation of poultry excreta for longer duration under
the cages for use in agriculture causes loss of nitrogen and other plant nutrients. Poultry
droppings containing abundant organic matter and nitrogen yield 1.4 times more biogas as
compared to cattle dung in conventional digesters. Biogas generated from poultry
droppings is also rich in methane for use as a fuel.
In Punjab, there are around 15000 poultry farms for the production of broilers each
having capacity varying from 2000 50000 birds and around 2000 poultry farms for the
production of eggs; each having the capacity of 10000 3,00,000 birds. So, there is huge
quantity of poultry droppings/litter is available that can be used for the production of
biogas and thus a large number of biogas plants based on poultry droppings/litter can be
installed in Punjab. A target for installation of 10 Deenbandhu biogas plants of capacity 6-

172

10 m
3
based on poultry droppings at users sites in different villages was fixed by ICAR in
P-P-P mode. The scope of work included the installation, commissioning and monitoring
of the performance of these biogas plants. The problems faced by the users was analyzed,
solved and reported to the expert scientists for any improvement. The successful running
of the plant proved to be very useful for promoting the biogas technology in rural areas.
15.2 Methodology
Laboratory, pilot and field level studies were conducted to study the feasibility of
using poultry litter as an alternate substrate to cattle dung for biogas generation without
modifying the existing design of the biogas plants. Bench scale studies revealed that
poultry litter and water in the ratio of 1:3 (w/w) make a suitable influent to the biogas
plant. The percent substitution rate of poultry litter with cattle dung slurry in the existing
biogas plant was kept at 10 % every two weeks. The water added in poultry litter was
1:3 (w/w) basis. A total of 18 weeks time was needed for the complete replacement of
cattle dung slurry with poultry litter in the influent slurry to the biogas plant after
stabilization of the plant on cattle dung alone. The quantity of the material required for
the construction of the biogas plant is shown in Table 15.1.
Table 15.1. Material required for construction of 6 m
3
Deenbandhu biogas plant
(HRT = 40 days)
S.No. Details of the material Specifications Quantity
1. Bricks Nos. 3000
2. Cement Bags 16
3. Stone ballast ft
3
50
4. Sand ft
3
200
5. G.I. Pipe (1 dia) ft 1.5
6. A.C. pipe (6 dia) ft 8
7. Steel (8mm dia) kg 20
8. Paint Litres 3

Bench scale, semi continuous (single phase) studies on poultry litter as a substrate for
biogas production have revealed that there is a huge lag phase in the startup of methane
generation. In the initial lag phase, the microorganisms adapt themselves to a high

173

concentration of ammonical nitrogen in the media and the gas produced is mainly
carbon dioxide. Laboratory scale semi continuous studies using poultry litter as feed
stock conducted at different hydraulic retention times (HRT) show maximum gas
production per unit weight basis of poultry litter at 20 days HRT. Scaling up of the
result indicate that for running a 2.84 m
3
biogas plant on poultry litter, the digester
volume required will be 2.30 m
3
which less as compared to the digester being run on
cattle dung, i.e. 4.26 m
3
at 30 days HRT , 5.68 m
3
for 40 days HRT and 7.1 m
3
for 55
days HRT. An amount of 24 kg. poultry litter will be sufficient for production of 2.84
m
3
of biogas everyday and a farmer having 250 birds can easily run a biogas plant of
2.84 m
3
capacity .Biogas from poultry litter was found to be 2.0 2.5 times more than
that from an equivalent amount of cattle dung (40 litres/kg). As 2.5-2.8 % of poultry
feed consist of stones for full grown bird. Assuming 60% digestibility, approx 1 % of
material consists of stones, which should be prevented from going to biogas plant. So an
additional tank of capacity equal to daily feed is provided with the provision of retaining
heavier material at its base.
The construction of biogas plant requires the services of a trained skilled mason
and contractor to make it leak proof and air tight. A number of farmers of different
villages were contacted for the construction of biogas plants. Based on the interest
shown and the availability of poultry droppings with the farmers, 10 farmers of different
villages were selected to carry out the ORP trials to demonstrate the technical soundness
of Deenbandhu biogas plants based on poultry droppings at their site. Ten Deenbandhu
biogas plant have been installed and commissioned at farmers residences at a cost of
Rs. 16000/ each. Out of this amount Rs.11000/ (69 %) was paid by the user and
Rs.5000/ (31 %) has been given as beneficiary share from ICAR. The name and
address of each of these users is given in Table 15.2. The photographs of these plants
are given in Fig. 15.1.
15.4 Conclusion
From above studies, it is concluded that poultry litter is a very good alternate feed stock
of biogas production. It not only produces higher amount of biogas than cattle dung but
also helps in the management of poultry waste. These plants are now been installed at
bigger capacity and are used for power generation.

174

Table 15.2. List of Beneficiaries of 6 m
3
Deenbandhu Biogas Plants
S.No. Name & Address District
1. Kulwinder Singh s/o Sh.Darshan Singh, VPO Jaspal
Bangar, Block Dehlon, District - Ludhiana
Ludhiana
2. Harinder Singh s/o Sh. Prem Singh, VPO Jaspal Bangar,
Block Dehlon, District - Ludhiana
Ludhiana
3. Charanjit Singh s/o Sh. Ujagar Singh, VPO Jaspal
Bangar, Block Dehlon, District Ludhiana
Ludhiana
4. Baljit Singh s/o Sh. Lal Singh, VPO Jaspal Bangar,
Ludhiana
5. Tara Singh s/o Sh. Puran Singh, VPO Jaspal Bangar,
Ludhiana
6. Jagdev Singh s/o Sh. Joginder Singh, VPO Jaspal
Bangar, Block Dehlon, District - Ludhiana
Ludhiana
7. Harmandeep Singh s/o Sh. Harbans Singh, VPO
Hassanpur, Block Ludhiana, District - Ludhiana
Ludhiana
8. Kuldeep Singh s/o Sh. Bakhshish Singh, VPO Jassowal,
Block Pakhowal, District Ludhiana
Ludhiana
9. Surinder Kumar s/o Sh. Amarjit, VPO Bona, Block
Maga I, District - Moga
Moga
10. Gurdeep Singh s/o Sh. Gurcharan Singh, VPO Kular
Khurd, Block Sangrur, District - Sangrur
Sangrur

175

Fig. 15.1. Operational Research Demonstration of Modified Deenbandhu Biogas Plant

176

CHAPTER 16
CFD MODELLING OF AN UASB REACTOR FOR BIOGAS
PRODUCTION FROM INDUSTRIAL WASTE/DOMESTIC
SEWAGE
Partha Kundu, I.M. Mishra

Abstract
Biogas is a renewable energy source similar to natural gas except that it is has a lower
heating value due to presence of ~30 % CO
2
. Biogas is produced from the biomass or
biodegradable organic matter present in aqueous medium through anaerobic digestion.
Biogas generally comprise of 65-70 % methane, 30-35 % carbon dioxide, 0.5-1.0 %
hydrogen sulfide and traces of water vapour. Average calorific value of biogas is ~20
MJ/m
3
(4713 kcal/m
3
). It is an environment friendly, clean, cheap and versatile fuel.
Each cubic meter (m
3
) of biogas contains the equivalent to 6 kWh of calorific energy.
The processes and equipment for converting biomass sources into biogas via anaerobic
digesters are well known, commercially available and economically reasonable. UASB
reactor is now widely used as an anaerobic digester for the generation of biogas. It is a
high rate and sophisticated anaerobic digester. This paper describes a two-dimensional
computational uid dynamics simulation of three-phase gasliquidsolid ow in an
Upflow sludge blanket reactor (UASB) reactor used for biogas production. An
EulerianEulerian model was formulated to simulate reaction zone hydrodynamics in an
UASB reactor with various organic loading rates (OLR), visualize the phase holdup and
to explore the flow patterns in UASB reactors.
Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Biomass; Biogas; Bio-energy; UASB reactor; CFD.
16.1 Introduction
Depletion of conventional energy sources due to increasing energy expenditure has
increase the necessity of alternative renewable and non-conventional energy sources.
Energy extraction from sun, wind, biomass, sea tide or water needs at a reasonable cost
is a challenge. Biomass is a renewable energy resource derived from forests, agriculture

177

and carbonaceous wastes of various human, natural activities and cattle dung (Sharma et
al., 1989).
Biomass has carbon neutral material balance and therefore has a zero carbon foot
print upon consumption. Biomass can be exploited thermo-chemically, thermally and
biologically to extract and utilize its energy. Bio-energy, in the form of biogas, which is
and derived from various biomass wastes like agriculture and forestry residues, cattle
dung, municipal sewage and municipal solid wastes and industrial wastes like distillery
spent wash, tannery waste, etc. is expected to become one of the key energy resources
for global sustainable development. Bio gasification of biomass offers higher energy
efficiency than that by direct burning or combustion. Biomass accounts for about one-
third of the total fuel used in India. It is the most important fuel used in over 90% of the
rural households and about 15% of the urban households (Agoramoorthy and Hsu,
2008).
Municipal sewer wastewater and industrial liquid effluents have considerable
amount of biodegradable fraction of organics, which can be utilized in extracting its
energy value through anaerobic biological treatment. Compared to aerobic biological
treatment, anaerobic treatment requires less power to operate, produces significantly less
sludge for disposal, and produces biogas: a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide
which can be burned as such or treated for CO
2
removal and used thereafter (Schroder
et al., 2008). Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor technology has matured
for the treatment of high strength carbonaceous wastewater like distillery spent wash,
tannery effluents, paper and pulp mill wastewater (Pires et al, 2000; Hussain et al.,
2008). The rst ever full-scale upow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) based sewage
treatment plant (STP) was set up at Kanpur, India in 1989 with a capacity of 5000 m
3

day
1
(Draaijer et al., 1992; Seghezzo et al., 1998). Since then, more than 20 similar
STPs ranging from 10
4
to 7.8 10
4
m
3
day
1
have been commissioned in North India.
The particulate chemical oxygen demand (COD) (CODP) of sewage generally ranges
from 30 to 70% of its total COD (Grady, 1985; Braber, 1995; Lastella et al., 2002).
Elmitwalli et al. (2001) reported that CODP represent the major part, up to 85% of the
CODT, in domestic sewage. CODP in the UASB reactor increases manifolds due to
entrapment of suspended solids (SS). Specic surface areas of sludge are reduces when
digestion works well. However, when digestion does not work well, large particles are
broken and small particles are created, which results in larger specic surface area. The

178

specic methanogenic activity (SMA) of the sludge is reduced by the accumulation of
undegraded SS in the reactor (Sayed et al., 1987; Subramanyam and Mishra, 2008) and
leads to the formation of scum layers and creates hindrance in the formation of granular
sludge. Also, prolonged continuous entrapment of voluminous SS in the sludge bed
leads to sudden washout of sludge (Zeeman and Lettinga, 1999). Owen et al. (1979)
discussed the methods of anaerobic toxicity assay (ATA) and biochemical methane
potential (BMP) to evaluate the anaerobic treatability of organic compounds present in
wastewater. BMP provides a simple but useful method for comparing and screening
several feed stocks for methane yield and conversion efficiency under standard
conditions (Chynoweth et al., 2001). Lin et al. (1999) used the BMP test to evaluate the
kinetics and efficiency of the anaerobic process for digesting chemically pre-treated
municipal sludge. Cho et al., (1995) measured and used BMP of the mixed food waste
to develop an anaerobic digestion process for 1530% total solids (TS). Elmitwalli et al.
(2001) investigated the biodegradability of raw paper ltered, and membrane ltered
sewage and black water in 120 ml serum bottles. Also, the ratio of food (COD) to
microorganisms (volatile suspended solids (VSS)), i.e., (F/M) is an important parameter
which inuences the biodegradability (Grady, 1985). It is reported that a too high value
of F/M may be toxic and a too low value may prevent induction of the enzyme
necessary for biodegradation.
Biogas and bio-methane usage provide numerous benefits to society including a
local source of renewable energy and (potentially) vehicle fuel, reductions in greenhouse
gases (GHGs) and improvements in air and water quality among others. It is typically
used as a fuel source for local heat and electrical power generation. The boilers and
engine-generator sets (gen-sets) used to produce heat and/or electric power from
biogas are specifically designed or modified to operate with biogas. Lower heating value
biogas can be transformed to high quality liquid fuel through Fischer-Tropsch (FT) Gas-
to-Liquid (GTL) conversion process. The potential uses of biogas have expanded
significantly.
Renewable energy from biomass is one of the most efficient and effective
options among the various other alternative and currently available sources of energy.
The anaerobic digestion of biomass requires less capital investment and per unit
production cost as compared to other renewable energy sources such as hydro power,
solar and wind. Now a days UASB reactor (Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor) is

179

widely used for this purpose. In this paper, a hydrodynamics model was formulated from
computational uid dynamics (CFD) code to simulate a gasliquidsolid three-phase
biotreatment system. The hydrodynamics model is used to formulate prediction of the
ow eld. This model based on an Eulerian- Eulerian multiphase ow model that
characterizes gas and liquid mixing in anaerobic digesters. In the model development,
liquid manure is assumed to be water or a non-Newtonian uid that is dependent on
total solids (TS) concentration. The commercial CFD software, Fluent 6.3, is employed
to simulate the multiphase ow in the digesters. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
provides a method for prediction and visualisation of flow behavoiur, soild-liquid-gas
interaction inside the reactor.
16.2 Methods
16.2.1 Methodology for computational uid dynamics (CFD) model
An UASB reactor is a three-phase gas-liquid-solid reactor. The local holdup of each of
the phases changes continually at any point axially and radially. Therefore, it is
necessary to understand the hydrodynamics of the reactor system, the sludge formation
and its concentration profile, gas formation and its movement, etc. These are being done
by Computational fluid dynamics.
16.2.1.1 Eulerian-Eulerian Model
A two-dimensional EulerianEulerian three phase fluid model is used to describe the
flow behavior of each phase, so the biogas, wastewater and sludge granules are all
treated as different continua, with wastewater as the primary phase, and the gas and
sludge granules as the secondary phase (Bin et al., 2003; Ren et al., 2009). A set of
NavierStokes equations is solved only for the continuous phase; coupling between the
motion of the continuous and the dispersed phases and thus computation of the particle
motion is achieved by tracking the particles via drag law considerations. The Eulerian
Eulerian or multi-uid approach assumes the dispersed and continuous phases to be
interpenetrating continua, for both of which a complete set of NavierStokes equations
has to be solved. Coupling between the motion of the dispersed and the continuous
phase is achieved by implementing momentum exchange terms into the respective
phasesmomentum balance equations; these terms are usually based on drag
considerations (Cao et al., 2009). This model is chosen because of the large number of
solid particles in the wastewater. Although gas is compressible, the pressure variation

180

due to liquid head is assumed to have negligible effect on gas bubble behavior. Thus
each phase is assumed to be incompressible in this study.
The wastewater is regarded as pure water at the treatment temperature. The
sludge takes up about 50% of the volume in sludge bed region and is considered to be
comprising of spherical solid granules with a density of 1070 kg/m
3
, diameter of 2 mm,
and dynamic viscosity of 5 mPa s. These media values could be taken as an
approximation of the physical properties of the anaerobic granules observed in UASB
reactors. The gas bubbles are assumed to have a density of 1.139 kg/m
3
and a dynamic
viscosity of 0.019 mPa s. The gas phase volume fraction is related to the gas production
and the gas bubbles are assumed to have a diameter of 0.1 mm.
16.2.1.2 Model assumption
1. Biogas is the gas phase; wastewater with biomass is the liquid phase.
2. Initial cell concentrations are uniformly distributed in the reactor and the lag
phase of cell growth is neglected.
3. Isothermal operation will take place.
16.2.2 Model development
16.2.2.1 Governing Equations
The mass and momentum conservation equations are solved in a two-dimensional
computational mesh (Fig. 16.1). The pressure field was assumed to be shared by the
three phases, in proportion to their respective volume fractions. The motion of each
phase is governed by respective mass and momentum conservation equations. The
continuity equation for each phase is
................. (16.1)
where
k
is the density of phase k,
k
is the volume fraction of phase k, and u
k
is the
velocity vector of phase k. If it is assumed that each phase is incompressible, equation
(16.1) can be simplified to:
(16.2)
The momentum balance equation for each phase is

181

Where p is the pressure, mef is the effective viscosity, g is the gravitational acceleration,
and MI is the interphase transfer force (Anonymous, 2003).
The volume fractions satisfy the compatibility conditions:

Fig. 16.1. Two dimensional mesh structure
Interphase momentum transfer:
In this paper, the drag forces exerted by the solid phase and gas phase on the liquid
phase are calculated as:
.........(16.7)

182

................ (16.8)
Where, C
D
is the drag coefficient and d is the diameter of a gas bubble (d
G
) or a solid
particle (d
S
).
The drag coefficient C
D
,
LG
exerted by the gas phase on the liquid phase is
obtained by the Schiller and Naumann drag model, as follows (Wang et al., 2009 a,b):

Where, Re is the relative Reynolds number, which is obtained from:
.....................(16.10)
The drag coefficient exerted by the solid phase on the liquid phase, C
D,LS
is calculated
from the Wen and Yu drag model (Anonymous, 2003; Wang et al., 2009 a), which is as
follows:
(16.11)
The relative Reynolds number for the liquid phase and the solid phase is estimated as
follows:

The lift force acting perpendicular to the direction of the relative motion of the solid and
gas phase is given by:
..............................(16.13)
............................ (16.14)
Where, C
L
is the lift coefficient and has a value of 0.5 (Wang et al., 2009 a,b).
16.2.2.2 Turbulence closure
We assume that a standard k model for single phase flows (with extra terms that
include interphase turbulent momentum transfer) can take into account the effects of
turbulence. The modeling of multiphase turbulent flows is much more complex and
computationally expensive for three phase flows mainly because of the influence of the

183

secondary phases on the turbulence of the primary phase. Therefore, we have assumed
that turbulence in a multiphase fluidized bed is restricted to the primary phase only. The
turbulence viscosity of the continuous phase is obtained by the k- turbulence model:
.(16.15)
The equations of change for the turbulent kinetic energy (k) and the energy
dissipation rate for the primary phase are given by

Here,
kL
represents the influence of the secondary phase on the primary phase and the
predictions for turbulence quantities for the dispersed phase, and L
represents the
predictions for turbulence quantities for the secondary phases, which are both obtained
using the Tchen theory of the dispersion of discrete particles by homogeneous
turbulence (Ren et al., 2009).
16.2.3 Numerical Solution
The finite volume method is used as the numerical technique. The momentum and
continuity equations are discretized using finite volumes. The geometry and meshes are
created in the Ansys Fluent GAMBIT 2.3 preprocessor program and exported into the
Ansys Fluent 6.3, to solve the continuity and momentum equations. A two-dimensional
computational domain of the reaction zone of the UASB reactor are devised with 44602
cells, 67226 faces, and 22625 nodes, and 13 face zones. The initial sludge bed was
packed with granular solids with a volume fraction of 0.6. The initial gas phase was
assumed to be accumulated into the sludge blanket, and it was further assumed that the
gas would be released when force balance between the gas phase and solid phase break
up. The reactor wastewater inlet was modeled with a velocity-inlet boundary condition.
All other solid surfaces were defined by wall boundary conditions with free slip for the
biogas and no slip for the sludge or wastewater. In this study, the simulation was
operated in unsteady state conditions. Convergence was typically reached after 125000
iterations.

