First-generation ethanol plants did not have many operational challenges as the feedstocks (e.g., corn) used for fuel production are dense, stable, storable, and shippable commodity-type products with fewer conversion challenges. These feedstock properties led the first-generation large-scale biorefineries to grow exponentially. In the second-generation biofuels, the feedstocks used are agricultural and forest residues, dedicated energy crops, industrial wastes, and municipal solid waste. When the industry tested these feedstocks for biofuel production, they faced flowability, storage, transportation, and conversion issues. One way to overcome some of the feeding, handling, transportation, and variable moisture challenges is to densify the biomass. Pellet mills and briquette presses are commonly used to produce densified products. The densified products have uniform size, shape, higher bulk density, and better downstream conversion performance. Also, the densified products are aerobically stable and can be stored for longer durations without any loss in quality.This book's focus is on understanding how the densification process variables, biomass types and their blends, mechanical preprocessing, and thermal and chemical pretreatment methods impact the quality of the densified products produced for biofuel production. Finally, the book also explores the conversion performance of densified biomass for biofuel production.

"First-generation ethanol plants were designed based on corn (maize grain), a dense, stable, storable and shippable commodity-type product with multiple applications. With these properties, corn was used as a feedstock for large-scale biorefineries without any challenges for a considerable length of time to allow its usage to grow exponentially. In the second-generation biofuels, the feedstocks used are low-cost carbon resources such as crop and forest residues and municipal solid waste. These materials are not dense; they have irregular size and shape, variable moisture, and are not readily storable and shippable. When the industry tested these feedstocks for biofuel production, they faced flowability, storage, transportation, and conversion issues. One way to overcome feeding, handling, transportation, and variable moisture challenges is to densify the biomass. The densification systems such as pellet mill and briquette press are commonly used to produce densified products. The densified products have uniform size, shape, and higher density. Also, the densified products are aerobically stable as they have the moisture of less than 10 % (w.b.). This book's focus is to understand how the densification process variables, biomass types and their blends, mechanical preprocessing, and thermal and chemical pretreatment methods impact the quality of the densified products produced for biofuel production"--

This book is the outcome of contributions by many experts in the field from different disciplines, various backgrounds, and diverse expertise. This book provides information on biomass volume calculation methods and biomass valorization for energy production. The chapters presented in this book include original research and review articles. I hope the research presented in this book will help to advance the use of biomass for bioenergy production and valorization. The key features of the book are: Providing information on biomass volume estimation using direct, nondestructive and remote sensing methods Biomass valorization for energy using thermochemical (gasification and pyrolysis) and biochemical (fermentation) conversion processes.

Engineering the physical, chemical, and energy properties of lignocellulosic biomass is important to produce high-quality consistent feedstocks with reduced variability for biofuels production. The emphasis of this book will be the beneficial impacts that mechanical, chemical, and thermal preprocessing methods can have on lignocellulosic biomass quality attributes or specifications for solid and liquid biofuels and biopower production technologies. "Preprocessing" refers to treatments that can occur at a distance from conversion and result in an intermediate with added value, with improved conversion performance and efficiency. This book explores the effects of mechanical, chemical, and thermal preprocessing methods on lignocellulosic biomass physical properties and chemical composition and their suitability for biofuels production. For example, biomass mechanical preprocessing methods like size reduction (which impacts the particle size and distribution) and densification (density and size and shape) are important for feedstocks to meet the quality requirements for both biochemical and thermochemical conversion methods like enzymatic conversion, gasification, and pyrolysis process. Thermal preprocessing methods like drying, deep drying, torrefaction, steam explosion, hydrothermal carbonization, and hydrothermal liquefaction effect feedstock's proximate, ultimate and energy property, making biomass suitable for both solid and liquid fuel production. Chemical preprocessing which includes washing, leaching, acid, alkali, and ammonia fiber explosion that can enable biochemical composition, such as modification of lignin and hemicellulose, and impacts the enzymatic conversion application for liquid fuels production. This book also explores the integration of these preprocessing technologies to achieve desired lignocellulosic biomass quality attributes for biofuels production.

Where modern heating and cooking fuels for domestic, institutional, commercial and industrial use are not readily available, briquettes made from biomass residues could contribute to the sustainable supply of energy. This study reviews the briquette making process, looking at the entire value chain starting from the type and characteristics of feedstock used for briquette making to the potential market for briquettes in developing countries. It also analyzes the role that gender plays in briquette production. Depending on the raw materials used and technologies applied during production, fuel briquettes come in different qualities and dimensions, and thus require appropriate targeting of different market segments. Key drivers of success in briquette production and marketing include ensuring consistent supply of raw materials with good energy qualities, appropriate technologies, and consistency in the quality and supply of the briquettes. Creating strong partnerships with key stakeholders, such as the municipality, financiers and other actors within the briquette value chain, and enabling policy are important drivers for the success of briquette businesses.

