Question

1. Biofuel
a. Please mention the three criterias of advanced biofuel
- The effort to develop methods of converting non-liquid to liquid fuels is
continuous: Gas-To-Liquids (GTL), Coal-To-Liquids (CTL), and Biomass-To-

Liquids (BTL).
Advanced Biofuel Technologies, are conversion technologies which are still in
the research and development (R&D), pilot or demonstration phase, commonly

referred to as second-or third-generation. This category includes:

Hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), (i.e., based on animal fat and plant oil)
Biofuels based on lignocellulosic biomass, (i.e., ethanol),
Fischer-Tropsch liquids
Synthetic natural gas (SNG).
1st Generation Biofuels: Also called conventional biofuels. It includes sugar,

starch, or vegetable oil

2nd Generation Biofuels: known as advanced biofuels and can be manufactured
from different types of biomass. The biomass contains lignocellulosic material

like wood, straw and waste plastic

- 3rd Generation Biofuels: Extract from algae mostly marine algae
b. What is the 2nd generation biofuels?
- The largest single constituent produced in the cultivation of oil crops, sugar
crops, or starch crops, for either food or fuel feedstocks, is invariable
lignocellulose (oilpalm and coconut empty fruit bunches, bagasse, rice straw,
-

corn stover, wood, etc.).

When oils, sugars, and starches are harvested, the lignocellulose is usually left

over as an agricultural residue which at best are underutilized, at worst burned.

The most effective benefit form bioresources will be achieved when

lignocellulose can be used to produce biofuels.

c. Explain the routes for 2nd generation biofuels
- Second generation biofuels: those made from lignocellulose (lignocellulosic
-

biomass)
Second generation biodiesel is BTL (BTL = Biomass-To-Liquids) diesel oil: a
hydrocarbon diesel fuel produced from lignocellulosic biomass via gasification

plus Fischer-Tropsch synthesis technologies.

Plants with medium scale capacity may become commercially viable and could

be complementary to the present biodiesel industry.

The EU biofuel target (10% biofuel in the fuel mix by 2020) depends on this

technology becoming commercially viable in the near future.

The technology is now under intensive development supported by government

funding, particularly in the EU (e.g. Germany).

Second generation bioethanol is made from lignocellulosic biomass resources
via delignification / pretreatment + fermentation.

The technology is presently under vigorous development particularly in USA

Viable.
In 2007, US President George W Bush announced the 20 in 10
program/target: substitution of 20% of petroleum fuel with biofuel by 2017 (10

years form 2007).

2nd generation bioethanol technology will probably become commercially
viable early in the next decade, at least a few years before 2017! (U.S. Target :

2012)
Thus, the production of 2nd generation biofuels will not compete with food

production!
In the future, production of 1st generation biofuels may utilize surplus edible
feedstocks (sugar, starch, fatty oils) and also non edible starchy and fatty raw

materials.
However, minimize land requirements requires choosing energy crops for the

next decade: Multipurpose Energy Crops!

Mutually supporting the production/provision of food and other important biobased products (fiber, rubber, bioactive substances for medicine, pesticide,

insecticide, etc).
d. What is direct and indirect route thermochemical way
- The principle pathways of advanced biofuels technologies

Biochemical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass

Thermochemical conversion: production of biofuels via gasification

e. Explain about bio refinery concept

- Biorefinery concept allows to produce bio-based chemicals and materials
besides bioenergy (biofuels for transport and heat/power), making the system
more efficient from a technical, economic and environmental point of view and
-

society progressively independent from fossil energy.

A biorefinery is the sustainable processing of biomass into a spectrum of
marketable products (food, feed, materials, and chemicals) and energy (fuels,

power, heat).
A biorefinery is a facility that integrates biomass conversion processes and

equipment to produce fuels, power, and chemicals from biomass.

f. Why biofuel
- Have a long and distinguished pedigree
- Could guarantee energy security and prevent climate change
- Are significantly reduce greenhouse gas emission, especially in transportation
-

sector
Provide important opportunities for industrial development, innovation and

jobs creation
Industry allows community participations, including farmer
Offer us an option that is full of promise and are developed in ways that protect

our planet
Indonesia has high biodiversity for biofuel feedstock supply and land

availability that suitable for biofuel plantation

Proven biofuel technology by domestic potential (Engineering, Research and

Development)
High number of unemployment in Indonesia - that could be transferred to

biofuel sector and poverty

- Opportunity for regional governments to increase their economic development
- Opportunity to substitute fossil fuel using biofuels
- Opportunity in exporting biofuels products
g. Disadvantages
- High Cost of Production
- Industrial Pollution
- Future Rise in Price
- Shortage of Food
- Use of Fertilizer

