eChapters

8.1 Introduction

Rising petroleum prices, increasing threat to the environment from exhaust emissions and global warming have generated an intense international interest in developing alternative non-petroleum fuels for engines. The use of vegetable oil in internal combustion engines is not a recent innovation. Rudolf Diesel (18581913), creator of the diesel cycle engines, used peanut vegetable oil to demonstrate its invention in Paris in 1900. In 1912, Diesel said, “The use of vegetable oils as engine fuel may seem negligible today. Nevertheless, such oils may become, in the passing years, as important as oil and coal tar presently.” Nowadays, it is known that oil is a finite resource and that its price tends to increase exponentially, as its reserves have being decreasing¹.

India ranks sixth in the world in total energy consumption and needs to accelerate the development of the sector to meet its growth aspirations. The country, though rich in coal and abundantly endowed with renewable energy in the form of solar, wind, hydro and bio-energy has very small hydrocarbon reserves (0.4 % of the world’s reserve). India, like many other developing countries, is a net importer of energy, more than 25 percent of primary energy needs being met through imports mainly in the form of crude oil and natural gas. The rising oil import bill has been the focus of serious concerns due to the pressure it has placed on scarce foreign exchange resources and is also largely responsible for energy supply shortages. The sub-optimal consumption of commercial energy adversely affects the productive sectors, which in turn hampers economic growth².

7.1 Introduction

Biomass gasification is age old technology originated in 1800 century for lighting and cooking purposes (Sansaniwal et al., 2017). Biomass typically contents biopolymers such as cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin in addition to the presence of average composition of C₆H₁₀O₅ which depends upon physical characteristics of biomass¹. Oxygen is required for combustion of every fuel. For complete combustion of biomass stoichiometric air to fuel ratio required varies from 6:1 to 6.5:1 with CO₂ and H₂O as end product.

Biomass gasification is an efficient and environmentally friendly way to produce energy². Gasification process is nothing but it is a conversion of solid fuel into gaseous fuel for wide applications. This whole process completed at elevated temperature range of 800-1300 ^oC with series of chemical reaction that is why it come under thermo chemical conversion³. Thermo chemical processes are most commonly employed for converting biomass into higher heating value fuels⁴. Major thermal conversion route is include direct combustion to provide heat, liquid fuel and other elements to generate process heat for thermal and electricity generation is summaries in Fig. 7.1.

6.1 Introduction

Torrefaction is a thermophilic process of biomass conversion into a solid, friable, homogenous coal-like material, which has better fuel characteristics than the original biomass. Torrefaction involves the heating of biomass material in the absence of air at 250 to 300°C temperature. Torrefaction produces high-grade hydrophobic nature solid biofuels from various streams of woody biomass or agro residues.Torrefied biomass has high energy density then the original biomass which make torrefied biomass as renewable alternate source for power generation in coal power plant. Torrefied biomass being hydrophobic in nature can be stored easily for longer duration with negligible biological degradation. At 250-300°C temperature volatilization has been taking place and around 30% mass of the biomass is reduced as compared to original untorrefied biomass with net energy loss of approximately around 10%.The end product is a predictable, homogeneous, hydrophobic, high value solid biofuel with far higher energy density and calorific value than the original biomass feedstock. During the torrefaction process a combustible gas is released, which can also utilised to provide heat to the process. The process diagram of torrefaction process is shown in Fig. 6.1.

5.1 Introduction

Today, energy distribution and environmental issues have developed into international threats. Demand for alternative fuels increases every day due to rapid population growth, rising living standards, and economical sustainability. With its massive population, India has become the fourth largest energy consumer country in the world after the United States, China, and Russia. Because most nations use fossil fuels to fulfill their energy demands, they create negative impacts on the environment including raising global temperatures, pollution, acid rain, and other effects. As such, the quest for alternative fuels derived from renewable resources has captured significant attention throughout the world¹. Biomass as a renewable energy sources is an important asset for achieving economic development is due to the availability of biomass at a low cost, a good conversion efficiency, the addition of jobs, and an increase in the biodiversity^2,3. Typically, biomass is composed of cellulose (40-50%), hemicelluloses (25-35%), and lignin (15-30%). Large amount of resources for biomass are available such as woody biomass, crop residues and their by-products, food processing waste, municipal solid waste, aquatic plant etc.

