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- Microalgae in a global world: New solutions for old problems?Publication . Vieira De Mendonça, Henrique; Assemany, Paula; Abreu, Mariana; De Aguiar Do Couto, Eduardo; Martins Maciel, Alyne; Duarte, Renata Lopes; Santos, Marcela Granato Barbosa dosABSTRACT: The human population blast has brought several problems related with the overconsumption of a wide range of feedstocks and natural resources conducting to their risk of depletion. The consumption of fossil fuels is an example, with increasing levels of exploitation and negative impacts caused by their use. Anthropogenic activities have triggered the over accumulation of many hazardous substances and wastes which are regarded to be detrimental to life in the Earth and to the various planet ecosystems. There is an urgent need to restore natural resources and unwanted residues and wastes to levels prior the demographic explosion. Microalgal biotechnology appears to be pivotal to achieve this goal in a near future to come. This review presents the current resource problems affecting the Earth and how microalgae are expected to be an important part of the solution, discussing how the production of renewable energy from microalgae can help in an integrated way to mitigate different environmental problems. Microalgae are able to convert wastewaters, CO2 and organic residues in marketable biomass for different uses, including biofuels, converting waste in value. An inventory of current microalgal-based biorefineries in operation as well as a directory of companies, products and applications are also presented.
- Marginal soils for bioenergy production : How to identify these soils in Portugal?Publication . Abreu, Mariana; Reis, Alberto; Fernando, Ana LuisaABSTRACT: n the bioenergy/biorefineries sector, energy crops have achieved a relevant position as a feedstock for bio-based products, biofuels and bioenergy. To produce the energy crops, soils with low Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) risk must be utilized, such as marginal/degraded/contaminated (MDC) soils. Locating these types of soils in any territory, region, or country is challenging. Several criteria, e.g. soil drainage, dryness, temperature, have been identified by the European Union, and allow to classify soils as marginal. Yet, the dispersed information makes the identification and selection of marginal soils a challenging process. Therefore, this study details the tools and baseline documents that can be used to identify marginal areas, presenting low ILUC risk for the cultivation of energy crops. The application of the methodology to Continental Portugal allowed to obtain a preliminary map that indicates available soils for the cultivation of energy crops.
- Estimativa de potenciais técnicos de energia renovável em Portugal: eólico, solar fotovoltaico, solar concentrado, biomassa e oceanosPublication . Simoes, Sofia; Simões, Teresa; Barbosa, Juliana; Rodrigues, Carlos; Azevedo, Pedro; Cardoso, João P.; Facão, Jorge; Costa, Paula Silva; Justino, Paulo Alexandre; Gírio, Francisco; Reis, Alberto; Passarinho, Paula; Duarte, Luís C.; Moura, Patrícia; Abreu, Mariana; Estanqueiro, Ana; Couto, António; Oliveira, Paula; Quental, Lídia; Patinha, Pedro; Catarino, Justina; Picado, AnaExecutive Summary: There is a clear need to accelerate the energy transition, including the implementation of renewable electricity production plants, as well as the increase in consumption of other renewable energy carriers in buildings, industry, transport and other sectors. This work provides key information to make this transition possible, that is, the technical renewable energy potentials for Portugal. The aim is thus to contribute to policy support, as well as to decision-making by various Portuguese stakeholders (public and private) in the domains of energy, energy transition and greenhouse gases emissions mitigation. The work presents the technical renewable energy potentials for Portugal to: (i) decentralized solar photovoltaic (PV) plants in artificialized (or built-up) areas; (ii) centralized solar PV plants in non-artificialized (or natural) areas; (iii) concentrated solar power; (iv) onshore wind; (v) offshore wind (floating and fixed); (vi) bioenergy, and (vii) solar thermal. The wave energy primary energy resource potential is also presented (not the technical potential). The technical potential values of renewable energy sources (RES) presented are dynamic values, given the substantial uncertainty associated with their estimation. The study