Biofuels are an important tool in the fight against global warming. The Kyoto Protocol Target Achievement Plan adopted by the Japanese Cabinet in 2005 sets a target of an annual supply of transport-use biofuel equivalent to 500,000 kiloliters of crude oil to be introduced by the end of March 2011. Some groups consist of companies, universities and research institutes have started to disclose production technologies each other allowing stable and economical mass-production of bioethanol. In particular, the ultimate goal is to develop production-process technology by 2015 that will enable 200 thousand kiloliters of bioethanol-priced at 40yen per liter to compete with crude oil-to be produced annually. To this end, six companies jointly established a bioethanol research association, named the Research Association of Innovative Bioethanol Technology (RAIB), to research and develop full-scale production technologies for cellulosic bioethanol that does not affect the supply of materials for food.

View full abstract

Hydrothermal treatments of amylopectin (AP) and boiled rice in an acetic acid aqueous solution were carried out at 473K. The glucose yield increased with the increase of the concentration of acetic acid in an aqueous solution. The maximum yields of glucose after treatments of AP and boiled rice were obtained by using 0.39mol/L and 0.65mol/L concentration of acetic acid in an aqueous solution, respectively. After treatments, acetic acid and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural were recovered by extraction of the product solution with ethyl acetate.

View full abstract

Through a hot-compressed water (HCW) treatment of bamboo with two-step heating (130 and 200℃) using a percolator type reactor, hemicellulose in the bamboo was solubilized at 200℃. The solublized hemicellulose fraction was easily converted to xylose by enzymatic hydrolysis. The maximum yield was 85wt% on xylan base after digestion time 24h.

View full abstract

Xylitol has received great attention in the food and pharmaceutical industries because of its low caloric value and anticariogenic property. We examined the preparation of xylose from the culm of Kumaimazasa (Sasa senanensis), an important forest biomass in Hokkaido. The ground culms (42-80 mesh) were hydrolyzed with dilute sulfuric acid at 121℃ for 1h. In the range of sulfuric acid concentration studied (1 to 4%), the recovery yield of solubilized sugars increased with increasing sulfuric acid concentration. When the substrate was hydrolyzed with 2% sulfuric acid, 85% xylan present in the raw material could be recovered as xylose (corresponding to about 67% of solubilized sugar). An additional increase in the acid concentration resulted in a slight decrease in the xylose yield. It is known that furfural, methylfurfural, and low molecular phenols generate from cell-wall polysaccharides and lignin in the substrate during hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials at elevated temperatures. These substances are toxic to microorganisms, and inhibit the fermentation of xylose by yeast. The use of activated char was efficient in removal of these inhibitors from the hydrolysates.

View full abstract

Hydrolysis of crystalline celluloses with different crystalline polymorphs, cellulose I and III_I, was monitored using fungal cellobiohydrolases. When cellobiose production by cellobiohydrolases was compared between cellulose I and III_I, apparent hydrolytic advantage was observed in hydrolysis of cellulose III_I than that of cellulose I. The amount of high-affinity bound Trichoderma reesei Cel7A was increased on cellulose III_I, suggesting that strong interaction between cellulase and cellulose improves efficiency of saccharification.

View full abstract

A newly fabricated test furnace agricultural green house was examined, for was filled with 35,400g of combustible Japanese cedar, 3,400g of charcoal, 2,100g of chaff, and 1,700g of ash. Gas-exchanger was charged by 1.5 liter of a platinum catalyst (NM-103). The experiment was conducted using a furnace and a gas-exchanger. Concentration of carbon monoxide inside of the test furnace fluctuated in the range between 1,000ppm and 6,000ppm, and then abruptly increased to 9,500ppm on the 11th day. Carbon monoxide inside of the chimney stayed below 10ppm until the 9th day, and increased to 2,005ppm on the 10th day, then decreased. Carbon monoxide inside of the house remained in the range between 1ppm and 4ppm after ignition, and reached the highest point of 44ppm on the 11th day. The concentration then suddenly decreased. These abrupt changes of the carbon monoxide concentration presumably caused by the closed nature of the test furnace, in which the water contained in wood and other materials stayed at the bottom of the test furnace and penetrated the combustible materials and ash, thus leading to incomplete combustion. The odor level inside the house was 326 at maximum. This level, however, came from the sudden increase of odor caused by incomplete combustion before extinguishing, and it was not an odor intensity reflecting the odor of cultivated plants.

