Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Methane Production By A Packed-Bed Anaerobic Digester Fed Dairy Barn Flush Water, Sean Richard Thomson

Master's Theses

Packed-bed digesters are an alternative to covered lagoon digesters for methane production and anaerobic treatment of dilute wastewaters such as dairy barn flush water. The physical media of packed-beds retain biofilms, often allowing increased treatment rates. Previous studies have evaluated several types of media for digestion of dilute wastewaters, but cost and media fouling have setback commercial development. A major operational cost has been effluent recirculation pumping.

In the present effort, a novel approach to anaerobic digestion of flush dairy water was developed at pilot-scale: broken walnut shells were used as a low-cost packed-bed medium and effluent recirculation was replaced …

Potential To Increase Indigenous Biodiesel Production To Help Meet 2020 Targets – An Eu Perspective With A Focus On Ireland, Fionnuala Murphy

Fionnuala Murphy

The biofuels penetration rate target in Ireland for 2013 is 6% by volume. In 2012 the fuel blend reached 3%, with approximately 70 million litres of biodiesel and 56 million litres of ethanol blended with diesel and gasoline respectively. For January and February 2013, the blend rate had only reached 2.7%. The target of 10% by 2020 remains which equates to approximately 420 million litres. Achieving the biofuels target would require 345 ktoe by 2020 (14,400 TJ). Utilising the indigenous biofuels outlined in this paper leaves a shortfall of approximately 12,000 TJ or 350 million litres (achieving 17% of the …

Solvent System Selection For Xylooligosaccharides Separation By Centrifugal Partition Chromatography Using Conductor-Like Screening Model For Real Solvents, He Zhang

Open Access Theses

The production of value-added, bio-based industrial commodity chemicals is an important area in science right now and this study provides an initial step in the recovery of bio-based chemicals from hemicellulose. Hemicellulose is a long chain polymer mostly consisting of xylose, which is a five-carbon sugar, and a variety of other compounds that are ubiquitous in plant life. The hemicellulose polymer chain can be depolymerized into smaller components, called xylooligosaccharides (XOS) with different chain lengths of xylose linked by beta-1-4 glycosidic bonds, using either hot water, or dilute sulfuric acid. The xylooligosaccharides can then be purified from one another from …

Forest Biomass Supply Chains In Ireland: A Life Cycle Assessment Of Ghg Emissions And Primary Energy Balances, Fionnuala Murphy

Fionnuala Murphy

The demand for wood for energy production in Ireland is predicted to double from 1.5 million m3 over bark (OB) in 2011 to 3 million m3 OB by 2020. There is a large potential for additional biomass recovery for energetic purposes from both thinning forest stands and by harvesting of tops and branches, and stumps. This study builds on research within the wood-for-energy concept in Ireland by analysing the energy requirements and greenhouse gas emissions associated with thinning, residue bundling and stump removal for energy purposes. To date there have been no studies on harvesting of residues and stumps in …