No abstract

Biofuel feedstock development is in limelight because of its pronounced capability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The move towards renewable energy intensified researches to provide concrete attestations that could be benefited from the effort. This research assessed the GHG reduction potential of biodiesel produced from Jatropha curcas L., relative to that of the conventional petroleum diesel. Computations were based on a standard 30-MLPY biodiesel plant with a co-generation facility, utilizing the byproducts of the process for electricity production. The GHG emissions were standardized and presented as equivalent carbon dioxide emission (CO2e). The boundary set for the analysis was from cradle to grave, considering the life-cycle from the production of the feedstock to the production of biodiesel, and eventually, its end-use. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) resulted to a negative net carbon footprint due to the carbon dioxide sequestration capability of the Jatropha plants. The whole system has a net CO2e footprint equivalent to 1,706,365.26 Mg CO2e a-1. Without considering the carbon dioxide absorbed by the plants, LCA of Jatropha biodiesel is still about 25% cleaner than petroleum diesel fuel. With sequestration, the GHG emission reduction can go as high as 548.38%. With the current Philippine biodiesel blending of 2%, if Jatropha methyl ester was used for the blending, this study shows that emission can be cut by 11%. And with increase in the blending, a more positive amount of savings will be achieved, which if at B100, savings could go as high as 581.18%.

No abstract

To pursue the continuous implementation of the bioethanol blending mandate by the Philippine Biofuels Law, part of the roadmap of the National Biofuels Board (NBB) through the Department of Energy (DOE) is to find a sustainable feedstock. This is due to the deficit in locally produced bioethanol as there is an insufficient supply of currently used feedstock, sugarcane. There are several biomasses available in the country with components viable for ethanol fermentation. Aside from sugarcane, these include sweet sorghum and cassava (first-generation), rice straw and corn stover (second-generation), and macroalgae (third-generation). Among which, sweet sorghum can be considered as the best complementary feedstock to sugarcane as its syrup can be directly fermented to produce bioethanol. Considering its maximum bioethanol potential yield of 100 L/ton for two croppings annually, a comparably low production cost of PhP 36.00/L bioethanol was estimated, competitive enough with the PhP33.43/L bioethanol from sugarcane. Aside from finding a promising feedstock, the bioethanol production volume in the country must be increased to meet the demand through either working on the optimum processing conditions to increase the capacity utilization from the current 77.9% or through installation of additional distilleries.

Organic matter (chemical oxygen demand, COD) removal with decolorization in waste distillery slops and copper removal in a semiconductor industry wastewater were achieved in a single step mixing and precipitation/coagulation treatment system. The process utilized the complementary properties of the positively charged copper ions in semiconductor wastewater and net negative charge of melanoidin (organic chromophoric pollutant) in distillery slops to mutually neutralize each other. Copper ions served as coagulant for slops and melanoidin served as precipitant for copper. The volumetric ratio of the wastewater and pH were optimized to attain maximum removal of organic matter and copper. The optimum volumetric ratio for the evaluated semiconductor wastewater to distillery slops was found to be 2-3 with an equilibrium pH of around pH 6. At optimum conditions, average removals of COD and copper were 86% and 92%, respectively, in an actual and undiluted system. Decolorization efficiency using the diluted distillery slops was 89%. The process can be considered an effective pretreatment procedure for simultaneous gross removal of copper and color/COD, particularly in highly concentrated waste streams.