Maritime University of Szczecin
Akademia Morska w Szczecinie
2010, 24(96) pp. 17–24 2010, 24(96) s. 17–24
Rapeseed biomass – a renewable source of energy – current
state and development perspectives
Biomasa rzepakowa odnawialnym źródłem energii – stan
obecny i perspektywy rozwoju
Ruta Leśmian-Kordas, Milena Bojanowska
Maritime University of Szczecin, Faculty of Economics and Transport Engineering
Institute of Transport Engineering, Department of Commodities Science and Quality Management Akademia Morska w Szczecinie, Wydział Inżynieryjno-Ekonomiczny Transportu
Instytut Inżynierii Transportu, Zakład Towaroznawstwa i Zarządzania Jakością 70-507 Szczecin, ul. H. Pobożnego 11, e-mail: m.bojanowska@am.szczecin.pl
Key words: biomass, agricultural residues, rape seed, co-firing, biochar Abstract
In the article there have been presented the current state and perspectives in the scope of using rapeseed biomass, with particular consideration of solid biodegradable by-products of the technology of obtaining oils- -expellers and rapeseed meal. Rapeseed biomass has been characterised with respect to its technological properties essential in combustion processes, both after conversion into bio-char and bio-oil and with respect to its raw, unprocessed form. The reasonableness of applying this kind of agrobiomass in co-combustion with minable fuels has been shown, resulting from conditions of agricultural production, increasing rapeseed production and by-products, with their incomplete use in the land, in view of the obligatory increased participation of biomass in the structure of fuels applied for producing electric and heat energy. The current state of agrobiomass supply logistics to the boiler plant has been analysed, pointing out its significance in shaping demand satisfaction for biomass using rapeseed waste products.
Słowa kluczowe: biomasa, uboczne produkty rolne, rzepak, współspalanie, biowęgiel Abstrakt
W artykule przedstawiono stan obecny oraz perspektywy w zakresie wykorzystania biomasy rzepakowej, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem stałych biodegradowalnych produktów ubocznych technologii otrzymywania olejów – wytłoków oraz śruty rzepakowej. Scharakteryzowano biomasę rzepakową pod kątem jej właściwo-ści technologicznych istotnych w procesach spalania, zarówno po konwersji do biowęgla i bioleju, jak rów-nież w odniesieniu do jej postaci surowej, nieprzetworzonej. Wykazano racjonalność stosowania tego rodzaju agrobiomasy w procesach współspalania z paliwami kopalnymi, wynikającą z uwarunkowań produkcji rolni-czej, wzrastającej produkcji rzepaku oraz produktów pochodnych, przy ich niepełnym wykorzystaniu w kra-ju, wobec obligatoryjnego zwiększania udziału biomasy w strukturze paliw stosowanych do wytwarzania energii elektrycznej i cieplnej. Przeanalizowano aktualny stan logistyki dostaw agrobiomasy do kotłowni, wskazując na jej znaczenie w kształtowaniu stopnia zaspokojenia popytu na biomasę z wykorzystaniem od-padowych produktów rzepakowych.
Introduction
Restricted resources of minable fossil energy stimulate search and development of renewable energy sources potential (RES)1 in various regions
of the world. Huge amounts of energy and heat resources are considered to be cumulated in the
biomass, apart from electrical and thermal energy obtained from water, wind and solar power plants.1
1 All other energy sources than those coming from
mine-ral sources (coal, crude oil, natumine-ral gases) are termed renewable energy sources.
The biomass is a renewable energy source ob-tained from all organic materials produced by man in all kinds of activity. It is a complex mixture of organic substances like carbohydrates, fats and proteins, considered currently as the main potential renewable energy source, partly replacing the non- -renewable resources, fossil fuels, and it is pre-dicted that in future it will play the most important role in energy production systems.
According to latest estimates [1] the largest, amounting to about 64% share of energy production from biomass comes from forest biomass (wood and waste), next from solid communal waste (24%) and successively from adventitious agricultural products (5%) and landfill gases – 5%, it being essentially methane coming from rubbish landfills and dumps.
