Resources

Non renewable

• Oil
• Coal
• Nuclear
• Natural gas

Renewable

• Sun (solar)
• Wind
• Hydropower
• Tidal
• Geothermal
• Biomass

https://www.dreamstime.com/illustration/fossil-fuels.html https://www.inspirecleanenergy.com/blog/clean-energy-101/types-of-renewable-energy-sources
 Difference between Non-renewable and renewable sources
Non-Renewable sources Renewable sources
Reduction Non-renewable resources reduce over time Renewable resources cannot be reduced over
time
Sources Coal, Oil, Natural gas and nuclear Solar, water, wind, geothermal, tidal and biomass.

Environmental Non-renewable energy has a comparatively higher Most renewable resources have low carbon
Impact carbon footprint and carbon emissions footprint and low carbon emissions
Cost Non-renewable energy has a comparatively lower The upfront cost of renewable energy is high. -
upfront cost. – Economically viable Expensive
Infrastructure Cost-effective and accessible infrastructure is Infrastructure for harvesting renewable energy is
available for non-renewable energy across most prohibitively expensive and not easily accessible
countries in most countries
Area Comparatively lower area requirements Requires a large land/ offshore area, especially for
wind farms and solar farms
 Biomass - Advantages
• Plant derived materials; ~170 Billion metric tons/year - 4% used for human
• Vast availability and structural diversity
• Reasonable growth period
• Variable functionalities; Variable physical properties
• Renewable in nature
• Environmentally friendly
• Waste reduction
• Extremely low emission of greenhouse gases
• Less net carbon emission
• Growing variety of crops increases bio-diversity
• Helps to develop economies by promoting agrarian communities
• Increase in jobs & trade balances due to lesser dependence on foreign resources
3
 Biomass - Generations

Edible biomass

Non-edible biomass

Algal biomass

Breakthrough
(engineered algae)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1755008418303259 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13399-020-01061-w
 Biomass – In India
• India’s has a total geographical area of 328 million hectares (Mha) out of which the net
cropped area accounts for 43% i.e. 140 Mha
• As per the estimates India generates ~700-800 Million Tonnes of Biomass Waste from
different crops

• Ministry of Power announced the Policy for Biomass Utilization for

Power Generation through co-firing in Pulverized Coal fired Boilers
• An advisory was issued by Central Electricity Authority for utilization
of Biomass in Coal Based Power Plants to an extent of 10%
• Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) clarified that the
Power Generated from co-firing of biomass in thermal power plants
is renewable and is eligible for meeting Non-Solar Renewable
Purchase Obligations (RPO)

Source: MNRE; data: 3rd EU-India Conference on Advanced Biofuels, New Delhi, 2020
 Biofuels

Advantages:
Disadvantages:
• Easy to source
• Higher cost
• Renewable
• Shortage of food
• Reduce greenhouse gases
https://doi.org/10.3390/su15076180 • Water use
• Reduce dependency of foreign energy
 Biodiesel
Transesterification

➢ Fatty acid alkyl esters (FAAE) are

called biodiesel
➢ FAAE also used in the synthesis of
lubricants, oleo chemicals, polymers
and surfactants
➢ Glycerol – building block chemical
Fatty acid
Triglycerides Methanol Glycerol
methyl esters (FAME)

Transesterification

Supercritical
Acid catalysis Enzyme catalysis Base catalysis
conditions ➢Homogeneous base catalysts
(NaOH / KOH) are using for
Homogeneous Heterogeneous Homogeneous Heterogeneous
industrial production
 Bioethanol
• Ethanol is an alchohol (CH3CH2-OH)
• Bioethanol is used mostly as an additive to gasoline
(petrol)
• Engines capable of burning pure or anhydrous
ethanol are now available and coming into
increasing use
• Bioethanol has been introduced on a large scale in
several countries, for example, in Brazil, the United
States, and some European countries such as
Sweden
• Currently, most bioethanol is produced using Process flow diagram of bioethanol production
starch- or sugar-based production from wheat, from sugar, starch, and cellulose
corn, or sugar cane (first-generation bioethanol).

Production of Ethanol from Glucose

Glucose can be converted directly into ethanol in a
hermetically sealed environment through
fermentation with yeast
 Bio-oil
• Bio-oils (pyrolysis oil) are mainly brown, free-flowing liquid that have different chemical compositions, such as acids,
aldehydes, etc.
• Bio-oil is a homogeneous mixture of (i) an aqueous phase consisting of low-molecular- weight, oxygenated organic
compounds and (ii) a oil phase consisting of high-molecular-weight oxygenates, aromatics, and polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons
• Compared with petroleum fuel oil, bio-oils have limitations, such as high water content, viscosity, ash content, low heating
value, low pH values, and poor ignition and combustion properties restrict direct use as transportation fuels
• Bio-oil upgradation - improved properties for exploration as liquid fuel

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165237017305697
 Biogas
• Biogas is a renewable gas produced from waste sources (e.g. manure, municipal waste, etc.)
• Gases produced by naturally (soil) or industrially (anaerobic digestion)
• Wetland soils are the main natural source of methane. Other sources include oceans, forest soils,
termites, and wild ruminants
• Biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion with anaerobic organisms or methanogens inside an anaerobic
digester or a bioreactor

Compound Formula Percentage by volume

Methane CH4 50–80
Carbon dioxide CO2 15–50
Nitrogen N2 0–10
Hydrogen H2 0–1
Hydrogen sulfide H2S 0–0.5
Oxygen O2 0–2.5

Source: www.kolumbus.fi, 2007

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Biogas.jpg
 Syngas
• Synthesis gas (also known as syngas) is a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) - 30 to 60% and hydrogen (H2) –
25 to 30%
• Syngas often contains carbon dioxide (CO2) – 5 to 15% and methane (CH4) – 0 to 5%
• Produced by steam reforming or partial oxidation of natural gas or liquid hydrocarbons, or coal gasification

https://www.syngaschem.com/
https://www.wastetoenergysystems.com/syn-gas-a-versatile-and-renewable-fuel/
Biomass to Liquid (BtL) fuels