| 1. |
- Svens, Pontus, et al.
(författare)
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Li-Ion Pouch Cells for Vehicle Applications-Studies of Water Transmission and Packing Materials
- 2013
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Ingår i: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073. ; 6:1, s. 400-410
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study includes analysis of encapsulation materials from lithium-ion pouch cells and water vapour transmission rate (WVTR) measurements. WVTR measurements are performed on both fresh and environmentally stressed lithium-ion pouch cells. Capacity measurements are performed on both the fresh and the environmentally stressed battery cells to identify possible influences on electrochemical performance. Preparation of the battery cells prior to WVTR measurements includes opening of battery cells and extraction of electrode material, followed by resealing the encapsulations and adhesively mounting of gas couplings. A model describing the water diffusion through the thermal welds of the encapsulation are set up based on material analysis of the encapsulation material. Two WVTR equipments with different type of detectors are evaluated in this study. The results from the WVTR measurements show how important it is to perform this type of studies in dry environment and apply a rigorous precondition sequence before testing. Results from modelling confirm that the WVTR method has potential to be used for measurements of water diffusion into lithium-ion pouch cells. Consequently, WVTR measurements should be possible to use as a complement or alternative method to for example Karl Fisher titration.
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| 2. |
- Anerud, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Performance of an Innovative Bio-Based Wood Chip Storage Pile Cover—Can It Replace Plastic Tarps?
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073. ; 15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is currently great general interest in reducing the use of fossil-based materials. Fossil-based tarps are still widely used as cover for wood chip storage piles, causing additional waste or requiring further waste treatment in the supply chain. This study aimed to investigate the performance of an innovative bio-based wood chip pile cover compared to conventional treatments (plastic-covered and uncovered) in eastern Finnish conditions. The experiment evaluated the drying process during the storage of stemwood chips during 5.9 months of storage. It included the developments of temperature, moisture content, heating value, energy content, basic density, particle size distribution, and the dry matter losses of a total of six piles. As a result, the forest stemwood chips dried by 11%, with dry-matter losses of 4.3%, when covered with the bio-pile cover. Using the plastic covering, the forest stemwood chips dried by 22%, with dry matter losses of 2.9%. At the end of the experiment, the energy content in plastic-covered piles was 6.1% higher than uncovered piles and 3.1% higher than bio-pile-covered piles. While differences in the key drying performance parameters can be observed, the differences between uncovered piles and those covered with plastic tarps, as well as between the bio-based and the uncovered piles, were not statistically significant. We conclude that the bio-based cover, under the studied conditions, do not render better storage conditions than in current practices. However, our study indicates possible fossil-substitutional benefits by using a bio-based cover, which calls for further R&D work in this matter.
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| 3. |
- Arthurson, Veronica
(författare)
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Closing the Global Energy and Nutrient Cycles through Application of Biogas Residue to Agricultural Land - Potential Benefits and Drawbacks
- 2009
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Ingår i: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073. ; 2, s. 226-242
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Anaerobic digestion is an optimal way to treat organic waste matter, resulting in biogas and residue. Utilization of the residue as a crop fertilizer should enhance crop yield and soil fertility, promoting closure of the global energy and nutrient cycles. Consequently, the requirement for production of inorganic fertilizers will decrease, in turn saving significant amounts of energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, and indirectly leading to global economic benefits. However, application of this residue to agricultural land requires careful monitoring to detect amendments in soil quality at the early stages.
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| 4. |
- Arthurson, Veronica, et al.
(författare)
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Utilization of Natural Farm Resources for Promoting High Energy Efficiency in Low-Input Organic Farming
- 2011
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Ingår i: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073. ; 4, s. 804-817
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Both organic and conventional farming processes require energy input in the form of diesel fuel for farming equipment, animal feed, and fertilizer compounds. The most significant difference between the two methods is the use in conventional farming of mineral fertilizers and pesticides that are minimally employed in organic management. It is argued that organic farming is more environmentally friendly, given that synthetic fertilizers mainly used at conventional farms are replaced with animal manure and cover crops. Nutrient uptake by plants is additionally enhanced by the effective use of rhizobia and other types of plant growth-promoting bacteria, in combination with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. This article aims to compare the amounts and/or types of energy and nutrients required for both farming systems and provide feasible suggestions for the sustainable use of farm resources in combination with good crop yields.
