CONCEPTUAL LITERATURE
Sugar Press Mud
Sugarcane press mud, also termed as press mud cake or filter cake is the residue of the filtration of sugarcane juice. The clarification process separates the juice into a clear juice that rises to the top and goes for manufacture, and a mud that collects at the bottom. The mud is then filtered to separate the suspended matter, which includes insoluble salts and fine bagasse. There are 3 types of filter: the press filters (used in carbonatation factories), mechanical filters and rotary vacuum filters (Hugot, 1986). The yield of filter cake is variable, from 1 to 7 kg (wet basis) per 100 kg of cane (van der Poel et al., 1998). With a conservative yield of 2% and a total production of 1700 million t in 2009
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It it created using a pyrolysis process, heating biomass in a low oxygen environment. Once the pyrolysis reaction has begun, it is self-sustaining, requiring no outside energy input. Byproducts of the process include syngas (H2 + CO), minor quantities of methane (CH4), tars, organic acids and excess heat.
Once it is produced, biochar is spread on agricultural fields and incorporated into the top layer of soil. Biochar has many agricultural benefits. It increases crop yields, sometimes substantially if the soil is in poor condition. It helps to prevent fertilizer runoff and leeching, allowing the use of less fertilizers and diminishing agricultural pollution to the surrounding environment. And it retains moisture, helping plants through periods of drought more easily. Most importantly, it replenishes exhausted or marginal soils with organic carbon and fosters the growth of soil microbes essential for nutrient absorption, particularly mycorrhizal fungi.
Studies have indicated that the carbon in biochar remains stable for millenia, providing a simple, sustainable means to sequester historic carbon emissions that is technologically feasible in developed or developing countries alike. The syngas and excess heat can be used directly or employed to produce a variety of
Fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, are Carbon rich compounds, the combustion of which produces Carbon Dioxide, a pollutant and a greenhouse gas. A large amount of energy is released during this process, which is why the pollutants off products are tolerated. This process occurs constantly throughout the world, in power stations, vehicles and cooking ovens, leading to an immense volume of CO2 being released every second, 50% of which is absorbed by oceans (Oce...
also known as Salt Peter), Sulfur and Charcoal. The Sulfur and Charcoal provide fuel for
The word “remediate” means to solve a problem, so the word “bioremediation” refers to the use of biological organisms to solve an environmental problem. Bacteria, fungi, protists and other microorganisms in a non-polluted environment are constantly breaking down organic matter, and when the soil is polluted, some of the organisms may die, but others will still be able to break down the pollutants. Bioremediation provides organisms that can consume the pollutants with fertilizer, oxygen, and other conditions to encourage the rapid growth of these organisms. They then would be able to break down the organic pollutants at a correspondingly faster rate. There are two general ways in which bioremediation functions. One way is where specific survival conditions of a microorganism living in the soil are enhanced to increase the rate of a pollutant’s degradation. The second way is when specialized microbes are added to degrade the contaminant. This way is less common. For many types of polluted soil, bioremediation provides an excellent method of clean-up, but in some cases the pollutant is toxic even for the microbes. These pollutants include metals such as cadmium or lead, and salts such as sodium chloride. Although it may not work in all cases, bioremediation is considerably easier than other methods because it enhances the functions that the microbes already carry out in the soil. Along with being easier, it can be much less expensive because the soil does not have to be pumped out of the ground for treatment (Environmental Inquiry-Bioremediation). Serratia Marcescens is a bacterium that is commonly used for bioremediation.
Paturau, J.M. 1982. By-products of the cane sugar industry. Second ed. Elsevier scientific Publishing Co., New York. 366 pp.
