XII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2020

Renewable energy sources are one of the main ways of greening the agriculture and industry of countries. The use of biological waste, renewable biomass as a raw material for the production of heat and electricity allows us to solve the problem of saving fossil resources and reducing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. The article provides an overview of foreign and domestic experience in the production of heat from renewable energy sources, considers the issue of generating thermal energy from biomass and gives the statistics of heat production in the EU from alternative energy sources for 2018. A financial investment analysis is made of investments in the construction of biomass processing plants. The paper describes the types of the most common boilers and thermal power plants operating in biomass in Germany and gives driving factors and barriers to the alternative thermal power. The article also considers initiatives in the construction of Russian biogas plants operating on biomass.

Key words:biomass, renewable energy sources, heat production, alternative thermal energy.

Introduction.

In the EU countries, the development of the energy sector based on renewable energy sources becomes a state program. The European Commission and individual departments of EU countries created directives (development plans) and are taking concrete steps to implement these plans. In Russia, some steps are also being taken to develop the market for alternative heat power, but they are not regular. Meanwhile, the use of heat sources based on biomass is a very promising direction for the development of bioeconomics as a branch of the national economy as a whole. [5]. The purpose of our research is to review foreign and Russian information sources on the topic of "obtaining heat from biomass as a renewable energy source". Research methods - theoretical review of foreign language literature and comparative analysis of the technical and economic situation in Russia and Germany. These research methods are relevant for the development of professional competencies of top-level specialists in the field of agriculture. [6;7].

Research materials.

Heat from renewable energy sources (RES-T).

Heat is used in the residential, services and industry sectors of society for space heating and tap water production. Process heat is used in the industrial sector. Normally heat is produced by combustion of fossil fuels, but renewable energy sources can be used to provide heat with a low or neutral contribution to CO2 emissions.

In the RES-E Directive, the following definition of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) is applied:

“Renewable energy sources” shall mean renewable non-fossil energy sources (wind, solar, geothermal, wave, tidal, hydropower, biomass, landfill gas, sewage treatment plant gas and biogases).[5].

Renewable energy policy at EU level is based on the European Commission's White Paper for a Community Strategy and Action Plan. This strategy aims to double the share of renewable energies in gross domestic energy consumption across the EU from the present 6% to 12% by 2020, and includes a timetable of actions to achieve this objective. [4].

Not all renewable energy sources are equally suitable for providing heat. Of these renewable energy sources, only solar, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas, treatment plant gas, and biogas become available as heat (solar, geothermal) or are usually converted to heat. From these sources, landfill gas and waste water treatment gas are usually directly converted to electricity at the incineration site, while biogas is more often used for further processing.

The three main types of renewable energy sources for generating heat are: biomass, solar energy, and geothermal energy (including ambient heat from heat pumps). The Federal Agency for renewable energy (Germany) provides the following statistics on heat generation in the EU from alternative energy sources for 2018 (figure 1.)

Fig. 1. Heat from renewable energy sources in the EU for 2018. [1].

The following figure 2 shows the development of alternative thermal energy in the context of various sources in the EU countries for the period 2009-2018.

Figure 2. Heat from renewable energy sources in the EU: development. [1].

Public investment plays a significant role in the development of this industry. Figure 3 shows the financial investment analysis.

Fig. 3. investments In plants producing heat from renewable energy in 2017 [1].

As we can see, with a total financial investment of 3 billion Euro. The total investment in plants based on biomass processing amounted to 40% (2% - biomass boilers, 38% - small biomass boilers).

As for heat pumps, this is a somewhat inaccurate relation to renewable energy sources, since they still require the use of primary fossil energy (such as natural gas) or electricity in order to raise the surrounding heat to a useful temperature level. Therefore, some sources do not consider heat pumps as renewable energy applications, while other sources may refer to them as hybrid applications (partially renewable and non-renewable). The same applies to heat from waste incineration, which is often not considered a renewable energy source in a General sense, but certainly contributes to a sustainable energy situation and security of supply.

Let's take a closer look at the state of Affairs with the use of renewable energy Based on biomass in the EU.

Main market segments for biomass heat are:

- Small scale space-heating application of firewood in traditional stoves and open fireplaces: By far the largest market. Casual and unregulated character does not allow for reliable statistics. The decline of traditional rural lifestyles is threatening the informal structures of fuelwood use. Often low energy efficiency of 20-25% and questionable environmental merits. But cleaner and higher efficiency alternatives exist)

- Small scale space- and hot-water applications of modern biomass boilers. Emerging market (approx. 1 million installed in the EU). Fuel is usually pellets (with or without auto-feeder), wood logs, etc.. Energy efficiency in the 70-80% range (on l.h.v.14). Relatively clean combustion. Larger installations used for heating of flats.

- Larger scale: Dedicated biomass boilers for district heating (DH). Fuels are hay, grass, peat, wood. Sometimes biomass is combined with waste. Small part of DH installations, esp. in Scandinavia. Also an alternative in converting coal-fired DH plants. Smaller installations used for block heating. Possibly interesting alternative in the modernisation/decentralisation of DH-grids in NACs.15

- Larger scale: Industrial heating boilers (e.g. from waste products in their own production; paper and pulp industry, sawmills, etc.)

- Larger scale: District Heat from biomass-fired cogeneration (CHP) plants. In the EU-15 more than 70% of DH comes from CHP. Same considerations as above. In the NACs, the CHP share in DH can be as low as 25%.

- Large scale: Biomass as additional mixing-fuel in coal-fired power plants, which then use their waste heat for district heating. Emerging as ‘greening’ strategy of coal-fired plants. Example: Applications were filed in the Netherlands for 4 such projects, saving in total 1.8 Mton CO2.16 Most merits will go to RES-E, but a part should be partitioned to RES-H as a heat outlet.

