Abstract. At present and in future the necessity of generating electricity using renewable resources globally is most important and clearly evident. Depending on how the scenarios are designed and disregarding fossil resources the contributions of renewable energy sources have to be increased by a factor of four to six as far as it concerns the installed capacity and the amount of electricity generated. The corresponding annual investment costs amount some hundred billion US-$ and the CO 2 emission reduction equals one Gt. In any case heat to electricity conversion systems based on biomass, geothermal and process heat recovery are expected to provide significant contributions to this objective. Besides several others the conversion technology of a Rankine Cycle Process is most suitable over a wide range of capacities notwithstanding the possibilities to applicate working fluids of non-organic or organic character. Particularly for the heat recovery from the exhaust gas of biogas operated internal combustion engines the type of a newly developed friction expander was designed, constructed, built and evaluated. Based on preceding theoretical and numerical calculations as well as constructional and experimental studies using hexane and hexamethoxydisiloxane in the project reported here saturated water steam was used as working fluid. During the experiments carried out in a special test facility the electric power of the system amounted 1.4 kW representing two thirds of the concepttual design.

Abstract.A comprehensive outline of a new approach in closed loop processing for energy utilisation and biomass generation using micro algae for electricity, heat and chemicals is presented -the Biophotonic Combined Energy System (BCES). The basic idea proposes that life-cycle management is an essential strategy in research and business. In terms of the BCES a carbon cycle driven by solar radiation via the photosystems of the Chlorophyceae species Scenedesmus rubescens serves as the core process from which valuable materials are extracted. The residues serve as the substrate for biogas generation which is used to run a Combined Heat and Power Plant (CHP) equipped with a gas motor and an exhaust gas carbon dioxide and heat recovery system. The electricity generated is fed into the public grid and the thermal energy is used to make the right temperature for the micro algae suspension. The carbon dioxide from biogas combustion is injected into the algae suspension thereby closing the elementary loop within the system.