Among the large variety of biomass, the agro-biomass is the most attractive, due to natural envi-ronment protection, in particular to balanced CO2,
resulting from absorption of carbon dioxide coming from combustion processes by growing plants caused the process of photosynthesis. This is the main reason for growing interest in recent years in the possibility of using agricultural sources of renewable energy. It follows from prognostic research [1] that by 2050 the share of biomass in the general amount of energy produced will equal from 10 to 50%.
The following primary and secondary biomass is counted among agrobiomass used for obtaining “green energy”: maize (seed and cobs) and other crops (in the form of straw pellets and briquettes, biogas from ensilages, ethanol from grain), potatoes (dried potato pulp, ethanol), sugar beets (dried beet pulp and molasses, by-products of the sugar indus-try, rape (all parts of this plant, processing products in gaseous, fluid and solid-loose state, pellets and briquettes and seed pollutants), sun-flowers (pellets from sunflower husks), dried fruit, pellets and briquettes from millet husks and barley dust [2, 3, 4, 5].
The trend of diminishing animal farms and resulting oversupply, apart from other things, also speaks for using the variety of agrobiomass for energy purposes. Using agrobiomass is particularly advantageous in comparison with obtaining heat from burning e.g. fine coal (culm) in large agricul-tural enterprises, which have this kind of biomass and own means of transport.
Knowledge and experience of domestic farmers in the scope of the agricultural science of rape and maize growing are factors giving preference to mainly those plants in developing existing
waste-lands, equalling about 1 500 000 hectare, destined for combustion for energy purposes.
Legal regulations in Poland in the scope of using biomass
Gaining energy independence by Poland, increase in prices of energy coming from mineral sources, as also the obligation imposed by the EU to limit CO2 emission from burning fossil fuels, are
the factors initiating search for new energy sources. Currently, among renewable energy sources the following are counted, according to the Regulation by the Minister of Economy [6]:
electric energy or heat coming from: water and wind power plants, from sources producing energy from biomass and biogas, from photo-voltaic solar cells and collectors for producing heat from geothermal sources;
part of energy recovered from thermal transfor-mation of communal waste.
The biomass is defined as [6] “solid and liquid substances of plant or animal origin that are subject to biodegradation, originating from products, wastes and agricultural and woodland production residues, and also the industry processing their products, including parts of remaining wastes that are subject to biodegradation”. There are distin-guished the “woodland” biomass (group I) origi-nating from woodland production, and “extra- -woodland” biomass (group II) originating from energy plantations2 or wastes and agricultural
production residues or from the industry processing their products that are subject to biodegradation.
According to the regulation, the following are distinguished among energy producers:
production units, in which biomass or biogas are burnt in common with other fuels (called co-firing);
production units with hybrid systems3;
production units in which exclusively biomass is burnt.
2 Energy plantations: “plantations established to make
use of the biomass originating from them in the process of energy production” [6].
3 Hybrid system: “production unit producing electric
energy or electric energy and heat, in which in the process of energy production energy carriers are used produced separately in renewable energy sources and in energy sources other than renewable, working on a common collector and expended in common in this production unit to produce electric energy or heat” [6].
Moreover, in accordance with a world-wide trend, gradual replacement of forest biomass with agricultural biomass is preferable. The combustion of “extra-woodland” biomass, also called agricul-tural, according to the regulation mentioned (2008) is binding for all energy enterprises that have been pre-occupied with electric or thermal energy turn-over since 2010.
Development conditions for rape biomass production in Poland
Rape ranks third in the world as to size of oil plants cultivation. Total world rape seed production equalled 2005 46.2 Mt [4]. Previously the plant was grown first of all due to the valuable source of high-value edible rapeseed oil, whose content in oil plant seeds amounts to about 40%, and due to ex-pellers4 and rapeseed meal, obtained as by-product
in the production process of this oil, constituting high-protein (from 27–39% protein) fodder mixture components. As fodder, doubly improved (00) rape can also be applied in unprocessed form.
