The beer threshers are a new bet on the path of the energy transition. With a double result: reduction of energy costs and savings in waste disposal, which from waste become resources. The final destination is the design and construction of the plants from which to obtain biofuels, up to methane and hydrogen.
The first steps to move from theory to practice are four researchers from Sotacarbo, a public company 50% owned by the Region of Sardinia and Enea, set up to develop innovative and advanced technologies in the use of coal based in the Great Mine of Serbariu, in Carbonia.
The results of the research, obtained through a new method of studying the reactions of the threshers in the process of conversion into energy, are now available to the entire scientific community with the publication in the journal "Renewable Energy" of the article resulting from the work of Federica Dessì , Mauro Mureddu, Francesca Ferrara and Alberto Pettinau.
"Beer threshers - explain the researchers - are the insoluble, non-degraded part of barley grains and represent the main by-product in the brewing industry, with an average production of about 20 kg per 100 liters of beer. Rich in cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, are ideal for thermochemical conversion into biofuels and chemicals with high added value in pyrolysis and gasification processes ".
The method developed by Sotacarbo represents the most recent important scientific contribution born from the collaboration agreement between the island research organization and Netl (National Energy Technology Laboratory of the United States Department of Energy). The results obtained allow us to calibrate and validate the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model developed by our American colleagues to predict the performance of the down-draft gasifier on a pilot scale (40 kWth) under construction in the Sotacarbo research center and designed specifically for enhancement of lignocellulosic biomasses, such as beer grains.
(Unioneonline / vl)