View full abstract

We are involved in a development of small-scale gasification and power generation system in order to constract a small scale dispersed power system suitable for the biomass circumstance in Japan. Our system has characteristics on gasification part and power generation part. Developed gasification process consists of two parts: pyrolysis part (rotary kiln) and char gasification part (downdraft gasifier) in order to handle various biomass with wide ranges in material size and shape and to produce gas with little amount of tar. Meanwhile, in our power generation part, we tried to apply a mass-manufactured automobile engine with our own control system and to secure high generation efficiency even though the produced gas calorie is low and variable. We performed pilot tests with gasification and power generation system. This report provides a progress of gasification and power generation tests and issues to be solved for commercialization.

View full abstract

In our previous report, transport phenomena in the rapid pyrolysis of woody biomass was investigated experimentally. From the results, the pyrolysis depends strong on the setting temperature and can be divided into three processes; i.e., i) evaporation of water, ii) decomposition of biomass and iii) decomposition of generated char. In this work, heat transfer in the biomass layer through the slow pyrolysis has been also investigated experimentally and theoretically. Secondary, the shrinking process of the biomass layer through the pyrolysis has been also investigated experimentally.

View full abstract

Catalytic decomposition of 480ppm toluene in 15vol.% H_2O/45vol.% H_2/He with limonite ores, which are mainly composed of α-FeOOH, has been studied with a fixed bed reactor. An unsupported limonite catalyst is quite active, and toluene conversion reaches almost 100% at 500℃. When the temperature is raised stepwise from 500℃ to 800℃, the reaction path changes from the hydrocracking to the steam reforming. A honeycomb-supported catalyst is also effective, and the conversion is almost 100% at 600℃. The XRD measurements after reaction at 700℃ show the presence of finely-dispersed metallic Fe, which is likely to account for the high performance of these catalysts.

View full abstract

Lignophenol is a lignin-derived biopolymer with various practical applications. The structure and the characteristics of lignophenol depend on the raw lignocellulosic material because of the variety of the lignin structures. In this study, hydrothermal decomposition of ligno-p-cresol derived from Douglas fir and Birch were conducted from 300 to 400℃ to cascade lignophenol and to finally convert to aromatic raw chemicals. With increasing temperature and reaction time, softwood lignophenol gave much more acetone-insoluble char. Hardwood lignophenol was depolymerized more rapidly to ether soluble compounds, however, the yields of monophenols were almost equal. Formic acid promoted depolymerization to ether soluble compounds for both species, while did not improve the production of monophenol. Addition of Na_2CO_3 was effective for the production of monophenols to give cresol and catechol. The yields of monophenols exceeded 20% for softwood and hardwood lignophenols.

View full abstract

Maintaining public green sites in urban area produces large quantities of biomass resources in the form of waste wood and grass. Their characteristics (moisture content, ash content, constituent element ratio, higher heating value and lower heating value) were measured to get helpful information to select an appropriate disposal method for prevention of global warming. The moisture contents of waste woods and grasses were in a wide range, it was guessed that the time elapsing from cutting to collecting strongly affected their moisture content. The importance of selecting an appropriate disposal method based on the real characteristics was pointed out.

View full abstract

Wood biomass supply was estimated with consideration of transport cost. First, the transport cost was obtained from several timber industries and then averaged for using this estimation. Second, wood biomass was spatially estimated using forest and timber statistics and digital data including road network and forest resource maps. Third, the maximum cost was set to \7,000/t-50%.o.b. in order to calculate wood biomass supply with efficient cost. Our analysis suggests that the area having high potential would be integrated to the 7 regions using current circumstance of transport cost.