Currently, rape is counted among important energy plants. Rape seeds and their pollutants, stalks, roots and also procession products, rapeseed oil esters, expellers and rapeseed meal, glycerol phase, rape biogas can be used in energy production technologies, replacing minable energy. Products obtained from rape have been presented in figure 1. Apart from products mentioned, rapeseed oil is expected to be used to obtain engine oils, gear oils and anti-corrosion lubricants with more favourable properties than those of mineral origin [8].
The multi-faceted application of rape procession products indicates the necessity to conduct policy favouring development in the scope of its cultiva-tion. The cultivation area of winter and spring rape amounts to 800 000 ha, which constitutes almost 95% of total oil plants crops in Poland. The annual production of rape and oil-yielding rape amounted to 2 400 000 t in 2009, i.e. 13.9% more than in 2008 [9], which does not ensure, however, making full use of the procession capacities of the oil indus-try. Taking this fact into consideration, as also the state and possibilities of the agro-refinery industry, it is estimated that only to satisfy the oil industry and agro-refinery it is necessary to increase the rape cultivation area in Poland by three times.
4 Expellers – acc. to standard “PN-80/R-64773 Loose
fodders. Rapeseed meals and oil plants expellers” are “oil plants residues obtained in their procession con-sisting in pressing oil out of them and fats in presses in continuous process”[7].
while, by 2013 production is expected to increase merely up to 3 000 000 t [9].
In the cultivation of mainly winter rape there dominate the provinces: West-Pomeranian, Great Poland, Lower Silesia, Cuiavian-Pomeranian, Opo-le and Warmia-Masurian. Generally, the private sector is preoccupied with rape cultivation (about 90%), therein 50% individual farms. The small part of farms capable of conducting large-scale rape cultivation is caused by large fragmentation of farms in Poland. A positive example is provided by huge rape plantations in the vicinity of Grudziądz, taking about 50% of total cultivated area, whose imitation might largely increase the growth dyna-mics of rape cultivation in Poland [9]. Another factor limiting the use of rape for energy purposes is also the relatively high price of seeds of this plant, resulting mainly from high fodder require-ments (high fertilisation cost), exceeding twice the requirements for, say, cultivation of cereals, as also the highest among agriculturally grown main kinds of plants negative reaction to weediness, diseases and pests, capable of causing even 40% of losses.
Decreasing rape production costs requires the application of [10]:
suitable agrotechnical procedures, increasing fertilisation effectiveness (e.g. optimisation of soil reaction);
fertilisation with waste products (e.g. sewage settlements);
proper prophylaxis and methods of fighting diseases and pests;
new kinds of rape hybrids, yielding in result of heterosis crops 20–30% higher than those grown currently;
harvest technology minimising losses;
rapeseed
pellets, loose expellers and rapeseed meal used as fodder components pellets, loose expellers and rapeseed
meal used as RES
rape straw for energy purposes pollutants recovered from rapeseed edible rapeseed oil
rapeseed oil esters – biofuel (biodiesel) rapeseed oil for ecological productions,
biodegradable lubricants, paints, varnishes and floor coverings glycerol phase obtained in the process
of rapeseed oil transestrification chemical products
rapeseed biogas Rape
Fig. 1. Products obtained from rape Rys. 1. Produkty otrzymywane z rzepaku
low-cost seed-drying processes;
proper infrastructure and monitoring conditions of storage, preventing changes in rapeseed quality, manifesting in increases seed mass tem-perature (self-heating), increased PV and AV (as result of oxidation and hydrolysis process to free fat acids), loss of liquidity up to caking and being overcome by microorganisms.
Production and properties of expellers and rapeseed meal
Expellers and rapeseed meal, frequently termed by the common name “rapeseed cake”, constitute a by-product in the production rapeseed oil from rape. In Poland three various technologies are applied for obtaining oil and oil cake depending on the raw material processed.
