European Master in Renewable Energy

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European Master in Renewable Energy

• Course 6 Biomass
• Topic Biomass as energy resource in developing
  countries

Enric Velo
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Introduction

• In the economic-social-environment context of the
  developing countries
• What is understood as biomass?
• Which kind of troubles can we find?
• How is biomass used?

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Biomass?
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Issues to think about
Public, community or private sector?
ACCES TO ENERGY
How are the resources managed?
Is there equity?
Who owns the land?
Who takes advantage or who can use the resources?
In a sustainableway?
With economicefficiency?
Supply security
Is there any consequence on the people health?
RESOURCESMANAGEMENT
How can the environment be affected?
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Which use we want for landEnergy? Food
production?
How we want to use the land?For productive
activities? As a natural reserve?
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Ligno celullosic
oleaginous
Sugar rich
dry
wet
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How? Primary energy ? Final energy ? Useful
energy

• Different levels of biomass utilization
• Karekezi and coworkers distinguish between
• Traditional biomass Direct combustion of wood,
  charcoal, agricultural, human or municipal
  wastes, for cooking, drying o charcoal
  manufacturing often in low-efficiency devices.
• Improved Biomass Energy Contribute to more
  efficient and environmentally sound use of
  biomass energy improved cook stoves or more
  efficient ovens.
• Modern biomass energy Biomass conversion to
  advanced fuels (gas or liquid) or/and electricity.

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Biomass as energy resource in developing countries

• Traditional biomass Improved Technologies
• Modern Technologies liquid fuels and
  gasification (syn-gas)
• Modern Technologies biogas

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1. Traditional biomass Improved Technologies

• Introduction

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Traditional Biomass
Adverse economical, social, health and
environmental consequences
dung
direct combustion
wood
Low-efficiency systems
charcoal
Charring
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Traditional biomass vs.Improved technologies
Projects to implement and disseminate them
Which improvements?
Appropriate technologies?
How apply them?
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Direct use of biomass for cooking or heating, and
charcoal production (charring)
traditional fuels
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Biomass, the main energy source in developing
countries

• The main energy source for 2,4 billion people
  around the world
• Represents the 40 of the energy demand in
  developing countries

About 2/3 of all houses in developing countries
still remain on non-processed fuels (wood, dung,
crop wastes) for their daily cooking and heating
needs this includes the 80 of the whole
inhabitants in sub-Saharan Africa
Scarcity in energy supply
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1. Traditional biomass Improved Technologies

• Adverse consequences of the traditional use of
  biomass

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traditional use of biomass Social Gender
Impacts

• women and children spend several hours per day in
• the drudgery of gathering firewood and water,
  often
• from considerable distances, for household needs.

Leaving the school
Getting ill
With risk of attachs
No time or less time for productiveactivities
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traditional use of biomass Social Gender
Impacts

• If the resources diminish
• More time burden
• Less time for
• Working land
• Cooking
• Quality decreases
• Children care
• This is worse for the more socially weak groups

health
Productivity
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traditional use of biomass Environmental Impacts

• deforestation.
• Land clearing for agricultural uses
• Less impact if the crop wastes are used instead
  of wood
• Wood for buildings
• Charcoal production
• Peri-urban regions

Community ownership and use of forests
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traditional use of biomass Environmental Impacts

• Inefficient burning of biomass
• Traditional production of charcoal

sustainability

• Increase the pressure on energy resources
• Emit pollutants

environment
health
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traditional use of biomass Impacts on human
health
Health
Most homes in developing countries
Inefficient combustion
Indoor pollution
Poor ventilation
Respiratory diseases, cancer, pregnancy
disorders...
Productivity

• 1,6 million people dead every year
• 1 fatal casualty every 20 seconds

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traditional use of biomass Impacts on human
health
Smoke the Killer in the Kitchen
Equity
This impacts are worse in badly nourished people
It mainly affects to women and their babies
Education
To enhance combustion and ventilation
Smoke in the home is one of the worlds leading
child killers, claiming nearly one million
childrens lives each year. Illness caused by
smoke kills more children annually than malaria
or HIV/AIDS.
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Targets (for the use of biomass)as a renewable
source of energy
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Targets (for the use of biomass)as a renewable
source of energy
Improve combustion and ventilation
offset the adverse impacts on human health
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Targets (for the use of biomass)as a renewable
source of energy
Biomass should come from renewable sources
Wood plantation or forests managed in a
sustainable way
Right management of resources
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Targets (for the use of biomass)as a renewable
source of energy
Widely disseminate improved technologies
Capacity development
Productivity
Security, autonomy
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1. Traditional biomass Improved Technologies

• Improved Technologies

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Improved cook stoves
health
- fuel
- o time
security
productivity
education
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Direct combustionimproved cook stoves

• confined fire

• Chimney

• Air input control

• Turbulences to improve the heat transfer

• Heat transmission to the pot

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Direct combustionimproved cook stoves

