M-m-m biomass

We don’t like generating biofuel from our food, but what about a worker whose food is our waste? That’s exactly what Bristol Robotics Lab in the UK has been doing with a sewage-scavenging robot that metabolizes waste in its artificial gut.

The robot, the Ecobot III, can survive by itself for up to seven days by consuming organic material for its microbial fuel cells (MFCs), bio-electrochemical devices that use bacteria to break down food and generate power. Since, unlike a human digestive system, this organic material could be anything, including sewage (the sewage that the Ecobot III is being fed has already been partially processed). When the waste needs to be expelled, it’s sent out of a gravity-fed peristaltic pump that squeezes unwanted matter out of a tube. That way, the robot’s processing system doesn’t become clogged by unused fuel.

It’s a little gross, but hey: Isn’t the future worth it?

But a robot that eats waste like animals eat food isn’t the only option for autonomous robots powered by biomass. As the New Scientist article linked above mentions, the U.S. military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a similar robot powered by an internal combustion engine. Rather than digesting biomass, these robots would take in organic matter and burn it. Though, in an age where we’re increasingly concerned about greenhouse gases, and with a robot that could consume our waste, it seems odd to propose a new model that’s certainly going to release even more emissions.

Either way, the idea of tiny robots scurrying around and taking care of our waste, without so much as a finger lifted by their owners, is definitely appealing. A trash-removing robot powered by the very trash it removes? My apartment could probably use two.

Via New Scientist

Keeping cellulosic crops green

Flow has long talked about the necessity of using cellulosic materials instead of food crops to produce our ethanol. Notwithstanding the potential impact of invasive species like switchgrass, it just makes sense to use fuel sources that aren’t going to raise food prices throughout the world and, in many cases, are more efficient sources of energy anyway. Moreover, there’s been evidence that secondary crops like switchgrass can actually improve soil quality, and there’s an understandable desire to make sure that we make the most out of the fuel sources we have.

But a recent study by the American Society of Agronomy found that one of the ways of maximizing a field’s energy output, crop residue removal, can actually have extremely negative effects on the soil itself. In fact, according to one of the study’s authors, if more than 50 per cent of crop residue is removed, the soil can actually become a carbon source, rather than a carbon sink.

On a very basic level, this adds another argument against attempting to use edible grains as fuel sources. It means that in addition to food crops needing to be preserved because of their use in human beings, rather than gas tanks, they also have the potential to increase our greenhouse gas emissions, rather than decrease them — counteracting one of the central purposes behind alternative fuel sources. Instead, the study suggests, would-be biofuel producers should concentrate on growing warm season grasses and short-rotation woody crops.

Just another reason to keep the food on our tables, separate from the fuel in our tanks.

A solar roof that’s working harder and smarter

Let’s face it, roofs are pretty lazy. They just lay around above us all day and night without moving an inch, and you can be sure that when winter hits won’t knock the snow off themselves. And the eavestroughs? Forget about any help with those.

Maybe that’s why a team of American scientists funded by the Department of took it upon themselves to create a bona fide “smart roof” that refracts heat during the summer and retains it during the winter.

“White” roofs are already capable of refracting sunlight, while darker roofs retain its heat. But by enabling a roof to switch between the two states at a preset temperature, researchers are hoping to create a more robust solution to so-called “passive” solar energy. Here, the change was made using a coating applied to a roof’s shingles. The developers of the coating found that they could either reduce roof temperatures by about 50 – 80 percent in warm weather, or increase roof temperatures up to 80 percent in cooler weather.

What’s more, the roof’s not just smart, it’s also responsible. Created using leftover cooking oil from fast food restaurants — a waste product that’s already being used in the production of biofuel  —  the “bio-based” material coating these new roofs wouldn’t require us to do anything more than continue to eat the fatty, fatty foods we already love.

Hey, if we’re making our roofs work harder, why shouldn’t we get to kick back a little ourselves?

2009: A Year in Waste

When it comes to energy there’s just something fascinating about waste products. Sure, the material’s almost always gross, but the idea of using garbage that would otherwise lay in piles or puddles makes great economic and environmental sense. Vancouver, for example, has plans to build six new waste-to-energy plants, dealing with the problems of residential garbage burning and reduced landfill capacity in one fell swoop.

So, in the spirit of sifting through piles for the best and brightest ideas, here’s a review of some of the icky, useful subjects that Flow waded through in 2009.

Banana peels

As it turns out, banana peels aren’t just for slapstick anymore. Like other cellulosic materials, bananas’ fibrous peels aren’t worth eating, which makes them a perfect source of biomass. The skins and leaves are mashed into a pulp and mixed with saw dust, which eventually hardens into bricks that can be burned as fuel.

Mountain pine beetle-killed wood

With mountain pine beetles spreading as fast as warmer winters will let them, the amount of wood destroyed by their infestation is growing. But while wood that’s been chomped on by the beetle’s larvae is useless as building material, it can still be packed into dense pellets for use as fuel. In fact, British Columbia has already integrated these wood pellets into its energy strategy through the BC Bioenergy Strategy.