This monograph discusses the various biomass feedstocks currently available for biofuels production, and mechanical preprocessing technologies to reduce the feedstock variability for biofuels applications. Variability in the properties of biomass—in terms of moisture, particle size distribution, and low-density—results in storage, transportation, handling, and feeding issues. Currently, biorefineries face serious particle bridging issues, uneven discharge, jamming of equipment, and transportation problems. These issues must be solved in order for smooth operations to be possible. Mechanical preprocessing technologies, such as size reduction, densification, and moisture management using drying and dewatering, can help to overcome these issues. Many densification systems exist that will assist in converting low-density biomass to a high-density commodity type feedstock. In 6 chapters, the impact of densification process variables, such as temperature, pressure, moisture, etc., on biomass particle agglomeration, the quality of the densified products, and the overall energy consumption of the process are discussed, as are the various compression models for powders that can be used for biomass particles agglomeration behavior and optimization of the densification process using statistical and evolutionary methods. The suitability of these densified products for biochemical and thermochemical conversion pathways is also discussed, as well as the various international standards (CEN and ISO) they must adhere to. The author has worked on biomass preprocessing at Idaho National Laboratory for the last ten years. He is the principal investigator for the U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office-funded “Biomass Size Reduction and Densification” project. He has developed preprocessing technologies to reduce cost and improve quality. The author has published many papers and books focused on biomass preprocessing and pretreatments. Biomass process engineers and biorefinery managers can benefit from this book. Students in chemical, mechanical, biological, and environmental engineering can also use the book to understand preprocessing technologies, which greatly assist in improving the biomass critical material attributes. The book can help policymakers and energy systems planners to understand the biomass properties limitations and technologies to overcome the same.

Environmental and energy dependency problems derived from high fossil fuels consumption have made necessary the development of new energy models to be renewable and sustainable, efficient, practical and economical, and cost effective, to meet the demand for a sustainable energy supply. Among renewable resources, biomass is destined to play an important role in these new energy models since agricultural and forestry residues are an energy resource which is produced in relatively large amounts throughout the world and regarded as a renewable and environmentally safe way of providing energy. Compiling information on the conversion of energy from biomass, the book focuses on the use of pellets as homogeneous solid biofuels. It describes all the changes that forestry and agricultural biomass undergo to be converted into thermal energy and analyses the inputs and outputs of the process. It has to be noted that the standards used as guidelines and references in all the chapters of the book are there in order to not to forget the thresholds and guidelines established and thus to ensure a proper use. This book guides the reader through the entire biomass-to-energy process, emphasising important aspects and how the quality of the biofuel can be identified. It acts as a starting point for professionals and researchers interested in working with biomass and a guide for those people interested in the implementation of the technologies described.

Biomass Supply Chains for Bioenergy and Biorefining highlights the emergence of energy generation through the use of biomass and the ways it is becoming more widely used. The supply chains that produce the feedstocks, harvest, transport, store, and prepare them for combustion or refinement into other forms of fuel are long and complex, often differing from feedstock to feedstock. Biomass Supply Chains for Bioenergy and Biorefining considers every aspect of these supply chains, including their design, management, socioeconomic, and environmental impacts. The first part of the book introduces supply chains, biomass feedstocks, and their analysis, while the second part looks at the harvesting, handling, storage, and transportation of biomass. The third part studies the modeling of supply chains and their management, with the final section discussing, in minute detail, the supply chains involved in the production and usage of individual feedstocks, such as wood and sugar starches, oil crops, industrial biomass wastes, and municipal sewage stocks. - Focuses on the complex supply chains of the various potential feedstocks for biomass energy generation - Studies a wide range of biomass feedstocks, including woody energy crops, sugar and starch crops, lignocellulosic crops, oil crops, grass crops, algae, and biomass waste - Reviews the modeling and optimization, standards, quality control and traceability, socioeconomic, and environmental impacts of supply chains

"Biochar is the carbon-rich product when biomass (such as wood, manure, or crop residues) is heated in a closed container with little or no available air. It can be used to improve agriculture and the environment in several ways, and its stability in soil and superior nutrient-retention properties make it an ideal soil amendment to increase crop yields. In addition to this, biochar sequestration, in combination with sustainable biomass production, can be carbon-negative and therefore used to actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, with major implications for mitigation of climate change. Biochar production can also be combined with bioenergy production through the use of the gases that are given off in the pyrolysis process.This book is the first to synthesize the expanding research literature on this topic. The book's interdisciplinary approach, which covers engineering, environmental sciences, agricultural sciences, economics and policy, is a vital tool at this stage of biochar technology development. This comprehensive overview of current knowledge will be of interest to advanced students, researchers and professionals in a wide range of disciplines"--Provided by publisher.

Pretreatment of Biomass provides general information, basic data, and knowledge on one of the most promising renewable energy sources—biomass for their pretreatment—which is one of the most essential and critical aspects of biomass-based processes development. The quest to make the environment greener, less polluted, and less hazardous has led to the concept of biorefineries for developing bio-based processes and products using biomass as a feedstock. Each kind of biomass requires some kind of pretreatment to make it suitable for bioprocess. This book provides state-of-art information on the methods currently available for this. This book provides data-based scientific information on the most advanced and innovative pretreatment of lignocellulosic and algal biomass for further processing. Pretreatment of biomass is considered one of the most expensive steps in the overall processing in a biomass-to-biofuel program. With the strong advancement in developing lignocellulose biomass- and algal biomass-based biorefineries, global focus has been on developing pretreatment methods and technologies that are technically and economically feasible. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in methods used for the pretreatment of biomass. An entire section is devoted to the methods and technologies of algal biomass due to the increasing global attention of its use. - Provides information on the most advanced and innovative pretreatament processes and technologies for biomass - Covers information on lignocellulosic and algal biomass to work on the principles of biorefinery - Useful for researchers intending to study scale-up - Provides information on integration of processes and technologies for the pretreatment of biomass