Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications
Open Access
ISSN: 2090-4541
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 2090-4541
+44 1300 500008
Elmar Steurer
Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Keynote: J Fundam Renewable Energy Appl
The combination of hydrothermal carbonization and gasification incorporates advantages when compared to the alternatives like combustion, fermentation, conventional carbonization and gasification of dry biomass. The described concept uses agricultural residues like rice husk and rice straw as a renewable energy resource. These rice residues typically exhibit low energy density which limits an economic transportation for electrical power generation. In addition to this, combustion does not make any sense due to the transportation restrictions and the high contents of ash and dust. To master this challenge, the process of Hydrothermal Carbonization (HTC) is applied to produce bio coal as a transportable value added product with high energy density and the same caloric value as lignite. The produced bio coal can be transported to gasification units in remote villages to generate electrical base load power for mini-grids. The advantage of HTC in the preparation of bio coal lies in the fact that, it is a clean gasification process with a very low level of ash and dust pollution. In addition to this, it is showed that this approach is economically profitable. In the case of the Philippines, the levelized cost of electricity is lower than using Diesel Gensets and it is comparable to the retail tariff of the national grid. Thus, this approach could be the key to a profitable generation of electricity as the HTC facility produces enough bio coal to achieve economic efficiency while supplying remote gasification units to produce electricity for mini-grids on a reliable and steady level.
Elmar Steurer was appointed as a Professor for Finance and Controlling by the University of Applied Sciences Neu-Ulm in the year 2011. In 2013, he was elected as the Vice President to take over the responsibility for research and sustainability. Before his professorship, he was active in the field of project finance, risk management and finance controlling as a Team Leader at Daimler AG and BMW AG and a Senior Manager at RWE AG. He has achieved a Master’s in Engineering Economics at the University of Karlsruhe in the year 1992. He holds a PhD from the University of Karlsruhe since 1996. He is author of the book “Ökonometrische Methoden und maschinelle Lernverfahren zur Wechselkursprognose”.
Email: elmar.steurer@hs-neu-ulm.d