The industrial seed processing in the largest fat plants, of processing capacity of 200–700 t diur-nally, is based on pressing-extraction technology, preceded by seed conditioning aimed at increasing the efficiency of oil extraction. In smaller oil mills there exist two technologies of mechanical oil ex-traction, by means of hydraulic or expeller presses. These technologies are: more efficient, preceded by grinding and conditioning of seed, with “hot” expelling in temperature 90C (applied in oil mills with processing capacity of about 50 t diurnally), or less efficient, in which partly ground seeds are directly subjected to expelling, without roasting them, in temperatures < 45C (mini-oil mills).
The process of obtaining rapeseed oil as raw material for producing esters of rapeseed oil, a bio-fuel also called biodiesel, explicitly the process of obtaining by-products, i.e. expellers and rapeseed meal, is differentiated in an analogous way to oil mills (depending on the size of processing). Cur-rently in Poland there are operated about 30 agro-refineries rapeseed oil methyl esters for energy purposes, with oil cake efficiency equalling over 60% [8, 11]. A spatial plan of oil cake producers’ location in Poland against the background of main cultivation grounds has been given in figure 2.
The increased rape cultivation and harvesting so far has produced a surplus of rapeseed meal (Tab. 1), which the fodder industry is not capable of assimilating. Alternatively the exported rapeseed meal may be used for obtaining what is called “green energy”. It is worth stressing that rapeseed meal obtained in large oil mills by classic techno-logy as to energy, fodder, ecological and safety value is inferior to expellers obtained in small and mini oil mills. What is decisive here are factors in expellers like higher fat and soluble protein content
(smaller degree of denaturation), no emission of solvent vapours (benzene, hexane) into the atmos-phere, smaller explosion hazard of vapours and dusts.
Fig. 2. Largest producers of rapeseed meal and expellers in Poland against the background of cultivation areas (% share of rapeseed in the structure of crops in districts)
Rys. 2. Najwięksi producenci śruty rzepakowej oraz wytłoków rzepakowych w Polsce na tle obszarów upraw (% udział rzepa-ku w strukturze zasiewów w powiatach)
Table 1. The production of rapeseed meal (RM) in the EU, production of domestic rapeseed meal in the years 2004–2007 Tabela 1. Produkcja śruty rzepakowej (ŚR) w UE oraz produk-cja i dystrybuproduk-cja krajowej śruty w latach 2004–2007
Production Year 2004 2005 2006 2007 1000 ton RM production in EU (25.27) 6499 7690 9523 9608 RM production in Poland 499 668 787 866 Domestic RM consumption 394 348 404 483 Domestic RM export 140 323 393 390
The properties of expellers and rapeseed meal change depending on the kind of rape they were obtained from. In general the process of pressing oil is less effective than that of extraction. Expellers contain considerable amounts of residue oil, equal-ling from 8 to 20%, whereas after extraction there remain merely 2–5% of oil. The content of total protein is inversely proportional to fat content and equals from 27 to 34% in the case of expellers and 35–39% in rapeseed meal, the water content not exceeding 12.5%. Share of rapeseed [%] > 12 8.01–12.00 3.01–8.00 1.01–3.00 < 1.00
Comparative analyses of rapeseed meal and other RES raw materials have shown (Table 2) a re-latively high, exceeding 90%, content of flammable parts, which is a result of high protein content in this biomass.
Table 2. The comparison of flammable parts (FP) in rapeseed meal and other RES raw materials in relation to dry mass and working mass [%] (own study based on [12])
Tabela 2. Porównawcze zestawienie zawartości części palnych (FP) w śrucie rzepakowej i innych surowcach OŹE w odnie-sieniu do suchej masy i masy roboczej [%] (oprac. własne na podstawie [12]) Kind of material Rapeseed meal Potato starch waste1 Composite of coal with
bio-mass2 Ecomat fuel3 Dry mass 92.95 93.14 84.72 88.70 Working mass 85.47 85.50 75.76 73.36 Legend:
1 – potato starch waste – caked hard pulps of dimensions 1520 mm;
2 – composite of coal with biomass – in the form of briquettes, with composition: 80% hard coal and 20% biomass con-taining chips and waste of communal green;
3 – ecomat fuel – separated and properly processed flammable fraction of communal and communal-derived waste (e.g. plastics, paper, paperboard, wood, textiles and mixed food waste).