Lumber mills

There are several ways to use the waste from lumber mills to create biofuels, from extract sugars from waste wood that can eventually be refined into ethanol, to the less tested bio-butanol, which has a more difficult refining process. Either way, in a country where “timber” is practically as important a phrase as “hello,” there’s no sense in letting wood waste go, well, to waste.

Manure

Manure, droppings or plain ol’ poop: call it what you will, but in the right hands the brown stuff is practically golden. Stories about the use of animal droppings as a fuel source were always cropping up in 2009, from a German town using its cows’ manure to produce biogas to chicken droppings as a source of heat to burning the methane from pig manure to produce electricity, no source is to smelly to be useful.

Shrimp shells

It takes a catalytic agent to turn biomass like canola oil into viable biofuel. As it turns out, an ideal source for that catalyst might be the chitinous shells of shrimp, which can not only increase the efficiency of biofuel production but, unlike other catalysts, is reusable. Hand it to researchers in Wuhan, China for turning a cocktail appetizer into a cleaner source of energy.

Finnish fish

All right, they don’t technically have to Finnish fish, but scientists in Finland are looking at the possibilities of fish waste in biodiesel. Between using fish’s chopped-off bits as an energy source or oceanic pollution, which would you choose?

Coffee grounds

Have you ever spilled a hot drink and watched a dark stain ruin the page you’d been reading? As it turns out, coffee’s (or tea’s) staining power can actually work to your advantage in a refillable ink cartridge fed by old grounds.

Shrimp shells

Food and fuel meet again; shrimp shells increase the efficiency of bio-fuel production.

The conventional method of turning soybean or canola oil into valuable fuels requires a single-use catalyst like sodium hydroxide that needs to be neutralized by lots of water. Despite making a “greener” fuel than gasoline, all this polluted water isn’t doing anybody any favours.

Scientists in Wuhan, China have done what they always knew makes a dish better- they have added shrimp. Not only is shrimp a cleaner catalyst, but it can be reused, and is much more efficient at rendering plant oil into bio-fuel.

The shrimp shells are composed mainly of chitin. That’s significant, because it’s a material that when heated, becomes very porous. That makes the process much faster. In only three hours, 89 per cent of the batch can been successfully converted.

The researchers at Hua Zhong Agriculture University heated the shrimp shells beforehand, making a framework material that is then mixed with potassium fluoride. The goal was to find an environmentally friendly way to make an environmentally friendly fuel.

Certainly the scientists were happy with the result. By adding shrimp shells to the process, there is less waste and pollution, less energy required due to its efficiency and no wasted water to neutralize. Additionally, there is less cost associated with this method, as the shrimp shell catalyst can be used again, and shrimp are cheap to acquire. The results are a sustainable process and a cleaner fuel.

That’s a deliciously good solution for all.

Funding for green diesel research

You’ve seen the commercials, and heard the popular wisdom – hybrid cars are hip now, and a cornerstone of the future.  Soon, all cars will be hybrids – right?

If that’s the case, why is Ming Zheng focusing on diesel engines? With some help – namely, a $1.4 million grant – from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the University of Windsor researcher wants to find a way to increase the fuel efficiency of diesel – while decreasing its emissions.

Zheng believes biofuels and biodiesels derived from plant and animal sources are the way of the future. He wants to free us from relying on fossil fuels altogether.  Hybrids still require some gasoline; biodiesel engines would not.  Zheng figures diesel-based hybrids may even trump them all.

Currently, however, the university is using this $1.4 million grant primarily to focus on ways to make conventional diesel burn cleaner. It’s already a more energy-efficient option; diesel’s big advantage is fuel efficiency.

However, as demand increases, so does price.  This was demonstrated in April 2008, when in some places diesel prices topped that of gasoline.  This impacted shipping costs worldwide, and drove up the prices consumers paid for imported goods.

That may have been more than just an anomaly.  But reports show that demand for diesel has been experiencing much more growth than comparable demand than gasoline.  It’s a global phenomenon, but particularly in Europe, where diesel-running cars are incredibly popular.

Perhaps Zheng, telling us to jump on the diesel bandwagon, has the right idea.

Pulp and Paper Biofuel

Lumber mills may soon be doing double duty.

It turns out wood chips and tree matter not useful for paper production might be useful in other ways. Specifically, they might be used in creating a biofuel – which could turn out to be an even better bet than corn-based ethanol.

Bio-butanol is a little harder to produce than ethanol. But it’s easier to transport, as it doesn’t corrode pipes. It can be used in an ordinary car engine, without the modifications required for ethanol. Its energy content is higher and is easier to combine with gasoline.

Perhaps best of all, it would not affect the food supply. It may, however, drive up the demand and cost for lumber and paper products, and therefore increase logging. Fine for loggers, bad for conservation.

