Solid biofuels, in different trading forms, constitute an integral component of the energy mix of almost all developed and developing countries. Either in the form of pellets, briquettes, chips, firewood, or even as raw feedstock, solid biofuels are used mainly in the heating and power sector. Numerous sustainability concerns, focusing on the environmental, economic and technical aspects of solid biofuels exploitation, led to considerable advances in the recent years in this field. These developments mainly focus on the pre-treatment processes of the solid biomass to biofuels chain, the minimum requirements of the produced solid biofuels, as well as the efficiency and the environmental performance of their thermochemical conversion routes. This work aspires to provide the state of the art in the field of the exploitation of solid biofuels to present the main advances as well as the major challenges of this scientific fields. The topics presented in this book were examined and dealt with by the authors in the past few years, in numerous research projects and scientific publications. This book compiles all the assembled experience of the past few years, and aims to provide an overview of the solid biofuels exploitation field.

• Presents the latest standards and considerations on solid biofuels technical requirements;
• Contains numerous examples on applications in the field of solid biofuels thermochemical conversion, as well as the state of the art in this field;

• Includes sustainability aspects, including life cycle assessment aspects and financial concerns for the exploitation of solid biofuels.

  Autorentext

Mr Elias Christoforou, PhD candidate at Frederick University, studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cyprus from 2007 until 2011 and attended from 2011 to 2013 the post graduate program in energy technologies and sustainable design at the University of Cyprus. Since February 2013, Mr. Christoforou is a research associate at Frederick Research Center, as a member of the Sustainable Energy Research Group (SERG). Mr. Christoforou's research topic concerns the physical, elemental and proximal characterization of second generation biomass feedstock. Dr.-Ing Paris Fokaides, Aristotle University Mechanical Engineer (2002) and Karlsruhe University Phd holder (2009) in the field of sustainable energy technologies (experimental combustion), is an Assistant Professor at Frederick University, Cyprus, at the School of Engineering in the field of thermo-fluids and the Academic supervisor of the Sustainable Energy Research Group at Frederick University. As of 2018, Dr Fokaides is the author of over 50 ISI journal papers and 13 book chapters. He is a founding member of European Biomass Research Network and member of sustainable biofuels WG of the EU SET Plan. His research achievements include a European patent on a fuel injection system, the participation in numerous research projects (total grants of affiliated institutions over 3.5 M) and a best technical paper award by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers on his work for double swirl lifted flames

Inhalt
Introduction.- Raw material.- Biomass Pre-treatment Processing.- Solid biofuels.- Solid biofuels conversion Combustion for power and heat.- Environmental assessment of solid biofuels.-Sustainability considerations.- Feasibility assessment of solid biofuels. Appendices.