184

16.3.1 Flow pattern visualization
A structured numerical grid with a total number of 120,000 cells is implemented (Fig.
16.1). Fig. 16.2 shows the solid phase holdup distribution in the UASB reactor. Flow
pattern simulation results are shown by the contours of velocity magnitude. The velocity
magnitude increases with an increase in inlet flow velocity. However, the overall flow
trends keep unchanged. The velocity magnitude scale can be referred to the magnitude
bar at the left of each figure. The velocity magnitude of liquid phase (influent) increases
along the UASB reactor height when the flow pattern is fully developed.

Fig. 16.2. Contour of solid phase (sludge) holdup distribution in the UASB reactor
Fig. 16.3 shows the variation of sludge solid concentration at different organic
loading rate (OLR). This figure depicted that the axial profile of the sludge
concentration in the blanket region continuously. This is attributed to the fact that the
sludge bed gets buoyed up, with the up-flow liquid velocity and the bubbling action of
the gas.
Fig. 16.4 shows the velocities magnitude of solid (sludge) phase in Y-direction
in the UASB reactor. Fig-5 shows the contour of gas phase velocity in Y- direction. The

185

flow field in Fig. 16.4 confirms the discontinuity in the mixing behavior throughout a
UASB reactor.
Fig. 16.5 shows the simulation of the gas accumulation in the sludge bed. With
the 2-D unsteady CFD model simulation, the transience of the gas flow pattern can be
visualized. The simulation results suggest that the mechanisms of the occasional abrupt
release of the gas should be related to the force balance. When the force balance
between gas and sludge is broken up, and the gas bubble force excceds the sludge forces
the gas release from the sludge bed occurs.
Fig. 16.6 represents contours of static pressure of mixture (sludge and liquid
phase). At the bottom static pressure is high and gradually decreases along the height of
the reactor, which corresponds to actual reactor system. Pressure variation distinguishes
the different segment of sludge bed such as, digestion, transition and settling zone
respectively.
16.3.2 Hydrodynamics analysis
In UASB reactor, for bio-methane production liquid flow pattern, sludge activity, and
mass balance analysis are interdependent. Highly reactive sludge and long hydraulic
retention times (HRT) are required to obtain a good mass balance. A good mass balance
results in more organics being transferred to biogas, and a good flow regime is required
for efficient contact between microbes and wastewater, which in turn supplies a good
growing environment for the culture. When the influent runs up through the bottom of
the sludge bed at a fixed up-flow speed, and bed expansion is observed due to the low-
density of the sludge granules. Due to variation with time of the path tortiosity and
consequent length of passage through the particle interstices of the sludge blanket, and
the random geometry of the granules and impurities, the flow regime is not
homogeneous in the direction of flow. In addition, it is assumed that gas bubbles
produced by biodegradation or bio-fermentation, such as methane, carbon dioxide and
hydrogen, will flow upwards with the stream swirl. This movement will make the bulk
up-flow velocity greater than the up-flow velocity of liquid alone, and the cross-
sectional velocity will be non-homogeneous.
When the HRT is long, and liquid up-flow velocity is low, lateral pulsating
movement will take place as the fluid elements flowing through sludge blanket take the
paths of least resistance around individual sludge granules. From Fig. 16.7, it is seen
that, the internal circulation behavior occurs, and the wastewater is not distributed very

186

evenly. The core-annulus structure occurs because the water velocities in the core region
are much lower than those in the annulus region, whereas because water velocities near
the wall are increasing and upward, this may lead to back-mixing and internal
circulation behavior. When the HRT is short an increasing distance between individual
sludge granules results due to the high liquid up-flow velocity, which in turn decreases
the lateral pulsating of the liquid. Additionally because of the lifting action of the
biogas, the flow pattern will be in a highly turbulent state.
Another important reactor hydrodynamic characteristic, influencing the process
of bio-methane production is the relative volume fraction of the sludge and the gas
phases. Sludge bed expansion and the existence of sludge flocks, greatly change the
nature of the interaction between the liquid and gas phases. This interaction plays a
significant role in the UASB reactor. When the mean sludge concentration is
significantly higher than local sludge concentrations; this indicates that the particles are
aggregating into clusters.
The simulation indicated that the gasliquidsolid system exhibits a more
heterogeneous structure, with particle clusters forming and dissolving dynamically. In
the numerical simulation, clusters could be seen to fall along the wall, stacking together
into agglomerated clusters which ultimately become large enough to escape from the
wall. Particles are dynamically squeezed out of these clusters and pushed upward by the
up flowing biogas, and then these particles are further aggregated into strands in an
upper section of the bed. This cluster formation, which may involve gassludge, sludge
sludge, and sludgewall interactions, is currently too complex to be well understood.
Interphase interaction mainly responsible for that, such as force balance between sludge
particles and gas bubbles, is crucial to bio-methane production, because gas release from
the sludge blanket will occur only when the force balance between particles and bubbles
is disrupted.
Fig. 16.8 represents the biogas volume fraction predicted by CFD simulation; the
simulation results demonstrate that gas bubbles are an important phenomenon. The
motion of the biogas bubbles is both upward and transverse. Sludge particle clusters
were dragged transversely, following the biogas bubbles. This behavior could lead to
wash-out, and a lower biomass with a consequent reduction in bio-methane yield.
Bubble movement, bursting, and size change are key factors affecting particle
circulation and cluster formation in the reactor.

187

Sludge solid concentration, g/l
Fig. 16.3. Sludge concentration in UASB reactor at different OLR
Sludge solid concentration, g/l

Fig. 16.4. Contours of solid phase (sludge) velocity in Y-direction

Fig. 16.5. Contours of velocity magnitude of gas phase in Y direction

189

Fig. 16.6. Contours of static pressure (mixture)

Fig. 16.7. Contour of stream function of solid phase (sludge)

190

Fig. 16.8. Contour of gas phase volume fraction
16.4 Conclusions
A two-dimensional CFD simulation is performed for a two-phase flow, solidliquid and
solid-gas and gas-liquid in the reaction zone of a UASB reactor producing bio-methane.
As a result, its hydrodynamic behaviour is basically dispersion-controlled. Moreover, a
2-D unsteady CFD model simulation is performed to visualize the phase holdup and
obtain their flow patterns in a UASB reactor. This CFD study also shows how velocity,
pressure and their vector notations were useful to predict the dead spaces inside the
tanks which affect the mixing behaviour inside the reactor.
The simulation results confirm the discontinuity in the mixing behaviour
throughout the UASB reactor, i.e., the dispersion decreased along the reactor axis from
bottom to top.
There are several reasons responsible for the dispersion between the sludge bed
region and the blanket one. The size distribution and granule filling gradient are
important factors, and they should result in a higher apparent linear superficial velocity
and tighter packing in the sludge bed bottom than at the bed top or in the liquid zone.
Other important axial gradients, such as substrate, volatile fatty acids, and pH, are also
significant factors.

191

Moreover, UASB reactor is a latest and sophisticate reactor system for the
production of biogas (methane gas) which can be utilized for the production of energy
by the industrial as well as domestic facilities.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Roorkee, for
providing such a platform and support to study and research on the present topic.

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194

CHAPTER 17
ALGAL BIO-HYDROGEN- PROSPECTS AND
CHALLENGES
Shailendra Kumar Singh, M.K. Jha, Ajay Bansal, Apurba dey

Abstract
Hydrogen is thought to be the ideal fuel for a world in which air pollution and global
warming has been alleviated. Hydrogen and electricity could team to provide protection of
environment in an economically sustainable manner for transportation and power
generation. A variety of technological processes can be used in H
2
production process
including chemical, biological, electrolytic, photolytic and thermo-chemical with their
pros and cons. Among all biological hydrogen evolution provides a sustainable and
environmentally friendly way to produce clean energy from renewable resources. The
efficiency of light conversion into H
2
by biological organisms is theoretically high (about
10%). In the quest for biological H
2
resources, algae are increasingly receiving attention.
Under certain conditions, green algae and cyanobacteria can split water into molecular
hydrogen and oxygen using water-splitting photosynthetic processes to generate molecular
hydrogen (H
2
) rather than fix carbon, the normal function of oxygenic photosynthesis.
This conceptual process occur in two stages, an initial photosynthetic stage, microalgae
fixes CO
2
into starch (green algae) or glycogen (cyanobacteria) followed by a second
stage, where the algae are concentrated as needed, become anaerobic (through respiration),
induce the hydrogenase enzyme and start evolving H
2
from their stored carbohydrates in a
dark fermentation. Hydrogen production by green algae has significant advantages over
other photobiological systems: ATP production is not required, high theoretical
efficiencies are possible, and water is used directly as the source of reductant without the
need to produce biomass or to store intermediary carbon metabolites. To realize the
economic potential of producing hydrogen photobiologically, several research challenges
must first be faced, including overcoming the oxygen sensitivity of the hydrogenase
enzymes, addressing the catabolism of endogenous substrate, preventing the down-
regulation of photosynthesis caused by the non-dissipation of the proton gradient across
the photosynthetic membrane, and ensuring adequate efficiency when capturing and

195

converting solar energy. These issues are of enormous consideration for the long-term
success of a renewable hydrogen production process. This paper examines the prospects
and challenges of these issues for algal-based bio-hydrogen production in relation to a new
opportunity brought by recent discoveries in this area. The state-of-the-art in biological
hydrogen production in algal cells is also discussed.
Key words: Bio-hydrogen, Algae, Fuel cell, Photobiological H
2
-production
17.1 Introduction
Hydrogen is a promising energy carrier of the future that does not contribute to air
pollution or global warming. It can be derived from a variety of energy sources and used
in fuel cells with high efficiency. Hydrogen and electricity could team to provide
protection of environment in an economically sustainable manner for transportation and
power generation (Fig. 17.1). Interconversion between these 2 forms of energy suggests
on-site utilization of hydrogen to generate electricity, with the electrical power grid
serving in energy transportation, distribution, utilization and hydrogen regeneration as
needed (Anonymous, 2004). A challenging problem in establishing hydrogen as a source
of energy for the future is the renewable and environmentally friendly generation of large
quantities of hydrogen gas. The most common industrial methods for producing hydrogen
include steam reformation of natural gas, coal gasification, and splitting water with
electricity typically generated from fossil fuels (Richard and Molburg, 2004). These
energy-intensive industrial processes release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
and pollutants as by-products. Some microorganisms produce hydrogen naturally, and
biotechnologies based on these microbial systems could lead to the development of clean,
renewable sources of hydrogen. In the quest for biological H
2
resources, algae are
increasingly receiving attention. The efficiency of light conversion into H
2
by biological
organisms is theoretically high (about 10%). In the quest for biological H
2
resources, algae
are increasingly receiving attention. Under certain conditions, green algae and
cyanobacteria can split water into molecular hydrogen and oxygen using water-splitting
photosynthetic processes to generate molecular hydrogen (H
2
) rather than fix carbon, the
normal function of oxygenic photosynthesis. In this conceptual process, an initial
photosynthetic stage, an open pond microalgae cultivation system, fixes CO
2
into starch
(green algae) or glycogen (cyanobacteria). This is followed by a second stage, where the
algae are concentrated as needed, become anaerobic (through respiration), induce the
hydrogenase enzyme and start evolving H
2
from their stored carbohydrates in a dark

196

fermentation. Finally, a light-driven H
2
production stage would complete the conversion
of the biomass to H
2
, using only part of the photosynthetic apparatus of the algae. Green
algae or a cyanobacterium, would carry out all these reactions, and be reused through
several such cycles of CO
2
fixation and H
2
evolution (with CO
2
recycled between stages).
The long-term advantage of photobiological hydrogen production is that it does not entail
the generation of any toxic or polluting byproducts and it may even offer the advantage of
value-added products as a result of the mass cultivation of green algae. To realize the
economic potential of producing hydrogen photobiologically, several research challenges
must first be faced, including overcoming the oxygen sensitivity of the hydrogenase
enzymes, addressing the catabolism of endogenous substrate, preventing the down-
regulation of photosynthesis caused by the non dissipation of the proton gradient across
the photosynthetic membrane, and ensuring adequate efficiency when capturing and
converting solar energy (Maness et al., 2009). These issues are of enormous consideration
for the long-term success of a renewable hydrogen production process. This paper
examines the prospects and challenges of these issues for algal based bio-hydrogen
production in relation to a new opportunity brought by recent discoveries in this area.

Fig. 17.1. Schematic for photobiological hydrogen production and its utilization in a
hydrogen fuel cell
17.2 Physiology of H
2
production in green algae
Light absorption by the photosynthetic apparatus is essential for the generation of
hydrogen gas because light energy facilitates the oxidation of water molecules, the release
of electrons and protons, and the endergonic transport of these electrons. Electron
transport for hydrogen generation through the algae occurs in the following sequence.

197

Green algae and cyanobacteria absorb light through pigments that are associated with two
photosystems, photosystem I (PSI) and photo-system II (PSII) (Fig. 17.2). Initially energy
is derived from the sunlight by the algae for extracting electron from water molecules
through the photosystem (II). The potential energy of electron increased in the
photosystem (II) and subsequently in photosystem (I) due to the sequential light driven
reaction (Ghirardi et al., 2009). The absorbed light energy is transferred from the antenna
pigments to chlorophyll reaction center molecules where charge separation occurs,
yielding oxidants and reductants. The strong oxidant generated by PSII extracts electrons
from water while releasing oxygen and protons as byproducts (Fig. 17.2). Thereby the
electrons released during oxidation of water are transported and reduce a series of
membrane-bound and soluble carriers such as iron-sulfur protein ferredoxin, ultimately
reducing oxidant generated by PSI. The photosynthetic ferredoxin (PetF) serves as the
physiological electron donor to both hydrogenases and generates NADPH via ferredoxin-
NADP oxidoreductase (FNR) along with ATP. However, in the absence of carbon dioxide
and under anaerobic conditions, reduced ferredoxin or NADPH reduces protons to yield
hydrogen gas, a reaction catalyzed by hydrogenase (Maness et al., 2009).

Fig. 17.2. Photosynthetic pathway of H
2
production in algae (Greenbaum et al., 1983)
(PS: photosystem; PQ: plastoquinone; FD: ferredoxin; FNR: ferredoxin-NADP
oxidoreductase).
Ferredoxin links photosynthetic electron transport directly to hydrogen production
in green algae, whereas NAD(P)H is the likely electron donor to hydrogenease in
cyanobacteria (Fig. 17.2). On theoretical basis the biophotolysis can yield hydrogen to
oxygen ratio of 2:1 on mol basis. In practice under ambient condition it is difficult to

198

arrive at this ratio as the hydrogenase reaction is extremely sensitive to oxygen and
moreover the hydrogenase will be deactivated at a partial pressure of 2% oxygen (Seibert
et al., 2008).
17.3 Challenges and prospects
17.3.1 Biohydrogen generation
The process of photosynthetic H
2
-production with electrons derived from H
2
O entails
H
2
O-oxidation and a light-dependent transfer of electrons to the [Fe]-hydrogenase, leading
to the synthesis of molecular H
2
. Under these conditions, the activity of the hydrogenase is
only transient (it lasts from several seconds to a few minutes) because, in addition to
electrons and protons, the light-dependent oxidation of water entails the release of
molecular O
2
. Oxygen is a powerful inhibitor of the Fe hydrogenase (Ghirardi et al.,
2000).
At present, this direct mechanism has limitations as a tool of further research and
for practical application, mainly due to the great sensitivity of the [Fe]-hydrogenase to O
2
,
which is evolved upon illumination by the water-oxidizing reactions of PSII (Schulz,
1996). An additional problem, assuming that the mutual incompatibility of O
2
and H
2
co-
production is overcome, entails the separation of the two gases, a costly and
technologically challenging feat. The optimization of H
2
photoproduction will also require
identification of an O
2
-tolerant H
2
ase as the active site metal cluster of HydA is O
2
labile.
One approach to address this problem is gene shuffling, which has been used to generate a
diverse recombinant hydrogenase library to screen for enhanced O
2
tolerance and/or
stability (Nagy et al., 2007). A more recent strategy has been to search natural diversity
through the use of degenerate PCR primers specific for the large subunit of hydA (Boyd et
al., 2009). DNA extracted from microbial mats that inhabit saline environments and that
are exposed to supersaturating concentrations of O
2
during peak photosynthesis contained
a diversity of deduced HydA amino acid sequences, resulting in a near doubling of the
known diversity of this protein-encoding gene. Such studies demonstrate that firstly, the
diversity of H2ases in nature is severely underrepresented and secondly, enzyme variants
that exhibit desired properties may be discovered by examining the diversity of protein-
encoding genes in microbial assemblages that have evolved in the presence of a particular
environmental stress. Along this line, it has been shown that such O
2
and H
2
co-
production can be prolonged under conditions designed to actively remove O
2
from the
reaction mixture. Indeed, Greenbaum et al. (1983) and Greenbaum (1988) have sustained

199

a photosynthetic H
2
O H
2
process continuously for days upon sparging the reaction
mixture with helium, thus removing from the vicinity of the cells the photosynthetic gas
products (O
2
and H
2
).
17.3.2 Catabolism of endogenous substrate
Catabolism of endogenous substrate and the attendant oxidative carbon metabolism in
green algae may also generate electrons for the photosynthetic apparatus (Gfeller and
Gibbs, 1984). Electrons from such endogenous substrate catabolism feed into the
plastoquinone pool between the two photosystems (Stuart and GaDron, 1972; Godde and
Trebst, 1980). Light absorption by PSI and the ensuing electron transport elevates the
redox potential of these electrons to the redox equivalent of ferredoxin and the [Fe]-
hydrogenase. In this case, protons (H
+
) act as the terminal electron acceptor (Bennoun,
2001) thus permitting the generation of molecular H
2
(Gibbs et al., 1986). In the presence
of DCMU, a PSII inhibitor, this process generates 2:1 stoichiometric amounts of H
2
and
CO
2
(Bamberger et al., 1982). Thus, following a dark-anaerobic incubation of the culture
(induction of the [Fe]-hydrogenase), initially substantial rates of H
2
-production can be
detected upon illumination of the algae in the presence of DCMU (Happe et al., 1994;
Florin et al., 2001). However regulation of endogenous substrate catabolism and the
attendant supply of electrons to the electron transport chain of photosynthesis are not well
understood. Whereas rates of H
2
O oxidation by the photosynthetic apparatus can be
measured continuously and precisely, measurements of electron transport supported by
endogenous substrate catabolism and NAD(P)H-plastoquinone oxidoreductase activity are
more difficult to make. H
2
-photoproduction with anaerobically incubated and DCMU-
poisoned chloroplasts (Masuda et al., 2002) suggests that, initially, substantial rates of H
2
-
production can be detected. However, this process could not be sustained for significant
periods of time (Zhang et al., 2002), suggesting limitation(s) in the capacity of the electron
transport reactions associated with the NAD(P)H-plastoquinone oxidoreductase activity.
Nevertheless, the prospect of endogenous starch, protein and lipid catabolism
feeding electrons into the plastoquinone pooland thus contributing to H
2
-
photoproductionis important enough to warrant further investigation to fully assess its
potential. In this respect, the tools of molecular biology could come to bear in efforts to
increase the capacity of this important process.