In the present context, pyrolysis process has been received a remarkable identity as a potential method for the conversion of any organic biomass into valuable energy rich products due to its simple in operation and also required a reasonable cost for conversion process. Pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of any organic material at a specific temperature in absence of air/oxygen; the process ends with three resulting products, namely liquid (bio-oil), solid (biochar), and syngases⁴. Recently, biooil produced through pyrolysis process and further it up grading has been attracted a significant attention due to its major use as biofuel and as a precursor material for making chemicals⁵. The pyrolysis process also classified in three different types as per its operating conditions; slow, fast and flash pyrolysis.

4.1 Introduction

Biomass is referred to as an indirect source of solar energy and considered a source of stored chemical energy. Biomass is renewable organic material derived from plants and animals serving as sources of energy. Biomass produced from agricultural sector is big challenges for all over the world due to its improver disposal. Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring adequate global food supplies represent two of the last decade’s mostdifficult challenges.Although global food production has benefitted from chemical fertilizers, environmental problems have emerged as a result of their use. Additionally, overuse of fertilizers can result in hardened soil, decreased soil fertility, polluted air and water, and the release of greenhouse gases. There is an urgent need to find an alternative to chemical fertilizers that, ideally, can be sourced in abundant amounts, promotes global food production, enhances CO₂ capture , and does not affect soil health or damage the environment¹. To sustain agricultural productivity, it is crucial to maintain adequate levels of organic matter in the soil to preserve its physical, chemical, and biological integrity. Biochar, a pyrogenic black carbon, may play an important role in improving soil health, resulting in higher crop yield and absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Biochar is the most auspicious straw management measures and have highest carbon abatement and economic profit².

Biochar is produced by heating biomass at high temperatures (300 – 600 °C) in a closed reactor containing no to partial levels of air. Under these conditions, biomass undergoes thermo-chemical conversion into biochar. Because of its numerous potentials uses in agriculture, energy, and the environment, much attention has been given to biochar in both political and academic areas. Biochar can be used in a variety of applications such as energy production, agriculture, carbon sequestration, waste water treatment, and bio-refinery; additionally, biochar provides an alternative strategy for managing organic waste. These advantages have renewed the interest of agricultural researchers in producing biochar from bio-residues and using the product as a soil amendment.

3.1 Introduction

Nature has a provision for destroying and disposing off wastes and dead plants and animals. This decay or decomposition is carried out by tiny micro-organisms called bacteria. Making of farm-yard manure (FYM) and compost is also through decomposition of organic matter (OM). When a heap of vegetable or animal waste and weeds etc., die or decompose at the bottom of backwater or shallow lagoons, bubbles can be noticed rising to the surface of water. Sometimes these bubbles burn with dancing flame at dusk. This phenomenon has puzzled man for a long time. It was only during the past hundred years that Scientists unlocked this secret as the decomposition process. The gas thus produced was and is still called “Marsh Gas.” The technology of harnessing this gas under artificially created conditions is known as Biogas Technology.

2.1 Introduction

Biomass store solar energy in the chemical form and it is most precious and versatile resources on earth. Biomass, unlike fossil fuels, is a renewable energy resource that is available where the climatic conditions are favorable for plant growth and production¹. The term biomass is used for all organic materials which are combustible in nature, mainly plant and animal origin present in land and aquatic environments. Biomass is considered carbon neutral, because the amount of carbon it can release is equivalent to the amount it absorbed during its life time. There is no net increase of carbon to the environment in the long term when combusting the lignocellulosic materials. Therefore, we can say that biomass is a renewable source of energy and can play vital role in responding to concerns over the protection of the environment and the security of energy supply^2,3.

Biomass energy accounts for about 15% of the world’s primary energy consumption and about 38% of the primary energy consumption in developing countries⁴. Furthermore, biomass often accounts for more than 90% of the total rural energy supplies in developing countries⁵. It is the main source to meet out domestic energy in developing countries⁶. The efficient use of fuel wood is much more eco-friendly than the use of efficient and conventional fuels like kerosene and liquefy petroleum gas (LPG). LPG emits 15 times more CO₂ per kg than wood, and kerosene emits nearly 10 times as much. CO₂ is the prominent candidate for global. It is commonly assumed that biomass fuel cycles based on renewable in nature and greenhouse-gas (GHG) neutral because the combusted carbon in the form of CO₂ is soon taken up by re-growing vegetation⁷.

