(326a) Integration of Wind and Solar Energy within Continental Biorefinery Supply Network

Global primary energy consumption and production is increasing for almost all fuel types especially in the emerging economies (BP, 2014). However, humankind is gradually exhausting fossil fuels even when some new discoveries are reported. Thus, people are going to have to depend on non-fossil energy sources in the future. A recent forecast including conventional and unconventional sources of oil and gas (Mohr et al., 2015) predicts that peaks of fossil fuels will occur during twenty-first century. Energy conservation, energy efficiency and renewable energy are amongst opportunities to deal with the issues of depleting non-renewable sources and progressing towards sustainability (Čuček et al., 2015). There are several incentives, plans and targets regarding substitution of fossil fuels over the next decades in various regions and countries. Among promising technologies there are those using solar radiance, wind and biomass (Davis and Martín, 2014).

In this contribution, the biorefinery supply network applied to the European continent involving lignocellulosic biomass, algae, cooking oil and grains for the production of bioethanol, biodiesel, (FAEE and FAME), FT liquids, hydrogen and food (Čuček et al., 2014) is extended to integrate wind and solar energy. Several technologies are integrated such as renewable power production from photovoltaic panels (Vujanović et al., 2014) and concentrated solar energy plants (Martín and Martín, 2013), and synthetic methane from exhaust CO₂and water electrolysis using renewable power (Davis and Martín, 2014). Continental biorefinery network thus becomes continental renewable energy-based supply network. Several scenarios are considered regarding targets of renewables in the energy mix based on the European perspectives over the following decades and regarding available area for renewables. The obtained results show where to exploit specific energy sources and to allocate the appropriate technologies within the regions, countries and/or continents.

References

BP (British Petroleum), 2014. BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2014. <www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/pdf/Energy-economics/statistical-review-2014/B... Accessed: 18.3.2015.

Čuček, L., Martín, M., Grossmann, I.E., Kravanja, Z., 2014. Large-Scale Biorefinery Supply Network – Case Study of the European Union, in: Klemeš, J.J., Varbanov, P.S., Liew, P.Y. (Eds.), Computer Aided Chemical Engineering. Elsevier, Volume 33, 319-324.

Čuček, L., Klemeš J. J., Varbanov P. S., Kravanja, Z., 2015. Significance of Environmental Footprints for Evaluating Sustainability and Security of Development, Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, doi: 10.1007/s10098-015-0972-3.

Davis, W., Martín, M., 2014. Optimal year-round operation for methane production from CO₂and water using wind and/or solar energy. Journal of Cleaner Production 80, 252-261.

Martín, L., Martín, M., 2013. Optimal year-round operation of a concentrated solar energy plant in the south of Europe. Applied Thermal Engineering 59, 627-633.

Mohr, S.H., Wang, J., Ellem, G., Ward, J., Giurco, D., 2015. Projection of world fossil fuels by country. Fuel 141, 120-135.

Vujanović, A., Čuček, L., Novak Pintarič, Z., Pahor, B., Kravanja, Z., 2015. Synthesis of environmentally-benign energy self-sufficient processes under uncertainty. Journal of Cleaner Production 88, 90-104.