View full abstract

In order to extract and utilize wood resources left in the forest, the logging cost and productivity by high performance machine were calculated using a simple numerical formula. And a simple and easy extraction method for volunteer workers was developed in the case where a logging cost is costly. By using these results, it is expected that stable supply of the wood resources is achieved.

View full abstract

This study aims to establish a potential biomass feedstock for year round operation system for biofuel production in cool regions. Harvesting time of four cool season grasses timothy (TI), reed canarygrass (RC), orchardgrass (OG) and tall fescue (TF) were combined with that of susuki (Miscanthus sinensis). The combination revealed that TI and RC were able to provide a monthly supply of 50,000t from June to October. Thereafter, M. sinensis was able to ensure similar amount from November to May, corresponding 18,500KL ethanol monthly production.

View full abstract

We introduce about "Sago" that habitat is Oceania, Melanesia, Polynesia and Southeast Asia. Sago has a much starch in the pith, concentration is over 50% (dry matter). Now, a part of Indonesian and Papuan people use it as a staple food. Sago starch was made in Malaysia and Indonesia and makes industrial method. The international price of Sago starch is cheaper than other starh crops, and wild sago plant are growing in new Guinea Island that mass will be huge by our research. We hope Sago as a biomass crop, but physicochemical information is less than other crop, so we present about Sago's physicochemical property.

View full abstract

Shiso City and NEDO developed a very small gasification and power generation system for waste from processing thinned wood. This system consists of a fixed-bed gasifier of up-draft type and LPG car engines connected with generators. Many troubles occurred at early stage operation, but they were overcome by improvements of the system. We report the troubles and their countermeasures, and the efficiencies of conversion from wood to product gas and power generation, which are obtained during stable operation of the system.

View full abstract

It reports on the outline of the experimental study of the methane fermentation that makes the food waste (garbage) generated in the store of MYCAL AKASHI a raw material and the operation situation of equipment. This is an experimental study of the collection and the use of electricity with biogas generation with the methane fermentation and a gas engine and the warm water. Solid garbage of the leftover, the cooking kudzu vine, and the unsold stuff commodity from each tenant and cooking processing place in commercial facilities was solubilized by aerobic solubilization device, and the system that installed the methane fermentation tank where granule had been used for steps afterwards was built in. Moreover it is the first attempt domestically that the food waste is made a raw material and power generation is executed by the methane fermentation at commercial complex.

View full abstract

Implementation of a new technology into local society often ends up with a failure due to the lack of management support. Our research aims at the development of community management system based on the use of woody biomass technology. To accomplish this goal, we began with modeling the local farmers' attitudes toward this new technology.

View full abstract

To development loca-area wood-biomass utilization system. We study on evaluation of the wood biomass energy utilization system in the area by comparing Economical cost, influence on regional economy by main usage in utilized a PEGASUS system.

View full abstract

Possibility of food industry on forest was investigated. The energetic sustainability for this system was also discussed, using by the energy balance ratio for income & expense.

View full abstract

Policy implications for establishing forest suitable to Japanese regional ecosystems and forestry, referencing to forest policy of Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany

View full abstract

To development method of Japanese forest utilization (to wise use for wood biomass energy), our research contents is listed below. 1. Forest road maintenance in Japan. 2. Forester System in Japan. 3. Forest Policy framework in Japan 4. Biomass utilization and Forest Policy..

View full abstract

In this study, aims to propose measures for plantation of waste lands, following field research are done in Rombok Islands Indonesia. 1. Study on forest carbon sink mensuration. 2. Study on biomass and potential nutrient removal by harvesting. 3. Study on useful species to planting for production of raw material for bio-fuel.

