Determining if Bagasse Contributes to Belize Electricity Resource
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Boyle states that “Bioenergy is the general term for energy derived from materials such as wood, straw, or animal waste, which were once living material”(p 106). The energy stored in a living organism even when it’s dead is known as biofuel. This fuel is capable of producing energy. A biomass used for creating bioenergy in Belize is bagasse. The bagasse that is produced in Belize is created by the Belize Sugar Industries. Agriculture is the backbone of the Belizean economy, and one of the most important crops is sugar cane. “In 1994 there were 2,165 cane farmers cultivating sugar cane in Belize, most in small farms in the Orange Walk and Corozal districts. This paper provides the reader with a brief insight on the sources of Belize’s electricity.
Boyle states that “Increased recovery of wastes, combined with improved efficiency of conversion to electricity, could result in up to fifty GW of generating capacity from the sugar industry world wide” (p 119). Bagasse is the biomass remaining after sugar cane stalks are crushed to extract their juice. It is made up of fifty percent of fiber, forty-eight percent moisture, and two percent of sugar. The web encyclopedia states that “a sugar factory produces nearly thirty percent of bagasse out of its total crushing” (Wikipedia.org). Bagasse is often used as a primary fuel source for sugar mills, when burned in quantity; it produces sufficient heat energy to supply all the needs of a typical sugar mill, with energy to spare.
Boyle states “The total energy content of the annual residues of the world’s two main crops, sugar and rice, is estimated as about 18Ej- similar to the total for temperate crops” (p 119). In Belize sugar cane and rice are two of the crops that produce capital for the country. However, Belize is still having a problem supplying its residents with a steady flow of electricity. The electrical power receive goes on an off from time to time. “During the dry season Mexico supplies more than fifty percent of Belize’s electricity” (Belize Electricity Limited). The rest of the electricity is produces through diesel generators and the dams. The dam’s supplies should produce about thirty percent of the electricity needed. When Mexico is in need of electricity they cut the electricity that they sell Belize and use it.
If a country has high energy intensity, this means that there is a high cost in converting ener...
Both biodiesel and ethanol are derivatives of biomass that have been processed to create a liquid biofuel. Both types of biofuels have been touted as secure and environmentally safe alternatives to fossil fuels, however the research verifying these claims is extensive but often contradicting. In the following paper, the efficiency and quality of the two types of biofuel will be discussed. The effects of variables such as source materials and production techniques on efficiency and quality will be considered. Due to the limited scope of this paper however, only generalized net analyses of ethanol and biodiesel production will be considered. The production of ethanol requires one of two source materials, cellulose or sucrose, both of which are complex sugars. Currently, corn and sugar cane are the primary source materials for ethanol; however it can be produced from any plant cellulose. Ethanol is created using chemical and non chemical processes. These processes include liquefication, saccharification, fermentation, and distillation (Malca and Freire, 2006).
2. The per capita rural consumption of household energy in some Bangladesh villages is 7 x 109 J/year.
Natural Gas - The process of getting natural gas through drilling might cause the groundwater to be contaminated. The way that transport natural gas might disturb the environment
Some types of renewable energy sources include wind, solar, light, residue wood, soybeans, corn, sugarcane, rice, wheat, sorghum(milo), cotton, oats.(etc.). These sources show recycling or reusing items. There are so many types of resources in our environment. Many houses can be build out of these resources or recyclables. For example, rice hulls from milling industries can be made into electricity. Did you know that a 13-megawatt plant consumes approximately 600,000 pounds of rice hulls per day. By burning the hulls, a company called Agrilectric Power, located near Lake Charles, will take a liability and turn them into an
converted into ethanol biochemically, but is easy to do thermochemically. The optimal biomasses for thermochemical conversions are trees and mill products. These have a high lignin concentration, so these biomass products respond better to the thermochemical method of ethanol production (Theis, 2007). Figure 3 shows the thermochemical process. The first step is drying the plants. Next the plants are burned into synthesis gas, or syngas. The syngas is made of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2). This is called gasification. The gasification produces tar and sulfur, which is not clean and interferes with the making of ethanol. As a result, the syngas is sent to a tar reformer (Nasr, n.d., Theis, 2007). The tar reformer uses enzymes to convert about 97% of the tar into syngas (Theis, 2007). Then, the syngas is cleaned to get purer CO and H2 gasses. Next, the gas is compressed and mixed with a metal catalyst. The catalyst builds the gas back up into ethanol (Nasr, n.d.). There are some drawbacks to the thermochemical process, however. The catalysts used in the tar reformer are very expensive and the tar remains accumulate. Biorefineries could utilize
Wind power is one of the fastest growing renewable energy technologies in the world, with an annual growth rate of 30.7 percent (Flomenhoft, 2007). Its popularity stems from its renewable characteristics, emission free properties and the cheap electricity that it produces. Thus far, Belize has not harnessed the wind energy in the country which I believe is unfortunate. Approximately 50% of Belize?s electricity production is imported from Mexico (Launchpad consulting, 2003). Hydro accounts for 25%, diesel makes 20%, bagasse, produced by the local sugar industry creates 5% and a mere 0.03% is produced through using solar and wind power combined (Launchpad consulting, 2003). I personally feel as though it would be in the country?s, as well as the world?s best interest if this number increased drastically. This essay will examine the potential for wind energy production in Belize.