identifies technical RES potentials i.e., the technically viable energy generation achievable from a specific technology, considering the primary energy resource available and the geographic, environmental and land use limitations. RES economic potentials represent the fraction of RES technical potential that is economically viable, but they are not presented in this work. Likewise, this report does not address market potential, that translate the capacity and energy generation that the market effectively manages to implement. The presented RES technical potentials include the total capacity currently installed in the country. The technical potentials are estimated mostly for mainland Portugal, in most cases with a spatial disaggregation of at least NUT2 and sometimes for NUT5 and/or type of building. Despite adopting an approach based on a territorial analysis in which some areas of the country are excluded, this potential does not correspond to the work done in mapping less-sensitive areas towards future definition of RES “Go-To Areas”. The decentralized solar PV potential in artificialized areas is divided into 6 area types: industrial areas; commercial buildings; residential and mixed-use buildings; villas; health, education, cultural, tourist and military buildings, and other land uses (including parking lots and patios, ports, waste and wastewater treatment infrastructure, sports facilities, among others). It is estimated a technical potential of 23.33 GW that could generate up to 36.84 TWh/year. This potential is distributed throughout the entire territory of mainland Portugal but is higher in the North and Center regions. The RES technical potential for centralized solar PV was estimated as a range of values that translate the uncertainty associated with using different levels of concern in excluding certain areas in which solar PV can be deployed (for example to safeguard ecosystems, water resources, agriculture or archaeological heritage). The centralized solar PV potential varies between 168.82 GW and 45.63 GW. The maximum threshold of installed capacity could generate 278.11 TWh/year of electricity. The value is high and reflects on the one hand, the excellence of the solar resource throughout the country, and on the other, the large size of the considered areas. The CSP potential is 62.6 GW with a corresponding electrical production potential of 183.61 TWh/year. It is mainly located in the Alentejo region, although other areas have also been identified in other regions of the country. The wind onshore technical potential is 15.7 GW, that could generate 37.13 TWh/year, taking into account the safeguarding of various areas for the protection of ecosystems and also social acceptability issues. In the case of offshore wind and considering a capacity density of 4 MW/km2 for floating offshore and 5.5 MW/km2 for fixed offshore, a total of 36 GW and 2 GW are obtained, respectively. This capacity could generate up to 126.14 TWh/year (floating offshore) or 6.31 TWh/year (fixed offshore). The solar thermal energy potential focused residential and service buildings (such as nursing homes, barracks, etc., tourism, hospitals, indoor swimming pools and other sports facilities). The potential is of 0.95 GWt and 0.95 TWh/year for service buildings, 7.26 GWt and 5.84 TWh/year for residential buildings. For industry there is a potential of 1.06 GWt, which could generate up to 1.15 TWh/year for applications up to 160 ºC. The total technical potential of solar thermal is 9.25 GWt and 7.93 TWh/year of thermal energy generated, with a substantial weight of residential buildings in the total value. Potential values are disaggregated by NUTS III and type of building. In terms of biomass and bioenergy potential, annual values of forest biomass, agricultural biomass, agro-industrial waste, urban waste and wastewater treatment are estimated, totaling around 58 TWh/year. Regarding the production of biofuels (HVO and FAME) it is estimated that the annual production of domestic used oils and other similar residues is 1.4 TWh/year. The use of oils from food crops such as soybean, sunflower and rapeseed is limited by European (and national) policy guidelines and is 2.1 TWh/year. Regarding wave energy, the resource potential is estimated between 1.4 GW for 80 m bathymetry and 4.8 for 20 m bathymetry. There are substantial uncertainties associated with the presented values, inherent to the methodological approach considered. Nevertheless, these estimates are a valuable starting point to be refined and improved in subsequent updates.