2. Biomass/ bioenergy
The uses of solid fuel as energy resources, related to energy diversification and
environmental preservation, consist of these stages: optimizing conventional solid fuel
usage, finding new solid fuel as an alternative, and finding renewable solid fuel as the
main goal.
a. The example of optimizing conventional solid fuel is coal upgrading from lignite
to bituminous grade.
i.
Why coal is interesting to be upgraded? Suggest one method of coal
-

upgrading and explain.

Indonesia is one of the worlds largest coal producers. Most of them are
thermal and lignite or low rank coal, the rests are bituminous and anthracite.
The government of Indonesia has been trying to increase LRC production by
providing some financial incentives to promote downstream industry of coal
and to boost value added on national economy, especially in term of coal
upgrading industry, gasification and coal liquefaction. LRC with calories 5700

kcal/kg adb are not allowed to be exported.

The coal upgrading briquette will provide a higher heating value by reducing

high moisture by drying the coal and to keep the dried product by briquetting:
High increase calorific values
Best strength and handling
No dust and much less fine particles
No change of chemical characteristics
Can be applied to all coals
ii.
Explain the fact that by coal upgrading, we also contribute in
-

environmental preservation.
Recently, the development of coal upgrading process has been very popular in
many countries, including in Indonesia. The process is aimed to upgrade the
quality of low rank coal into middle or higher rank coal equivalent. Since the
upgraded coal is commonly produced in the powder form, additional
compaction process is needed in the coal upgrading process to increase its

bulk density and to hinder its reactivity.

The binderless briquetting is selected to facilitate the coal upgrading process.
The process requires adhesive material, self-binding agent, enclosed in the coal
particles.

Despite the binderless briquetting has been widely used, the

mechanism how the self-binding agent binds the coal particles have never been
clearly explained. Therefore, in this research, further investigations on selfbinding agent in binderless briquetting of Indonesian low rank coal will be
conducted.

From the investigation, it was learnt that moisture is the most effective selfbinding agent for binderless briquetting process with limited heat sources. As
moisture acting as binding agent, the briquette can be produced even in the

room temperature (cold binderless briquetting).

From the experiment, it was found that the presence of moisture influences
the various properties of the briquette such as briquette density, briquette

strength, microstructure, and calorific value.

From the examinations, it was found that moisture is believed to act as the
lubricants during the compaction process and contributes to the increasing of
the briquette strength.

However, moisture also induces the swelling and

shrinkage phenomena causing the strength reduction in the briquette strength.

In the final part of the research, it was suggested that, the briquette compacted
with 20% of moisture content and at 750 bar of minimum pressure, is the
optimum operating condition for the cold binderless briquetting of the

upgraded Indonesian low rank coal.

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b. The use of peat as solid fuel is one of efforts to fine new energy. However, peat is
not renewable energy.
i.
Why peat is interesting as new energy in Indonesia and why is it not
ii.
iii.

renewable. (slideshare peat in Indonesia)

Explain how peat can be upgraded as coal-graded solid fuel.
By using peat as solid fuel, does it also contribute to environmental

preservation? Explain.
c. The use of municipal solid waste (MSW) as raw material of solid fuel is an effort
of renewable energy diversification.
i.
Explain the possibility of MSW as solid fuel.
- The usage of municipal solid waste (MSW) is usually hindered by its
nonuniformity, high moisture, low energy density, and the occurrence of
chlorine in the plastic-impregnated waste. A hydrothermal treatment is
developed to convert the MSW into solid fuel by employing a commercial
scale system of about 1 ton capacity, applying saturated steam at about 2 MPa
for about 60 min holding time. It was shown that the product has better
uniformity, higher density, and better drying performance compared to MSW
without reducing its heating value. The combustion characteristic of the final
product was similar to that of subbituminous coal, and capable of reducing the
SO2 and NO emissions during co-combustion with coal. Additionally, the
product showed that about 80 % of the organic chlorine was converted into
inorganic, water-soluble chlorine, and the total chlorine content in the waterwashed product was down to 16 %. It can be concluded that the hydrothermal

treatment can be employed to convert MSW into a chlorine-free solid fuel

ii.

suitable for co-combustion with coal.

