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Biofuels conversion: energy- 7

saving processes and use
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of biogas
7.1 World usage and basic processes of bioconversion
technology

Biofuels hold a special place in the structure of renewable use of energy resources.
Biofuel is an alternative fuel in the transport sector and a source of electricity from
thermal power plants. Biofuel is seen as an important resource for ensuring energy se-
curity, developing agriculture, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Biofuel refers
to fuel obtained from vegetable and animal raw materials, from products of life of or-
ganisms or organic industrial waste. Biogas is a product obtained in the process of
anaerobic methane fermentation of biomass. The production and use of biogas refers
to innovative energy, energy- and resource-saving, and environmentally-friendly
technologies.
Today many countries have developed a biofuel industry that plays an important
role in meeting energy needs while preserving and protecting the environment.
Germany [1] and China [2] are the largest developers of biogas plants. More complete
information on statistics on the worldwide development of biogas technologies is con-
tained in the reports of the International Energy Agency, IEA, cited below.
In general, biomass is organic material related to waste agricultural and industrial
production, household activities, as well as wastewater. Strictly speaking, the term
biomass refers to living matter, typically per unit area or volume of habitat. The quan-
tity may be expressed either as the weight of living matter (organisms) per unit area or
as their volume per unit volume of the habitat. For the purposes of this chapter,
biomass specifically refers to plant materials, crop waste products, or animal waste
that can serve as feedstocks for processes that produce fuels which may in turn be con-
verted into useful forms of energy. Biomass can provide significant savings in primary
energy [3].
There are three basic categories of biofuels: liquid (e.g., bioethanol, biodiesel); solid
(e.g., briquettes, fuel granules, chips, straw); gaseous (e.g., biogas, biohydrogen). The
most promising direction in the production of biofuel is the production of biogas which
will lead to the development of energy-saving technologies. The global biogas market
is currently showing strong growth (Fig. 7.1). Figures 7.2 and 7.3 show the prospects
for the development of the biogas industry in the Netherlands.

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Written by Andriy and Oleksandr Redko; edited by Ronald DiPippo.
Low-Temperature Energy Systems with Applications of Renewable Energy
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-816249-1.00007-8
Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.