as combustion. It is a chemical reaction between oxygen in the atmosphere and some sort of fuel such as wood or gasoline (Fire). For the reaction to take place, you have to heat the fuel to its ignition temperature. When wood reaches the temperature of 300 degrees Fahrenheit, or 150 degrees Celsius, the heat starts to decompose parts of the cellulose material that makes up the wood. These decomposing materials release volatile gases. The more common name for these gases, is smoke. Smoke is the combination of the compounds of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen (Combustion). A fire also forms char and ash. Char is almost pure carbon. It is what you buy when you get charcoal. Charcoal is just wood that was heated to remove everything besides the carbon, hence why it burns without smoke (Charcoal). Ash is all the unburnable minerals in the wood such as calcium and potassium.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a key global warming gas that is proposed to have direct linkage to global climate changes [1, 2]. Therefore, there is a growing interest in developing technologies for efficient capture and sequestration of large quantities of CO2. An efficient and economical capture material is needed to capture and separate the CO2 produced during various industrial processes. There are four potential sources of carbon dioxide emission; industrial processes, fossil fueled power plants, de-carbonization (production of hydrogen from carbon rich feed stock), and transportation [3]. Among the carbon dioxide emission sources, fossil fueled power plants are ranked the number one potential source. Fossil fuels provide 81 percent of the world’s commercial energy supply [4]. Consumption of fossil fuels produces nearly 30 Pg (petagram) of carbon dioxide annually. About three-fourths of the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide is attributed to burning of fossil fuels [5].
mainly composed of methane and carbon dioxide, is the result of the anaerobic decomposition of
Villagers use firewood, which they get, from community forests where each community has its own allocation of wood. Buffalo and cow dung mixed with water and then fed into a reactor is used to provide villagers with biogas.
All crops absorb CO2 during growth and release it after harvest. The goal is to use the crop and its relation to the carbon cycle to permanently sequester carbon within the soil. This is done by selecting farming methods that return biomass to the soil and enhance the conditions in which the carbon within the plants will be reduced to its elemental nature and stored in a stable state. Methods for accomplishing this include:
In commercial processing, the burning takes place in large concrete or steel silos with very little oxygen, and stops before it all turns to ash. It is said that the “procedure leaves black lumps and powder which is about 25% of the original weight. When ignited, the carbon in charcoal merges with oxygen and forms carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water, other gases, and significant quantities of energy.” It packs more potential energy per ounce than raw wood. Stated by Goldwyn that the char combust steadily, hot and it produces less smoke and lesser unhazardous
...ch is used to replace natural gas. He also stated that, among the equipment used to burn the biofuel, the suspension burner have the ability to exceed 99% efficiency and whole-tree burner can reduce the cost of harvesting and handling woody fuels by about 35% (Brown, 2003). Moreover, the usage of bio-energy in long term is to provide a degree of ecological balance and climate change, avoid acid rain, reduce soil erosion and minimize water pollution (Gevorkian, 2007). Therefore, biomass is environmental friendly like solar energy. Based on the research that has been carried out regarding the synthesis of gas from biomass, the gas gasifies in the internal combustion engine. The relative energy density of synthesis gas is higher than the fossil fuel under certain conditions. In addition, the relative flame speed of synthesis gas can reduce the time for spark ignition.
Biomass gasification is a process by which biofuel is produced. It has been used for over 180 years but in the last decades it has been reconsidered as an interesting technique due to the fact that oil supplies are decreasing. As mentioned before, gasification is a thermal process. Heat is added up in order to convert the organic mass to biofuel. The biomass usually undergoes drying, pyrolysis, partial oxidation and reduction. Nowadays the configurations used for gasification are three: fixed bed gasifier, fluidized bed gasifier and entrained bed gasifiers. The simplest configuration is the
Compost is an easy solution to eliminating the waste that our environment brings, while at the same time, providing many benefits to us, and the environment. By using compost, it improves our plant growth by enriching the soil that it drinks its nutrients from. It helps us avoid buying soil amendments such as peat, bark mulch and bagged manure. Compost also loosens the heavy clay that is in our soil, while improving the capacity to hold water and adding essential nutrients.
Soil is the most important non-renewable resource on any farm. Healthy soil is key to a good
Studies have shown that there are bacteria and fungi with certain strains that live in soil. When they are applied to the seeds, they can aid crops by invigorating plant growth or by decreasing the damage created from plant pathogens bred from the soil. Another example is the bacterial species, Mycorrhiza. It is a fungus, which is able to form a union with a majority of land plants. When this action occurs, that symbiotic relationship assists to increase uptake by the root system to about 90 percent. This in turn helps the plant take in water and nutrients from deep inside the soil. It also allows the activation of genes and physiological changes in the plant which helps them to survive drought circumstances. Other microbes are also able to lift a plant 's resistance to bugs. A larger focus on microorganisms colonizing our plants and sharing a symbiotic relationship with them would greatly improve yields and lessen the need for costly fertilizers and pesticides. Information such as this would be very useful for students in college who are interested in businesses such as