200

17.3.3 Two-stage photosynthesis and H
2
-production
Photosynthesis occurs in two stages. In the first stage, light-dependent reactions or light
reactions capture the energy of light and use it to make the energy-storage molecules ATP
and NADPH. During the second stage, the light-independent reactions use these products
to capture and reduce carbon dioxide. The physiology of H
2
production upon S
deprivation has many similarities and some distinct differences from the process described
above. Researchers observed that under S-deprivation, it was possible to photoproduce
and to accumulate bulk amounts of H
2
gas, emanating as bubbles from the green alga
cultures. Thus, progress was achieved by circumventing the sensitivity of the [Fe]-
hydrogenase to O
2
through a temporal separation of the reactions of O
2
and H
2
photoproduction, i.e., by the so-called two-stage photosynthesis and H
2
-production
process (Melis et al., 2000). This method circumvents the severe O
2
-sensitivity of the
reversible hydrogenase by temporally separating photosynthetic O
2
evolution and carbon
accumulation (Stage 1) from consumption of cellular metabolites and concomitant H
2

production (Stage 2) (Fig. 17.3). A transition from Stage 1 to Stage 2 was effected upon
inorganic sulfur deprivation of the cells, which reversibly inactivates the H
2
O oxidizing
activity of PSII. Lack of sulfur nutrients from the growth medium of Chlamydomonas
reinhardtii causes a specific but reversible decline in the rate of oxygenic photosynthesis
(Wykoff et al., 1998), but does not affect the rate of mitochondrial respiration (Happe and
Kaminski, 2002).
In sealed containers and S-deprived cultures conditions, the absolute activity of
photosynthesis becomes less than that of respiration, oxidative respiration by the cells in
the light caused O
2
depletion and causing anaerobiosis in the growth medium which is
followed by automatic induction of the Fe hydrogenase and by photosynthetic H
2

production. In the absence of oxygenic photosynthesis and mitochondrial respiration,
green algae activate this alternative reversible hydrogenase pathway that permits them to
conduct electron transport and ATP formation, thus ensuring survival of the organism for
prolonged periods of time under anaerobic conditions. Subsequently, sustained cellular H
2

gas production was observed in the light, but not in the dark. Application of this novel
two-stage protocol revealed the occurrence of hitherto unknown metabolic, regulatory and
electron-transport pathways in the green alga C. reinhardtii (Zhang et al., 2002). Such
photoproduction of H
2
by green algae may hold the promise of generating a renewable
fuel from natures most plentiful resources, light and water. Upon further refinement, it

201

may also serve in the generation of H
2
gas for the agriculture, chemical and fuel
industries. There are specific improvements that need to be made to increase the
likelihood of successful commercial exploitation of the method. Foremost, the continuity
of the process needs to be addressed, as H
2
-production by S-deprivation of the algae is
time limited.

Fig. 17.3. H
2
-production through respiration and photosynthesis (Mussgnug et al., 2007)
17.3.4 Amplifying solar conversion efficiencies
Cultures growing under full sunlight in a mass scale, when productivity thought to be at a
maximum, green algae and cyanobacteria are inefficient in their use of high-intensity light
because their large light absorbing antennae cause a saturation of electron transport at less
than 10% full sunlight (light absorption is faster than the rate of electron transport at
sunlight intensities above 10%). The excess absorbed light is therefore dissipated as heat
or fluorescence. Moreover, since the top layer of cells in the reactor capture most of the
incident photons, the remaining cells will be shaded and will not contribute to hydrogen
photoproduction, which will result in overall low light conversion efficiencies per reactor.
Several approaches using random insertional mutagenesis and targeted gene
disruption have been applied in the context of bioenergy applications in algae (Kruse et
al., 2005; Mussgnug et al., 2007). One promising approach to address this challenge is to

202

genetically truncate the antennae size regulatory gene containing in green algae and
cyanobacteria. Photosynthetic efficiency is directly related to the size of light-harvesting
antennae complexes (LHC) and antennae size is optimized in response to light intensity
(Tanaka and Melis, 1997). Random insertion libraries were used to identify a mutant
(tla1) that exhibited a truncated LHC, and TLA1 has been verified as the first gene known
to play a regulatory role in controlling antennae size in C. reinhardtii (Tetali et al., 2007).
The ultimate goal of this approach is to develop customized strains of green algae, which
assemble only the minimum Chl antenna size of the PSIIcore complex (37 Chl) and that
of the PSIcore complex (95 Chl molecules).
17.4 Design and cost of photobioreactors
The alga culture biotechnology has evolved over the recent past into a commercially
viable sector, with many companies utilizing both open pond culture systems and
controlled closed photobioreactor-type facilities (Zaborsky, 1998). CO
2
mitigation efforts,
algal biomass and potentially hydrogen production have received attention over the past
10 years (Nakicenovic, 1993). In any algal H
2
-production process, however, the cost of the
facility and its operation are most important factors. In order to gain maximum H
2
yields
per unit volume, green alga biomass needs to be densely packed. Several photobioreactor
designs could be suitable for green alga H
2
-production, including Pat plate, tubular, pond
or pool-type, etc. For each of these designs, detailed cost analyses must be undertaken
with a focus on minimizing the expense associated with materials and daily operation, and
also for optimizing the yield and collection of H
2
gas. Critical parameters in this respect
include, but not limited to, the light environment, the regional climate and land area,
photobioreactor construction materials, the mechanism of biomass mixing,
photobioreactor maintenance and long-term operational stability with the maximum
possible H
2
-production output (Evens et al., 2000). Biomass mixing is important as it
ensures uniform dispersion of nutrients, promotes a more uniform illumination of the
culture, and prevents cell settling. The modular experimental design must be intended for
potential scale-up and use at the commercial and industrial levels and should allow for
sustained long-term H
2
-production with high yields in minimum volume. An important
consideration in the design of the photobioreactor is that it must be constructed for the
trapping and removal of H
2
gas. The two-stage photosynthesis and H
2
-production protocol
has the advantage of generating pure H
2
gas (Maness et al., 2009), thus it may serve as a
model for the operation of pilot photobioreactors. Another important aspect of the design

203

that needs to be considered is that the reactor interior must be protected against
contamination with alien microorganisms. Thus, the design and construction of the reactor
needs to be modular to permit for periodic materials replacement and=or whole reactor
de-contamination treatments.
Nevertheless, it serves as an important guide in efforts to critically assess ways by
which to lower the cost of photobiological H
2
-production. For example, it is obvious from
the above analysis that efforts should be directed toward the recycling and reutilization of
photobioreactor materials and green alga mineral nutrients, in order to lower the cost of
the overall operation. A fringe benefit of the mass cultivation of microalgae is the
generation of useful biomass. High-value bioproducts (such as vitamins, polyunsaturated
fatty acids, carotenoids, and specialty proteins) could be extracted from the algal biomass.
The residue could be processed for the further generation of H
2
via, for example, high
temperature steam reforming.
17.5 Conclusions
In summary, concerns about global warming and environmental pollution due to the use
of fossil fuels, combined with projections of potential fossil fuel shortfall toward the
middle of the 21st century, make it imperative to develop alternative energy sources that
are clean, renewable, and environmentally friendly. The recently H
2
production from
green algae is of interest because significant amounts of H
2
gas were generated. The
discovery of sustainable H
2
-production that bypasses the sensitivity of the [Fe]-
hydrogenase to O
2
and produces essentially pure H
2
is a significant development in this
field. Importantly, it raises to a meaningful level of questions about the optical properties
of the cells in mass culture (maximizing green alga solar conversion efficiencies under
mass culture conditions) and the engineering of the process (photobioreactors) to an
industrial facility level. Cellular metabolism and basic biochemistry that support this
process must be well understood and much fundamental research on the mechanism of H
2

production by S deprivation remains to be done. It will increase employment, stimulate
the economy of all nations on earth, and will have a positive impact on the environment in
which atmospheric pollution is all but alleviated and the so called greenhouse effect is
mitigated. This review will be a handy research guide for researchers who opt to address
the benefit of algae as a renewable energy resource.

204

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Part IV
Production Aspects of Biodiesel

208

CHAPTER 18
JATROPHA (JATROPHA CURCAS) L. PLANTATIONS
AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Avtar Singh

Abstract
Jatropha curcas L. (Ratanjyot), promising tree species due to its oil yield per hectare is
among the highest of tree borne oil seeds and can be grown in areas of low rainfall (500
to 1,000 mm per year) and in problem soils. In high rainfall and irrigated areas too. It is
easy to establish, grows relatively quickly and is hardy browse resistant. It starts giving
seed in a maximum period of two years after planting. Jatropha was planted on an
estimated 900,000 hectares globally; 760,000 hectares (85 percent of the total) were
located in Asia, followed by Africa with 120,000 hectares and Latin America with
20,000 hectares. By 2015, jatropha would be planted on a projected 12.8 million
hectares. Afforestation has a very important role in meeting the challenge of Climate
Change. Several initiatives have been taken in recent years in different parts of the
country to promote afforestation. The Indian Government had stated funding plantation
in the last one decade for cultivation and R&D of Jatropha curcas in many sites of the
country through NOVODBOARD, especially due to use of Jatropha curcas / Castor oil
for the fuel manufacture.
The current scientific community nonetheless agrees that the Earth is entering a
non-cyclical period of global climate change. Water is where many of the impacts of
climate change will be felt first and most acutely. Projected long term impacts of climate
change on forests, range from pronounced increases in productivity in some northern
countries to dieback of some tropical forests are reported and most significant threats to
tropical forest ecosystems would be likely to come from drying trends which may be due
to changes in rainfall patterns and seasonality. Since plantation and Forest will influence
the climate and climate influence the forests and plantation. Thus, it is important to
review the impact of climate change on jatropha plant plantations and the bioenergy
produced from jatropha plantations.

209

18.1 Introduction
Jatropha curcas potential for producing energy from marginal lands without large
inputs has recently created a hype of attention, resulting in the planting of huge areas of
plantation in Asia and America. Predictions of productivity however seems to ignore the
results of plantations in the 1990, most of which are abandoned now for reasons of
lower productivity and /or higher labour costs than expected (Foidl et al., 1996). It is
considered a low input crop, implications of a low energy use of fertilizers, tillage and
so on, the life cycle of carbon dioxide for biodiesel can be low, likely less than 15 %
compared to petro-diesel (Francis et al., 2005).
18.2 Status of Jatropha plantations in the World and Future Potential for
expansion
Jatropha had already been planted over an estimated 9000000 ha globally by 2008. Of
which an overwhelming 85% was in Asia, 13% in Africa and the rest in Latin America,
and by 2015 Jatropha is expected to be planted on 12.8 million ha worldwide. In more
than four African nations, since 2005, nearly 300,000 hectares of planned production
projects have been established. Prime growing regions for Jatropha curcas has been
identified to the extent of over 1,080 million hectares land on the African continent as
reported by Kirstenbosch Research Center of the South African National Biodiversity
Institute (Cape Town). These areas comprising over 10.8 million square kilometers are
ideal because the average annual rainfall exceeds 800 mm, and the minimum
temperature of the coldest month is greater than 2
o
C. Additional 580 million hectares
could be used making a total of 1,660 million hectares suitable for the growing of
Jatropha in Africa alone.
18.3 Soil for Jatropha cultivation
Jatropha is known for its ability to survive in very poor dry soils in conditions
considered marginal for agriculture, and can even root into rock crevices. However,
survival ability does not mean that high productivity can be obtained from jatropha
under marginal agricultural environments. The best soils for Jatropha are aerated sands
and loams of at least 45 cm depth (Gour, 2006). Heavy clay soils are less suitable and
should be avoided, particularly where drainage is impaired, as jatropha is intolerant of
waterlogged conditions. Ability to grow in alkaline soils has been widely reported, but
the soil pH should be within 6.0 to 8.0/8.5. There is evidence from northwest India that

210

jatropha is tolerant of saline irrigation water (Dagar et al., 2006). It can be grown under
wide range of arid and semi-arid climatic conditions but can not with stand heavy frost
during nursery stage. For better seed germination, mixed hot and humid climate is
required. It can be cultivated successfully in the regions having scanty to heavy rainfall
with annual rainfall ranges from 500-1200 mm.
Jatropha can be grown easily from seeds. However, commercially it can be
propagated by two different ways such as by seeds and stem cutting.
18.4 Genetic improvement in Jatropha
As India imports more than 40% of its edible oil requirement, it has to depend on non-
edible oils for biodiesel and this has spurred significant research into using
biotechnology for Jatropha. A significant amount of research is taking place in India on
genetic engineering of the Jatropha plant. Genetic analysis in species with a view to
identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for useful characters is done as follows: To begin
with, an elite mapping population with the desirable characteristics that breeds true
would have to be established in Jatropha. Information from the elite mapping population
data could then be used to rapidly screen germplasm of Jatropha to identify DNA
markers or major QTLs associated with high yield and the same could be used in marker
assisted selection (MAS) breeding strategies to jumpstart genetic improvement of
Jatropha for yield characteristics. Improvements in crops such as Jatropha and karanja
are being studied using mutation breeding at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
(BARC), Mumbai.
18.5 Tissue culture in Jatropha curcas
Jatropha curcas is one of the most primitive species of the genus Jatropha and it forms
artificial and natural hybrid complexes readily and poses a problem to the genetic
fidelity. Macro propagation of Jatropha curcas through stem cuttings has been made
possible but the seed yields are usually low and the established plants are not deep
rooted and hence, were easily gets uprooted in cultivation lands with poor top soil .This
is the major constraint for establishment of plants propagated through stem cuttings on
poor and marginal soils. In spite of profuse vegetative growth, the number of seeds
produced per plant is very low and the seeds show a limited viability, which is reduced
by 50% within 15 months. Rooting of stem cuttings is a crucial step in propagation of
woody plants, and there is a great variability in the rooting ability of Jatropha species.