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| 5. |
- Blagojevic, Bosko
(författare)
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Sustainability Assessment of Alternative Strip Clear Cutting Operations for Wood Chip Production in Renaturalization Management of Pine Stands
- 2019
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Ingår i: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073. ; 12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Mediterranean regions, afforested areas were planted to ensure the permanence of land cover, and to protect against erosion and to initiate the vegetation processes. For those purposes, pine species were mainly used; however, many of these stands, without silvicultural treatments for over fifty-sixty years, were in a poor state from physical and biological perspective, and therefore, clear-cutting on strips was conducted as silvicultural operation with the aim to eliminate 50% of the pine trees and to favor the affirmation of indigenous broadleaves seedlings. At the same time, the high and increasing demand of the forest based sector for wood biomass related to energy production, needs to be supplied. In a modern and multifunctional forestry, in which society is asking for sustainable forestry and naturalistic forest management, forestry operations should ideally be carried out in a sustainable manner, thus support the concept of sustainable forest management. All these aspects are also related to the innovation in forestry sector for an effective energetic sustainability. Three different forest wood chains were applied in pine plantations, all differing in the extraction system (animal, forestry-fitted farm tractor with winch, and double drum cable yarder). The method of the sustainability impact assessment was used in order to assess potential impacts of these alternative management options, and a set of 12 indicators covering economic, environmental, and social dimensions was analyzed. Further, to support decision makers in taking informed decisions, multi-criteria decision analysis was conducted. Decision makers gave weight towards the indicators natural tree regeneration and soil biological quality to support the achievement of the forest management goal. Results showed that first ranked alternative was case 2, in which extraction was conducted by a tractor with a winch. The main reason for that lies in the fact that this alternative had best performance for 80% of the analyzed criteria.
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| 6. |
- Bosona, Techane, et al.
(författare)
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Life-Cycle Assessment of the Use of Peach Pruning Residues for Electricity Generation
- 2020
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Ingår i: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073. ; 13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biomass residues from permanent crops might be an alternative fuel for energy generation in a local market with limited transport distances. Moreover, as activities related to CO2 reduction are of special attention in the European Union (EU), sustainable use of resources plays an important role in climate change mitigation. In this paper, a life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the integrated value chain from peach pruning residues for electricity generation is presented and compared with the common practice including the mulching process of the pruned biomass in an orchard. It was shown that biomass harvesting, chipping and its delivery to a power plant-the Pruning-to-Energy (PtE) scenario-is feasible from an environmental point of view. The total global warming potential (GWP) of this value chain was 200 kg CO2 eq.ha(-1) (or 27 kg CO2 eq.GJ(-1)). In turn, the mulching and leaving of the pruned biomass in an orchard-the pruning-to-soil (PtS) scenario-is characterized by a CO2 equivalent of 2360 kgha(-1). Other impact categories showed a lower environmental impact for the PtE scenario as well. When considering the Spanish electricity-mix instead of coal-based electricity, the PtS scenario score better in most impact categories, but the GWP for the PtE scenario remains lower.
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| 7. |
- Fagerström, Anton, et al.
(författare)
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Economic and Environmental Potential of Large‐Scale Renewable Synthetic Jet Fuel Production through Integration into a Biomass CHP Plant in Sweden
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073. ; 15:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The potential of bio‐electro‐jet fuel (BEJF) production with integration into an existing biomass‐based combined heat and power (CHP) facility was investigated. The BEJF is produced via Fischer–Tropsch (F–T) synthesis from biogenic CO2 and H2 obtained by water electrolysis. Techno-economic (TEA)‐ and life. cycle (LCA)‐ assessments were performed to evaluate the production cost and environmental impact of the BEJF production route. The BEJF mass fraction reached 40% of the total F–T crude produced. A reduction of 78% in heating demands was achieved through energy integration, leading to an increase in the thermal efficiency by up to 39%, based on the F–T crude. The total production cost of BEJF was in the range of EUR 1.6–2.5/liter (EUR 169–250/MWh). The GWP of the BEJF was estimated to be 19 g CO2‐eq per MJ BEJF. The reduction potential in GWP in contrast to the fossil jet baseline fuel varied from 44% to more than 86%. The findings of this study underline the potential of BEJF as a resource‐efficient, cost‐effective, and environmentally benign alternative for the aviation sector. The outcome is expected to be applicable to different geograph-ical locations or industrial networks when the identified influencing factors are met.
