Recent insights in synthesis and energy storage applications of porous carbon derived from biomass waste: A review

In the last few decades, global warming, environmental pollution, and an energy shortage of fossil fuel may cause a severe economic crisis and health threats. Storage, conversion, and application of regenerable and dispersive energy would be a promising solution to release this crisis. The development of porous carbon materials from regenerated biomass are competent methods to store energy with high performance and limited environmental damages. In this regard, bio-carbon with abundant surface functional groups and an easily tunable three-dimensional porous structure may be a potential candidate as a sustainable and green carbon material. Up to now, although some literature has screened the biomass source, reaction temperature, and activator dosage during thermochemical synthesis, a comprehensive evaluation and a detailed discussion of the relationship between raw materials, preparation methods, and the structural and chemical properties of carbon materials are still lacking. Hence, in this review, we first assess the recent advancements in carbonization and activation process of biomass with different compositions and the activity performance in various energy storage applications including supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries, and hydrogen storage, highlighting the mechanisms and open questions in current energy society. After that, the connections between preparation methods and porous carbon properties including specific surface area, pore volume, and surface chemistry are reviewed in detail. Importantly, we discuss the relationship between the pore structure of prepared porous carbon with surface functional groups, and the energy storage performance in various energy storage fields for different biomass sources and thermal conversion methods. Finally, the conclusion and prospective are concluded to give an outlook for the development of biomass carbon materials, and energy storage applications technologies. This review demonstrates significant potentials for energy applications of biomass materials, and it is expected to inspire new discoveries to promote practical applications of biomass materials in more energy storage and conversion fields.     

Preparation of high-activity coal char-based catalysts from high metals containing coal gangue and lignite for catalytic decomposition of biomass tar

The potential of using high metals containing coal gangue and lignite to prepare high-activity coal char-based catalysts is investigated for effective biomass tar decomposition. Loose structure and rough surface are formed for these char-based catalysts with heterogeneous distribution of a large number of inorganic particles. In the biomass tar decomposition, the performance of the coal char-based catalysts is significantly influenced by the content of the metals in the raw materials and coal gangue char (GC) with the ash content as high as 50.80% exhibits the highest activity in this work. A high biomass tar conversion efficiency of 93.5% is achieved at 800 °C along with a significant increase in the fuel gas product. During the five-time consecutive tests, the catalytic performance of GC increases a little at the second or third times reuse and remains relatively stable, showing the remarkable stability of the catalyst in biomass tar decomposition applications.     

Energy conversion performances during biomass air gasification process under microwave irradiation

Biomass gasification technology under microwave irradiation is a new and novel method, and the energy conversion performances during the process play a guiding role in improving the energy conversion efficiencies and developing the gasification simulation models. In order to improve the energy utilization efficiency of microwave biomass gasification system, this study investigated and presented the energy conversion performances during biomass gasification process under microwave irradiation, and these were materialized through detailing (a) the energy conversion performance in the microwave heating stage, and (b) the energy conversion performance in the microwave assisted biomass gasification stage. Different forms of energies in the biomass microwave gasification process were calculated by the method given in this study based on the experimental data. The results showed that the useful energy (energy in silicon carbide (SiC), 18.73 kJ) accounted for 31.22% of the total energy input (electrical energy, 60.00 kJ) in the heating stage, and the useful energy (energy in the products, 758.55 kJ) accounted for 63.41% of the total energy input (electrical and biomass energy, 1196.28 kJ) in the gasification stage. During the whole biomass gasification process under microwave irradiation, the useful energy output (energy in the products, 758.55 kJ) accounted for 60.38% of the total energy input (electrical and biomass energy, 1256.28 kJ), and the energy in the gas (523.40 kJ) product played a dominate role in product energy (758.55 kJ). The energy loss mainly included the heat loss in the gas flow (89.20 kJ), magnetron loss (191.80 kJ) and microwave dissipation loss (198.00 kJ), which accounted for 7.10%, 15.27% and 15.76% of the total energy, respectively. The contents detailed in this study not only presented the energy conversion performances during microwave assisted gasification process but also supplied important data for developing gasification simulation models.     