211

While propagation through seeds leads to genetic variability and makes the crops prone
to different diseases, pants propagated by cuttings show a lower longevity and possess a
lower drought and disease resistance than those propagated by seeds. Hence there is a
need for tissue culture based development of J. curcus varieties from stem cuttings with
better rotting abilities. If such quality tissue culture variant is developed, it would be
remarkable development for the Jatropha business and the field of alternative energy
technology.
18.6 Seedling production in nursery
18.6.1 Through seeds sowing in polybags
Fully matured seeds should be selected for sowing. Bold & disease free seeds from fresh
collections are to be used for obtaining better germination. Pre-soaking in water for 24
hrs is advised. Another way is to soak seeds in cow-dung slurry for 12 hrs before
sowing. Soaked seeds are generally sown in polybags of 15 25 cm size filled with soil,
sand and FYM (Farm yard manure) in the ratio of 1:2:1, respectively. Germination is
generally noticed after 4-5 days and it continues up to 15 days. If the seedlings are to be
retained by 5-6 months before transplantation, then high density polybags should be
used and shifting of seedlings in nursery bed after one month need to be done to avoid
direct contact of root into soil of nursery bed for avoidance of shock to seedlings at the
time of lifting.
18.6.2 Seedling production through seed sowing in nursery beds
Raised beds (10-15 cm high) are prepared by digging and mixing soil with sand and
FYM in 1:1:1 ratio. Each bed is prepared having 1 m x 5 m dimensions. Shallow
furrows of 2 cm depth are made by finger or using a stick. Soaked seeds are placed in
furrows at an interval of 5 cm and covered with a thin layer of soil. Care is taken to
avoid deep sowing. Light irrigations are given after seed germination and bare rooted
seedlings are transplanted after 3-4 months in the field during the rainy season.
18.6.3 Seedling production through stem cutting
Cuttings planted during monsoon immediately after Ist showers give better root
initiation, high survival rate and good growth performance.
i. Superior Jatropha trait/ genotypes are selected on the basis of their high seed
yield and oil content. Anon. 2009 reported the seed yield in various

212

progenies of Jatropha and it varies from 121 to 431.0g/plant in different
progenies at the age of 3.5 year.
ii. From the selected tree, collect the branches having 2-3 cm diameter, put
them in a bucket of water.
iii. Cut them into 15-20 cm long pieces with a knife or a mini hand-saw.
iv. Dip the cuttings into a tub rooting hormone mixture (may be commercial
Seradix or growth hormones like IBA or NAA of 100 ppm concentration.
v. Put the cuttings in a poly bagged rooting media (Soil + Sand in 1:1) by
inserting the basal region (about 3 cm).
vi. Place the poly bags inside a closed polythene chamber or mist chamber to
avoid the drying of cuttings. Allow the cuttings inside the chamber for a
period of 2-3 weeks.
18.7 Plantation establishment
The disease free and bold seedlings of Jatropha are transplanted in rows at a spacing of
33 meter under irrigated condition accommodating 1666 plants/ha.
18.7.1 Direct planting by seeds
The land is ploughed once or twice depending upon the nature of soil. In case of heavy
soil, deep ploughing is desirable whereas in light soil shallow ploughing is sufficient.
The 30 cm x 30 cm pits dug in the field at required spacing should be filled with a
mixture of soil, FYM (2-3 kg) and fertilizer (20 g urea, 120 g single super phosphate
and 16 g murate of potash. Two seeds per pit should be dibbled at each pit with the
onset of monsoon. When the seedlings are 4 weeks old, the weaker seedlings can be
removed and the other bold seedlings can be used for gap filling.
18.7.2 Transplanting
Eight to ten week old seedlings are to be planted in 30 cm x 30 cm pits dug in the field
at required spacing and filled with a mixture of soil, FYM (2-3 kg.) and fertilizer (20 gm
Urea, 120 g Single Super Phosphate and 16 g Murate of Potash).
18.7.3 Nutrient use and fertilizer application
Photosynthesis takes place in the nitrogen containing chlorophyll, predominately present
in the green leaves. Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K) are key nutrients

213

needed for the structural material of which roots, stems, branches, leaves, flowers, fruits
and seeds are composed.
The limitation of soil fertility (notable through limited availability of N, P and K
in the root zone) hampers crop growth and crop production. Organic fertilizer (J. curcas
seed cake) and plant density experiments (Density 1; 4x3m (833 pl ha
-1
) and Density 2:
3x2 m(1.667 pl ha
-1)
in India indicated strong effects on crop growth and production
after 2-2.5 years of growth. A. J.curcas seed cake application of 3 t ha
-1
resulted in 1.25
t seed ha
-1
(Density 1; control 0.60 t ha
-1
) and 1.45 t seed ha
-1
(Density 2; control 0.75 t
ha
-1
) (Ghosh et al., 2007). Fertilizer experiments on marginal lands in India with
different levels of N(0-60 kg ha
-1
) applied at planting in a 2x2m pattern (2,500 pl ha
-1
),
showed that plant height (1.97m; + 23%), leaf area index (1.1m
2
m
2
; + 30%) total
aboveground dry matter (9.5 t ha
-1
;+ 32%), seed yield (0.44 t ha
-1
; + 72%) and oil
yield (141.7 kg ha
-1
; +76%)significantly increased at N45 fertilizer application in the 2
nd

year. For phosphorous applications, P20 yielded similar results (Patolia et al., 2007a).
In the initial growth phase after establishment of a plantation, if there is no
competition for radiation, water and nutrients between plants, nutrient content in mature
leaves is not significantly affected by crop density. In the competition phase, in a range
from 1,667-10,000 plants ha
-1
, nutrient (N,P)content in leaves and nutrient (N,P) uptake
from the soil was negatively correlated with plant density (Chaudhary et al., 2007). In
this situation, fertilization of J.curcas increased seed yield by 100% either by inorganic
fertilizer (Patolia et al., 2007a,b). Fertilization with J.curcas seedcake, the remaining
bulk after oil pressing significantly increased seed yield (Ghosh et al., 2007). Inoculation
of J.curcas with mycorrhiza significantly increased the uptake of phosphorous (P) and
micro-elements (Aluminum, Zinc, Chrome, Copper, Iron and Lead) from fly-ash
(mineral residue from the combustion of coal in electric generating plants) (Sharma,
2007). The NPK in the ratio of 46:48:24 kg per ha are to be applied in split doses from
second year onwards so as to obtain economic yields and high oil content in seeds.
18.7.4 Agri-silvicultural practice (Inter cropping)
Since, the gestation period of jatropha is 2 years; the inter-cropping may be taken
initially for two years which will yield additional income to the growers. The intercrops
selected by various institutions for intercropping in jatropha depending upon soil &
climatic requirements are Chickpea, Rice, Green gram, Black Gram, Sesamum (Til),
Ginger, Turmeric, Arhar, Masoor (Lantil), Ragi, Kulthi, Niger, Soybean, Moong, Urad,

214

Wheat, Cowpea, Cluster bean, Water melon, Mustard, Guar and Dhaincha as well as
Moth bean for green manuring. In addition, in assured irrigation and wide spacing in
between the rows, some leafy and fodder and short duration shade loving crops may be
under taken after two years.
18.7.5 Inter-culturing and weeding
Inter-culturing operations should be carried out whenever necessary. Annually, 3-4
weedings may be carried out manually for keeping weed free field during initial growth
period.
Pruning: Proper pruning (2/3 of the branch in the dormancy phase, when leaves are
shed) seems to be an efficient technique to induce further branching. In India it was
essential to pinch the apex of 6 months age at 0.30m to induce branching; slower
growing provenances could be cut at 0.45m (Sharma and Sarraf, 2007).
18.7.6 Irrigation and water use
During dry period only life saving irrigations should be applied to the plants as and
when required. Usually from second year onwards irrigation is not required unless soils
are shallow and sandy. Two irrigations in a year if applied at both the flowering period
stages will enhance the yield. In a 2 year old J. Curcas plantation in India, it becomes
clear that soil water depletion mainly takes place when there is a substantial transporting
green canopy of J. Curcas leaves (March-October). During the sunny and hot months
(March-June) the water demand from the soil (PET) can not be fulfilled, as indicated by
the actual soil moisture availability (Wan et al., 2007). Further he reported that it is
evident from his data that precipitation is not sufficient to provide the requested amount
of water to fulfill PET, and most probably, soil characteristics prevent the efficient
storage and release of available rain water. In this case, the reduction of crop growth and
production is substantial at a level of about 50% indicated by the ratio AET/PET.
18.7.7 Flowering and fruiting
J. curcas is a monoecious shrub or small tree, with staminate (male) flowers and
pistillate (female) flowers on the same inflorescence (raceme). The inflorescence is a
panicle, with the female flowers (about 10-20%) at the apices of the main stem and
branches of the inflorescence. Male flowers are more numerous (about 80-90%) and
occupy subordinate positions on the inflorescence. The ratio of male and female flowers
ranges from 13:1 to 29:1 and decreases with age of plant (Raju and Ezradanam, 2002).

215

The fewer female flowers are the main reason for the poor seed yield of the plant. There
is a strong correlation between reproduction and vegetative growth, revealed by the total
number of flowers produced and the total length of the branches, bearing the
inflorescence at their tips (Aker, 1997).
18.8 Plant protection
Jatropha plantations are less prone to attack by diseases and insects. Following few
common diseases & insects are to be checked time to time for better seed yields:-
18.8.1 Diseases
Damping off disease in jatropha is caused by Phytopthera pithium. It can be controlled
by Spray of Keptan 50% @ 0.2%. Collar rot disease in Jatropha is caused
Myerophomina phaseolina. Drenching with 1% Baurdeax mixture can be practiced to
control the collar rot in jatropha. Root rot is caused by Fusarium moniliforme jatropha
plantations which can be controlled through Spray of Thiram @ 0.2%. Leaf spot caused
by Helminthosporium utramera can be controlled Spray of Blitox @ 0.2%. The
Jatropha Mosaic Virus (JMV) was first reported on Jatropha gossipiifolia from
Puerto-Rico and identified as begomovirus. Ultra structural studies of JMV-infected
plants indicated the association of cytoplasmic inclusions such as membrane-bound
bodies containing granular or fibrillar material, infection confining to phloem and virus-
like particles of 1518 nm in diameter. The virus was found to be transmitted by the
vector Bemisia tabaci Aleyrodidae in a semi persistent manner, but not through sap
inoculation and seed.
18.8.2 Insects
Leaf minor can be controlled by spray of Metasystox 25 CC @ of 1.5 ml/liter of water.
Blue Bug can be controlled with spray of Phosphomedin / Dimethoate @ 2.0 ml/3 lt. of
water.
18.9 Plant responses to climate change
The direct effects of climate change on individual plants and plant communities may
occur in the absence of pathogens, but may also bring about changes in plants that will
affect their interactions with pathogens. Changes in plant architecture may affect
microclimate and thus risks of infection (Burdon, 1987). In general, increased plant
density will tend to increase leaf surface wetness and leaf surface wetness duration, and

216

so make infection by foliar pathogens more likely (Huber and Gillespie, 1992). But, of
course, how abiotic stress factors interact to affect plants will be key to understanding
climate change effects on plants (Mondor et al., 2004); abiotic stress such as heat and
drought may contribute to plant susceptibility to pathogens or it may induce general
defense pathways which increase resistance.
Elevated CO
2
levels tend to result in changed plant structure. Pritchard et al.,
1999 reported that at multiple scales, plant organs may increase in size: Increased leaf
area, increased leaf thickness, higher numbers of leaves, higher total leaf area per plant,
and stems and branches with greater diameter have been observed under elevated CO
2
.
Enhanced photosynthesis, increased water use efficiency, and reduced damage from
ozone are also reported under elevated CO
2
(Von Tiedemann and Firsching, 2000).
Since many foliar pathogens benefit from denser plant growth and the resulting more
humid microclimate (Burdon, 1987), there is the potential for these changes in plant
architecture to increase infection rates, all else being equal. Shah et al. (2002) reported
that interactions among changing climatic variables may complicate the effects of
elevated CO
2
. In a California annual grassland, warming, altered precipitation, addition
of nitrogen, and elevated CO
2
each increased net primary productivity when applied as
single factors; but in multifactor treatments, elevated CO
2
appeared to suppress the
positive effects of the other factors.
The effects of elevated temperature on plants will tend to vary greatly throughout
the year. During colder parts of the year, warming may relieve plant stress, whereas
during hotter parts of the year it may increase stress. When high-temperature stress is
exacerbated, plant responses may be similar to those induced by water stress, with
symptoms including wilting, leaf burn, leaf folding, and abscission, and physiological
responses including changes in RNA metabolism and protein synthesis, enzymes,
isoenzymes, and plant growth hormones (Christiansen and Lewis, 1982). These changes
will certainly affect susceptibility to pathogens, though the wide range of changes may
make interactions difficult to predict. As a striking example of the potential effect on the
yield of crop plants in response to elevated temperature, rice yield in the Philippines was
estimated to decline 10% for each 1
o
C increase in the minimum temperature during the
dry season (Peng et al., 2004).
Elevated ozone concentrations can change the structure of leaf surfaces, altering
the physical topography as well as the chemical composition of surfaces, including the

217

structure of epicuticular wax. These changes in leaf structure may alter leaf surface
properties such as leaf wettability and the ability of leaves to retain solutes; all
influencing the ability of pathogens to attach to leaf surfaces and infect (Karnosky et al.,
2002). Ozone exposure has been proposed to enhance attacks on plants by necrotrophic
fungi, root-rot fungi, and bark beetles.
18.10 Effect of Jatropha on climate change
As per one of the estimate Jatropha tree absorbs around 8 kg of CO
2
every year. At a
planting density of 2500 trees per hectare CO
2
sequestration to the tune of 20 tonnes per
year for the lifetime of 40-50 years. Moreover, each hectare produces an average of
1000 gallons of biodiesel per year and 3500 kg of biomass. The usage of biodiesel
results in the reduction of 3.2 kg. CO
2
/ liter produced by diesel. At the 78% efficiency,
biodiesel will reduce in 2.5 kg of CO
2
/per liter or 9.2 tons of CO
2
for every hectare of
plantation. The biomass produced after the oil extraction will further result in carbon
reduction based on the amount of electricity generated from it. Organic fertilizers such
as cow manure can be used as the fertilizer to maximize the GHGs reduction by
encouraging farmers to compost cow dung which otherwise will be a source of methane,
a potent greenhouse gas. The study conducted by Alliance and Sun Biofuels highlights
that EUs goal of slashing greenhouse gases (GHGs) by 35% can be met through
utilizing Jatropha and that Sun Biofuels Mozambique could save 39% of GHGs
compared to fossil fuels if the Jatropha-derived biodiesel was produced in the UK. An
independent GHG life cycle calculation was conducted for Sun Biofuels Mozambique in
order to assess the impact on Jatropha biofuels in Mozambique. The study was further
validated and reviewed by researchers from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental
Studies and scientists from LEI Agricultural Economic Research. Land use change, Seed
yield, oil yield and nitrogen fertilizers were found to be the three major factors that
influence the level of GHG saving achieved by Jatropha. The report also highlights the
potential of Jatropha biodiesel to achieve GHG savings of up to 73%. If this biodiesel is
consumed locally, the value increased to 48%. Sun Biofuels Mozambique is targeting
seed yield of 6 tonnes per hectare per year, further raising this to 65%. However the
most influencing factor is nitrogen fertilizer. If Sun Biofuels Mozambique is able to
substitute 100% of nitrogen fertilizers with organic Fertilizer, for example Jatropha seed
cake, the GHG saving balance could go up to 73%.

218

References
1 Aker C.L. (1997) Growth and reproduction of J. curcas. In: Gubitz G.M.,
Mittelbach M. & Trabi (Eds). Biofuel and industrial products from Jatropha
curcas. Dbv-Verlag fur die Technische Graz, Graz, Austria, pp. 2-18.
2 Anonymous (2009) Annual Progress Report of (2008-2009) of the Project,
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Wageningen, the Netherlands, Published by FACT Foundation.
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Boricha G.N. and Zala A. (2007) Response of Jatropha curcas under different
spacing Jatropha de-oiled cake. Expert seminar on Jatropha curcas L
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10 Gour V.K. (2006) Production Practices Including Post Harvest Management of
Jatropha Curcas. Paper presented in National Conference on Biodiesel:
Towards Energy Independence Focus on Jatropha Organized by Presidents
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th
June 2006, pp.
223-251.
11 Huber L. and Gillespie T.J. (1992) Modeling leaf wetness in relation to plant
disease epidemiology. Annu. Rev. Phytopathol., 30:553-577.
12 Karnosky D.F., Percy K.E., Xiang B., Callan B. and Noormets A. (2002)
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and tropospheric O3 predisposes aspen (Populus
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13 Mondor E.B., Tremblay M.N., Awmack C.S. and Lindroth R.L. (2004)
Divergent pheromone mediated insect behavior under global atmospheric
change. Glob. Change Biol., 10:1820-1824.
14 Patolia J.S., Chikara J., Prakash A.R., Ghosh A., Chaudhary D.R. and Bhuva
H.M. (2007b) Provenance trials for selection of high yielding Jatropha curcas
on wastelands. Expert Seminar on Jatropha curcas L. Agronomy and
genetics.26-28 March 2007, Wageningen, the Netherlands, Published by FACT
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H.M. (2007a) Response of Jatropha curcas grown on wasteland to N and P
fertilization. Expert seminar on Jatropha curcas L. Agronomy and genetics. 26-
28 March 2007, Wageningen, the Netherland, Published by FACT Foundation.
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yields decline with higher night temperature from global warming. Proc. Natl.
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CO2 and plant structure: a review. Glob. Change Biol., 5:807837.
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19 Shah M.R., Zavaleta E.S., Chiariello N.R., Cleland E.E., Mooney H.A. and
Field C.B. (2002) Grassland responses to global environmental changes
suppressed by elevated CO
2
. Science, 298:1987-1990.
20 Sharma N. (2007) Reclamation of ash ponds and cultivation of Jatropha curcas
using arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi as technology demonstration for biofuel
production and environmental cleaning in Chattisgarh state. Expert seminar on
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the Netherlands, Published by FACT Foundation.
21 Sharma N. and Saraf A. (2007) Agronomy: Jatropha pruning /flowering
induction. Expert seminar on Jatropha curcas L. Agronomy and genetics. 26-28
March 2007, Wageningen, the Netherlands, Published by FACT Foundation.
22 Von Tiedemann A. and Firsching K.H. (2000) Interactive effects of elevated
ozone and carbon dioxide on growth and yield of leaf rust-infected versus non-
infected wheat. Environ. Pollut., 108:357-363.
23 Wan S.P., Sreedevi T.K., Kesava Rao A.V.P. and Dixin Y. (2007) Biofuels: a
strategy for enhanced water use efficiency, improved livelihoods and protecting
environment in the semi-arid tropics, Linkages between Energy and Water
Management for Agriculture in Developing Countries 29-31 January 2007,
Patancheru, India, Published by ICRISAT, IWMI, FAO, IWREC.