View full abstract

NPO and Regional Government Studies Course of Ryukoku University has developed a new curriculum called "Environmental Management System", which uses a web-based environmental policy simulator "the PEGASUS system". With the scientific data and simulation (on the use of local renewable energy), the students are expected to develop holistic mentality and attitudes as well as practical skills and knowledge in environmental policy formation. This article explores, with the findings from the development and practice of the curriculum, a future direction of local policy coordination on global warming.

View full abstract

The U.S. corn based-bioethanol production has been impacted from world petroleum price and corn price. With high oil price and low corn price, corn-based bioethanol can be very profitable. In many periods, corn-based bioethanol facilities have been able to operate without blender credit. U.S. government should consider introducing variable blender credit system.

View full abstract

Experimental study of thermoelectric power generation by pellet stove was performed. The system is presented combining both thermoelectric power and a great deal of thermal energy utilizing pellet stove and solar-light and -thermo hybrid power system.

View full abstract

To efficiently prepare dry wood chips from very wet chips, a dewatering system using mechanical compression was manufactured. Under 20MPa of compression, the moisture content (dry basis) of Japanese cedar chips decreased from 100-270% to 85-130%. For Japanese cedar chips, the energy required to remove water was less than 20% of that required by thermal drying. However, little dewatering effect was observed for Japanese cedar bark and other chips with less than 100% of initial moisture contents.

View full abstract

In using the west-oil, SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil) is a direct use of oil for energy without esterification by methanol like FAME. The main problem of SVO is higher viscosity than that of FAME. The viscosity of SVO under the various conditions of heating and kerosene-dilution is studied, in order to decrease the viscosity. We found a linear relationship between kerosene-dilution and logarithmic viscosity(log η). On the contrary, the linearity is not so good between temperature and log η that the gradient of the curve becomes steeper in high viscosity region. But in narrow viscosity region, approximate linearities were found for all kinds of west oils practically.

View full abstract

We examined the dissolution of polystyrene into cyclic monoterpenes present in tree essential oils, in order to develop an environmentally friendly shrinking agent for expanded polystyrene. The relationship between chemical structure of the monoterpenes and their dissolution power for polystyrene was studied through the solubility parameter (δ) and the apparent activation energy (E_a) for dissolution. (R)-Limonene and its structure isomers on a C=C bond have high solvent power for polystyrene. Their favorable solubility was explained by the solubility parameter. The occurrence of hydroxyl group in a solvent molecule, such as terpinen-4-ol, reduced the affinity for polystyrene. Bicyclic monoterpenes and 1,8-cineole, which have a sterically bulky structure, showed a limited dissolution power even though they have similar solubility parameters to that of (R)-limonene. Their bulky structures would interfere with the permeation of solvent into polystyrene matrix. Cyclic monoterpenes and polystyrene are recovered almost quantitatively by steam distillation of the polystyrene solution.

View full abstract

As for the majority in the energy source, the fossil fuel is used now. However, there is a limit in the fossil fuel, and the energy source that replaces it is needed. We paid attention to biogas as alternative energy. In this research, The power generation experiment of SOFC by biogas was conducted by using SOFC as a device that was able to use biogas effectively. As a result, biogas was able to obtain the electric power more than the city gas. However, the calorific value of biogas is lower than the calorific value of the city gas. Whether it results similarly when the material that composes the fuel cell is changed will be investigated in the future.

View full abstract

This poster shows the experimental results of the small scale pilot plant of solid-liquid biomass reactor. Methane fermentation reactor is made of flexible gas-nonpermeable sheets. Straws of rice, straws of barly and weeds are used as raw materials. These roughly cut biomass materials are premixed with methane fermentation bacterias solution, fermentation support bacterias mixture and nutrient materials of bacterias. This premixed materials were filled up the fermentation reactor as the packed bed which was covered by flexible gas-nonpermeable sheets. The methane fermentation proceeded by recycling water to packed bed. The experiment was continued during summertime when mean room temperature was above 22℃ without temperature control. Methane gas was produced 2.6m^3 from 24kg raw materials. This means about 26% of raw materials were decomposed. The decomposition of raw materials can increase by temperature control 25〜35℃ and longer operating time. The economical large scale plant can be designed easily by use of flexible sheets. This method can provide the low cost production of methane gas and compost and also contribute the global CO2 gas reduction.

