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The production of biofuels (e.g., ethanol and biodiesel) requires a significant amount of water during feedstock production, transportation, and its conversion into biofuels. Therefore present study devoted to study the impact of biofuel production on water demand in Alberta. In scenario #1, it is assumed that ethanol is produced from both wheat and wheat straw and that biodiesel is produced from rapeseed. Scenario #2 proposes ethanol production from wheat only and biodiesel production from rapeseed. The water requirements for biofuel production in both scenarios are calculated for Alberta for the year 2025. Data on the current availability of water in Alberta indicate that the Athabasca, North Saskatchewan, and Peace River basins of northern Alberta have enough water to grow crops for the production of biofuels. In 2025, Alberta will have to produce 3,754 million liters of ethanol and 270 million liters of biodiesel to meet the projected levels. If biofuels are produced from the crops grown in the abovementioned northern river basins, the province of Alberta should be able to meet biofuel demand in 2025 sustainably. The water requirement from these river basins for biofuel production will increase to 5.2%, 0.6%, and 11.6%, respectively, of the natural flow in scenario #1 whereas, for scenario #2, the water requirement from these rivers basins will increase to 5.2%, 2.3%, and 16.1%, respectively, of natural flow. These increases in the requirements are much lower than the possible allowed withdrawal levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Biomass is a geographically dependent renewable resource which can be used for production of fuels and chemicals. This study develops a methodology for determining the suitable locations, optimal sizes and number of biomass-based facilities for a particular region through transport cost optimization which is applied for locating pellet plants in the Province of Alberta. The methodology also includes computation of local optimal size and cost of pellet production considering road network and spatially varied biomass. Different constraints and environmental factors for siting biomass-based facilities are analyzed to derive a land suitability model. Based on location–allocation model, 13 plants could be built in the Province of Alberta with transportation costs in the range of $21–33per tonne. The locally determined unit costs of pellet plants vary within $108–121 with optimal plant capacities of 150,000–250,000tonnes per year. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The depletion of fossil fuels as well as the greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use have led to growing interest in biofuel production from biomass. A new technology, thermo-catalytic reforming (TCR), is one of the contributing interests. TCR technology integrates intermediate pyrolysis with a post-reforming stage to convert biomass into a high-quality bio-oil, biochar, and syngas. In this study, experiments were carried out using three Alberta-based biomass feedstocks – hardwood pellets, softwood pellets, and chips – in a 2 kg h−1 laboratory-scale TCR plant. The results show that the composition of the biomass has little effect on product yield and quality. The TCR gases had a higher heating value of 12.5–12.8 MJ kg−1 and a hydrogen content of 13–15 vol %. The produced TCR bio-oil had low water content (~5 wt %) and a heating value of 32–34 MJ kg−1. The high quality of the bio-oil is reflected in the low O/C ratio of 0.15 and TAN of 6–15 mg KOH g−1. The TCR biochar from all three feedstocks had a high heating value and a high carbon content, as well as low O/C and H/C ratios. A parametric study was conducted for the softwood pellets to observe the effect of reformer temperature (500–700 °C) and reactor temperature (400–550 °C). It was observed that at a reformer temperature of 700 °C, the gas yield increases at the expense of a reduction in bio-oil and biochar. The optimum reactor temperature for the TCR of softwood pellets was found to be 500 °C, in terms of both bio-oil quality and yield. • Thermo-catalytic reforming (TCR) technology incorporates intermediate pyrolysis with high temperature reforming. • The TCR bio-oil had low TAN (6–15 mg KOH/g), and high HHV (32–34 MJ kg−1). • The TCR gases had a hydrogen content of 13–15 vol % and HHV of 12–14 MJ kg−1. • Higher reforming temperature led to increase in gases at the expense of bio-oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]