SUPERGEN Bioenergy Hub Extension

Completed

Renewable Energy Sources(Bio-Energy, Applications for heat and electricity)
Renewable Energy Sources(Bio-Energy, Production of transport biofuels (incl. Production from wastes))
Renewable Energy Sources(Bio-Energy, Production of other biomass-derived fuels (incl. Production from wastes))
Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Environmental, social and economic impacts)
Renewable Energy Sources(Bio-Energy, Other bio-energy)

Basic and strategic applied research

BIOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES (Biological Sciences)
BIOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES (Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting
Systems Analysis related to energy R&D
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Environmental dimensions)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Other sociological economical and environmental impact of energy)

Prof P Thornley
Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering
University of Manchester

Standard

EPSRC

01 August 2017

30 September 2018

14 months

£756,074

Energy

North West

Energy : Energy

Prof P Thornley, Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester

Professor AV Bridgwater, Sch of Engineering and Applied Science, Aston University
Dr JM Jones, Energy Resources Research Unit, University of Leeds
Dr MC McManus, Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath
Professor M Pourkashanian, Energy Resources Research Unit, University of Leeds
Dr M Roeder, Sch of Engineering and Applied Science, Aston University
Dr I Shield, Plant and Invertebrate Ecology Division, Rothamsted Research
Professor A Williams, Energy Resources Research Unit, University of Leeds

Project Contact, Terravesta
Project Contact, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute
Project Contact, Coppice Resources Ltd

Every year the UK produces millions of tonnes of waste which is landfilled. There are over over ( )Mt waste wood alone produced in the UK each year. In addition there are large areas of land (e.g. disused landfill sites, coal-mines and water treatment facilities where energy crops could be grown to add remediation and improve land quality. It is well known that fast growing species such as willlow are efficient at sequestering heavy metals and other contaminants from the ground. When the crops are harvested the contamination is effectively transformed from a dispersed contamination on land to a much more concentrated form in the crop. Energy can then be extracted from the crop and the residues from the conversion process are easier to manage than the original dispersed contamination. However, care must be taken to ensure that the contaminated components are sequestered rather than being released to air, water or land in a way that could have negative environmental impacts.This work will study existing and new plantations of energy crops to evaluate their utility in remediating land and the net environmental impact of this approach. We will also monitor the behavrour of the envrionmental contaminants in a range of different conversion processes to establish the pathway they take under different conditions. This is important for evaluating the environmental impact of the system but it also provides useful information for engineers charged with designing the conversoin plant, so that they know how to adjust process conditions, materials and predict any changes in performance associated with the waste fuel. The focus of this work is energy crops grown on contaminated land. However, its application is much wider than that. The UK has a limited amount of land that can be used to provide renewable bioenergy. However, a vast quantity of wastes are produced that could sustainably deliver energy. In order to do this sustaianbly and effiiciently it is impmortant that engineers have access to data on how the contaminants in waste behave during conversion and this proejct will provide that, allowing more efficient design, lower environmental impact and supporting industrial deployment of these facilities

11/02/19