Novel core-shell-like Ni-supported hierarchical beta zeolite catalysts on bioethanol steam reforming

Hierarchical-Beta zeolites have been hydrothermally synthesized by adding a new gemini organic surfactant. The used gemini surfactant play the role of a “pore-forming agents” on the mesoscale, on the same time, providing alkaline environment for the system. With this hierarchical Beta zeolite as the core support, we successfully prepared a shell layer of Ni-containing (22 wt%) petal-like core-shell-like catalyst and applied it to bioethanol steam reforming. At the reaction temperature of 350 °C–550 °C, the conversion rate of ethanol and the selectivity of hydrogen were always above 85% and 70%. After reaction of 100 h on stream at 400 °C, there were not obvious inactivation could be observed on NiNPs/OH-MBeta catalyst.     

A novel utilized method of tar derived from biomass gasification for fabricating binder-free all-solid-state hybrid supercapacitors

As an industrial pollutant, tar derived from biomass gasification is used as the precursor for fabricating a novel carbon-metal hydroxides composite electrode. A slurry (the mixture of tar, KOH and melamine) is daubed uniformly onto the nickel foam, which is directly carbonized to form NPC@LDH electrode material. This electrode is further coated with NiCo-LDH nanosheets using an electrodeposition method to form NF@NPC@LDH. The newly made NF@NPC@LDH electrode exhibits a high specific capacity of 9.6 F cm⁻² at a current density of 2 mA cm⁻² and good rate performance (55.3% retention). Furthermore, a hybrid NF@NPC@LDH//NF@PC all-solid-state supercapacitor is fabricated, and the device exhibits high energy density of 1.28 mWh cm⁻³ at a power density of 8.04 mW cm⁻³, low resistance and good cycling stability.     

Gasification of Biogenic Solid Fuels

As a result of shrinking fossil fuels, biomass as a regenerative energy source gains importance. To realize biomass projects it is essential to investigate in convenient thermal procedures. On this evidence an analysis and evaluation of diverse gasification technologies with different boundary conditions and diverse biomasses are indispensable. Form and kind of the biomass as well as the type of the gasification plant cause different compositions of the product gas. The gasifiers show advantages and disadvantages concerning the biomass and the produced gas quality, depending on reactor type, kind of heat supply, gasification medium, and the pressure ratio in the reactor. As the ideal gasifier for different biomass is presently not available, it will be shown, which biomass is suitable for fixed bed or fluidized bed gasifiers.     

Emergy account for biomass resource exploitation by agriculture in China

On the basis of Odum's ecological economic measure of emergy as embodied solar energy, a system account of biomass resource exploitation by agriculture in China 2004 is developed in this paper, which supplements a former study on corresponding long-term historical trends during 1978 to 2000 (Chen et al., 2006. Emergy-based analysis of the Chinese agriculture. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 115, 161–173). The aggregate fluxes and indicators for biomass resource exploitation in China 2004 are calculated and illustrated when compared with those for 2000 to elucidate the latest status of the Chinese agriculture as the exploitation sector for biomass resource. Data sources and algorithm are presented in detail as basic references for related analysis involving the ecological economy of biomass exploitation in agriculture.     

洁净煤技术项目融资的可能性综述

在不久的将来煤仍然是世界能源生产的主要燃料，煤消耗量的预期增长和对环境保护的日益关注使得洁净煤技术拥有巨大的市场潜力。这一巨大的市场将提供重大的投资机会，吸引众多大型融资机构，同时也将激励公共部门投资示范工程和洁净煤技术的发展。洁净煤技术的主要融资机构包括世界银行、欧洲投资银行、欧洲改革和发展银行、出口信用代理机构和商业银行。能源服务公司、当地的融资机构、完整的资源规划和需求侧管理将有助于克服融资障碍。     

Biogas and biomass technology: Energy generation from biomass and waste in the Netherlands

Within the European Community, the interest in energy generation from biomass and waste is increasing. A brief overview is given of several thermal conversion technologies, of biomass production and waste availability in the Netherlands. Based on this, the possibilities for energy generation from biomass and waste in the Netherlands are evaluated.