Technologies of rapeseed meal conversion for energy purposes
A lot of experimental research was done in labo-ratory and real conditions, studies, calculations in the scope of optimisation of the conversion process of rapeseed meal into energy. This work has con-siderably expanded knowledge about the changes of form and chemical composition of rapeseed meal under the influence of temperature increase.
Technologies of converting rapeseed biomass, as also of other biomasses are classified into two main groups [4]: biochemical and thermochemical. In biochemical methods enzymes of bacteria and other microorganisms are used. Thermochemical conversion is one of the most advantageous and comfortable means of transforming biomass into energy, covering gasification, pyrolysis, hydro-thermal decomposition (in water or solvents) and combustion. The pyrolysis is the most frequently applied thermochemical process in Europe and also in the world. The biomass pyrolysis process covers heating of the material with the absence of air, lead-ing to obtainlead-ing solid, liquid or gaseous products. The EU supports research projects pertaining to pyrolythic technology, evidenced by the assignment of financial means to obtain biofuel by pyrolysis, amounting to 31%, 28% being assigned for obtain-ing biodiesel by estrification method.
From research conducted in 2004 it follows that products obtained in result of pyrolysis of rapeseed meal in nitrogen atmosphere in temperature 500C, in comparison to the raw material have a higher content of fixed carbon and ash and a smaller con-tent of volatile substances. The calorific value of bio-char equalled 25.3 MJ/kg. The conclusion was drawn therefrom that rapeseed meal was a proper source of obtaining biochar and provides an alterna-tive energy source, and the application of pyrolysis created another area of rapeseed meal application apart from being used in the fodder industry. On the basis of detailed research performed four years later (2008) on the processes of rapeseed meal pyrolysis in nitrogen atmosphere in the temperature scope 45–950C and drawn derivatographic curves by TG and DTG methods, there were found three basic stages of loss of rapeseed meal mass (Fig. 3): • I – running in temperature scope from 45 to
170C, bound with the removal of humidity from the rapeseed;
• II – in temperatures from 170 to 240C there occurs volatilisation of hemicellulose com-pounds, with inflexion point corresponding to temperature 230C, at which maximum of mass loss occurs;
• III – in temperatures from 240 to 540C there occurs degradation of cellulose and cellucotton. In this stage the main pyrolythic processes take their course, and the inflexion point falling on 333C corresponds to the main pyrolysis process and largest loss of mass.
After exceeding 540C, during heating up to 950C (Fig. 3) there is no further loss of mass.
Fig. 3. TG-DTG curves of rapeseed meal [4] Rys. 3. Krzywe TG-DTG śruty rzepakowej [4]
On the basis of curves obtained it is possible to state that the main decomposition processes take their course in temperature scope 170–500C, and the overall mass loss of rapeseed meal in tempera-ture scope 45–900C equals 75.14%.
Temperature [C] W ei gh t [ %] D er iv at iv e W ei gh t [ % /mi n] TG DTG
Among pyrolysis products three phases were singled out [4]:
• gaseous phase – containing CO2, CO,
hydro-carbons C1 – C7 and H2S, with predominant
amount of CO2;
• liquid phase – in which there were recognised about 30 various chemical compounds, the rela-tively largest amount being constituted by oleic acid (over 12 %), 2, 3, 5-trimethoxy toluene, 1H-indole, toluene, phenols and other chemical compounds. The calorific value of bio-oil obtained equalled 33.17 MJ/kg, which is a com-parable value obtained in carbon pyrolysis (32–37 MJ/kg) [4];
• solid phase – with calorific value 24.12–24.66 MJ/kg, that is being kept at an almost constant level in temperature scope 400–900C and increasing fixed carbon content (from 57.08 to 73.05%).