221

CHAPTER 19
BIODIESEL PRODUCTION FROM ALGAL SPECIES
GROWN ON DAIRY WASTEWATER
Richa Kothari, Vinayak V. Pathak, D.P. Singh

Abstract
Production of biodiesel from microalgae is a novel approach. Microalgae have
capability to produce 5000 15000 gallon/ acre/ year biodiesel. Algal biodiesel is seems
to be a solution of the problems of first and second-generation biofuel. There is no any
fuel vs food competition, water crisis and the land availability problem in production of
algal biodiesel. An experiment is carried out to study the growth potential and biodiesel
production from selected algal species grown on dairy wastewater. Various
concentrations (25 %, 50%, 75%, and 100%) of dairy wastewater (influent and effluent)
have been taken for the analysis. The experiment for biodiesel production was carried
out by growing algae in influent, effluent and laboratory media for ten days.
Transesterification process is used for extraction of algal oil. The yield of biodiesel
production from influent is found to be 85%. The result proved that selected algal strain
have potential to grow on wastewater (75% concentration of wastewater) and produced
significant amount of biodiesel.
Key words: Biodiesel, Transesterification, Wastewater
19.1 Introduction
The demand for energy continues to increase day by day fossil fuel consumption will
likewise continue to rise. This is due to the increasing industrialization and motorization
of the world (Agrawal, 2007). Fossil fuel are nonrenewable as they have limited source
and they have major contribution in green house gas emissions (Prasad et al., 2007;
Zhao et al., 2009; Singh et al., 2010), which cause serious environmental problems like
climate change, receding of glacier, rise in sea level, loss of biodiversity (Gullison et al.,
2007), etc., thus there is a need of an alternative which is capable to replace the fossil
fuel in energy production as well as environmental point of view. There is significant

222

interest in identifying alternative renewable source of fuel which is eco-friendly (Hill et
al., 2006; Rittmann, 2008; Demirbas, 2009).
Microalgae can grow effectively in minimal freshwater input and utilize land
which is not productive for plant crops so they make the process sustainable (Takagi et
al., 2006; Rodolfi et al., 2009). Many species of microalgae can effectively grow in
wastewater through their capacity to utilized N and P of the waste water (Oswald and
Gotaas, 1957).
In India where the agriculture sector have a prime role in economy, about 286
large and small scale dairy industries are run. India with first rank in milk production
sharing about 13 percent of total milk produced in the world. These dairy industries are
noted as a significant contributor of water pollution. Dairy waste water is characterized
by high BOD and COD content with variable pH (Kothari et al., 2011) and offensive
odor. They have enough nutrients to cause eutrophication to receiving water bodies.
In comparison of municipal, domestic sewage based waste water, agricultural
waste water which derived from manure have high N and P content (Wikkie and
Mulbry, 2002). Many algal species is found to be suitable to grow on agricultural
wastewater rather than municipal sewage waste water (An et al., 2003). Some species of
benthic alga is used to study of algal mediated nutrient recovery from dairy manure and
it is found that they have high uptake rate (Cataldo et al., 1973; Gonzalez et al., 1997).
The objective of this study is to assess the potential of growth of selected algal
strain on various concentrations of dairy wastewater and simultaneously biodiesel
production.
19.2 Materials and Methods
19.2.1 Algal strain and its growth condition
Microalgal strain (NCIM no. 2738) is obtained from National Collection of Industrial
Microorganism, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune (India). The algal strain is grown
in FOGs media as recommended by the collection centre. The FOGs medium
composition includes macronutrients such as MgSO
4
.7H
2
O (0.2g), K
2
HPO
4
(0.2g)
,

CaCl
2
.H
2
O (0.1 g), Fe-EDTA solution (5 ml) and micronutrients are H
3
BO
3
(286 mg),
MNCl
2
.4H
2
O (181mg), ZnSO
4
.7H
2
O (22mg), Na
2
MoO
4
.2H
2
O (39mg), CuSO
4
.5H
2
O (8
mg) as described by NCIM, Pune. The inoculated medium was incubated at 251C in
the presence of light (10 W/m
2
) by using light/dark cycle of 12 hours.

223

19.2.2 Collection of dairy waste water and nutrient analysis
Untreated and treated water sample were collected from Producers Cooperative Milk
Union Limited, Lucknow. This is a medium scale dairy industry producing significant
amount of wastewater. There is oxidation pond used by the industry for wastewater
treatment. The influent (untreated wastewater) and effluent (treated wastewater) were
collected in sterilized sampling bottles and were stored at 4 C before use. Nitrogen
(nitrate) (Anonymous, 1998) and phosphorus (phosphate) (Hossain et al., 2008) the
main nutrients for the growth of algae were analyzed in both wastewaters. These
nutrients were also analyzed on 10
th
day of the experiment to measure the nutrient
uptake capacity of microalgal strain.
19.2.3 Optimization of growth of selected strain on various concentration of dairy
waste water
The algal strain was grown at different concentrations (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) of
wastewater (influent & effluent). The experiment was set up in 250 ml of conical flask
containing 150 ml of varying concentration of wastewater. Homogenous algal
suspension (2 ml) was used to inoculate each flask. Exponential phase of algal species
was monitored in terms of optical density at 650 nm on each day by using UV-visible
spectrophotometer (Schimadzu, Japan EL 08023626). Simultaneously the protein
content was also measured to check the growth in terms of protein content of biomass
with the days.
19.2.4 Biomass cultivation of selected algal strain grown on dairy wastewater and
processing for algal oil
This step of experiment is carried out in two litre conical flask containing 1 litre of
wastewater. Culture suspension of selected algal strain (50 ml) was used to inoculate the
flask. The biomass is harvested after 10
th
day of the incubation in light at 251C. On
the 10
th
day the biomass is harvested and processed for biofuel production. The
cultivated algal biomass is weighted (fresh weight) and dried in to the oven at
temperature 80C. The dried algal biomass is weighted and converted in to the
powdered form with the help of motor and pestle. With the use of hexane and ether with
dry biomass algal oil was processed for transesterification for conversion of algal oil in
to Algal biodiesel.

224

19.2.5 Transesterification of Extracted algal oil using NaOH as a catalyst
Transesterification is a multistep reaction including hydrolysis, reversible hydrolysis
step in series, in which triglyceride is converted to diglyceride and diglyceride are
converted to monoglyceride and finally monoglyceride are converted in to fatty acid and
glycerol as by product. The relationship between the feedstock mass and input and the
biodiesel mass output is 1:1. A mixture of catalyst (NaOH) and methanol was poured in
to the flask containing the algal oil. The whole content was then kept for 3 hours on
continuous rotator shaker (200 rpm) to allow the completion of reaction. After three
hours, the biodiesel formed upper layer and the pigment along with glycerine settled
down at the bottom. Biodiesel was separated with the help of separating funnel.
19.3.1 Nutrient analysis in dairy wastewater
a) Influent- The concentration of nitrate is found to be higher (66.4 mg/l) than the
permissible limit (5 mg/l). Similarly, the nitrite level (0.95 mg/l) was also very
high. Phosphate concentration is found to be 21.0 mg/l. After the 10
th
day of the
experiment the nitrate was found to be reduced by 60.5 %, and the phosphate is
reduced by 87.1%.
b) Effluent- The concentration of nitrate (14.3 mg/l) and phosphate (3.4 mg/l) are
reduced by several folds in the effluent after treatment. However, their
concentration is still sufficient to cause eutrophication. The concentration of
nitrite (0.86 mg/l) is almost unchanged. After the 10
th
day of the experiment the
nitrate was found to be reduced by 49.03%%, and the phosphate is reduced by
883.21%.
The wastewater was found to rich in nutrients concentration, which supported to
the growth of selected microalgal species.
19.3.2 Growth of algal strain on various concentration of wastewater
Algal growth as indicated by optical density measured at 650 nm in 0 to 100 % (v/v)
concentration of both selected sample. The selected species could survive in all of the
selected sample concentration and no obvious lag phase was observed. Comparing
between these selected concentrations, it is noticed that algae grew faster in 75% diluted
sample with both wastewater samples. It may be due to the various factors upon which

225

algal growth depends. Simultaneously the protein content is also analyzed to check the
growth in terms of protein content. As the biomass was found to increase the protein
content was also found to increase. Reduction in protein was observed on the 8
th
day of
the experiment. According to the literature, algal growth is directly affected by
availability of nutrient. Growth of algae in the absence of influent and effluent served as
control (with tap water). Results showed that algal growth in absence of influent and
effluent was negligible. These result suggested that nutrient rich effluent or influent
supported better growth. Further the results indicated that influent with more nutrient,
could be better growth supporting medium than the effluent.

(a)

(b)
Fig. 19.1. Growth of algae NCIM no. 2738 at different concentration of wastewater (a)
Influent (b) Effluent

226

19.3.3 Biodiesel production
The biomass obtained from the influent is higher than the biomass obtained from
Effluent and Laboratory medium. The fresh weight of algal biomass obtained from the
influent on 10
th
day was 14.6 gram / 1 litre of culture. The dried biomass was 3.5 gram
which produced 3 gram (3.1 ml) of algal biodiesel. 85% yield is obtained from the
influent.

(a)

(b)
Fig. 19.2. Protein content of algal biomass NCIM no. 2738 at various concentration of
wastewater (a) Influent (b) Effluent

227

Fig. 19.3. Biodiesel obtained from influent
19.4 Conclusion
The selected algal strain has potential to grow on dairy waste water and it have high
uptake rate of nutrients. Algal species have capability to produce biodiesel in significant
amount from a small culture, which shows it will give higher productivity with large
amount of culture. Currently algal biofuel production has not been commercialized due
to high cost associated with production and, harvesting and preparation of biodiesel.
These major limitations can be overcome by integrating the wastewater treatment by
alga and biofuel production. This will reduce the cost and energy input.

References
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internal combustion engines. Prog. Energy Combustion Sci., 33:233-271
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6. Demirbas A. (2009) Biofuels securing the planets future energy needs. Energy
Convers. Mang., 50:2239-2249.
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10. Takagi M., Karseno and Yoshida T. (2006) Effect of salt concentration of
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11. Oswald W.J. and Gotaas H.B. (1957) Photosynthesis in sewage treatment.
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13. Wikkie A.C. and Mulbry W.W. (2002) Recovery of dairy manure nutrients by
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14. An J.Y., Sim S.J., Lee J.S. and Kim B.W. (2003) Hydrocarbon production from
secondarily treated piggery wastewater by the green alga Botryococcus braunii.,
J. Appl. Phycol. 15:183-191.
15. Gonzalez L.E., Canizares R.O. and Baena S. (1997) Efficiency of ammonia and
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16. Cataldo D.A., Haroon M., Schvandea L.E. and Young V.L. (1973) Rapid
colorimetric determination of nitrate in plant tissue by nitrification of salicylic
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17. Anonymous (1998) APHA (American Public Health Association). Standard
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230

CHAPTER 20
GREEN TECHNOLOGY FOR BIODIESEL PRODUCTION
USING WASTE MATERIAL BASED HETEROGENEOUS
CATALYST
Anil Kumar Sarma, Ashish P. Singh Chouhan

Abstract
Increasing prices of petroleum products and their detrimental environmental impact
made it clear that the society cannot depend upon its application massively in future.
Lack of sufficient reserves for petrochemical sources may also cause future energy
problems. Especially in developing countries, major consumers are agriculture,
transportation and industrial sectors who are highly dependent on petroleum sources.
They pay high percentage of foreign exchange. Researchers and Scientists are worried
about it and bestow upon development of alternative fuels. Biodiesel is a promising
alternative because it contains high heating values, can successfully replace the diesel
fuels. Biodiesel is a fatty acid alkyl ester (e.g. FAME, FAEE etc.) and the process of
biodiesel production is generally carried out through transesterification reaction. The
reaction is facilitated with a suitable catalyst either homogeneous or heterogeneous.
Heterogeneous catalyst is being paid more attention in recent times over other catalyst
due to its recyclable and non-destructive nature. The selection of appropriate catalyst
depends on the amount of free fatty acid in the oil. Heterogeneous catalyst provides high
activity, high selectivity, high water tolerance properties and these properties generally
depends on the amount and strengths of active acid or basic sites. However the cost of
catalyst could be another factor that determines their efficacy. In this article efforts have
been made to include waste heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production all over the
world. These catalysts can potentially replace the homogeneous catalyst due to low cost,
good reactivity and good recyclable nature. In this article the authors illustrated a green
technology for biodiesel production using ash produced from underground stem of
Musa bilbisiana colla as catalyst, Jatropha curcas oil and ethanol as reactants with
limited experimental parameter and a green technology based transesterification process
for biodiesel production is proposed

231

Keywords: Biodiesel, transesterification, waste material, heterogeneous catalyst.
20.1 Introduction
Energy crisis and lack of availability of petro-chemicals affected everyone in the recent
years. Besides, petro-chemicals emit pollutants such as CO, CO
2
, SO
2
and NOx
although the human race is fully dependent on it. On the other hand, biodiesel fuel
emerges as a promising alternative source which produces lesser amount of carbon
monoxide and other pollutants. Biodiesel is a pure green alternative liquid fuels derived
from vegetable oil i.e. triglycerides (Meher et al., 2006). The process of
transesterification of triglyceride with methanol, ethanol or any other suitable alcohol in
the presence of a catalyst produces methyl or ethyl esters (called biodiesel) depending
on the selection of reacting alcohol and glycerol. In other words, transesterification, also
called alcoholysis, is the reaction of an oil or fat with an alcohol to form esters and
glycerol (Xie et al., 2007; Boey et al., 2009; Umdu et al., 2009). The basic reaction for a
total green technology based transesterification is depicted in Fig. 20.1.

Fig. 20.1. Basic transesterification reaction for green biodiesel production
Transesterification consist of three consecutive reversible reactions viz:
conversion of triglyceride to diglyceride, diglyceride to mono glycerides and
monoglyceride to free fatty ester and glycerol (Ma and Hanna, 1999).
If the catalyst remains in the same (liquid) phase to that of the reactants during
transesterification, it is homogeneous catalytic transesterification. On the other hand, if
the catalyst remains in different phase (i.e. solid or gaseous) to that of the reactants the
process is called heterogeneous catalytic transesterification (Helwani et al., 2009; Zabeti
et al., 2009). The heterogeneous catalytic transesterification is included under Green
Technology due to the following attributes: 1) the catalyst can be recycled (reused), 2)
there is no or very less amount of waste water produced during the process and 3)
Separation of biodiesel from glycerol is much easier (Sarma et al., 2008; Lee and Saka,
2010). Moreover, the alcohol used in the process must be derived from renewable
sources such as biomass. For this reason, ethanol is the choice because it is mostly
derived from sugars and other biomass materials. The use of enzyme catalytic
production of biodiesel has attracted much attention in recent years because enzymes
tolerate fatty acid and water contents, facilitating easy purification of biodiesel and

232

glycerol. However enzymatic transesterification could not be commercialized for
production of biodiesel due to long residence time and high cost (Canakci and Van
Gerpan, 2001; Grandos et al., 2007). Homogeneous catalytic transesterification
reactions are fast as compared to heterogeneous catalyst but homogeneous catalyst could
not be reused during the subsequent transesterification but heterogeneous catalyst can be
reused in an average 8-10 times. Heterogeneous catalyst converts triglycerides into
biodiesel slowly but produced biodiesel in a very feasible economic way due to the
reusability of catalyst for both the processes e.g. batch and continuous. Thus, a set of
reactants and catalyst derived from renewable precursor could be the best choice for
green technology based transesterification. During the course of reaction a temperature
upto 70
o
C is required to heat the reaction mixture which can be obtained from
renewable energy sources such as biomass combustion.
In this papers a green technology for biodiesel production using ash produced
from underground stem of Musa bilbisiana colla as catalyst, Jatropha curcas oil and
ethanol as reactants are studied with limited experimental parameter and a green
technology based transesterification process for biodiesel production has been proposed.
20.2 Materials
Jatropha curcas oil was purchased from an oil expeller Industry, Udaipur, Rajasthan in
India. This Jatropha curcas oil has a density of 0.918 at 15
o
C. Ethanol was purchased
from Loba chemicals with a purity of 99%.
20.2.1 Experimental
20.2.1.1 Catalyst preparation
Banana plant underground stems were collected from Sipajhar, Assam, India. These
were first combusted traditionally after slicing and drying and the ash so collected were
carried to the Institute laboratory. These ashes were further heated at 550
o
C in a furnace
to concentrate the alkali metal contents. Further, this ash was characterized by atomic
adsorption spectrophotometer for alkali and poisonous metal contents. The BET surface
area of the ash was evaluated under nitrogen environment and the XRD was studies for
their nature of crystalline or amorphous.

233

20.2.1.2 Batch reactor
The transesterification reaction carried out in an automatic Radleys Reactor purchased
from UK in which the reaction time and temperature controlled automatically (Fig.
20.2). The reactor consist glass vessel made of double glass layer, outer layer for
circulation of the hot water and heat transfer into the reactor from outer side to inner
side. Oil, catalyst and ethanol reactants were taken from top section of the reactor. The
sample vessel has 500 ml capacity which is considered for transesterification process.

Fig. 20.2. Biodiesel preparation unit
20.2.1.3 Transesterification reaction
The crude Jatropha curcas oil (JCO) and ethanol were used without further purification.
Transesterification reaction was carried out in the automatic Radleys reactor at 70
o
C
temperature with the mixer stirring at 600 RPM speed for 1 hour reaction time as shown
in the Fig. 20.2. The catalyst used for this process was 5 wt. % of oil. The molar ratio of
oil and ethanol molar ratio were used about 1:6 for the transesterification reaction. After
the transesterification reaction was over the ethanol separated through rotary evaporator
at 60
o
C temperature under reduced pressure. Then the ethyl ester so obtained were
placed in a separatory funnel and left overnight (12 h) for the separation of the glycerol
and catalyst from the biodiesel under gravity. A refrigerated centrifugal (Model no.
5430R, manufactured by Eppendorf Company, UK) was used to separate the catalyst
and glycerol for about 4 minutes at 10,000 RPM at 4
o
C constant temperature. This
process was repeated to produce substantial amount of ethyl esters of Jatropha curcas

234

oil and stored in corked poly-ethene vessel for further characterization. Ethyl ester and
fatty acid compounds identified and quantified using the GC analysis.
20.2.1.4 Characterization of biodiesel
The biodiesel fuel characterized for density by digital density meter (model no. DMA
5000 Series, manufactured by Anton Paar Company, Germany), viscosity by (model no.
86-18D Lawler viscometer, manufactured by USA), flash point (model no. ACO-7,
made by Tanaka Company, Japan) and calorific value (Toshniwal automatic bomb
calorimeter, made by India) and fatty acid and ethyl ester conversion identified and
quantified using the GC.
20.3.1 Characterization of catalyst
Banana plant underground stem has been used traditionally by the Assamese community
since the history belongs as the alkali source for Cooking, Baking etc in a similar
fashion to the baking powder. They burn the slice of the underground stem for
preparation of ash which further filtered with water to get the water extract as Khar,
commonly used in kitchen. Basically, underground stem has been selected because it
requires less drying effort as compared to the trunk. Moreover, the alkali metal
concentration per unit volume of the underground root is higher. Very recently, Deka
and Basumatari (2011) investigated the use of ash obtained from the trunk of Musa
bilbisiana colla as catalyst for transterification of oleander seed oil using methanol as
reactant in 1:20 molar ratio of oil to alcohol, at ordinary temperature 32
o
C in 3 hours of
reaction time. They reported 96% biodiesel yield in first reaction cycle, 94 % in second
reaction cycle and 91 % in the third in 3-,6- and 9-h respectively. However, the high
alcohol oil molar ratio and very high catalyst amount (20% by wt of oil) cannot be
useful for a suitable transesterification process. The oil absorbed by the high catalyst
percentage would be tedious to remove. This will eliminate the advantage of using a
heterogeneous catalyst. Very high surface area of the catalyst (Table 20.1) is attributed
to its good catalytic behavior during transesterification. High porosity of the catalyst
ensures that the maximum site is available for catalytic activity. The total XRD analysis
and metal contents analysis showed that 28 % by wt of the catalyst composed of K
+
which is attributed to its good catalytic behavior. The catalyst represents partly
crystalline behavior with triplet sharp metallic peak during XRD analysis