- Large scale: Biomass conversion to solid, liquid, gaseous (bio)fuels, which can consequently be used to produce – amongst other things—heat. Examples are pellets (e.g. from biodegrable fraction of waste), liquid biofuels for cars or industrial heating systems and biogas (from landfill, sewage, etc.)

As mentioned, reliable statistics are difficult to obtain, as a large part of the biomass heat production has a ‘casual’ and unregulated character. An extra difficulty arises from heat of ‘waste incineration’, which in some countries is classified under RES and in others is not. [4].

Drivers and barriers

Important market drivers are:

Important market drivers are:

-The existence of a solid fuel or oil boiler tradition. The major boiler markets (Germany, France, UK and Italy) all have extensive gas networks. It is not likely that households with gas boilers will tend to switch to biomass fuel. More potential for biomass boilers is found in countries without gas networks.

-Relative prices between fossil fuels and biomass fuels. Rising fossil fuel prices have shown to have an positive impact on sales of biomass boilers.

-The availability of biomass fuels. Networks for wood log, chip and pellet distribution are growing, for instance sales of pellets at petrol stations.

-Existence of incentives for installation of biomass heating. In Denmark, government subsidies have significantly boosted biomass boiler sales.

An important barrier to the uptake of biomass boilers is the higher investment costs of biomass boilers compared to conventional boilers (although the running costs might be lower).

Rise in biomass boiler sales is mainly foreseen in the higher output capacity areas (block heating etc.) and located mostly in the new accession countries. However, Germany also has a large potential (sales are expected to triple in the coming years).[4].

State of the industry in Russia.

The first project of a biogas station started in Russia in 2009 was a biomass-based biogas station in the village of Doshino, Kaluga region. Biogas plants operate on the principle of anaerobic digestion: methane is released from organic raw materials under the action of bacteria. Then it is burned to generate electricity and heat. Organic fertilizers are obtained from "purified" raw materials. [3].

It is considered that biogas is made from manure. In practice, there are many more types of raw materials suitable for the production of biogas. This can be manure (both dense and liquid), waste from the food industry, food and feed residues, bard, pomace, biowaste from public services and other organic waste. Energy plants can be used for the production of biogas (they can be grown specifically for this purpose): corn, grain, sunflower, various herbs, beets, silage, and others.

All this goes into the bioreactor – a kind of tank with mixers. It is insulated and heated during operation. The production of biogas is possible only in the case when this device has an aerobic-anaerobic structure.

Biogas plants based on biomass (a key element of a biogas plant) have proved to be quite profitable both from an economic and environmental point of view.

In Russia, customers of biogas plants or consumers of their products are mainly agricultural enterprises. With the help of a biogas plant, they can reduce the environmental protection zone around livestock and poultry farms and reduce the cost of recycling harmful waste. This is especially true for poultry farms: thousands of tons of manure containing harmful substances make the soil unsuitable for living and processing for a long time. At the same time, Russian legislation provides for large fines for the disposal of harmful substances.

So, with the help of a biogas plant, the agricultural producer not only gets cheap electricity and heat, but also gets rid of waste.

Corporation "Biogazenergostroy" (the BHPP) has begun the construction of a biogas plant in the village Romodanovskaya (Mordovia). Nowadays this is the largest project in the field of bioenergy in Russia: the capacity of the station will be 4.4 MW.

As raw materials, the station will use waste from cattle and beet pulp, the press service of the Corporation reports. The main suppliers of raw materials are SPK "Romodanovsky", the nearby farms, as well as sugar factory. The heat generated at the plant is used for heating greenhouses located on nearby farms, as well as for drying and granulating organic fertilizers, which are a by-product of the biogas plant. The cost of construction of the station is 5-7 thousand euros per kilowatt. The total investment amount is 25-30 million Euro, provided of the Corporation "Biogazenergostroy" from their means, and with the involvement of Western funding. [2].

Conclusions: biomass processing is a very important vector of the heat and power industry. Environmental factors (saving of fossil resources, the need for recycling and waste disposal) play an indubitable role in its further development. Economic factors are not so great at the moment and the development is possible only with the support of state programs and active state subsidies.

References:

BASISDATEN BIOENERGIE DEUTSCHLAND 2019 : Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e. V. (FNR). URL: https://www.fnr.de/fileadmin/allgemein/pdf/broschueren/basisdaten_bioenergie_2019_web.pdf (accessed: 01.03.2019).

Construction of the largest biogas power plant in Russia (in Russian).URL:https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/20507/ (accessed 14.03.2020)

Electric power from biogas and application of biogas technology. (in Russian).URL:http://biogaz-russia.ru/ehlektroehnergiya-iz-biogaza/(accessed 14.03.2020)

Heat from Renewable Energy Sources. The RES-H initiative and related Directives: VHK nr. 332, 5 Sept. 2002. URL: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/clima/files/eccp/second/docs/renewable_energy_srcs_heat_en.pdf (accessed 14.03.2020)

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Zhuravleva N. N., Krasilshchik E. A. Foreign language as a resource for the development of professional competencies of students (in Russian) // UNESCO Values as the basis for the formation of cross-cultural space: collection of articles of the international scientific conference (July 2-5, 2018). – Kostroma: Kostroma state agricultural Academy, 2018. - P. 127-135.

Zhuravleva N. N., Krasilshchik E. A. Foreign language in the research work of students of Kostroma state agricultural Academy (in Russian) // Educational activity of the University in modern conditions. - Materials of the international scientific and methodological conference-Karavaevo: Kostroma gsha, 2016. - P. 13. URL: https://www.elibrary.ru/download/elibrary_26060089_75.. (accessed 14.03.2020).

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