International Journal of

Sustainable Developmentand Planning
An international forum for interdisciplinary
communication on sustainable development and planning

Volume 9, Number 5, 2014

Special Issue
on“Energy and Material Recovery fromBiomass and Coals”
Guest Editor
Qingyue Wang
Saitama University, Japan

Int. J. Sus. Dev. Plann. Vol. 9, No. 5 (2014)

iiiPREFACE
Energy consumption has increased in the world in recent decades, especially in the developing
countries. Fossil fuels such as petroleum oil, coal and natural gas are exhaustible resources andgenerate large amounts of carbon dioxide and environmental pollutants promoting global warming
and climate change. We are overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide, which traps heatand steadily drives up the planet’s temperature. As a consequence of global warming, sea levels
DUHULVLQJWKHQXPEHURIODUJHZLOG¿UHVLVJURZLQJDQGGDQJHURXVKHDWZDYHVDUHEHFRPLQJPRUHcommon. Moreover, extreme storm events are increasing in many areas while severe droughts are
RFFXUULQJLQRWKHUV7KLVLVKDYLQJVLJQL¿FDQWDQGKDUPIXOHIIHFWVRQRXUKHDOWKHQYLURQPHQWDQGcommunities. When the weather gets warmer, evaporation from both land and sea increases. This cancause drought in areas of the world where the increase is not compensated for by more precipitation.
In some regions this will result in crop failure and famine, especially in areas where temperatures
are already high. The extra water vapour in the atmosphere will fall again as extra rain, which can
FDXVHÀRRGLQJLQRWKHUSODFHV8QOHVVZHWDNHLPPHGLDWHDFWLRQWRDGGUHVVJOREDOZDUPLQJWKHVHprocesses will continue to intensify, become ever more costly and increasingly affect the entire
planet. An overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree that global warming is primarily
down to human activity. We can act now to reduce fossil fuel consumption, slow the pace of global
warming, and pass on a safer, healthier world to our children. Or we can choose to do nothing,continue pumping massive amounts of carbon dioxide into an already overloaded atmosphere, andsuffer the increasingly costly consequences.
Resource depletion and predictions of severe environmental effects deriving from continual use ofsolid fuels are spurring interest in sustainable management of energy. Therefore, our goal should
be to reduce the environmental impacts by the proper utilization of resources. The only sensible
VROXWLRQLVWRXVHHQHUJ\PRUHHI¿FLHQWO\LQWKHVKRUWWHUPDQGUHGXFHRXUIXUWKHUUHOLDQFHRQIRVVLOfuels. Advanced techniques are required to shift from a fossil fuel-based economy to sustainableenergy management and system engineering. Recently, attention has been focused on the use ofrenewable biomass, which is considered one of the promising future resources for energy andmaterials throughout the world. The movements of wind and water, the heat and light of the sun, thecarbohydrates in plants, and the warmth of the earth are energy sources that can supply our needs ina sustainable way. A variety of methods are used to convert these renewable resources into energy.
(DFK FRPHV ZLWK LWV RZQ XQLTXH VHW RI WHFKQRORJLHV EHQH¿WV DQG FKDOOHQJHV 7KXV ZH VKRXOGGHYHORSHI¿FLHQWLQLWLDWLYHVWRFRQYHUWHQHUJ\DQGPDWHULDOIURPUHQHZDEOHUHVRXUFHV7DNLQJ LQWR FRQVLGHUDWLRQ WKH DERYH VWDWHPHQWV ZH KDYH FDUULHG RXW VWXGLHV RQ PDQDJHPHQWWUHDWPHQWDQGUHF\FOLQJHI¿FLHQWXVHRIZDVWHFRDODLUSROOXWLRQFRQWURODQGFRQYHUVLRQSURFHVVHVRQUHQHZDEOHHQHUJ\RUELRPDVVUH¿QLQJWHFKQRORJ\7KHVHYHQDUWLFOHVSXEOLVKHGLQWKLVLVVXHDUHbased on short papers presented in a special session at the 4th International Conference on Energyand Sustainability. They are entitled as follows:
1. Process analysis of the waste bamboo by using polyethylene glycol solvent liquefaction
2. Investigation of condensation reaction during phenol liquefaction of waste woody materials
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iv

Int. J. Sus. Dev. Plann. Vol. 9, No. 5 (2014)

5. Oil aggregated behavior for coal recovery and combustion characteristics of their aggregatesfrom different grade coals
6. Recovery briquetting technologies of waste biomass and pyrolyzed waste char produced
from solid industrial and agricultural organic wastes
 5HGXFWLRQ RI ¿QH SDUWLFOHV H[KDXVWHG IURP VPDOOVL]H FRPEXVWRU XVLQJ DJULFXOWXUDO ZDVWHresidue by controlling burning temperatures
Some of these studies were supported by the special funds for Basic Research (B) of Grant-in$LG IRU 6FLHQWL¿F 5HVHDUFK RI WKH -DSDQHVH 0LQLVWU\ RI (GXFDWLRQ &XOWXUH 6SRUWV 6FLHQFH DQGTechnology (MEXT).
,ZRXOGOLNHWRH[SUHVVP\JUHDWHVWDSSUHFLDWLRQWR3URI&DUORV$%UHEELDDQGWRWKH(GLWRULDO%RDUGRIWKH-RXUQDOIRUWKHLUHQFRXUDJHPHQWWRSXEOLVKWKLVVSHFLDOLVVXHQingyue WANG
6DLWDPD8QLYHUVLW\-DSDQ2014