Comprehensive Evaluation of the Introduction of Integrated Biomass Utilization System andOptimal Environmental Policies with Simulation Modeling Approach: Case study of JilinProvince, China
Tsukuba University

SONG Junnian*

Tsukuba University

HIGANO Yoshiro

Tsukuba University

MIZUNOYA Takeshi

Study on the Construction of Integrated Biomass Energy Utilization System:
Chapter 1Introduction

With the increasingly depletion of conventional and non-renewable energy sources, research on biomass energy,
which is a kind of renewable, abundant and environmentally friendly substitutive energy has been a hot issue
around the world. Biomass energy is a kind of energy form that converts from solar energy to chemical energy
through photosynthesis of green plants directly or indirectly and stored inside biomass (Wang & Ai, 2006).
Jilin Province, located in the northeast of China, is important industrial base and commodity grain base of China.
Along with the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, energy consumption of Jilin Province isincreasing rapidly. Shortage of primary energy, low energy self-sufficiency rate and unreasonable energy
structure are urgent problems for Jilin Province to solve. Besides, consumption of conventional fossil fuels has
resulted in the exacerbation of global warming and air pollution. Reserve of primary energy of Jilin Province
only accounts for 0.3% of China and its energy self-sufficiency rate is less than 50% (Zhao, 2011). Energy
consumption is increasing continuously and there is large disparity between energy production and consumption.
Figure 1 shows energy production and energy consumption of Jilin Province from 2000 to 2010. In 2010,
conventional fossil energy accounted for 94.1% of the total energy consumption and new and renewable energy
only accounted for 5.9%. Figure 2 shows the consumption ratio of different kinds of energy.
90.00

80.00

(million tce)

70.00
60.00

50.00
40.00
30.00

20.00
10.00
0.00

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Disparity

Energy production

Energy consumption

Figure 1. Energy production and consumption of Jilin Province from 2000 to 2010

2.8% 5.9%
17.2%

Coal
Oil
74.2%

Natural gas

Non-fossil fuelFigure 2. Energy consumption structure of Jilin Province in 2010
As a traditional agricultural province, there are a lot of advantages to support the biomass energy development in
Jilin Province. Jilin Province has abundant reserve of biomass resources. Wide arable land, high yield of grain,
scaled breeding and forestry industries are providing material basis for the utilization of agro-forestry residues
and livestock manure. According to the 12th 5-year plan, Jilin Province has proposed a target to raise thebiomass energy production to 8.4 million tons of standard coal. The utilization of biomass energy can not only
substitute conventional fossil energy to mitigate the energy crisis but also adjust the energy consumption
structure to reduce the emission of green house gases and air pollutants.
This article is aimed to estimate the biomass energy potential of Jilin Province quantitatively to show its
mitigation capacity for energy shortage and determine the major utilization direction of biomass energy in Jilin
Province. Based on the supply potential of biomass energy, corresponding biomass energy technologies can bedetermined and adopted. Finally an integrated biomass energy utilization system can be constructed, which will
be introduced into the socioeconomic activities to make comprehensive evaluation of its effect on energy crisis
mitigation, environmental preservation and economic development in study area.
Chapter 2

Quantitative estimation of biomass energy potential

2.1 Organic biomass waste resources
There are different indexes for the availability evaluation of biomass energy and the amount calculation oforganic biomass resources in corresponding to different criterion. (Li, Ren, & Zhuang, 2001) Here threedefinitions including physical reserve, acquirable and utilizable amount, and equivalent of standard energy areintroduced. (Liu & Shen, 2007) The amount of major biomass resources is evaluated step by step according tothese three definitions.
With the calculation analysis and data summary (collected from Statistical Yearbook of Jilin Province 2011),
results of physical reserves, acquirable and utilizable amount and equivalent of standard energy of four majororganic biomass waste resources are obtained and shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Results summary of organic biomass energy in Jilin Province
Types

Physical reserves

Acquirable and utilizablePercentage(10 t)

amount (10 t)

equivalent (106tce)