Clay, Rebecca. "Renewable Energy: Empowering the Developing World." Environmental Health Perspectives 110.1 (2002): A30. GreenFILE. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
The production of briquettes from sawdust and other agro-residues exemplifies the potential of appropriate technology for the utilisation of biomass residues which abound in large quantities in developing countries. However, compared to developed countries where successful briquette operations are mostly found, briquettes have not been widely adopted in developing countries due to the high cost of production, lack of awareness on its sustainability, lack of ready market and poor packaging and distribution systems for the product Emerhi, EA (2011) In Ghana, commercial production of sawdust briquette started in 1984. The production could not be sustained due to operational, marketing and standardisation challenges, though the briquettes had high prospect as an alternative to firewood and charcoal. However, accordingto Oladeji, JT (2010)besides overcoming marketing and operational challenges, if agro-waste briquettes are to be used efficiently as fuel, they must be characterised
“Belize has a public-private economy with tourism as the number one foreign exchange earner followed by exports of marine products, citrus, sugar, bananas, and garments. Agriculture currently provides some 71% of the country's total foreign exchange earnings, and employs approximately 29% of the total labour force. Belize has a viable fishing industry. Belize's fisheries are exploited for commercial, as well as for subsistence purposes, and are one of the most heavily exploited natural resources. In an effort to maximize the benefits obtained from the fishing industry, while ensuring its long-term viability, fisheries managers are promoting an expansion in production through diversification of this resource base. Belize's fishin...
Energy is the basic necessity of daily life. Nowadays, dependence on fossil fuels for energy needs becoming lower in numerous countries due to the potential of renewable energy to supply sustainable energy to the huge populations in many developing countries who are short of clean and continues energy. Generally, renewable energy can be defined as energy that is derived from natural resources which are constantly replenished and theoretically inexhaustible. Fossil fuels on the other hand can be described as energy that cannot be renewed and will eventually diminish. Thus, in many developing countries renewable energy is the alternative energy to replace non-renewable energy or commonly known as fossil fuels. In addition, according to Sorensen (2004), there is a greater demand for renewable energy sources nowadays due to the uncertainty of fuel price rise in living expenses. Commonly, there are many types of renewable energy available in our world such as wind power, biomass energy, solar energy, hydroelectric power and geothermal energy. However, the main three example of renewable energy are hydroelectric power, solar and biomass energy (Refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).
Industries have many different methods of producing sugar from sugar canes. Firstly, Industries buy sugar canes from the various countries and send the canes to a sawmill. Thirdly, the sawmill grinds the sugar cane. Then, the industry boils the sugar cane juice until it turns into syrup. Then the syrup is run through a centrifuge, which removes molasses from the top of the syrup. After, the raw syrup is mixed with water and left to dry. When the drying process is complete the sugar is sent to mass amounts of consumers around the world. There are many ways to produce sugar from sugar cane but all companies agree that this certain method is best for efficiency and give more quantity and better quality than the other methods.
In addition to, a huge issue with non-renewable energy is the fact that we get most of it from foreign countries. According to a recent study done by Energy Information Administration, “58% of our petroleum comes from outside the country”, this means as some speculate, that o...
Among various options available for bio-energy, bio-diesel, bio-ethanol and biomass gasification are three major options, which have huge potential in India to develop as energy sources and where investments made would be economical. The objective of this Business Plan is to review the option of electricity generation through the use of biomass energy.
Dilley, L.; Earle, J.; Keats, G.; Nxele, A.A. & Ravenscroft, G. (2012) Non-conventional energy sources. Focus Geography Grade 11. 4th edition. Cape Town, South Africa. Maskew Miller Longman. pp. 274-277, p. 280