Team:UESTC-China/project introduction
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Energy crisisWith the continuous development and utilization of energy, the earth's energy storage is crisis. Energy consumption of coal, oil and other non renewable energy sources has not yet found a perfect substitute. A large number of energy consumption has seriously threatened the sustainable development of today's society. When we keep looking for clean energy, a large amount of energy was wasted because of our improper operations. So We have to reuse the often neglected wastes of our lives and turn them into the energy we consume . The straw is a waste material with a lot of wealth.
Figure 1. World energy structure
Figure 2. World energy structure -
The status of strawThe production of straw is accompanied by the production of all kinds of some essential crops in our lives. The straw is determined by the large amount of food needed. Take corn as an example, according to FAO statistics, global corn production in 2016 was approximately 1060 million tons [2]. Every kilogram of harvested grain produces 1.2 kg of corn stalks, giving an estimate global corn straw production is 1272 million tons in 2016.
Figure 3. corn stalk production around the worldHow to use the large amount of corn stalks produced every year is a serious problem.However, emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from the on-site combustion of corn residues demonstrates that we don’t make use of these treasure. Much of straw are left or burnt in the field. This leads to the release of methane and airborne carbon particulate matter, which can have adverse effects on human health and climate change caused by regional atmospheric phenomena. Biogas production and returned to field is not the best choice. Therefore, in order to improve the utilization rate of straw resources, we decide to use it to produce clean energy. -
Clean energy comparison and selectionMore long-term application of straw to produce clean energy, the most mature technology at present is the production of ethanol[3][4]. But there are still many problems in the application process of ethanol gasoline. For example, ethanol can easily lead to liquid phase delamination and thus affect the use, and the engine can easily accumulate carbon [5] and cause engine damage.
Hydrogen and butanol respectively belong to the new gas and liquid fuel, which are important research directions of new clean energy. The carbon chain of butanol is longer and the calorific value and boiling point are higher than that of ethanol. Moreover, the calorific value of butanol is very close to that of gasoline, higher than that of methanol and ethanol. So butanol has better fuel economy [6]. And the use of butanol gasoline is not like ethanol gasoline it will not cause engine damage [7] [8]. Pure hydrogen fuel is carbon-free and has zero-emission. So if the engine is converted to hydrogen fuel, it will greatly expand the range of engine premixed combustion, improve fuel economy and reduce nitrogen oxide emissions [6]. Therefore, in our project, straw are selected as the research object, and the glucose of the straw is converted into clean energy such as butanol and hydrogen in subsequent treatment.
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References[1]https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/en/corporate/pdf/energy-economics/statistical-review/bp-stats-review-2018-full-report.pdf[2]Food and Agricultural commodities production. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.[3] Yu J, Shi K, Wang S, Xu Z, Zhai R, Wen Z, jin M. Research progress of straw distribution and conversion of fuel ethanol production in China. Biotechnology.[4] P. Alvira, E. Tomás-Pejó, M. Ballesteros, M.J. Negro. 2010 Jul. Pretreatment technologies for an efficient bioethanol production process based on enzymatic hydrolysis: A review. Bioresour Technol, 101(13):4851-61.[5] Han X，Qin J, Pei Y，Wang L，Zhou J. 2016. Formation of GDI Injector Deposit from Different Fuels. Journal of Combustion Science and Technology, 236-240.[6] Peng S，Zhang J，Ma Y，Zhao H，Huo W. 2015. Numerical Simulation of Combustion of Butanol Mixed Hydrogen. Science & Technology Vision.[7] Zang J, Zhu R, Zhang D, Sun Y, Lin M. 2016. Experimental research on performance of engine fueled with ethanol /gasoline and butanol/gasoline blend. Journal of Heilongjiang Institute of Technology, 8-11.[7] [8] Wagner Roberto da Silva Trindade, Rogério Gonçalves dos Santos. March 2017. Review on the characteristics of butanol, its production and use as fuel in internal combustion engines. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 642-651.
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