1.1 General

The term “biomass” generally refers to renewable organic matter generated by plants through photosynthesis. Materials having organic combustible matter is also referred under biomass.Biomass is an important fuel source in our overall energy scenario. Biomass is produced through chemical storage of solar energy in plants and other organic matter as a result of photosynthesis. During this process conversion of solar energy in sugar and starch, which are energy rich compounds takes place. The chemical reaction of photosynthesis can be written as:

6CO₂ + 6H₂O + sunlight → C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ + 636kcal

It indicates that the storage of 636 kcal is associated with the transfer of 72 gm carbon into organic matter. Biomass can be directly utilized as fuel or can be converted through different routes into useful forms of fuel. In fact, biomass is a source of five useful agents, which start with ‘F’ like food, fodder, fuel, fiber and fertilizer. Further, biomass has many advantages like.

(1) It is widely available

(2) Its technology for production and conversion is well understood.

(3) It is suitable for small or large applications

(4) Its production and utilisation requires only low light intensity and low temperature (5 to 35°C)

(5) It incorporates advantage of storage and transportation

(6) Comparatively, it is associated with low or negligible pollution.

Pollution is the term used to denote the hindrances caused to living organisms by way of contamination of their physical environment. Pollution to air, water, soil etc. is the major problem faced by the living community. Measures to control the emission of pollution into air, water or soil will certainly reduce the level of pollutants. Mitigation of pollution can be best achieved by combining nature with technology that increases the effectiveness of plants in removing pollution. Use of vegetation is an effective means of pollution control and many researchers have reported their advantages in mitigating pollution.

So far, the main approach has been to dig the polluting chemicals out of the ground and transport them to a landfill. However, after a decade of research, scientists in the early twenty-first century found that hundreds of species of plants, along with the fungi and bacteria that inhabit the ecosystem around their roots, seek out and often break down chemical molecules that can harm most other life.

In the mid-1980s, Dr. B.C. Wolverton and fellow researchers at NASA conducted several studies to determine whether plants could halt indoor pollution and provide a natural way to deal with the problem. It has been suggested by NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) that plants are major pollution-absorbing devices: the common indoor plants might provide a natural way of helping combat “SICK BUILDING SYNDROME”. Common indoor plants may provide a valuable weapon in the fight against rising levels of indoor air pollution. These plants are not only decorative, but are also surprisingly useful in absorbing potentially harmful gases and cleaning the air inside modern buildings.

Trees are major capital assets in cities Just as streets, sidewalks, public buildings and recreational facilities are a part of a community’s infrastructure, so are publicly owned trees. Trees — and, collectively, the urban forest — are important assets that require care and maintenance the same as other public property. Trees are on the job 24 hours every day working for all of us to improve our environment and quality of life. Urban forest provides many environmental benefits to our community. Aside from the obvious aesthetic benefits, trees within our urban forest improve our air, protect our water, save energy, and improve economic sustainability.

In other words, since most trees have been planted much of the tree cover is in urban areas as opposed to “natural lands”. Therefore, estimated pollutant uptake rates are higher for residential compared to natural or unmanaged lands. Possible management implications of these estimates are that air pollutant uptake benefits from tree planting may be optimized by planting in areas where air pollutant concentrations are elevated and where relatively high planting densities can be achieved thereby enhancing the health of urban dwellers.

Landscaping is both science and art and is an aspect of the environmental impact of a hotel that needs to be addressed. Understanding and blending the elements of both nature and construction is effective landscaping. Whether Landscaping is extensive or small consumes a large amount of water, fertilizers and herbicides and generates solid waste.