39.78

25.06

12.69

40.3%

13.74

2.30

1.31

4.2%

Livestock manure

90.03

36.54

16.69

53.1%

Municipal waste

6.24

3.61

0.77

2.4%

In total

149.80

67.51

31.46

100.0%

Straw and agriculturalresidues
Firewood and forestry
residues

6Standard energy

6The results show that total amount of biomass energy in Jilin Province is 31.46 million tce, among which 40.3%
comes from farming, 53.1% comes from animal husbandry, 4.2% comes from forestry and 2.4% comes from city.
The total amount of biomass energy can be accounted for 34.9% of total energy consumption of Jilin Province in2011. Compared with the disparity of energy production and consumption in 2010 in Jilin Province (35.07
million tce), once the biomass energy is fully developed and utilized, it can facilitate to the mitigation of severeenergy crisis in Jilin Province. Agriculture is the biggest source of biomass energy in Jilin Province providing aadvantageous condition for the utilization of straw and livestock manure.
2.2 Marginal lands and raw material plant resources
When estimating the amount of organic biomass waste resources, this paper introduces the concept ofmarginal land resources. It will be considered to plant feasible raw material plants on marginal lands to acquirebiomass resources. In China there are three kinds of marginal land: (1) the lands that are suitable for agriculture
and forestry among the lands that can be tapped but not yet; (2) the current energy forests including firewood, oilforest and shrubberies; (3) the current marginal farmland that can be used to plant energy crops through adjusting
the planting structure among the low yield non-food farmlands. (SHI, 2008) The marginal lands are not suitable
for traditional planting of crops and forests. However once they are effectively utilized associated with raw
material plant, considerable amount of biomass energy can be produced and acquired. The raw material plantsuitable for the climate and agricultural conditions in Jilin Province should be in accordance with the following
combination:(1) Salinized low yield land—Sweet sorghum(2) Highly dry and thin land—Sweet potato(3) Untapped marginal lands suitable for forestry—Woody energy plant and woody oil plant
Table 2. Energy yield of raw material plant resources on the marginal lands in Jilin Province

Types of marginal lands

Untapped marginal lands
suitable for agriculture
Current marginal
farmlandArea(106ha)

0.306
0.443

Energy yield of
Suitable plants/ha)
Sweet potato

Sweet potato: 2~3(30%)

Others:

Sweet sorghum (70%)

4~6Woody energy plants(60%)
Untapped marginal lands
suitable for forestry

0.312

Woody oil plants(20%)
Energy crops(20%)

Firewood
Current
energyforests
Oil forests

unit area* (tceIn totalStandardcoal(106tce)

%

3.18

71.2%

0.98

21.9%—

—

0.31

6.9%

4.47

100%

3.3
1.8
3~50.018

Firewood forests

4.2

0.029

Oil forests

1.8

forests
Shrubberies

Total energy yield

0.100

Shrubberies

2.6

1.208

—

—

*some figures are indefinite and the intermediate value is adopted
Table 2 shows that total energy output of marginal lands in Jilin Province is 4.47 million tons of standard coal,among which the marginal agricultural lands can generate 3.18 million tons of standard coal (71.2%) andmarginal forestry lands can generate 1.29 million tons of standard coal (28.8%). The energy yield of marginal
agricultural lands is nearly twice as that of marginal forestry lands due to the larger area and higher energy yieldof unit area.
Chapter 3

Biomass energy technologies and utilizing modes

According to the raw materials, industrial conditions, ultimate products and so on, there are many classificationof biomass energy technologies. This paper focuses on the conversion methods to classify the biomass energy
technologies as physical conversion, thermo-chemical conversion and bio-chemical conversion as is shown inFigure 3 (NEDO, 2010).
Physical conversion

Solid molding fuelHeat utilization
Direct combustion
Power generation

Biomass energytechnologies

Thermo-chemical
conversion

Heat utilization
Gasification
Power generation
Mixed gases
Pyrolysis andliquefation

Bio-charBio-oilFuel gas
Bio-chemical
conversion

BiogasFuel ethlanol

Fuel liquid
Bio-diesel

Figure 3. Biomass energy technological system
Based on the supply potential of biomass energy and the biomass energy conversion technologies, five industrial
modes that are suitable for Jilin Province including Biomass power generation, Household biogas, Large andmedium-scaled breeding farm, Biomass fuel ethanol and Bio-diesel can be proposed. (GAO, 2010)
Chapter 4Integrated biomass energy utilization system

Integrating sources of biomass, biomass resources, biomass technologies, products of biomass utilization, acomprehensive biomass energy utilization system can be formulated as is shown in Figure.4. This systemcomprises of four sub-system as 1)Biomass raw material production system, 2)Biomass logistics system,3)Biomass energy conversion system and 4)Production and living consumption system. The raw material
production system is the basis of the whole biomass utilization system that determines how much biomassenergy can be produced and utilized. The logistics system makes the supply of biomass raw material more stable
and assures different raw material demand. The energy conversion system calls for various technologies
according to the raw materials. With major biomass conversion technologies, the biomass energy is converted
into electricity, heat, fuel and various bio-chemical products for human production and living. The organic
wastes generated from production and living consumption can be reused to the system for energy.

Figure 4. Integrated biomass energy utilization system
Chapter 5

Future research

An integrated biomass utilization system consisting of four sub-systems including biomass raw materialproduction system, biomass supply system, biomass energy technological system and biomass energy
consumption system has been constructed. Considering the material balance, energy balance and value balance,
simulation modeling approach will be adopted as the evaluation method to make comprehensive evaluation of
the environmental and economic effects of introducing the integrated biomass utilization system with themaximum GPR as the objective function. Finally it’s expected to reach a decision regarding the optimal solution
to the simultaneous pursuit of energy utilization, environmental preservation and economic development in study
area and ultimately achieve the governmental planning goals.

Reference
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