Research results showed that rapeseed meal was a valuable raw material for obtaining many chemi-cal compounds, biofuel and biomass of significant calorific value. In the pyrolysis process of primary biomass of rapeseed with content of elemental car-bon 62.1% it was found that the content of elemen-tal carbon in the biofuel and biochar equalled respectively 73.1 and 91.1% [13].
In spite of currently high significance of pyro-lythic process in economic practice and positive research results it is considered [1] that in future simple technologies will be the most significant in obtaining energy, such as direct combustion of biomass.
The existing infrastructure in Poland is not adapted to obtain energy from pure biomass. Attempts at combustion of pure post-extraction rapeseed meal were unsuccessful [3]. Under these circumstances the co-firing of biomass with non-renewable fuels was assumed as basic technology of obtaining energy from biomass [3]. The applica-tion of co-firing technology is bound with partial modernisation and providing additional funding for existing power plants and combined heat and power plants, does not require huge outlays, however, that would be indispensable in the case of new invest-ment.
Besides, the co-firing of rapeseed biomass in composition with coal slurry provides a chance for putting to use such sludge that is qualitatively the least valued coal size kind with simultaneous significant restriction of emission of CO2 into the
atmosphere[3].
It was found that the calorific value of co-firing products of rapeseed meal and rape expellers with
carbon equals about 17 MJ/kg [11]. During attempt at co-firing of expeller mixture with carbon on husky grate, undertaken at Heat and Power Plant Rzeszów, boiler power approximating standard one was obtained. With mass participation of expellers exceeding 15%, an excessive emission of nitrogen oxides NOx occurred [14], which limits successive
increase of biomass in the co-firing of mixture, at least at the stage of real experience, knowledge and provided infrastructure.
Fig. 4. The calorific value of selected RES and hard coal [14] Rys. 4. Wartość opałowa wybranych OŹE oraz węgla kamien-nego [14]
The technology of co-firing of rapeseed biomass with hard coal is inter alia used in EZ Rybnik, EZ Dolna Odra, ZEC Bielsko-Biała, EC Czechowice– Dziedzice, Wrocław Combined Heat and Power Plant KOGENERACJA. The Heat and Power Plant Kraków S.A., while preparing to start the technol-ogy of co-firing of rapeseed meal with coal, intends to bear significant expenses on building a plant if internal transport, storage and processing of bio-mass and the modification of steam boiler in a way permitting co-firing with coal of ground rapeseed biomass [15].
Using other kinds of rapeseed biomass for energy purposes
Apart from rapeseed meal, rapeseed pollutants are an unused reserve source of bioenergy, reaching 6% with standardised restriction of their amount up to 4% (according to PN-90/R-66151 [16]), which results first of all from the activity of mycotoxins, damaging the liver and kidneys of animals fed. The calorific value of rapeseed pollutants, which is the decisive criterion of energy usefulness, equals 20.9 MJ/kg, constituting in this way about 84% of calorific value of average-quality coal [11].
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 ca lo rif ic va lu e M J/k g
With domestic production of rapeseed, amount-ing to about 2 000 000 t and even lowered to 3% of pollutants value, it is possible to obtain about 60 000 t biomass of high energy values, of about 30 000 000 PLN value annually [11].
The heterogeneous glycerol phase obtained in the process of rapeseed transestrification (85% glycerol solution) can also be used as component of fuel mixture supplied to ovens. The calorific value of glycerol phase is the highest among fuels ana-lysed and reaches 30 MJ/ kg. It was also found that a colloidal mixture containing 35% of glycerol phase and 65% of used engine mineral oil could be burnt with the positive effect of smokeless combus-tion without leaving settlements on the furnace [14].
Rapeseed straw like the straw of other plants can be used for heating purposes. The energy value of ecological briquettes produced from it in hydraulic devices, without adding adhesive agents, amounts to about 16.5 MJ/kg.