- Infraestrutura de investigação para a biomassa e a bioenergia: BBRI - Biomass and Bioenergy Research InfrastructurePublication . Reis, Alberto; Abreu, Mariana; Pacheco, Marta; Bernardo, Joana; Silva, R.; Domingues, Lucília; Teixeira, J.A.; Gírio, FranciscoRESUMO: A BBRI é a única Infraestrutura Nacional de Investigação em Biomassa e Bioenergia, que integra o Roteiro Nacional de Infraestruturas de Investigação de Interesse Estratégico em Portugal desde 2014, sendo distribuída por dois nós. O nó de Lisboa tem por base as infraestruturas laboratoriais e piloto existentes na Unidade de Bioenergia e Biorrefinarias (UBB) do Laboratório Nacional de Energia e Geologia (LNEG) e o nó de Braga, as infraestruturas laboratoriais e tecnológicas do Centro de Engenharia Biológica (CEB) da Universidade do Minho (UM). As atividades científicas da BBRI estão focadas nas tecnologias de conversão de biomassa para obtenção de biocombustíveis avançados, produtos não-energéticos de base biológica e outros biomateriais, inseridas em seis sub-plataformas de investigação (sub-RIs). O trabalho da BBRI nestas 6 sub-RIs encontra-se complementarmente organizado em atividades de formação, serviços e atividades de disseminação, visando a capacitação de novos profissionais em bioenergia sustentável e contribuindo para a excelência da investigação em Portugal no domínio da Bioenergia e Bioeconomia.
- Sustainable value methodology to compare the performance of conversion technologies for the production of electricity and heat, energy vectors and biofuels from waste biomassPublication . Moura, Patrícia; Henriques, José João M. Silva; Alexandre, Jorge; Oliveira, Ana Cristina; Abreu, Mariana; Gírio, Francisco; Catarino, JustinaABSTRACT: The Sustainable Value methodology was used to compare and rank eight combinations of waste biomass types and conversion technologies on a common assessment basis to produce energy, energy vectors and advanced biofuels. The studied combinations included agricultural and agro-industrial residues, slurries and effluents, pulp and paper mill sludge, piggery effluents and organic fractions of municipal solid waste, to produce biodiesel by (trans)esterification, biogas by anaerobic digestion, ethanol by fermentation, hydrogen by dark fermentation, electricity and heat by combustion, biogas and synthesis gas by gasification, and bio-oils by pyrolysis or hydrothermal liquefaction. The numerator “Functional Performance” of the Sustainable Value indicator was estimated according to 14 criteria of process technology, material and energy inputs and outputs, and acceptance by the stakeholders. The performance of the technologies was classified based on the values of relative importance (φ) and level of satisfaction (S) attributed to each criterion. The gasification of residues from the olive-oil industry reached the highest “Functional Performance”, followed by anaerobic digestion of chestnut processing residues and pig-rearing effluents. The Sustainable Value denominator “Costs” depended mainly on the degree of maturity of the technologies, which penalised pyrolysis, hydrothermal liquefaction and dark fermentation. The final ranking of the Sustainable Value indicator was gasification> combustion> anaerobic digestion> (trans)esterification> pyrolysis and fermentation to ethanol> hydrothermal liquefaction> dark fermentation, respectively for the most adequate waste biomass types under study. Thermochemical conversions were mainly impacted by process and input criteria, while output and social acceptance criteria were more decisive for the biochemical conversions.
- GIS-Based Model to Identify Marginal Soils for Bioenergy ProductionPublication . Abreu, Mariana; Reis, Alberto; Fernando, Ana Luisa; Quental, Lídia; Patinha, Pedro; Gírio, FranciscoABSTRACT: Energy crops are industrial species (woody, perennial, and annual species, among others) that can generate biofuels, energy, and bioproducts. Due to their tolerance, there is an interest to grow energy crops in marginal/contaminated/degraded soils, avoiding Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) burdens. Therefore, this study aims at the development and use of Geographic Information System (GIS) tools to spatially relate land-use selection and optimal species allocation, as an useful decision support systems (DSS), modelled to determine adequate marginal areas, inadequate for food and feed crops. ArcGIS software was used as a GIS tool, and parameters associated with areas considered to be marginal in mainland Portugal were identified. To identify marginal soils, it is necessary to know what type of criteria applies. It was considered the Regulation EU(1305)2013-Annex III, which details all the criteria and the respective parameters, that marginal soil should present being these, the base of this work. Considering all these criteria, a search in several databases was realized to collect the data that exist and how all these could be utilized to determine marginal soils in mainland Portugal. The maps obtained show that marginal soils in Portugal represent less than 10% of the territory.
- GIS-Based Model to Identify Marginal Soils for Bioenergy Production [Poster]Publication . Abreu, Mariana; Reis, Alberto; Fernando, Ana Luisa; Quental, Lídia; Patinha, Pedro; Gírio, Francisco