(60d) The Use of Residues as New Energy Resources

As global demand intensify and prices rise, energy companies are going to the ends of the earth to uncover new supplies. However, researchers hadn't considered the use of several simple residues from industrial processes that could be used as an energy source. This presentation is not a usual presentation; the idea of my poster is joining different researches I had done during the last year and present it in a macro project that relates every investigation in a single poster. This poster would not include every detail of all the researches but I would be prepared to answer with facts and proves any question anyone could have about all of them. Everything started with a Biodiesel production efficiency research that involved different kind of oils for Biodiesel production and as a result I concluded that Jatropha Curcas oil haves lot of advantages not only in production but in the whole process of oil extraction and environmental impact to our society. Moreover I was able to make decantation process in minutes by using solar energy in the process instead of waiting for ours and I was able to prevent the water waste in the secondary saponification reactions by using an Ionic exchange resin for purifying biodiesel before using it. After this, I was part of the installation of the Biofuels Quality Testing Labs at the ITESM and I started making several ASTM proves to the Biodiesel I got from every experiment for the future Mexican ASTM Rules of this energy source. Afterward, I was really concerned about the greatest residue of biodiesel production, glycerin. Biodiesel industry producers and consumers are considering expanding flood of crude glycerin. The U.S. biodiesel industry is expected to produce about 1.4 billon pound of glycerin between 2006 and 2015, according to a study of the LECG Inc. director, John Urbanchuk. Actually, around 100 kg of glycerin are produced per each ton of Biodiesel. In addition, sawdust has been a wood residue without many possibilities of utilization. Considering that the annual production of wood in Mexico is of more than 8 million of cubic meters, from which the annual production of sawdust surpasses 2,800,000 cubic meters, sawdust volumes are expected to increase. Its accumulation represents a serious problem of environmental contamination, especially where the soil is deposited. Therefore the development of alternatives for its operation is considered a subject of interest for Worldwide Wood Industries. Making a proportioned mixture between glycerin and sawdust, in an approximate relation 1:3 might be part of the solution for lots of sustainability problems. The result of the mixture would be a viscous blend, and by employing a mechanical compression we might produce sawdust-glycerin logs. These blocks have a greater efficiency than firewood, because glycerin acts as an ignition source for sawdust. Definitely, burning glycerin at high temperatures provokes the discharge of several gases, but therexs a method to control them. For controlling emissions, the project is based on burning these blocks inside a closed chamber where gases would be captured for preventing toxic emissions to our surroundings and by making a geological storage of carbon dioxide we could help the regeneration of feature petroleum reserves and avoid contaminating our world. The energetic result of the blockxs combustion would be used for generating water vapor. This steam would pass through a generator turbine giving as a result electric energy obtained from a green design in a sustainable price, due to the effective waste management and the efficient use of energy. The real value of the wood waste as a fuel source must take into account its available heat content, the operating costs of production needed to handle and convert it to useable energy, before any worthwhile comparative studies can be made. This innovation investigation was awkward by the Mexican Chemistry Nobel Price, Dr. Mario Molina and nowadays this procedure is being applied in the SOLBEN A.C. Company. Last summer another project that consisted in the Biodiesel production with algae was done in Heidelberg, Germany at the IFEU, Institute of Energy. I was working during a month in the oil extraction process and algae growth for lowering its biodiesel production cost. This research was completed at Nove Hrady, Czech Republic with an algae growth investigation where I used the Biogas Fugat (Residue from Biogas production) in a mixture with water to improve the algae growth rate. Impressively, the results were really positive. We were able to grow 47% times faster Scenedesmus Dimorphus algae for its future oil extraction and a pure Biodiesel production. This by just giving a new use to the fugat that was being throw away by some companies and otherxs where using it as a liquid fertilizer. Unlike most other investigators, I founded a company (SOLBEN A.C.) where all this projects and other ones are being applied. Bioenergy producers are using various wastes for creating energy by a viable and sustainable way, supporting directly the energetic problem that is approaching in many nations as well as the problem of sustainability and global warming. At the same time the objective of my company is helping the development of rural areas in my country by reactivating camps with the plantation of Jatropha Curcas and making these towns auto-sustainable. This year we constructed a Biodiesel pilot plant and we are going to start planting 35,000 hectares of Jatropha Curcas for oil exporting to Spain where oil would be converted into Biodiesel. This company is purely Mexican and shows how researchers, no matter their age could launch their projects into the business market to help their environment and at the same time the people of our world. Finally I would like to I recognize the assist of Dr. Miguel Angel Romero Ogawa, Dr. Oliver Probst and Ing. Vítězslav Březina.