Ecogreen’s Greenscaping Operation provides cost-efficient and environmentally friendly solutions for landscaping. Greenscaping operation deals with two aspects:

1. Solid Waste Management, and

2. Water Conservation

Tourism is a phenomenon, which has taken off immensely in the past three decades. It concerns us all, be it by allowing us to travel long distances as tourists, or by forcing upon us a mass of visitors to our part of the world. In the past, people did not travel half as much. Financial obstacles and responsibilities to land and animals stopped them from doing so. Only in 1845 did Thomas Cook of Leicester, England, organize the first package tour, making this experience available to people outside of the privileged classes by cutting down on expenses. By 1939, an estimated one million people were traveling abroad each year. Nowadays, the population of the Mediterranean swells to double over the summer, from 130 million resident inhabitants during the winter to 260 million in high season. There were about 698 million international tourist arrivals worldwide in 2000. All regions in the world grew, and the fastest developing region continued to be East Asia and the Pacific. Tourism has become the largest industry in the world. And just like all thriving industries, though it has a lot to give, it also takes a lot in turn. Unfortunately, the toll that we pay for it has been rising steadily. While the prospect of people traveling less in the future seems improbable, to say the least, a new idea has already sprung up: If we cannot stop tourism, let us at least travel sensibly.

Green business, is enterprise that has no negative impact on the global or local environment, community, society, or economy—a business that strives to meet the triple bottom line. Often, sustainable businesses have progressive environmental and human rights policies. In general, business is described as green if it matches the following four criteria:

1. It incorporates principles of sustainability into each of its business decisions.

2. It supplies environmentally friendly products or services that replace demand for non-green products and/or services.

3. It is greener than traditional competition.

4. It has made an enduring commitment to environmental principles in its business operations.

A sustainable business is any organization that participates in environmentally friendly or green activities to ensure that all processes, products, and manufacturing activities adequately address current environmental concerns while maintaining a profit. In other words, it is a business that “meets the needs of the present world without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.” It is the process of assessing how to design products that will take advantage of the current environmental situation and how well a company’s products perform with renewable resources.

3.1. SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

Solid waste management includes the transportation, processing, recycling and disposal of our waste materials. We live in a disposable world in many ways with the modernization and convenience of our world we have cluttered it with our refuse.

Sustainability has recently become an important factor in the engineering world. Landscape architecture is a discipline that attempts to improve the way humans interact with the environment. That interaction can be improved in various ways such as water conservation, energy conservation, or urban planning. landscape architecture encompasses urban design, community and regional planning, interior and exterior garden design, parks and recreation, historic site and natural area preservation, energy and water conservation, landscape restoration and management, among others. The varied list is an example of the dynamic essence of landscaping and provides insight into the many areas which can be improved by implementing sustainable practices.

Sustainable development practices aim to protect the quality of life of future generations. This can only be done by understanding how the natural environment operates as well as how human interactions affect it. Sustainable Landscape Architecture focuses on enhancing the holistic knowledge of the surrounding landscapes, including the complex processes which naturally occur to maintain it. Employing this knowledge within the planning phases of development should result in the reduction of negative environmental impacts due to the same. The traditional consequences of land development can be eliminated or mitigated when developers are able to foresee the consequences of their work. Many times, replicating undeveloped conditions and/or native landscapes within the overall site design will prove very useful in achieving the goals of sustainability. All of the sustainable topics covered in this chapter involve the application of a technology that resulted from better understanding the natural environment.

Green energy can be classified as any form of energy resource that results in zero greenhouse gas emissions and zero toxic byproducts. These constitute the alternate source of energy such as Solar, Bio, Hydrogen, Wind, Water etc. Renewable Energy is energy that is not depleted or expen- ded. Previously the pressure to reduce CO2 emissions dictated the energy sourcing. With recent findings from experimental evidence, global warming may not be attributable to CO₂ emissions in relation to other over-weighing causes. However the pressures to develop renewable sources continue since the cost of Oil is increasing in many countries. It is desirable and a necessity to develop renewable non-toxic energy resources. The global economy and welfare of all earth depends on it even if CO₂ is not the cause of global warming (GW). There are some factors not in the control of even the most technologically advanced society. These are solar activity such as sun spots which have huge and tremendous influence on the Earth’s climate. However we should strive not to cause any undue imbalances in the proportion matter and composition of Earth’s atmosphere. Although CO2 is a small contributor to GW in comparison to H₂O, we still have responsibility to maintain the right balance of the gases in the atmosphere by not causing undue changes to the Carbon, Nitrogen and Oxygen cycles! We are far way off from a Oil-free technology. Most transportation is still petrol driven.