235

Table 20.1. Characterization of heterogeneous catalyst

The banana ash (Musa bilbisiana colla) heterogeneous catalysts derived from
underground stem has a density 0.434 g/cc. Other basic characteristics of the catalyst are
presented in Table 20.1. The presence of both sodium and potassium makes it a good
catalyst. Other additional advantage can be obtained from porosity and the moderate
surface area of the catalyst.
20.3.2 Characteristics of Oil and Biodiesel.
Jatropha curcas seed oil is perhaps the most widely accepted seed oil for biodiesel
production. Most of the developing country in South East Asia cultivating Jatrohpa
curcas as the oilseed bearing plants for energy uses (Silitonga et al., 2011). The fatty
acid profile of the pure Jatropha curcas oil was evaluated using a GC following the
AOCS Official method. The fatty acid profile presented in Table 20.2 shows that oleic
acid (38.069 % by wt) and linoleic acids (32.309 % by wt) followed by palmitic acid
(16.902 % by wt) and stearic acid (8.572 % by wt) are the major contributor to the oil.
This clearly demonstrates that over 96% of the oil can be easily converted to fatty acid
esters during transesterification.
The biodiesel so produced (FAEE) were characterized using GC for %
conversion of triglyceride to FAEE and found that 95 % oil could be converted to FAEE
at the selected temperature and other conditions. The fuel properties of the oil and
biodiesel were evaluated with respect to density, kinematic viscosity, flash point,
calorific value and acid value and found that these values shows well agreement with
ASTM Standards (Silitonga et al., 2011). Jatropha curcas oils kinematic viscosity
decreased after the transesterification reaction due to the conversion of fatty acids into
S.No. Test name Musa bilbisiana Colla heterogeneous catalyst
1 Density of catalyst (g/cc) 0.434
2 Catalyst structure Partly crystalline
3 Alkali metals present Na
+
, K
+
4 Toxic heavy metals present Pb, Co Trace amount
5 Anion present Cl
-
, CO
3
2-
6 BET surface area (m
2
/g) 38.710
7 Total pore volume cc/g 4.233x 10
-02

8 Average pore radius
o
A 2.18681x10
1

236

the fatty acid ethyl esters (biodiesel). Flash point and density of biodiesel are also
decreased. All the results are very similar to the earlier reported results for oleander seed
oil by Deka and Basumatary (2011).
Table 20.2. Fatty acid ethyl ester yield (wt%)
S.No. Fatty acid and methyl ester test Composition % (w/w)
1 Palmitic acid 16.902
2 Steriac acid 8.572
3 Linoleic acid 32.309
4 Oleic acid 38.069
5 Others 4.2

Table 20.3. Physico-chemical Properties of oil/ biodiesel
S.No. Jatropha oil Values FAEE Values
1 Density (g/cc) @ 15
o
C 0.918 Density (g/cc) 0.8989
2 Kinematic Viscosity (cSt) @ 40
o
C 34 Kinematic Viscosity (cSt) @ 40
o
C 7
3 Flash point (
o
C ) 108 Flash point (
o
C ) 104
4 Calorific value (KJ/g) 40.00 Calorific value (KJ/g) 40.5
5 Acid value 8.00 Acid value 0.00

20.3.3 Proposed Green technology for biodiesel production:
The biodiesel production from Jatropha curcas oil with heterogeneous catalyst using
ethanol as reactants could be a complete Green Technology. This is attributed to the
renewable nature of ethanol and catalyst which are obtained from biomass sources.
Moreover, the temperature required for heating the reaction mixture can be obtained
from any of the renewable sources such as biomass combustion, solar water heater, solar
collector or from electricity obtained from small/ microhydel project. Ethanol used
during the reaction can be obtained from the fermentation of lignocellulosic materials.
95% pure ethanol can be obtained after fractional distillation of the fermentation broth
without much input energy (Simple distillation). Further purification of the ethanol is
expensive. Hence an approach would be required to optimize the process of
transesterification with 95 % pure ethanol (mixing with 5 % water) (Kumar, 2010). It
has been reported that barley produced 0.41L/kg, barley straw produced 0.31L/kg, corn

237

Fig. 20.3 Flow chart of biodiesel production using renewable energy resources (Green
Technology)
produced 0.46L/kg, corn stover produced 0.29L/kg, oat produced 0.41 L/kg, oat straw
produced 0.26L/kg, rice produced 0.48L/kg, sorghum produced 0.44L/kg, sorghum
straw produced 0.27 L/kg, wheat produced 0.40 L/kg, sugarcane produced 0.50L/kg and
bagasse produced 0.28L/kg of ethanol after fermentation (Kim and Dale, 2004), etc.
Thus, a very good scope is available to use lignocellulosic materials for producing
ethanol required for tarnsesterification. A proposed flow diagram for biodiesel
production integrating renewable energy sources is depicted in Fig. 20.3.
Washing with
Hexane
Drying at 80
0
C
Catalyst ready for
reuse
Centrifuge of
biodiesel
Impure
Biodiesel
Biodiesel washed
with hot water
Biodiesel distillation
in vacuum
distillation unit
Pure
biodiesel
Glycerol
Heterogeneous
catalyst separation
Filter
Removal of
ethanol
Output
product
Solar water
heating system
Hot
water
Biodiesel reactor

Ethanol
production
Fermentation of
agro waste
Agricultural
waste
Temperature
control unit
Biomass
combustion
Heterogeneous
catalyst
Non edible
oil
Jatropha
seed
Oil extracted
by expeller

238

The most attractive aspect of heterogeneous catalyst is that it can be separated
easily from the biodiesel and reused for several times. Chakraborty et al. (2011) used
degraded Labio Rohita (fish) catalyst, bsoybean oil as input feedstock for biodiesel
production at operating temperature 70
o
C, 6.9:1 molar ratio of alcohol to oil, 5 wt.%
catalyst load, reaction time 5 h and catalyst could be reused upto 6 times and biodiesel
yield obtained was reported as 97.73%. CaO derived from waste eggshell was reported
as a very effective catalyst for transesterification at 65
o
C, with a oil/alcohol ratio 1:9,
catalyst loading 10 wt.% , for a FAME yield 97-98%. The catalyst could be reused for
17 reaction cycle as reported (Wei et al., 2009). From these sense it is recommended that
waste material based catalyst could replace the conventional alkali catalyst for
transesterification in a user friendly green technology.
20.4 Conclusion
Recently, biodiesel production from non-edible oil with heterogeneous catalyst is
gaining renewed attention worldwide. A large volume of literature is available in recent
time. However a complete Green Technology based literature is very limited. It has been
found that Musa bilbisiana colla underground stem is an agricultural waste and can be
potentially used as catalyst for biodiesel production. It is non toxic and can be reused for
2-4 times. Moreover, the proposed technology for using 100% renewable energy sources
and precursor during biodiesel production attracted the interest of our research team
which may be very much beneficial farmer friendly technology after the completion of
ongoing research.
Acknowledgement
The authors are highly thankful to Ministry of new and renewable energy, New Delhi,
Government of India for all kind of helps and funds.
References
1. Boey P.L., Maniam G.P. and Hamid S.A. (2009) Biodiesel production via
transesterification of palm olein using waste mud crab (Scylla serrata) shell as a
heterogeneous catalyst. Bioresour. Technol., 100:6362-6368.
2. Canakci M. and Van Gerpan J. (2001) Biodiesel production from oils and fats
with high free fatty acids. Trans. ASAE, 44:1429-1436.

239

3. Chakraborty R., Bepari S. and Banerjee A. (2011) Application of calcined waste
fish (Labeo rohita) scale as low-cost heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel
synthesis. Bioresour. Technol., 102:3610-3618.
4. Deka D.C. and Basumatary S. (2011) High quality biodiesel from yellow
oleander (Thevetia peruviana) seed oil. Biomass and Bioenery, 35:1797-1803.
5. Grandos M.L., Poves M.D., Alonso D., Mariscal R., Galisteo F.C., Moreno-Tost
R., Santamari J., Fierro J.L. (2007) Biodiesel from sunflower oil by using
activated calcium oxide. Appl. Catal. B. Envi., 73:317-326.
6. Helwani Z., Othman M.R., Aziz N., Kim J. and Fernando W.J.N. (2009) Solid
heterogeneous catalysts for transesterification of triglycerides with methanol: a
review. Applied Catalysis A. Gen. 363:1-10.
7. Kim S. and Dale B.E. (2004) Global potential bioethanol production from
wasted crops and crop residues. Biomass and Bioenergy, 26:361-375.
8. Kumar S. (2010) Bioethanol Production from Biomass using thermophiles.
Ph.D. Thesis, IIT Roorkee, India.
9. Lee J.S. and Saka S. (2010) Biodiesel production by heterogeneous catalysts and
supercritical technologies: review. Bioresource Technology, 101:7191-7200.
10. Ma F. and Hanna M.A. (1999) Biodiesel Production: a review. Bioresour.
Technol., 70:1-15.
11. Meher L.C., Sagar D.V. and Naik S.N. (2006) Technical aspects of biodiesel
production by transesterification: a review. Renew. Sustain. Energy Review,
10:248-68.
12. Sarma A.K., Sarmah J.K., Barbora L., Kalita P., Chatterjee S., Mahanta P. and
Goswami P. (2008) Recent Inventions in Biodiesel Production and Processing: a
review. Recent Patent Engineering 2:47-58.
13. Silitonga A.S., Atabani A.E., Mahlia T.M.I., Masjuki H.H. and Badruddin I.A.
(2011) A Review on prospect of Jatropha curcas for biodiesel in Indonesia.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 15:3733-3756.
14. Umdu E.S., Tuncer M. and Seker E. (2009) Transesterification of
nannochloropsis oculata microalgas lipid biodiesel on Al2O3 supported CaO and
MgO catalysts. Biores. Technol., 100:2828-2831.

240

15. Wei Z., Xu C. and Li B. (2009) Application of waste eggshell as low-cost solid
catalyst for biodiesel production. Bioresour. Technol., 100:2883-2885.
16. Xie W., Huang X. and Li H. (2007) Soybean oil methyl esters preparation using
NaX zeolites loaded with KOH as a heterogeneous catalyst. Bioresource
Technology, 98: 936-939.
17. Zabeti M., Wan M. and Wan D. (2009) Activity of solid catalysts for biodiesel
production: A review. Fuel Process Technology 90:770-777.

241

CHAPTER 21
PRODUCTION AND STUDIED OF FUEL PROPERTIES
OF SUNFLOWER ETHYL ESTER AND ITS BLENDS
R. Kumar, A.K. Dixit, S.K. Singh, G.S. Manes, R. Khurana

Abstract
The transesterification of refined sunflower oil by means of ethanol, using potassium
hydroxide as catalyst, was studied. The objective of the work was to characterize the
ethyl esters for its use as biodiesels in compression ignition engine. The operation
variables used were ethanol/oil molar ratio (3:1), catalyst concentration (3%),
temperature (73-75C) and reaction time (90 min). The biodiesel recovery from
sunflower oil was 79%. The biodiesel was characterized by its density, viscosity, flash
point, heating value and cloud points. Results showed that sunflower biodiesel fuel
properties (viscosity, density, cloud point, and flash point) to be within international
biodiesel standard specifications.
Key word: Sunflower oil, Ethanol, transesterification.
21.1 Introduction
The present energy crises caused by continuous depletion of scarce fossil fuels has
resulted into global price hike of crude petroleum and is bound to affect the economy of
many countries. The oil consumption rate is increasing at an alarming rate but petroleum
oil reserves are limited. It has been estimated that the demand for diesel in India will be
66.90 million metric tons, for the year 2011-2012 (Kapilan et al., 2009). Vegetable oils
were proposed as diesel fuels as these are widely available from a variety of renewable
sources (Wan Nik et al., 2005). But vegetable oils are limited by high viscosity, low
volatility and the polyunsaturated character of triglycerides which is consequence to
incomplete combustion and decrease in performance of CI engine (Krisnangkura, 1992).
Esterification is one method to reduce viscosity of plant oils (Paugazhabadivu and
Jeyachandran, 2005).
Transesterification is a process of using an alcohol (methanol or ethanol) in the
presence of a catalyst (acid or alkali or enzyme) to chemically break the molecule of the

242

vegetable oils or animal fats into methyl or ethyl esters of the renewable fuel. The
product of trans esterification process is called biodiesel (Verma et al., 1998; Gupta,
1994). Various products derived from vegetable oils have been proposed as an
alternative fuel for diesel engines, including neat vegetable oil, esters of vegetable oils,
and mixtures of vegetable oil and ester of vegetable oil with petroleum diesel fuel.
Yusuf et al. (1995) determined the fuel properties of beef tallow, soybean oil, their ester
and their blends with diesel fuel and ethanol. It was indicated that viscosity of soybean
oil and beef tallow reduced from 28.08 cS and 51.15 cS to 4.06 cS and 4.11 cS after
esterification. Ali and Hanna (1994) determined the viscosity of tallow ester, which was
5.5 mPa s at 30C, whereas the viscosity of No.2 diesel fuel at the same temperature was
2.4 mPa s. The addition of 35% (v/v) ethanol to tallow ester reduced its viscosity to 2.4
mPa s. Sangha et al. (2000) determined the viscosity of linseed oil, sunflower oil and
jatropha oil as 37.85 cS, 44.86 cS and 49.04 cS, respectively. They also observed the
viscosity of methyl esters, which was reported to be 9.75 cS, 9.42 cS and 8.16 cS for
linseed ester, sunflower ester and jatropha ester respectively. Ilkilic and Yucesu (2008)
determined the fuel properties of Cottonseed oil, Sunflower oil, Soybean oil, Olive oil
and methyl ester of Cottonseed oil. It was reported that the viscosity of cottonseed oil
reduced from 34.89 (mm
2
/s) to 4.30 (mm
2
/s) by transestrification. Sangha et al. (1997)
reported that esterification of plant or vegetable oils lowered their flash point but
compared to diesel it was found to be still much higher. The higher flash points ensure
safe transportation and handling of bio-diesel fuels.
In this study, the characteristic fuel properties of refined sunflower ethyl ester
and their blends with diesel fuel and non-esterified refined sunflower oil were studied to
compare their usefulness as diesel engine fuel.
21.2 Material and Methods
21.2.1 Production of Sunflower Ethyl Ester
Sunflower oil (SFO) was purchased from the local market. Oil was heated upto 60
0
C.
Ethanol (30% of oil) was poured into beaker and Potassium hydroxide (3% of oil) was
dissolved in ethanol until the mixture become uniform. Then, prepared mixture of
potassium hydroxide and ethanol was poured into heated Sunflower oil followed by
vigorous stirring at room temperature.

243

Transesterification: Transesterification was performed at 3:1 molar ratio of
refined sunflower oil and ethanol.
Vegetable oil (SFO) + 3 Ethanol KOH 3 Ethyl ester of SFO + Glycerine
After mixing, the mixture was placed in hot air oven at 75
0
C for 90 minutes.
Then, the mixture was allowed to separate into two layers for three to four days. The
lower layers contained impurities and glycerol. The top ester layer was decanted by
water washing. Hot water is sprayed over the ester, stirred gently and allowed to settle in
the cone bottom flask. Washing process was repeated 3 times to remove the traces of
glycerol from ester.
The sunflower ethyl ester having 6.5 cS viscosity was blended with diesel fuel.
The diesel-sunflower ethyl ester blends were prepared by mixing 10%, 20%, 30%, and
40% of ethyl ester with diesel fuel on volume basis. The characteristics fuel properties
such as relative density, kinematic viscosity, heat content, cloud point and flash point of
diesel, refined sunflower oil, sunflower ethyl ester, diesel-ester blends were determined.
Viscosity of liquid is an important characteristic as it determines the ease of flow
through injector nozzles of engine. Goering et al. (1981) indicated that the high viscosity
of oils was due to its molecular composition and structure, and increased carbon chain
length. A Redwood Viscometer No 1 was used for the measurement of kinematic
viscosity in centistokes.
The heating value or calorific value of a fuel is also an important measure since
it is the heat produced by the fuel within the engine that enables the engines to do the
work. Bio diesel contains 10% to 12% by weight of oxygen, which constitute the
distinguishing characteristics that is most important with respect to diesel fuel as implies
less heating value (Munoz et al., 2003). Vegetable oils have 12 to 17% less lower
heating value than diesel fuel (Ishii and Takeuchi, 1987). The gross heat of combustion
was determined using Bomb Calorimeter.
Cloud point is the temperature, expressed as a multiple of 1C, at which a cloud
or haze of wax crystals appears at the bottom of the test jar when the oil is cooled under
the prescribed conditions. The cloud of fuels was determined using the cloud point
apparatus.
Flash point measures the tendency of the sample to form a flammability mixture
with air. This is the property, which shall be considered in assessing the overall

244

flammability and hazard of fuel. The flash points for plant oils and their esters were
considerably higher than of diesel. The higher flash points ensure safe transportation and
handling of bio-diesel fuels. Penskey Martin flash point apparatus was used for
measuring the flash points of the fuel samples.
21.3 Result and Discussions
21.3.1 Viscosity
The viscosity of refined sunflower oil, sunflower ethyl ester and diesel fuel was
observed to be 38.66 cS, 6.52 cS and 4.42 cS, respectively as shown in Table 21.1. The
viscosity of diesel- sunflower ethyl ester blends mixed in 10% to 40% proportions were
observed to be vary within 4.51 cS to 5.78 cS which is within the range of 2.0 cS to 7.5
cS (recommended range of viscosity of diesel fuel as given by the BIS for high speed
diesel engines). The viscosity of sunflower oil was found to be extremely high compared
to sunflower oil ester and the diesel fuel. The viscosity of sunflower ethyl ester was
found to be 1.5 times that of diesel viscosity whereas that of vegetable oil was 8.7 times.
The diesel- sunflower ethyl ester blends were found to have their viscosity 1.02 times to
1.3 times higher than the diesel.
Table 21.1. Characteristic fuel properties of fuel samples
S.No. Fuel properties Diesel
Refined
sunflower
oil
Sunflower
Ethyl
Ester
Diesel-Sunflower Ethyl Ester
10% 20% 30% 40%
1.
Kinematic Viscosity
at 30C, cS
4.42 38.66 6.52 4.51 4.93 5.32 5.78
2.
Relative Density at
30C, g/ml
0.814 0.926 0.819 0.827 0.830 0.837 0.854
3.
Heat of
Combustion, MJ/kg
43.31 34.75 36.48 41.37 39.19 38.43 36.27
4. Cloud Point, C -4 10 6 -1 2 3 3
5. Flash Point, C 63 297 88 75 77 77 80

