Treatment of biowaste, the predominant waste fraction in low- and middle-income settings, offers public health, environmental and economic benefits by converting waste into a hygienic product, diverting it from disposal sites, and providing a source of income. This article presents a comprehensive overview of 13 biowaste treatment technologies, grouped into four categories: (1) direct use (direct land application, direct animal feed, direct combustion), (2) biological treatment (composting, vermicomposting, black soldier fly treatment, anaerobic digestion, fermentation), (3) physico-chemical treatment (transesterification, densification), and (4) thermo-chemical treatment (pyrolysis, liquefaction, gasification). Based on a literature review and expert consultation, the main feedstock requirements, process conditions and treatment products are summarized, and the challenges and trends, particularly regarding the applicability of each technology in the urban low- and middle-income context, are critically discussed. An analysis of the scientific articles published from 2005 to 2015 reveals substantial differences in the amount and type of research published for each technology, a fact that can partly be explained with the development stage of the technologies. Overall, publications from case studies and field research seem disproportionately underrepresented for all technologies. One may argue that this reflects the main task of researchers—to conduct fundamental research for enhanced process understanding—but it may also be a result of the traditional embedding of the waste sector in the discipline of engineering science, where socio-economic and management aspects are seldom object of the research. More unbiased, well-structured and reproducible evidence from case studies at scale could foster the knowledge transfer to practitioners and enhance the exchange between academia, policy and practice.

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Treatment technologies for urban solid biowaste to create value products: a review with focus on low- and middle-income settings

Comparison of quality and production cost of briquettes made from agricultural and forest origin biomass

Water hyacinth was introduced as an ornamental crop in many countries more than a century ago, due to its attractive appearance and aesthetical value in the environment. Unfortunately, the flowers developed into invasive species due to their adaptability for a wide range of fresh water ecosystems and their interference with human activities. In the 21st century, they were considered as an alternative to fossil fuels, as many researchers found them capable of converting their content into fuel energy at less cost and recognized as an eco-friendly product. As water hyacinth is among the group of fastest growing plants, its biomass has the potential to become a potential renewable energy source and replace conventional fossil fuels, perhaps during the next decade. This is an essential mission to overcome the depletion of energy sources and also to fulfill the increasing demand of world energy. Instead of fuel energy, the dried biomass can also be fabricated as briquettes, which is suitable as co-firing agent in coal power plant. Thus, in future compacted biomass residues produced in the form of briquettes may decrease the dependence of coal to provide more energy The other application of water hyacinth into a co-compost material such as soil amendment to the sandy soil, can improve hydro-physical, chemical parameters of soil and will supply the growing crops with several nutrients. Water hyacinth has also drawn attention due to its bioremediation ability, capable of removing pollutants from domestic and industrial waste water effluents. Thus, the issue of water hyacinth should be evaluated from energy, engineering as well as environmental perspectives. In this review, the potential uses of water hyacinth are being classified and discussed.

The diverse applications of water hyacinth with main focus on sustainable energy and production for new era: an overview.

Techno-economic analysis of ethanol production from sugarcane bagasse using a Liquefaction plus Simultaneous Saccharification and co-Fermentation process.

Poultry litter is characterized as a heterogeneous compound produced after a poultry production cycle, being the sum of the material used as bedding in association with the animal waste, dead skin, feed scraps, water, feathers and the resulting microbiota. The expansion of poultry production around the world has resulted in elevated generation of this residue. Over the years its use has been restricted to organic fertilizer or simply as a waste to be eliminated and disposed of in the environment. However, this mechanism has caused environmental and social damages due to its indiscriminate use. Because of the energetic and biological properties of poultry litter, its sustainable use as energy can be obtained via thermochemical processes such as anaerobic digestion and through combustion, gasification, pyrolysis or power co-generation systems, in which there is a combination of one or more processes. As a result, there is the potential for generating heat, electricity, fuel gas and biochar with low emission of pollutants. However, it is emphasized that there is no standard with regards to its composition and the source material type, where efforts are more focused on the contents of moisture and inorganic compounds. Therefore, processes that seek to use poultry litter as fuel biomass should be well-controlled and efficient for successful energy generation. In this sense, the objective of this study is to analyze the characteristics of poultry litter as fuel, discuss the main thermochemical processes for its energetic conversion and propose measures to improve its performance as a sustainable biomass.

Poultry litter as biomass energy: A review and future perspectives

A study of the status of biomass briquetting and its perspectives in Brazil was conducted including determination of the availability and characteristics of the agro-residues for briquetting. Wood residues, rice husk and coffee husk were characterized and identified as the more promising agro-residues for briquetting in the short-term in Brazil. A survey was carried out in order to determine the number of briquetting factories in Brazil, and also to determine: used briquetting technologies, briquettes production, briquettes sale prices, the status of biomass briquetting market and its future perspectives.

Biomass briquetting and its perspectives in Brazil.

The sugarcane agro-industry is seen as a great opportunity for economic and industrial development in many sugarcane-producing countries. Important changes happening in recent decades have converted the sugar mill from being just a food producer into a diversified production factory. The sugar mill has become a multipurpose factory since it produces food, energy, and biofuels at present. The key cause of this change is the use of sugarcane agro-industrial residues as feedstock for energy cogeneration and biofuel production.

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Sugarcane energy use: accounting of feedstock energy considering current agro-industrial trends and their feasibility

Although sugarcane-trash (SCAR) energy represents a third of all sugarcane energy content, it continues to be the least studied of sugarcane agro-industrial residues. SCAR and bagasse moisture content were studied during the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 milling seasons. It was determined that the percentage of dry and green matters represented 69% and 31% of the mass of SCAR, respectively. From an energy point of view, it was also established that there are no significant differences between the green and dry components of SCAR. Different analyses were carried out to estimate the High Heating Value (HHV) and Low Heating Value (LHV) of SCAR. In addition, meteorological factors and their influence on the moisture content of SCAR were studied during both milling seasons, and the variation in the energy content of SCAR during this period was controlled monthly. Regression models to SCAR moisture content forecasting were built and validated. The meteorological and geographical constrictions pertaining to the use of those models are discussed. Methodology to assess the feasibility of SCAR energy use was proposed.

http://paper.uscip.us/ajbb/AJBB.2014.1001.pdf

Walfrido Alonso Pippo

Papers

Biomass briquetting and its perspectives in Brazil.

Sugarcane energy use: accounting of feedstock energy considering current agro-industrial trends and their feasibility

Energy Recovery from Sugarcane: Study of Heating Value Variations of Sugarcane-trash with Moisture Content during the Milling Season