89 Pacific Economic Bulletin Volume 25 number 3 © 2010 The australian national university The declining or insufficient returns from copra farming have forced Pacific producers to seek alternative sources of income. Burning coconut oil as a fuel is a relatively low-valued end use for the coconut. The labour intensiveness of copra production presents an intractable cost frontier that renders coc...

Aerobic and anaerobic respiration of microorganisms involves redox reactions that provide energy for cell growth or maintenance. The energy comes from breaking up chemical bonds during the oxidation of organic carbons by the microorganisms. The electrons released from the oxidation are taken up by the reduction of an oxidant such oxygen, sulfate, nitrate, etc. If the oxidation and reduction rea...

The traditional methodology includes a carbon-chain shortening strategy to produce bio-jet fuel from lipids via a two-stage process with hydrogen. Here, we propose a new solution using a carbon-chain filling strategy to convert C10 terpene and lipids to jet fuel ranged hydrocarbons with aromatic hydrocarbon ingredients in the absence of hydrogen.

The study deals with the possibility of reducing peak power consumption when melting snow/ice on pavements, by including meteorological prediction models. It is shown that if meteorological predictions are reasonably accurate e.g. more than 5 h into the future, the use of expensive fossil/electrical back-up fuel can be reduced in district heating systems based on bio fuel.

Bio-diesel the mono-alkyl esters of vegetable oils can serve as sustainable energy resources alternative to depleting fossil fuels and has gained more importance due to its clean environmental benefits, renewability and biodegradability. The proposed paper highlights the results of experimental investigations on the scope of utilizing biodiesel manufactured from Polanga and Jatropha oils as an ...

A fixed bed pyrolysis has been designed and fabricated for obtaining liquid fuel from mustard de-oiled cake. Thermal pyrolysis of mustard deoiled cake were carried out in a semi batch reactor made up of stainless steel at temperature range from 450 0 C to 600 0 C and at a rate of 150C /min to produce bio-fuel. The maximum yield of oil was 51% on wt. % basis for mustard de-oiled cake, it was obt...

BACKGROUND Concentration and purification of ethanol and other biofuels from fermentations are energy-intensive processes, with amplified costs at smaller scales. To circumvent the need for these processes, and to potentially reduce transportation costs as well, we have previously investigated bio-hybrid fuel cells (FCs), in which a fermentation and FC are closely coupled. However, long-term op...