Biomass Engineering per 2008

adjunct of Simmons (2008)

At Sandia National Labs

...Fuels within the transport sector in the United States is
growing, especially in the light of concerns over energy
security and global warming. The US federal government, as
well as most governments worldwide, is strongly committed
to displacing fossil fuels with renewable, potentially low
carbon, biofuels produced from biomass. The primary
motivation for these efforts is both to decrease reliance on
fossil fuels, particularly imported fuels [1,2], and to address
concerns over the contribution of fossil-fuel consumption by
the transport sector to global warming [3,4]. The US federal
government has therefore set a target of displacing 30% of
current US gasoline (petrol and diesel) consumption within
the transportation sector with biofuels by 2030...

In 2008 based on natural resources of food and oxygen stores our energy potential was 1.4*10^8 dry tonnes per year-- 

French Biomass Systems in Croppy (not so 2nd world) Form

One French company named Cirad (Assessing the economic, social and environmental impact of using crop residues, by-products and processing waste to generate energy) proposes notable scientific and technical information products and services in the fields of agriculture and development in tropical, subtropical, and Mediterranean regions.

Specifically aiming to design sustainable biomass production systems tailored to an arising situation for particular rural communities, where access to energy poses a mighty problem. This allows for quick development like using lignocellulose biomass,wood and crop residues– for generating varying types of energy output and currently, the agronomic potential of several plants; such as jatropha, cotton, groundnut, soybean, sorghum and sugarcane wherein hopes of biomassive energies are stored and yet to be recognized. 

However, devoting our agriculture to producing such forms of energy raises risks for developing countries if it is practised at the expense of food production.

The research centre is fully dedicated alone in adapting and optimizing earth's existing production systems for energy and fuel (ie: woody forest species) or for a dual purpose (ie: sugarcane), so as to boost regional and potential economies.

Creating new production systems devoted to bioenergy including jatropha, a tropical shrub from which oil can be extracted for varietal breeding or improvement operatives in the eucalyptus, oil palm, sugarcanes, or sorghum genus. 

How can bioenergy production be combined with food production without competing with it you may ask?

Devoted analysing specifically conducive to environmental impacts and ecological services is the ultimate invention.  Building integrated management tools and methods, combining socio-economic and technical approaches, sending for research on impactful food production and markets, or common resource management conflicts, enumerant through social and economic development. 

Of the lesser pollutant Cirad is specialized in thermochemical and fermentation processing. Which in turn enables a fine tuning of agri-chain practices, post harvest techniques, and integrative systems.

Progress in Plasticity

Adjuct of Bipol Blog

In the preceding years it is more widely accepted that the use of long-lasting polymers for short-lived applications (packaging, catering, surgery, hygiene,) is not entirely adequate. Justifiably, when increased concern exists about the preservation of more fragile ecology systems, most of today’s synthetic polymers are not biodegradable and therefore produce more produced from petrochemicals. Persistent polymers such as cane, fossil fuels, and coal are a significant source of environmental pollution- harming wildlife and effecting earth’s natural dispersion. The effects of plastic bags are prominently known to affect the fish and other food sources in our seas. Additionally, plastics have a large part on waste management, and the collectivities (municipalities, regional or national organizations) are becoming acutely aware of the significant savings that the collection of these compostable wastes would provide.

Additionally, valorising or creating an outlet for the waste is a daunting process. Although creating a means for some in South America for example, where individuals climb through heaps of biproduct using only their own means, the waste continues to press on known issues. Energetic valorisation yields some toxic emissions (e.g., dioxin). Material valorisation implies some limitations linked to the difficulties to find accurate and economically viable outlets. In addition, material valorisation shows a rather negative eco-balance due to the necessity, in nearly all cases, to wash the plastic wastes and to the energy consumption during the process phases (waste grinding and plastic processing).

For these different reasons, reaching the conditions of conventional plastic replacements by degradable polymers, particularly for packaging applications, is of major interest for the different purveyance in socio-economical life (from the plastic industry to the consummate citizen).
The potential of biodegradable polymers and more particularly that of polymers obtained from agro-resources such as the polysaccharides (e.g., starch) has long been recognized. However, to this day, these agro-polymers largely used in some applications (e.g., food industry) have not found extensive applications in the packaging industries to replace conventional plastic materials, although, on the horizon we may find more interesting ways to overcome the limitation of the petrochemical resources in the future. The fossil fuel and gas could be partially replaced by greener agricultural sources, which should also participate to the reduction of CO2 emissions.