Elaborate two energy conversion methods of MSW. Compare the

advantages and disadvantages.

Hydrothermal treatment: It employs the combination of heat and water as a
media to convert unutilized resources in various shapes and characteristics into
uniform product. It is a functional way to active reactions via dissolution. It
involves heating of raw slurry at 300-350C in at pressure to maintain water
phase. It comes under chemical conversion of solid waste before MSW is sent

to landfill. It is a thermo chemical conversion technology.

Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) or solid recovered fuel is a fuel produced by
shredding and dehydrating solid waste (MSW) with a Waste converter
technology. RDF consists largely of combustible components of municipal

waste such as plastics and biodegradable waste.

It was calculated that the required energy for the hydrothermal treatment was
0.8 MJ/kg MSW, lower than conventional RDF production process which

needs 1.35 MJ/kg MSW.

iii.
Why MSW can be considered as new and renewable energy?
- New energy: alternative energy, any energy source other than fossil fuels.
Perpetual motion or "free energy", an elusive energy source which would
-

violate the laws of thermodynamics.

Renewable energy: energy from resources which are naturally replenished on a
human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal

heat.
MSW, to a large extent is of biological origin (biogenic), e.g. paper, cardboard,
wood, cloth, food scraps. This material has been formed by plants using
atmospheric CO2 typically within the last growing season. Typically half of the
energy content in MSW is from biogenic material. Consequently, this energy is
often recognized as renewable energy according to the waste input. The rest
mainly plastics and other oil and gas derived productsis generally treated as
non-renewable. In MSW combustion, nearly all of the carbon content in the
waste is emitted as CO2 to the atmosphere. 1 ton of MSW combustion produce
approximately 1 ton of CO2. If 1 ton of MSW is landfilled, it will produce 45
kg of methane which has twice the global warming potential than the

combustion route.
3. Group assignment
a. Compare performance (qualitative) of flat plate solar collector and evacuated-tube
solar collector in terms of heat loss from the collector to the environment.

During sunny days FPC produced 21-37% more thermal energy than ETC. On
partly cloudy days when the weather was changing FPC produced 8-23% more
thermal energy. During rainy and cloudy days ETC produced 21-64% more. To
sum the testing results up, FPC are more efficient for heating water for
daily

use.

Comparing FPC and ETC with simulation software PolySun

showed that FPC produce 25% more heat than ETC for the same gross area.
Using solar-trackers increases productivity of FPC collectors by 48% and 41%
of ETC. Solar trackers are more efficient with FPC because they produce more
heat with direct solar radiation. The payback period for installing complete
solar heating system with a 2 m2 FPC is 13,2 and 17,8 years with ETC. Using
solar-trackers the payback period cuts down to 10,3 and 14,5 years
respectively. By installing more collectors the payback period can be
shortened, e.g. with three 2 m2 flat plate collector and solar trackers the
payback period is approximately 4,6 years and 6,9 years with a evacuated
collector.
b. List two appropriate applications for organic Rankine cycle. Give argument why it
is appropriate.
c. Explain the reason of PV lower efficiency at higher temperature.
4. Solar thermal and Geothermal Energy
a. Daily solar irradiance at Bandung is around 4 kWh/m 2. Solar water heater is
planned to supply warm water at 50 oC with capacity of 150 L/day. If effective
sunlight is 4 hours and the water heater efficiency is 40%, calculate the solar
collector area. If electric heater is used (replacing solar water heater), how much
operational cost for the electric heater? Initial water temperature is 22 oC. (Energy
efficiency and solar thermal energy in the library)
b. Explain the working mechanism of ice production machine based on absorption
and regeneration systems.
c. Lighting is switched on from 17:00 until 06:00 daily. Total electric load for the
lamps is 5 x 5 W and 2 x 10 watt. If PV efficiency is 12%, how much PV and
battery are needed for the lightning system? (Battery voltage is 12 volt). Average
of solar irradiance is 350 W/m2. (teacher rey sopheak exercise document)

d. Kamojang geothermal power plant is producing 55 MW of electricity with water

vapor enter to turbine at 165oC. The vapor exit from the turbine at 0.13 bar.
Isentropic efficiency of the turbine is 90%. Determine vapor temperature at turbine
exit and vapor mass flow rate. Explain the effort to maintain continuity of vapor
production from well. (Teacher Chamnan document)