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| 8. |
- Haus, Sylvia, et al.
(författare)
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Lignocellulosic Ethanol in a Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Obligation System : A Case Study of Swedish Sawdust Based-Ethanol Production
- 2020
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Ingår i: Energies. - : MDPI. - 1996-1073. ; 13:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction obligation system has been implemented in the Swedish road transport sector to promote the use of biofuels. For transportation fuel suppliers to fulfil this obligation, the volume of biofuel required decreases with decreasing life cycle GHG emission for the biofuel, linking lower GHG emission to higher economic value. The aim of this study was to investigate how the economic competitiveness of a Swedish emerging lignocellulosic-based ethanol production system would be influenced by the reduction obligation. The life cycle GHG emission for sawdust-based ethanol was calculated by applying the method advocated in the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED II). The saving in GHG emissions, compared with fossil liquid transportation fuels, was 93% for a potential commercial production system in southern Sweden. This, in turn, will increase the competitiveness of sawdust-based ethanol compared to the mainly crop-based ethanol currently used in the Swedish biofuel system, which has an average GHG emission saving of 68%, and will allow for an almost 40% higher price of sawdust-based ethanol, compared to the current price of ethanol at point of import. In a future developed, large-scale market of advanced ethanol, today’s GHG emission reduction obligation system in Sweden seems to afford sufficient economic advantage to make lignocellulosic ethanol economically viable. However, in a short-term perspective, emerging lignocellulosic-based ethanol production systems are burdened with economic risks and therefore need additional economic incentives to make a market introduction possible.
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| 9. |
- Lantz, Mikael, et al.
(författare)
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Biogas and ethanol from wheat grain or straw : Is there a trade-off between climate impact, avoidance of iLUC and production cost?
- 2018
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Ingår i: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073. ; 11:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Current EU policy calls for decreased emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by i.e., replacing fossil fuel in the transportation sector with sustainable biofuels. To avoid indirect land use change (iLUC), the EU at the same time strives to limit the use of crops and to increase the use of residues. In this study we compare climate impact and production cost for biogas and ethanol based on wheat grain and straw, respectively, in a Swedish context. The economic competitiveness for ethanol from straw vs. grain is evaluated based on the mandatory emission reduction for fossil vehicle fuels implemented since July 2018 in Sweden. The result of this study clearly shows that biogas and ethanol from straw have the lowest GHG emissions regardless of the calculation method used, although biofuels from grain also fulfill EU GHG reduction criteria even when suggested iLUC factors are included. It was also shown that the cost of producing straw-based biofuels was higher, thus there is a trade-off between climate impact and costs. The GHG reduction mandate adopted in Sweden partly compensates for this, but is not enough to make ethanol from straw competitive from an economic perspective.
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| 10. |
- Ohlsson, Jonas, et al.
(författare)
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Co-digestion of salix and manure for biogas: importance of clone choice, coppicing frequency and reactor setup
- 2020
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Ingår i: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073. ; 13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Animalmanure represents amajor source of renewable energy that can be converted into biogasusing anaerobic digestion. In order to most efficiently utilize this resource, it can be co-digested withenergy dense, high biomethanation potential feedstocks such as energy crops. However, such feedstockstypically require pretreatments which are not feasible for small-scale facilities.We investigated theuse of single-stage and the sequential co-digestion of comminuted but otherwise non-pretreated Salixwith animal manure, and further investigated the effects of coppicing frequency and clone choice onbiomethanation potential and the area requirements for a typical Swedish farm-scale anaerobic digesterusing Salix and manure as feedstock. In comparison with conventional single-stage digestion, sequentialdigestion increased the volumetric and specific methane production by 57% to 577 NmL L?1 d?1 and192 NmL (g volatile solids (VS))?1, respectively. Biomethanation potential was the highest for the twoyear-old shoots, although gains in biomass productivity suggest that every-third-year coppicing maybe a better strategy for supplying Salix feedstock for anaerobic digestion. The biomethane productionperformance of the sequential digestion of minimally pretreated Salix mirrors that of hydrothermallypretreated hardwoods and may provide an option where such pretreatments are not feasible.
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