View full abstract

In this paper, we examined the change in enzymatic activities under various conditions, aerobic, anaerobic controls and in bioelectrochemical reactors with electrodes of surface areas of 4x2cm^2 and 4x8cm^2 for the hydrogen production from glycerol. For most of enzymatic reactions examined, the enzymatic activities belonged to TCA cycle, which is concerned with respiration, were higher in bioelectrochemical reactors than those under the anaerobic condition. This result suggested that TCA cycle would run in bioelectrochemical reactors even under the anaerobic condition, and produce larger reducing equivalents to produce current and hydrogen.

View full abstract

The radioactive waste generated during the nuclear fuel procession contains substantial amount of platinoids like Palladium, Rhodium, and Ruthenium. Interestingly, the half lives of their isotopes are relatively very short and the radioactivity of some long half life isotopes is weak enough for various applications. However, the coexistence of highly radioactive isotopes of other elements is the big obstacle for their selective separation. The concentration Palladium in this complex mixture is about 2000ppm. More importantly 83% of Palladium is in stable form and the remaining 17% radioactive isotopes ^<107>Pd possesses poor intrinsic radioactivity. In order to recover this valuable resource, Cedar wood powder (CWP) was modified to thiamide type adsorbent and was studied for the separation of Pd(II) from nitric acid medium.

View full abstract

In an attempt to fast and easy preparation of gold nanoparticles, aqueous extract of Japanese Cedar Wood Powder (CWP) was used as a Au(III) reducing agent as well as the nanoparticle stabilizer. A mixture of CWP-extract and Au(III) solution yielded gold nanoparticles of <50nm. However, after certain time span the particles were coagulated. When the extract was irradiated by γ-rays, it developed the stabilizing property as well. The UV-VIS study revealed the optimum irradiation dose for the required stability and high yield. TEM images show that particles of truncated triangular and hexahedral geometry exist in abundance.

View full abstract

Japanese cypress wood flour pretreated by hydrothermal treatment and ball mill was saccharified with enzyme. The residual wood flour was carbonized and activated to provide adsorbents for POPs (persistent organic pollutants) removal. The adsorption properties were investigated with pore analysis and adsorption tests for Co-PCB in hexane solution.

View full abstract

Decomposition behavior of each part of oil palm residue (EFB, fiber, trunk, frond) using a hot-compressed water (HCW) flow type reactor at 200℃ was examined. Approximately, 40〜60mg% of the samples was decomposed. Particularly, Most of hemicellulose was solubilized, while most of cellulose remained in the residue. These behaviors did not depend on feed materials. However, in case of lignin, solubilization ratio depended on them. That is, lignin in Trunk and Frond was easy to solubilize in comparison with that in EFB and Fiber.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study is the development of environmentally-friendly pretreatment for ethanol production from lignocellulose. Hot compressed water-treatments (HCWT) in two kinds of the mixed solvent (water (W)/ethanol (EtOH)/acetic acid (A), and W/ethylene glycol (EG)/A) were investigated, respectively, for the enzymatic hydrolysis of Japanese cypress in this study. It was found that ball milling need in the HCWT using W/EtOH/A. The suitable conditions of the pretreatments were as follows; at 140℃ in W/EtOH/A (25/75/1 in-feed weight ratio); at 170℃ in W/EG/A (25/75/1 in-feed weight ratio), respectively.

View full abstract

Water hyacinth is known to grow rapidly, and thus is expected as bioenergy source. A large amount of water hyacinth has to be disposed of in south Asian countries, because it prevents smooth transportation in the river. To utilize this water hyacinth, effectiveness of collaborating hydrothermal pretreatment and cellulase treatment has been confirmed. In this study effects of target temperature, particle size and initial pressure are investigated with the use of water hyacinth. Reaction parameters are determined.

View full abstract