16.1 Introduction

It is well known fact that planners as well as end user’s have to consider any resources as technology from economic point of view. Therefore, it is important to have techno – economic analysis of each energy source option. In the feasibility study of particular energy option, three tier judgement approaches is required, which include technical feasibility, economical viability and social acceptability. Hence in the rural energy planning programme one has to considered techno socio economic analysis of an individual energy option. Since in integrated rural energy planning, locally available energy resources are used, presuming that it is socially recognized. Hence in the IRPE project, the need and scope of techno economic analysis in terms of economic analysis of different technical feasible options, before between “economic” and “financial” analysis should be kept in mind. An economic analysis is needed to verify that a particular energy source will provide “net benefit” to society as a whole, before its final integration in the energy context, while a financial analysis integrated in the energy practices. In simple wards, a financial analysis is concerned with goods and services, money inflow and outflows and the transfer of payments. An economic analysis also considers the social benefits and costs of goods and services which are not traded in a market.

15.1 Fuel Cell

Fuel cell is a electrochemical device that convert chemical energy of a reaction directly into electrical energy. The basic physical structure of a fuel cell consists of an electrolyte layer in contact with a porous anode and cathode on either side. A schematic representation of a fuel cell with the reactant or product gases and the ion conduction flow directions through the cell is shown in Fig. 15.1

14.1 Introduction

Indoor air pollution causes significant health problems for the two billion people worldwide who rely on biomass fuels for their cooking and heating needs. Over the last 30 years awareness of the environmental and social costs of using traditional fuels and stoves has grown. At the same time, studies of the problem have resulted in proven strategies to reduce both fuel use and harmful emissions. Unfortunately, the local stoves currently available do not always represent the best designs that modern engineering can offer. Although open fires are often used wastefully, carefully operated open fires can be fuel efficient and clean burning when tested in the lab. In many situations, cooks are not overly concerned with fuel use, and studies have shown that when fuel is plentiful three-stone fires can use an excessive amount of wood to cook a small amount of food. But in other places where fuel is scarce, open fires can be carefully controlled so that fuel efficiency rivals many first generation improved cook stoves.

Modern cook stoves are designed to clean up combustion first. Then the hot gases can be forced to contact the pot and increasing efficiency without increasing harmful emissions. Fires can be clean burning when expert cooks push the sticks of wood into the fire as they burn, metering the fuel. The open fire can be a hot fire useful when food or drink needs to be prepared quickly. The energy goes into the pot, not into the cold body of a stove. The open fire can burn wood without making a lot of smoke; hot fires burn smoke as it is released from the wood (Fig.14.1). Unfortunately however, many fires used for cooking are built emphasizing simplicity of use and are wasteful and polluting. Modern stoves score higher when tested than even the most carefully operated fire in the laboratory.

13.1 Introduction

Winds are the motion of air around the earth. This movement in air is caused by the uneven heating of the planet’s surface by the sun. The idea of using wind as a form of power is not new. The traditional applications of wind were primarily as sources of kinetic energy for rural, agricultural and a limited number of industrial uses such as pumping water and grinding grain.

Presently wind energy can be used for two major applications, such as wind mills for pumping water for drinking as well as for irrigation purposes and second application is as aero-generator for electricity generation for domestic and industrial uses. In addition to this, presently wind energy battery charger are also available, which can store energy for lights, radio communication, hospital equipment and to power various emergency related equipment.

The wind energy has an enormous resource, but the problems of utilizing the winds are many and varied. Wind energy is very diffuse in nature and local topographical features significantly alter the prevailing winds thus leading to the extremely site specific nature of wind energy.

Scientirsts have estimated that as much as 10 per cent of >the world’s electricity could be provided by wind generators by the middle of 21 century. India has estimated wind power potential of 45,000 MW. India now, ranks fourth in the world in wind power generation.

The world’s largest wind farms are in California, where wind turbines can generate power upto about 1120 MW. The first wind mill used as source of electric power was built in Denmark in 1890. Presently in India about 2382 MW of electricity is being produced through wind energy.