Logistics of agrobiomass supply to power plants and heat power plants
The demand and supply market of agrobiomass, including rapeseed biomass, has been developing dynamically in Poland in recent years. In 2009 due to crisis there was an oversupply of biomass in boiler plants. It is estimated that in 8–9 years the energy market in Poland will need from 8 000 000 to 10 000 000 t biomass annually [17]. In compa-rison to the most expensive energy departments, wind power plants and biogasworks, with the longest return time of invested capital, renewable energy from biomass provides the possibility of the shortest return time of outlays borne, in a period from 3 to 5 years. The current development state of acquiring and using renewable energy from agro-biomass is estimated as follows [17]:
there is a full potential for satisfying demand for agrobiomass, evidenced by the fast development of energy investments;
there is a full potential of agrobiomass supply market with high degree of instability.
A condition for stabilisation of the agrobiomass supply chain is the preparation and realisation of many years' strategy programme, covering the lo-gistics of physical and financial biomass flow, and information in the system:
production of energy plants transport processing transport storage
transport using in boiler plants
At present the logistics of rapeseed biomass supply power plants and / or heat and power plants
is still in its infancy in Poland. The predominant role in starting, organising and functioning of these supply chains is assigned to logistic operators, who should in the first stage start the supply market by initiating and supporting the growing of agro- -energy plants, organising storage and transport infrastructure, and next stimulate the development of investments in power industry permitting the full and steady use of biomass provided [18].
An example of problems likely to appear in the functioning of biomass supply chains to power plants and/or heat power plants is “Konin” Power Plant, in which there takes place the co-firing of brown coal and forest biomass [19]. The optimal variant of assumed replacement of forest biomass by agrobiomass would be the supplies of energy plants grown in the radius of 50 km from the power plant. The lack of interest on the part of farmers in growing of bioenergy plants makes the power plant fetch agrobiomass from other regions of Poland.
It also follows from figure 2 that only a part of companies producing rapeseed meal are located in areas with the highest share of rapeseed in the structure of crops, or on their outskirts, which does not simplify the logistics of rapeseed supply chain to processing points.
A valuable patent solving the problem of extra outlays on the transport of biomass to the boiler plant is a concept worked out by G. Kaczmarczyk and A.Weber, assuming the creation of agro-energy complexes [AEC] covering: pressing seeds, using oil cake and straw for energy purposes and the pro-duction of rapeseed oil esters [20, 21]. According to definition, “AEC is an organised system of rape-seed biomass growth contracting and its full use for energy purposes on location at the bio-heat-and- -energy-plant for producing electric energy and, in the process of cogeneration, of heat energy”.
An example of applying this concept in practice is the production plant at Nowogard, lying on area rich in rapeseed cultivation fields, where production is started of biofuel and granulates from rapeseed expellers for the fodder and energy industries. It is assumed that in future the production plant will be transformed into a bioenergy complex, processing annually about 100 000 t of rapeseed, including a biofuel production plant, bio gasworks, bio power plant and the production of fodder and energy com-ponents in the form of pellets.
Conclusions
1. The process of successive implementation of technology using biomass for obtaining energy is irreversible.
2. The agrobiomass as a renewable energy source will gradually supersede forest biomass.
3. Primary and processed rapeseed biomass (rape-seed meal in particular) apart from application for food purposes and in the fodder industry is a valuable source of many organic compounds, biogas, biofuel and biochar of significant calo-rific value with minimised emission of harmful gaseous substances into the atmosphere.
4. In Poland the basic technology using agrobio-mass is its co-firing with irreversible energy sources. It is expected that in future the leading technology world-wide and in Poland will be simple combustion of biomass in boiler plants adapted for the purpose.
5. The development and implementation of agro-biomass combustion technology requires in-creased crop areas and optimisation of growing, infra- and suprastructural investments, permit-ting efficient supply logistics of agrobiomass to power plants (transport, storage), as also invest-ments in those plants themselves.
6. The optimal solution, favouring multilateral use of rapeseed biomass is the establishment of agro-energy complexes, concentrating produc-tion plants of edible oil, fodder components, biogasworks, biofuel production plants and bio-power-and-heat plants.