• Metallic case to improve resistance and durability

• Ceramic insert to minimize heat losses

• Several fires to allow the heating of several
  pots simultaneously

• Grid for ashes removal

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Charcoal production (pirólisis)
conventional pirólisis between 250 and 600ºC

• solid product
• 25-40 of the biomass energy contents
• 25,000 a 33,000 kJ/kg

urban areas
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Charcoal production graves
3 days
20 to 30 days
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Charcoal production graves
Sustainability
Pressure on the natural resources
Steam, acetic acid, other acids, methanol, and
tars (strong carcinogens)
Environment
health
Fatal burning men or animals that walk over the
grave or fall down
deforestation
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Charcoal production earth kilns
1 ton of charcoal from 4 to 6 tons of firewood
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Charcoal production improved earth kilns
Senegal
Improved kiln Casamance
Similar systems in Brazil, Sudan and Malawi
Burning point
sand
Controlled flue gas outlet
Grazing and straw
pyroligneous acid, wood tar
Controlled airinputs
Charoutput
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Charcoal production improved kilns
Argentinean half-orange kiln
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Charcoal production improved kilns
Brazilian Hive Kilns
Cycle 9 days producing 5 ton/cycle
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1. Traditional biomass Improved Technologies

• Examples of improved technologies applications in
  developing countries

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technology... is only half the story

• Improvement of firewood cooking devices
• For heating and food cooking
• It is the focus of the social activities,
  provides lighting, and warms the family.
• Tars are also used to tight the roof
• Smoke can drive away insects and other plagues
• A new device should
• Respect the traditional cooking
• Respect the users style of life
• Use fuels available in the surroundings
• Not be expensive
• Sometimes, the time that women expend on wood
  gathering is their exclusive opportunity to go
  out home, and feel free.

Users must participate in the design process
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Appropriate Technologiesan appropriate solution
depends on the place and the time

• Respect the local traditions (technology and
  culture)
• Bee environmentally sound
• Bee socially sustainable
• The community can manage and maintain the
  technology
• Availability of parts and tools
• Knowledge (skills and capacities)
• Promote endogen capacities
• Through participation processes during all the
  project steps
• Promote and increase of users income (for a
  productive project) or increase the people
  opportunities for profit (infrastructure projects)

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Improved cook stovesUpesi Project (Kenya)

• Half fuel is needed
• Decreases the family needs, and increases wood
  resources sustainability
• Creates work places
• In Kenya, about 10,000 stoves are build and sold
  annually
• Reduces the indoor air pollution

• Market use
• Community participation
• Enterprise capacitating
• Women capacities development
• Construction
• Marketing

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Improved cook stoves Kenya Ceramic Jiko Project
Ceramic grid
Saves 25-40 of fuel
Metallic cover
It cost about 2 US

• KCJ was used (2003) by
• About 17 homes in Kenya
• 50 homes in Nairobi

Improvements in the quality control process is
needed
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Improved cook stoves Gyapa project (Ghana)
Boiling Point n. 50
Nov. 2002 Jul. 2004
Charcoal
36.000 units sold
Jiko based
3,500 forest hectares saved
Saves in charcoal 1 250 000 USD
28,000 ton CO2 emissions saved
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Improved cook stoves Community or institutional
stoves

• schools, hospitals, small restaurants, refugee
  camps, etc.
• Bigger and stronger designs
• Useful for other uses
• cooking or boiling
• heating water for tea, washing, or for heating
  systems
• as an oven for roasting or for baking bread or
  cakes
• frying on a hot plate

Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Pakistan, Nepal,
Morocco, Nicaragua
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Improved cook stoves other projects
Patzcuaro (rural area in Mexico)
Lorena
Stoves build by the users.State gives subsidies
to buy the chimney tube

• Savings of about 30
• Indoor pollution
• Woodfire consuption
• Gathering time

Morocco rural areas
Cook stoves and bread ovens

• Savings between 30 and 40

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Briquettes

• Raw biomass
• Carbonized biomass
• Charcoal fines

Kenya
densification

• Charcoal Briquetting (Nairobi)
• 7 ton/day
• 23 work places
• Pyrolysis and briquetting of crop wastes
• Sugar cane bagasse, coffee husks

Better transport and managing
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Other projects

• Palm sugar stove development, East Java,
  Indonesia
• Improved boilers for hammam (Morocco)
• Artisan bread ovens or brick firing ovens (Perú)
• Charcoal from crop wastes (India, Brasil)

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Lessons learned

• Is it enough a good design to guarantee a
  successfully cook stove?
• Which other issues are relevant?

• Easy to install and maintain
• Is similar to its traditional version

• Fits the local necessities and preferences

• Provides employment opportunities for stoves
  producers
• Provides incomes for producers, dealers and
  sellers.
• Improves the development of technical capacities
  artisan, local based organizations and agencies.

Participation
Capacitating

• Economically and socially sustainable

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Lessons learned Douglas Barnes (1994)
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Lessons learned Douglas Barnes (1994)