The current model is to use existing paper mills to extract sugars from wood that otherwise goes to waste. These are then refined into biofuels. Mills in Sweden have been producing ethanol this way for a few years, but the Old Town Fuel & Fiber Mill in Maine believes bio-butanol is even better.

The government of Nova Scotia has allocated $20 million to the Minas Basin Pulp and Power Company Ltd. in Hantsport, to produce electricity from “forest byproducts,” and expand in order to produce biodiesel from plastics.

Even the federal government is offering a maximum of $1 billion to mills that use by-products to create energy, if they invest in improving their energy efficiency. Now that’s funding that does double duty.

Eco-friendly schools

This fall, kids going back to school will be learning a lot about a certain colour: green.  In many places in Ontario, kids will be starting their day by climbing onto green buses.

They’re still yellow, don’t worry all you traditionalists.  But inside, they’re actually “green.”

Student Transportation of Canada (STC) has announced plans to increase their fleet of “green” buses to 900 biofueled vehicles. Already a leader in biofuel transportation, STC is intent on reducing their carbon emissions and shrinking their carbon footprints.

The green doesn’t stop once the children get to school.

In some lucky places, the kids are greeted upon their arrival with school gardens designed by Evergreen, a non-profit organization. They help create a garden that is both attractive for play, but also teaches them about plant growth and food production.

In Hamilton, a design for a new Catholic school will include solar panels, a green roof, rain-water toilets, outdoor classroom, and light systems that self-adjust based on the amount of sun. It will be the only LEED-certified school in the area.

Apart from the prestigious LEED-status, the Seeds Foundation has been recognizing schools for their green efforts for 30 years. Schools are rewarded for taking on projects as simple as recycling in the classroom, and litter clean-up days.

Designations are based on the number of projects completed, from Green status for 100 projects, to Earth School status with 1000 projects, and beyond.

With everyday exposure to things like recycling, awareness of greenhouse gas, and environmental clubs, students walk away with the tools to make smart and Earth-friendly decisions later on.

Eco-friendly Ottawa

Ottawa, being the capital, naturally aspires to being a leader among Canadian cities.

Good leadership means not just being a good role model, but also the first to try new ideas and pave the way for greener possibilities. With the addition of a bike-share program, and the country’s first ever Ethanol gas station, they’re doing just that.

The Public Bike System has two stations in downtown Ottawa, and two in Gatineau, sharing a total of 50 bikes for its trial launch period. In the future, they hope to have as many as 500 bikes available for users in the National Capital Region.

A $3 user fee applies.  Users swipe their credit cards, and are given a code to unlock a bike. The first half hour is free, but to encourage a quick turnaround, additional charges apply after 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, for one month, ethanol will be offered at a Shell station on Merivale road. It’s actually blend of 1/10 ethanol and 9/10 regular gas, and will not cost extra. This may seem like a small change, but for its developer, Iogen, it’s a milestone.

Since the ‘70s, Iogen has been working on a cellulostic biofuel. That means it uses plant material – husks and stalks rather then the edible corn itself – thereby not affecting food sources. Based in Ottawa, local farmers supply Iogen the material.

Is it working? Many government vehicles already use Iogen’s locally produced ethanol, in mixes as great as 85 per cent ethanol. That said, both the bikes and the ethanol are trial versions. They’ll determine public interest and ascertain feasibility.

However, with good consumer response, they may return in full force.

Ethanol regulations

There are 12 ethanol producers in Canada spanning the country from the Prairie Provinces to Quebec. Doesn’t sound like very many, does it? Maybe not, but these companies are responsible for the production of 1390 million litres a year (MMly) of ethanol. 

From the corn-based ethanol plants in Ontario to the wheat and corn plants in the Prairies, the diversity of raw material reflects the availability of local materials. The smallest of the country’s producers, the Iogen Corporation located in Ottawa produces a mere 2 MMly. The country’s largest producer of ethanol is GreenField, whose four plants in Ontario and Quebec produce a total of 496 MMly. 

Why is this important? 

Recent government regulations are requiring refiners to include at least 5 per cent ethanol in their gasoline by September 2010. This 5-per-cent increase would create a market for approximately two billion litres of ethanol annually, a substantially higher volume than what Canada is currently churning out. 

Building new plants and creating jobs sounds great, but there’s a catch: ethanol can be as ‘dirty’ as gasoline. The biofuel industry has been highly controversial because deforestation and increased land cultivation are causing increased greenhouse gas emissions. 

All Canadian producers use natural gas in their production process, which cause fewer emissions than coal-fired ethanol, which actually creates 34 per cent more emissions per gallon of fuel than gasoline producers over a 30-year period. 

The Canadian government claims that grain-based biofuels can reduce emissions by 40 per cent compared to gasoline. But Natural Resources Canada’s calculations do not include indirect land use emissions. 

Over the longer term, as the one-time impacts of greater land cultivation fade, it is estimated that corn ethanol using natural gas will produce 16 per cent fewer emissions than gasoline. 

So is it worth it? Only time will tell.

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