References
1. DEMIRBAS M.F., BALAT M.,BALAT H.: Potential contri-bution of biomass to the sustainable energy development. Energy Conversion and Management, 2009, 50.
2. ÖZÇIMEN D.,KARAOSMANOĞLU F.: Production and charac-terization of bio-oil and biochar from rapeseed cake. Re-newable Energy, 2004, 29.
3. RZĄDKOWSKI J.: Spalanie biomasy a niezależność energe-tyczna Polski. Rurociągi, 2009, 1–2.
4. UCAR S.,OZKAN A.R.: Characterization of products from the pyrolysis of rapeseed oil cake. Bioresource Techno-logy, 2008, 99.
5. ŻUCHOWSKI J.,KUBIK B.: New biomass energy source (eco-logical and economical aspects). Polish Journal of Com-modity Science, 2009, 1(18).
6. Rozporządzenie Ministra Gospodarki z dnia 14 sierpnia 2008, Dziennik Ustaw nr 156 z dnia 28 sierpnia 2008 r. 7. PN-80/R-64773 Pasze sypkie. Śruty i expellery z nasion
oleistych.
8. BARTKOWIAK-BRODA I.,KRZYMAŃSKI J.: Zalecane odmia-ny krajowe rzepaku dla przemysłu olejarskiego, paszowego i na cele energetyczne. Wieś Jutra, 2004, 7.
9. ZAJĄC A.: Zielona energia – OPEC Grudziądz, www.drewno.pl, z dnia 26.07.2006 r.
10. TYS J.et al: Technologiczne i ekonomiczne uwarunkowa-nia produkcji biopaliwa z rzepaku. Acta Agrophysica, In-stytut Agrofizyki im. B. Dobrzyńskiego, PAN w Lublinie, Lublin 2003, 99.
11. RZEPIŃSKI W.: Koncepcja zagospodarowania produktów ubocznych i zanieczyszczeń powstających przy przerobie nasion rzepaku. Problemy Inżynierii Rolniczej, 2009, 1. 12. POSKROBKO S.at al: Badania podstawowych właściwości
paliwowych wybranych odpadów przemysłowych i paliw formowanych z odpadów. Energetyka i ekologia, wrzesień 2009.
13. Onay Ö., Beis S.H. , Koçkar. Ö.M.: Fast pyrolysis of rape seed in a well- swept fixed- bed reactor , Journal of Analyt-ical an Applied Pyrolysis, 2001, 58–59.
14. CIEŚLIKOWSKI B., JULISZEWSKI T., ŁAPCZYŃSKA-KORDON B., Utylizacja na cele energetyczne produktów ubocznych technologii biopaliwowej. Inżynieria Rolnicza, 2006, 12. 15. Instalacja transportu, magazynowania i przeróbki biomasy
na terenie Elektrociepłowni Kraków SA – 3 etap inwesty-cji.
16. PN-90/R-66151. Rośliny przemysłowe oleiste – ziarno rze-paku i rzepiku podwójnie ulepszonego.
17. Logistyka pozyskiwania i dostaw biomasy pietą Achille-sową tego rynku. www.cire.pl, 5.10.2009 r.
18. DRAGAN J.: Operator dostaw biomasy do kotła. Pośrednik czy kreator podaży biomasy?, www.cire.pl z dnia 04.05.2009 r.
19. CIEPIELA D.: Wirtualny Nowy Przemysł – portal gospodar-czy. www.wnp.pl., z dnia 13.03.2008 r.
20. http://energetyka.wnp.pl/elektrownie/album–roślin-energe-tyczny,4560_2_0_1.html z dnia 19.10.2009 r.
21. UMEDA Y.: Strategiczny plan biomasy w 2020 r. Wizja pa-sjonata bioenergetyki, Wokół Energetyki, sierpień 2004.
Recenzent: prof. dr hab. inż. Zofia Cichoń Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Krakowie