21.3.2 Relative Density
It is evident from the table that the relative density of refined sunflower oil, sunflower
ethyl ester and diesel fuel was 0.926, 0.819 and 0.814, respectively. The relative density

245

of diesel- sunflower ethyl ester blends were in the range of 0.827 to 0.854 for the blends
prepared in10% to 40% proportions. The observed values indicated that the relative
density of diesel- sunflower ethyl ester blends were less or closer to that of diesel fuel.
For the diesel-ethyl ester blends the relative density increased with the increase in
volume of ester within the blend. On the basis of above observations it can be suggested
that all diesel- sunflower ethyl ester blends mixed in 10% to 40% proportion could be
selected as alternate to diesel.
21.3.3 Heat of Combustion
The heating value of sunflower ethyl ester was slightly lower than petroleum diesel.
Table 19.1 shows that the observed gross heat of combustion of refined sunflower oil,
sunflower ethyl ester and diesel was 34.71 MJ/kg, 36.48 MJ/kg and 43.41 MJ/kg,
respectively. The gross heat of combustion of diesel- sunflower ethyl ester blends were
in the range of 41.37 MJ/kg to 36.27 MJ/kg for the blends mixed in 10% to 40%
proportions. Georging et al. (1982) reported that increase and decrease in gross heat
values was due to the increase in carbon chain length and decrease in the number of
double bonds. Esterification of sunflower oil into ethyl ester increased the gross heat of
combustion of sunflower oil but was still less than that of diesel. The gross heat of
combustion of diesel-sunflower ethyl esters blends was found to be closer to that diesel
fuel.
21.3.4 Cloud Point
The cloud point is important in predicting the temperature at which the fuel is
sufficiently fluid to be transferred. Therefore, they are of great importance to engine
operating in cold climate. Table1. Shows that the observed values of cloud point of
refined sunflower oil, sunflower ethyl ester and diesel were 10C, 6C and -4C,
respectively. The cloud point of diesel- sunflower ethyl ester blends were within -1C to
3C for 10% to 40% proportions of blending. It is evident from the table that the cloud
point of ester was significantly higher than diesel but was within the limits of cloud
points suggested for vegetable oils (20C maximum) by Hawkins and Fuls (1982).
21.3.5 Flash Point
The flash point of refined sunflower oil, sunflower ethyl ester and diesel fuel was
297C, 88C and 63C respectively. The flash point of diesel- sunflower ethyl ester
blends were in the range of 75C to 80C for the 10% to 40% proportion of blending.

246

The flash point of sunflower oil was observed to be much higher than that of diesel.
Esterification of refined sunflower oil was found to reduce the flash point of sunflower
oil.
21.4 Conclusions
The main objective of this investigation was to obtain biodiesel from Sunflower oil by
the process of transesterification. It was necessary to reduce the viscosity of Sunflower
oil and bring its value closer to that of conventional diesel in order to check its
feasibility as a CI engine fuel. The following conclusions were drawn from the study:
The use of refined sunflower oil as diesel fuel depends on its characteristics fuel
properties. The fuel property, such as viscosity, flash point of refined sunflower oil was
found to be far greater that of diesel and therefore, make it unsuitable for use as fuel in
diesel engines.
Esterification of refined sunflower oil to ethyl ester brought its properties closer
to that of diesel. The viscosity of sunflower ethyl ester was within the recommended
limit. Blending the sunflower ethyl ester with diesel further brought the properties to be
close to diesel. sunflower ethyl ester may be blended with diesel because the blends
seems to have some of the major fuel characteristics, such as, viscosity, heat of
combustion, density close to diesel.

References
1. Ali Y. and Hanna M.A. (1994) Alternative diesel fuels from vegetable oils.
Bioresources Technology, 50:153-163.
2. Goering C.E., Schwab A.W., Campion R.M. and Pryde E.H. (1982) Evaluation
of Soybean Oil Aqueous Ethanol Microemulsions for Diesel Engines. In:
Proceedings on Plant and Vegetable Oils as Fuels, ASAE, St Joseph, Michigan,
USA.
3. Goering C.E., Schwab A.W., Daugherty M.J., Pryde E.H. and Heazkin A.J.
(1981) Fuel Properties of Eleven Vegetable Oils. ASAE, St Joseph, Michigan,
USA, Paper 81-3579.
4. Gupta P.K. (1994) Investigations on methyl bio-diesels of plant oils as alternate
renewable fuel for compression ignition engines. Ph.D. Thesis, Deptt. of Farm
Power and Machinery, PAU, Ludhiana, India.

247

5. Hawkins C.S. and Fuls V. (1982) Comparative Combustion Studies on Various
Plant Oil Esters and the Long Term Effects of an Ethyl Ester on a Compression-
Ignition Engine. Proceedings of International Conference on Plant Oils as Fuels,
ASAE, St Joseph, USA.
6. Ilkilic C. and Yucesu H.S. (2008) The Use of Cottonseed Oil Methyl Ester on a
Diesel Engine. Energy Sources, 30:742-753.
7. Ishii Y. and Takeuchi R. (1987) Vegetable oils and their effect on farm engine
performance. Trans. ASAE, 30(1):2-5.
8. Kapilan N., Babu T.P.A. and Reddy R.P. (2009) Characterization and effect of
using mahua oil biodiesel as fuel in compression ignition engine. Journal of
Thermal Science, 18(4):382-384.
9. Krisnangkura K. (1992) Using vegetable oil fuel in diesel engine. KMU1T
Research and Development Journal, 14(1):34-41.
10. Munoz M., Moreno F. and Morea J. (2003) Emission of an automobile diesel
engine fueled with sunflower methyl ester. Transactions of ASAE, 47(1):5-11.
11. Paugazhabadivu M. and Jeyachandran K. (2005) Investigations on the
performance and exhaust imissions of a diesel engine using preheated waste
frying oil as fuel. Renewable Energy, 30:2189- 2202.
12. Sangha M.K., Gupta P.K., Verma S.R., Bal A.S. and Dixit A. (2000) A Simple
Method for Quantitative Estimation of Oil to Ester Conversion. AMA. Japan, 1.
13. Sangha M.K., Gupta P.K., Verma S.R., Thapar V.K., Ba A.S., Dixit A. (1997)
Characterization of selected Plant oils and their methyl esters. Proc. of the
XXXII Annual convention of I.S.A.E., P.A.U, Ludhiana.
14. Verma S.R., Gupta P.K., Thapar V.K. and Bal A.S. (1998) Studies on bulk
production and use of selected plant oil bio-diesels as alternate renewable fuel
for diesel engines. Final report of ICAR adhoc scheme. Department of Farm
Power and Machinery, PAU, Ludhiana.
15. Wan Nik W.B., Ani F.N. and Masjuki H.H. (2005) Thermal stability evaluation
of palm oil as energy transport media. Energ. Convers. Manag., 46(13-14):2198-
2215.
16. Yusuf A., Mailford A. and Susan L.C. (1995) Fuel Properties of Tallow and
Soybean Oil Esters. JAOCS, 72(12).

248

Part V
Lignocellulosic Ethanol Production

249

CHAPTER 22
THERMOPHILES: SMART BUGS FOR ETHANOL
PRODUCTION FROM AGRICULTURAL RESIDUES
Sachin Kumar, Pratibha Dheeran, Dilip Kumar Adhikari

Abstract
With growing populations and increasing oil consumption, reducing petroleum
dependence has been the target of government policies in India. India is encouraging
biofuel production. With the rise in energy costs, India has also devoted for utilization of a
large share of its lignocellulosic and starchy biomass for bioethanol production. The feed-
stock for ethanol production in India at present is molasses which has limitation for its
availability due to higher demand of ethanol as biofuel. Sugarcane bagasse was hydrolyzed
to fermentable sugars by using sulphuric acid at 121 C and 15 psi for 90 min.
Fermentation of bagasse hydrolysate was carried out at 50 C using thermophilic yeast
Kluyveromyces sp. IIPE453. The overall theoretical yield and productivity were 52 % and
0.6 gl
-1
h
-1
, respectively. The hydrolysis of cassava was carried out at 80 C and pH 5.0 by
thermostable amylase, which was isolated from thermophilic Geobacillus sp. IIPTN,
resulted 67.5 % of yield of fermentable sugars. The fermentable sugar was further
fermentaed to ethanol at 50 C by using Kluyveromyces sp. IIPE453 with 45 % of ethanol
yield. Nevertheless, the concept of biorefinery, envisioned to use agricultural residues,
either starch based or lignocellulosic materials as feed-stock to produce ethanol.
Key words: Bioethanol; Thermophiles; Lignocellulosic biomass; Acid hydrolysis;
Enzymatic hydrolysis
22.1 Introduction
Among the several alternative fuels that could possibly be used as blending stock and/or
for replacement of gasoline when petroleum runs short, alcohols are receiving high
attention. Ethanol is considered as most suitable alternate transportation fuel. Use of
ethanol for fuel can decrease dependence on imported crude oil, create jobs in rural areas,
and reduce air pollution. However, almost 50 % of ethanol produced in India used as
liquor and rest is used as feed-stock for chemical industries. The government of India
decided to blend 5 % ethanol in gasoline in several states, which may be increase to 10 %

250

in future. At present India produces only 1.3 million liters of ethanol from molasses.
However, considering 10 % ethanol supplementation in petrol and diesel, its demand in
the transportation sector is projected to be nearly 12 billion liters per year (Ghosh and
Ghose, 2003).
As future demand of ethanol as transportation fuel increases, it is quit unlikely that
molasses could be the sole feed-stock for ethanol production. Therefore, cellulosic and
starchy biomass biomass are one of the most abundant, cheap and renewable resources for
ethanol production. The recent development in acid and enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose
and starch to fermentable sugars may possibly lead to commercially viable production of
ethanol from the vast and renewable quantities of cellulose available on the earth.
Sugarcane bagasse is mostly utilized for producing steam and electricity required
for the cane processing plant. Because of its high carbohydrate content, relatively low
lignin content and its availability as an industrial waste product, sugarcane bagasse is a
particularly appropriate substrate for bioconversion to ethanol. The microorganisms,
which are able to ferment both glucose and xylose, are required for an efficient conversion
of bagasse to ethanol (Martn et al., 2002). Other biomass feed-stocks rich in sugars
include sugar beet, sweet sorghum, and various fruits (Badger, 2002). Whereas cassava, a
high starch accumulating root (70-80 %) needs to be explored as a low cost feed-stock to
meet the future demand for ethanol. Cassava was cultivated around 6.7 million tons in
2004 in India. The entire quantity of the crop has potential to produce around 12 billion
liters of ethanol.
The potential applications of thermophilic microorganisms in industrial
applications have been widely reported. The important advantages at higher temperature
include the possible use of continuous ethanol stripping as a method of ethanol recovery,
significant restriction of contamination chances and reduction in the volume of distillery
cooling-wastewater effluent (Kosaric, 1996; Lee, 1997; Nigam et al., 1997; Banat et al.,
1998; Kumar et al., 2009a).
In the present paper we report the production of bioethanol from sugarcane bagasse
and cassava by thermophiles. The hydrolysis of bagasse and cassava into fermentable
sugars was carried out by acid hydrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis, respectively. These
fermentable sugars were fermented into bioethanol by thermophilic strain Kluyveromyces
sp. IIPE453 at 50 C.

251

22.2 Materials and methods
22.2.1 Sugarcane bagasse hydrolysis and detoxification
Sugarcane bagasse was chopped into small pieces of 3-5 mm size. 100 g of dried
sugarcane bagasse was mixed with 2 L of 2 % (v/v) H
2
SO
4
solution and was kept in an
autoclave at 15 psi and 121 C for 90 min. The hydrolysate was separated from residual
sugarcane bagasse by filtration. Hydrolysate was neutralized with calcium oxide (CaO).
The furfural in hydrolysate was removed by solvent extraction. 30 ml of hydrolysate and
10 ml of ethyl acetate was taken into 250 ml conical flask, and extracted by agitation for
30 min. The mixture was transferred into a separating funnel. The organic (ethyl acetate)
and aqueous (hydrolysate) phases were separated. Air stripping was conducted through
extracted hydrolysate phase to remove volatile components (i.e. ethyl acetate).
22.2.2 Cassava hydrolysis by thermostable amylase
Thermostable amylase was isolated from Geobacillus sp. IIPTN was used for the
hydrolysis of cassava starch (Dheeran et al., 2010). The amylase was produced by IIPTN
at 60. The hydrolysis of cassava was carried out by ultra filtered amylase at 80

C and
pH 5.0 with constant shaking. The unhydrolysed cassava was removed by centrifugation
at 15,000 rpm for 10 min. The clear cassava hydrolysate was then used for ethanol
production.
22.2.3 Microorganisms and culture conditions
The strain used for ethanol production, Kluyveromyces sp. IIPE453, was isolated from
sugar industry waste (Kumar et al., 2009b). The strain was grown in salt medium
containing 0.15 g/l di-sodium hydrogen ortho phosphate, 0.15 g/l potassium di-hydrogen
ortho phosphate, 2.0 g/l ammonium sulphate, 1.0 g/l yeast extract and 10 g/l glucose with
pH 5.0 at 50

C. Fermentation was carried out in medium prepared in hydrolysate
containing 0.15 g/l potassium di-hydrogen ortho phosphate, 1.0 g/l ammonium sulphate,
1.0 g/l yeast extract with pH 6.0 at 50

C.
22.2.4 Fermentation conditions
Fermentation of 450 ml sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate was performed in 1 litre three
neck flat bottom jacketed flask by free cells of Kluyveromyces sp. IIPE453 in batch
mode. The dry cell mass concentration was kept 5.5 g/l. Initial sugar conc. in sugarcane
bagasse hydrolysate was 25 g/l. The temperature was maintained at 50

C and stirred by

252

magnetic stirrer at 50 rpm. Fermentation of cassava hydrolysate was performed in 250
ml capped bottle by free cells of Kluyveromyces sp. IIPE453 in batch mode. The
temperature was maintained at 50

C in shaker at 100 rpm.
22.2.5 Analytical methods
Dry cell weight in broth: 1 ml sample was centrifuged in eppendorf tube by using
Eppendorf Centrifuge 5415 C at 10000 rpm for 5 min and washed twice with distilled
water and dried in vacuum oven at 70

C to a constant weight.
Reducing sugars in media and fermented broth were determined by di-
nitrosalicylic acid (DNS) method at 575 nm by Double Beam UV-VIS
Spectrophotometer 2600 (Summer and Somers, 1944). DNS was prepared as: 1.87 g 3,5
di-nitrosalicylic acid and 3.48 g sodium chloride were mixed in 250 ml D/W and added
53.9 g potassium sodium tartrate, 1.34 ml phenol and 1.46 sodium metabisulphite.
Xylose in sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate was analysed by p-bromo aniline by at
520 nm by Double Beam UV-VIS Spectrophotometer 2600 (Pesez and Bartos, 1974). p-
bromo aniline was prepared as: 2g p-bromo aniline was mixed in 100 ml glacial acetic
acid and saturated with thiourea.
Ethanol was also determined by colorimetry method in which chromic acid was
used (Horwitz, 1980). Furfural was measured by Double Beam UV-VIS
Spectrophotometer 2600 at 277 nm.
22.3.1 Hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse
The total reducing sugar (glucose and xylose) in sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate was 28
g/l. The furfural concentration was 560 mg/l. The maximum lignocellulose was
converted into fermentable sugar within 90 min in acid hydrolysis. The total fermentable
sugar recovered from sugarcane bagasse was 328.5 g/kg of sugarcane bagasse whereas
sugarcane bagasse contains 614 g sugar (glucose and xylose)/kg sugarcane bagasse
fibers (Lee, 1997). Thus, 53.5 % sugars (glucose and xylose) of total sugars could be
recovered in sugarcane bagasse. Hernndez-Salas et al. (2009) reported 37.21 %
reducing sugar yield from sugarcane depithed bagasse by using 1.2 % (v/v) HCl at 121
C for 4 h.

253

22.3.2 Detoxification of sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate
The hydrolysate was neutralized by CaO and furfural from hydrolysate was removed by
ethyl acetate. Ethyl acetate was able to remove 75.67 % of furfural without any sugar
loss in first stage extraction. This process was repeated three times. 93 % of furfural
could be removed from hydrolysate in three stages of extraction process (Fig. 22.1).

Fig. 22.1. % removal of furfural in bagasse hydrolysate in three stage extraction with
ethyl acetate
22.3.3 Ethanol production from bagasse hydrolysate
Fermentation was carried out with sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate in batch process by
using Kluyveromyces sp. IIPE453 (Fig. 22.2). The total sugar in hydrolysate was
consumed in 8 h with overall yield of 52 % of theoretical yield and productivity 0.65 gl
-
1
h
-1
. Boyle et al. (1997) reported 0.2 gl
-1
h
-1
ethanol productivity on pretreated barley
straw in SSF by using Kluyveromyces marxianus IMB3. Ballesteros et al. (2004)
reported 16-19 g/l ethanol concentration in 72-82 h on defferent lignocellulosic biomass
in SSF by Kluyveromyces marxianus CECT 10875 at 42
o
C whereas by the same strain
Toms-Pej et al. (2009) reported maximum 32 g/l ethanol with productivity 0.44 gl
-1
h
-1

on wheat straw in SSF batch process. The dry cell mass was almost constant throughout
the fermentation. Fig. 2 shows that the rate of fermentation was very fast till 6 h after
that the sugar in the broth was very less so the rate was decreased. The ethanol yield was

254

low on the sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate due to the low percentage of glucose present
in hydrolysate and lower ethanol yield on xylose, which can be further increased by
increasing glucose concentration in hydrolysate.
22.3.4 Cassava Hydrolysis
10 g cassava was taken in 200 ml acetate buffer of pH 5.0. 50 ml amylase enzyme with
total 326 mg protein was used to hydrolyze the cassava. The sugar concentration in
hydrolysate was 27 g/l. The total sugar yield from cassava was 67.5 %.
22.3.5 Ethanol production from cassava hydrolysate
Fermentation was carried out with cassava hydrolysate in batch process by using
Kluyveromyces sp. IIPE453 (Fig. 22.3). The total sugar in hydrolysate was consumed in
138 h with productivity 0.09 gl
-1
h
-1
. The ethanol yield was obtained 45 % on the basis of
fermentable sugars and the overall ethanol yield on dry cassava basis was 33 %. The dry
cell mass was almost constant through out the fermentation.

