Minimizing the environmental effects caused by the production of bioenergy

Obtaining energy through the combustion of biomass proves to be a significant fraction of the total of what has come to be called renewable energy. Far from stagnating, energy planning at EU level foresees a considerable increase in this energy sector, so that by 2020 it is expected that renewable energies will form up to 20% of total energy production. Focusing on the bioenergy sector, a problem that may not yet have been sufficiently addressed is the management of waste from the combustion of biomass; however, in the medium to long term it may cause significant effects on the environment, since the majority of it is deposited in landfill sites. This opens up an interesting field of applied research, focused primarily on developing processes which will allow the recycling of these waste materials by putting them to good use and thus prolonging their useful life. This paper presents the basic lines of research carried out by our team in this field, with positive and negative results that may serve for other teams to open new lines of research or to go in greater depth into those already begun. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.