Fig. 22.2. Ethanol production from sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate in batch process

255

Fig. 22.3. Ethanol production from cassava hydrolysate in batch process
22.4 Conclusions
The process used for acid hydrolysis yielded 53.5 % of total fermentable sugar in
sugarcane bagasse. The hydrolysis process requires the improvement for high
fermentable sugar yield. The strain Kluyveromyces sp. IIPE453 is capable to produce
ethanol at faster rate as compared to other industrial ethanalogens. The fermentation of
hydrolysate performed very poor yield but the final broth showed complete conversion
of sugar. It may be due to conversion of xylose to other products. So we need a strain or
mixture of strains which can convert both glucose and xylose to ethanol. The strain
Kluyveromyces sp. IIPE453 is able to convert cassava hydrolysate sugars to ethanol but
at very slow rate.
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr M O Garg, Director, IIP, Dehradun for his valuable suggestion and
facilities provided to carry out the work. Sachin Kumar and Pratibha Dheeran also
gratefully acknowledge the Research Fellowship awarded by Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR), India.

256

References
1. Badger P.C. (2002) Ethanol from cellulose: A general review. In: Janick, J.,
Whipkey, A., (Eds.), Trends in new crops and new uses. ASHS Press,
Alexandria, VA, pp. 17-25.
2. Ballesteros M., Oliva J.M., Negro M.J., Manzanares P. and Ballesteros I. (2004)
Ethanol from lignocellulosic materials by a simultaneous saccharification and
fermentation process (SFS) with Kluyveromyces marxianus CECT 10875.
Process Biochem., 39:1843-1848.
3. Banat I.M., Nigam P., Singh D., Marchchant R. and McHale A.P. (1998)
Review: Ethanol production at elevated temperatures and alcohol concentrations:
Part I - Yeasts in general. W. J. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 14:809-821.
4. Boyle M., Barron N. and McHale A.P. (1997) Simultaneous saccharification and
fermentation of straw to ethanol using the thermotolerant yeast strain
Kluyveromyces marxianus IMB3. Biotechnol. Lett., 19:49-51.
5. Dheeran P., Kumar S., Jaiswal Y.K. and Adhikari D.K. (2010) Characterization
of hyperthermostable -amylase from Geobacillus sp. IIPTN. Appl. Microbiol.
Biotechnol., 86:1857-1866.
6. Ghosh P. and Ghose T. K. (2003) Bioethanol in India: Recent past and emerging
future. In: Scheper T. (Ed.), Advanced Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology,
Biotechnology in India II. Springer, New York, 20, pp. 1-27.
7. Hernndez-Salas J.M., Villa-Ramrez M.S., Veloz-Rendn J.S., Rivera-
Hernndez K.N., Gonzlez-Csar R.A., Plascencia-Espinosa M.A. and Trejo-
Estrada S.R. (2009) Comparative hydrolysis and fermentation of sugarcane and
agave bagasse. Bioresour. Technol., 100:1238-1245.
8. Horwitz W. (1980) Beverages: Distilled Liquors. In: Official Methods of
Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists, 13
th
ed, pp. 147.
9. Kosaric N. (1996) Ethanol-potential source of energy and chemical products. In:
Biotechnology, Products of Primary Metabolism, Rehm H J & Reed G (eds), 2
nd

ed. VCH Publishers Inc., New York, Vol 6, pp. 135.

257

10. Kumar S., Singh S.P., Mishra I.M. and Adhikari D.K. (2009a) Ethanol and
xylitol production from glucose and xylose at high temperature by
Kluyveromyces sp. IIPE453. J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 36:1483-1489.
11. Kumar S., Singh S.P., Mishra I.M. and Adhikari D.K. (2009b) Recent advances
in production of bioethanol from lignocellulosic biomass. Chem. Eng. Technol.,
32:517-526.
12. Lee J. (1997) Biological conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol. J.
Biotechnol., 56:1-24.
13. Martn C., Galbe M., Wahlbom C.F., Hahn-Hgerdal B. and Jnsson L.J. (2002)
Ethanol production from enzymatic hydrolysates of sugarcane bagasse using
recombinant xylose-utilising Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Enzyme Microb.
Technol., 31:274-282.
14. Nigam P., Banat I.M., Singh D., Mchale A.P. and Marchant R. (1997)
Continuous ethanol production by thermotolerant Kluyveromyces marxianus
IMB3 immobilized on mineral kissiris at 45 C. W. J. Microbiol. Biotechnol.,
13:283-288.
15. Pesez M. and Bartos J. (1974) Colorimetric and fluorimetric analysis of organic
compounds and drugs. Schwartz (ed.) Marcel Dekker Inc., New York.
16. Summer J.B. and Somers G.F. (1944) Laboratory Experiments in Biological
Chemistry, Academic Press, New York, 34.
17. Toms-Pej E., Oliva J.M., Gonzlez A., Ballesteros I. and Ballesteros M.
(2009) Bioethanol production from wheat straw by the thermotolerant yeast
Kluyveromyces marxianus CECT 10875 in a simultaneous saccharification and
fermentation fed-batch process. Fuel, 88:2142-2147.

258

CHAPTER 23
STUDY OF BIOETHANOL PRODUCTION FROM
BREWERS SPENT GRAIN USING FUSARIUM
OXYSPORUM
Abhay Dinker, Arvind Kumar, Madhu Agarwal

Abstract
Brewers spent grain is the byproduct of brew industry and is a low cost feedstock. In
the present study this spent grain used as the substrate for the Fusarium oxysporum.
Fusarium contains the enzymatic machinery for the degradation of lignocellulosic
material found in the spent grain and then conversion of degraded polysaccharide into
the ethanol. Experiments were performed with sugar mixtures simulating the
carbohydrate content of BG in order to determine the utilization pattern that could be
expected during the fermentation of cellulose and hemicelluloses.
The alkali pretreatment of spent grain was performed that helps in lignin degradation
and efficient bioethanol production was achieved using the lignocellulytic enzyme
machinery of Fusarium oxysporium. The growth of Fungi and fermentation study both
was carried out in the submerged stage suggest an efficient production of bioethanol
from the spent grain. The ability of Fusarium oxysporum to degrade the lignocellulosic
material was also studied.
Keywords: Brewers spent grain, Submeged fermentation, Bioethanol, Titration
23.1 Introduction
The production of alcohol fuel has been achieved on industrial scale from the wheat,
corn, Beet, Molasses. Lately the use of starch and sugar crops as raw materials in the
biofuels industry has been for the subject of discussion. More and more scientific efforts
are being made towards an efficient technology for the biological conversion of
lignocellulosic materials to second-generation biofuel (Huige, 1994). The enzymatic
hydrolysis of cellulosic materials to produce fermentable sugars has an enormous
potential in meeting global bioenergy demand through the biorefinery concept, since
agri-food processes generate millions of tons of waste each year, such as spent grain

259

from brewing (BG) and corn cob (CC). Thus, several companies around the world are
currently working toward developing technologies for producing cellulosic ethanol on a
commercial scale. Brewer's spent grain is a byproduct of beer brewing consisting of the
residue of malt and grain, which remains, in the mash-kettle after
the mashing and lautering process. It is also called as Brewers grain or draff. It
consists primarily of grain husks, pericarp, and fragments of endosperm. BG is the most
abundant brewing by-product, corresponding to around 85% of total by-products
generated and is mainly used as low-value cattle food (Santos et al., 2003). The
chemical composition of BG varies according to barley variety, harvest time, malting
and mashing conditions, and the quality and type of adjuncts added in the brewing
process. The BG used in this study, as described previously, contains mainly
hemicellulose in the form of arabinoxylans from the barley grain and cellulose. BG has
the potential to serve as a low-cost feedstock for the production of ethanol since
hemicelluloses and cellulose content corresponds to 52% w/w of dry BG (Santos et al.,
2003).
Presently conversion of lignocelluloses to ethanol requires the chemical and
enzymatic methods for the conversion of fermentable sugars to the ethanol. The large
amounts of enzymes required for enzymatic conversion of hemicelluloses and cellulose
to fermentable sugars impacts severely on the cost effectiveness of this technology
(Xiros et al., 2008). The physical support and the energy required for a fungus to grow
and produce the desired metabolite is primarily provided by a substrate. Generally, the
production of cellulases and hemicellulases has been shown to be inducible and is
affected by the nature of the substrate used in fermentation. Therefore, the choice of an
appropriate inducing co-substrate is of importance. CC, the central wooden core of
maize (Zea mays ssp. mays L.), has been used as an excellent carbon source for enzyme
production by fungi and especially Fusarium oxysporum. Nowadays, CC, a chip
agricultural by-product, is an important source of the furfural, an aromatic aldehyde
used in a wide variety of industrial processes (Christkopoulus et al., 1989).The ethanol
production by the mesophilic fungus F. oxysporum by coupling solid state and
submerged bioreactor fermentation was previously investigated. The simultaneous
production of cellulolytic and xylanolytic enzymes in solid-state culture, the increase of
BG's saccharification and the consequent enhancement of ethanol production upon
alkali pretreatment of BG was also investigated (Xiros et al., 2008). The submerged

260

culture technique was widely used for biotechnological applications as it is intrinsically
less problematic (heat and oxygen mass transfer are much better, and culture
homogeneity is usually superior) making it more reliable and reproducible, easier to
monitor and to control key operational parameters, and it is more flexible.
In this study consolidated bioprocessing was implemented, taking advantage of
the above-mentioned exceptional abilities of F. oxysporum with regard to the
bioconversion of BG to ethanol. Both growth and production stages were carried out
under submerged cultivation conditions. The effect of BG on the simultaneous
production of cellulolytic and xylanolytic enzymes in submerged culture was
investigated. Sugar mixtures simulating the composition of BG were used for the study
of the fermentative performance of F. oxysporum. The fermentation of BG was also
studied. The increase of BG saccharification upon alkali pre-treatment was evaluated
with regard to the enhancement of ethanol production under submerged conditions.
23.2 Materials and method
Brewers Grain was obtained from the S.A. Brewery, Neemrana. The material was
frozen immediately after collected and stored at -60C in ultra freezer. Before use it was
dried at 60C for 48 hours in oven and then chopped in the hammer mill to particle size
smaller than 5 mm. MTCC (Microbial Type Culture collection) of F. Oxysporum
(MTCC No. 1755) was obtained from the IMTECH, Chandigarh. All cultures was
obtained in frozen dried state was revived on PDA (Potato Dextrose Agar) medium and
then the cultures from the second generation of the revived culture were used for the
fermentation studies (Beldmen et al., 2010). Inoculum was prepared by pouring 30 ml of
de-ionized sterile water contains 200 l Tween 80 solution on the prepared plates of the
cultures and 10 ml of mixture from the plates then transfer to the 400 ml of mineral
medium have (in g L
-1
) 1.0 KH
2
PO
4
, 0.30 CaCl
2
.2H
2
O, 0.30 MgSO
4
.7H
2
O, 10
(NH
4
)
2
HPO
4
, 6.94 NaH
2
PO
4
.2H
2
O, 9.52 Na
2
HPO
4
2H2O, 20 Dextrose, 10 BG and then
Incubate the flask at 30
C for 3 days (Beldmen et al., 2010). Here we used Dextrose as

of carbon source.
23.2.1 Fermentation in bioreactor
This prepared inoculums was transferred to a 2L thermo regulated double jacketed
agitated bioreactor (Lark, India).with initial working volume of 35 g/L of BG was used
.Temperature was set to be 30 C in all cases and the agitation speed was 180 rpm. The

261

bioreactor was sterilized at 121C for 20 min before the transfer of Spent Grain and the
Inoculum. The NaOH was added along with the spent grain and water to the bioreactor,
NaOH was added in the ratio of 8:1(w/w). The sterilization and pretreatment was carried
out in the single step at 121C for 30 minutes. After sterilization the pH was adjusted to
6 by 1M sulphuric acid and then the 400 ml of fungal culture grown for 72 hours was
then transferred to the Bioreactor. The aeration rate (0.5v/v) and the pH were kept stable
during the fermentation (Xiros et al., 2008).
23.2.2 Analysis of ethanol
Qualitative analysis of ethanol was obtained by the reacting it with iodine in the
presence of NaOH that gives crystals. After qualitative analysis the quantitative
estimation was carried out by the redox titration. In this method the ethanol is oxidized
into the ethanoic acid by reacting it with excess of potassium dichromate in the excess
of potassium dichromate in acid. The amount of unreacted dichromate was then
determined by adding potassium iodide solution, which was also oxidized by the
potassium dichromate forming iodine. The iodine was then titrated with a standard
solution of sodium thiosulfate and the titration results were used to calculate the ethanol
content of the original solution (Huige, 1994).
23.2.3 Titration of sample
5ml of sample was kept in a 10 mL beaker hanged in the flask tightly closed with the
rubber stopper. The water and ethanol slowly evaporate and as the ethanol comes in
contact with the acid dichromate solution (0.01mol/L) at the bottom it first dissolves,
and was then oxidized. More ethanol evaporates until eventually all the ethanol from the
beverage has left the sample and reacted with the dichromate. Since this transfer takes
time, it was necessary to leave the flask with the suspended sample in a warm place
overnight. Next morning the flask was allowed to come to room temperature, then the
stopper was removed carefully and the sample holder was discarded. The walls of the
flask then rinsed with 100 mL of distilled water and 1 mL of potassium iodide solution
(1.2 mol/L) was added and mixed properly. There blank titrations were also prepared by
addition of 10 mL of acid dichromate solution to a conical flask, with addition of 100
mL of water and 1 mL of potassium iodide solution and swirled well to mix. The burette
was filled with sodium thiosulfate solution and each flask was titrated with sodium
thiosulfate (0.03 mol/L).When the brown iodine color fades to yellow, 1 mL of starch
solution was added and titration was continued until the blue color disappeared. The

262

blank flasks was titrated first, and then repeated until concordant results were obtained
(titres agreeing to within 0.1 mL). After that the sample of alcohol was titrated. The
average volume of sodium thiosulfate used for sample was then determined.
23.2.4 Calculation of moles of ethanol
Subtract the volume of the sodium thiosulfate solution used for the sample titration from
the volume used for the blank titration. This volume of the sodium thiosulfate solution
was now used to determine the alcohol concentration. The number of moles of sodium
thiosulfate in this volume was calculated. Using the equations, the relationship between
the moles of sodium thiosulfate and the moles of ethanol was determined as: 1 mol of
S
2
O
3
2-
is equivalent to 6 mol of Cr
2
O
7
2 -
and 2 mol of Cr
2
O
7
2-
is equivalent to 3 mol of
C
2
H
5
OH - then 1 mol of S
2
O
3
2-
is equivalent to 0.25 mol of C
2
H
5
OH. This ratio was
used to calculate the number of moles in the alcohol was then determined
23.3 Result
As per the titration method stated above the amount of ethanol was obtained from the
spent grain shown as in Table 23.1. On titrating the Acid dichromate solution against the
sodium thiosulphate the moles of ethanol was determined by the method stated above
and the using standard density of ethanol the amount of ethanol is calculated per Kg of
spent grain. The result was obtained for different samples and an average value of 5 g
ethanol /Kg of spent grain was obtained.
Table 23.1. Volume of Ethanol obtained from different Samples
Sample /Batch
No.
Titrating Volume (Titrated Difference
in Blank and Sampled Acid
Dichromate)
Ethanol (in g/Kg of
BG)
1 4.4 5.3
2 4.0 4.9
3 4.2 5.0

Hence it was found that from Fusarium oxysporum on an average 5 g /Kg of
ethanol can be recovered.
23.4 Conclusion
In conclusion F. Oxysporium was efficient for the production of Bioethanol from the
Spent Grain. The lignocellulytic enzyme machinery found in this microorganism can
proves to be the most economic way for the production of Biofuel from the

263

lignocellulosic compounds.The spent grain is the good substrate for the enzymes present
in the F. Oxysporum it not only favors the degradation of the lignocelluloses and
hemicelluloses present in the spentgrain but also efficiently converts these
polysaccharide into the ethanol. It was possible to control simultaneous production of
cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzymes from F. oxysporum and generate a multi-
enzymatic system capable of hydrolyzing lignocellulosic substrates using a growth
medium consisting of BG, and a mineral source under submerged conditions. The
fermentation study using sugar mixtures as carbon source simulating BG's carbohydrate
content led to useful conclusions concerning the bioconversion of BG to ethanol.
Hydrolysis seems to be the bottleneck of the process while the fermentative performance
of F. oxysporum was satisfactory. The high pentose content of BG and the ability of F.
oxysporum to ferment xylose make this process worthy of further investigation with
regard to the fungal morphology and physiology under the bioprocess conditions for a
deeper understanding of the bioconversion process.

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beer brewers' spent grain and the influence of pretreatments. Biotechnology and
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7. Pandey A., Soccol C.R., Rodriguez L. and Nigam P. (2001) Solid-State
Fermentation in Biotechnology. Asiatech Publishers Inc., New Delhi.
8. Forsell P., et al. (2008). Hydrolysis of Brewers' Spent Grain by Carbohydrate
Degrading Enzymes. Journal of the Institute of Brewing, 114(4):306314.
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10. Santos M., Jimenez J.J., Bartolome B., Gomez-Cordoves C. and Del Nozal M.J.
(2003) Variability of brewers' spent grain within a brewery. Food Chem., 80:17-
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11. Xiros C., Topakas E., Katapodis P. and Christakopoulos P. (2008) Hydrolysis
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Technol., 99:5427-5435.

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Recent Advances in Bioenergy Research

C for 3 days (Beldmen et al., 2010). Here we used Dextrose as

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