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Sustainable Thermal Energy Generation at Universities by Using Loquat Seeds as Biofuel

Author

Listed:
  • Miguel-Angel Perea-Moreno

    (Departamento de Física Aplicada, ceiA3, Campus de Rabanales, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain)

  • Francisco Manzano-Agugliaro

    (Department of Engineering, ceiA3, University of Almeria, 04120 Almeria, Spain)

  • Quetzalcoatl Hernandez-Escobedo

    (Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores Juriquilla, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, Queretaro 76230, Mexico)

  • Alberto-Jesus Perea-Moreno

    (Departamento de Física Aplicada, ceiA3, Campus de Rabanales, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain)

Abstract

Global energy consumption has increased the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG), these being the main cause of global warming. Within renewable energies, bioenergy has undergone a great development in recent years. This is due to its carbon neutral balance and the fact that bioenergy can be obtained from a range of biomass resources, including residues from forestry, agricultural or livestock industries, the rapid rotation of forest plantations, the development of energy crops, organic matter from urban solid waste, and other sources of organic waste from agro-food industries. Processing factories that use loquats to make products such as liqueurs and jams generate large amounts of waste mainly in the form of skin and stones or seeds. These wastes are disposed of and sent to landfills without making environmentally sustainable use of them. The University of Almeria Sports Centre is made up of indoor spaces in which different sports can be practiced: sports centre pavilion (central court and two lateral courts), rocodrome, fitness room, cycle inner room, and indoor swimming pool. At present, the indoor swimming pool of the University of Almeria (UAL) has two fuel oil boilers, with a nominal power of 267 kW. The main objective of this study is to propose an energetic analysis to determine, on the one hand, the energetic properties of the loquat seed and, on the other hand, to evaluate its suitability to be used as a solid biofuel to feed the boilers of the heated swimming pool of the University of Almeria (Spain), highlighting the significant energy and environmental savings obtained. Results show that the higher calorific value of loquat seed (17.205 MJ/kg), is like other industrial wastes such as wheat straw, or pistachio shell, which demonstrates the energy potential of this residual biomass. In addition, the change of the fuel oil boiler to a biomass (loquat seed) boiler in the UAL’s indoor swimming pool means a reduction of 147,973.8 kg of CO 2 in emissions into the atmosphere and an annual saving of 35,739.5 €, which means a saving of 72.78% with respect to the previous fuel oil installation. A sensitivity analysis shows that fuel cost of base case is the variable with the most sensitivity changing the initial cost and net present value (NPV).

Suggested Citation

  • Miguel-Angel Perea-Moreno & Francisco Manzano-Agugliaro & Quetzalcoatl Hernandez-Escobedo & Alberto-Jesus Perea-Moreno, 2020. "Sustainable Thermal Energy Generation at Universities by Using Loquat Seeds as Biofuel," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-23, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:5:p:2093-:d:330150
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Miguel-Angel Perea-Moreno & Francisco Manzano-Agugliaro & Quetzalcoatl Hernandez-Escobedo & Alberto-Jesus Perea-Moreno, 2018. "Peanut Shell for Energy: Properties and Its Potential to Respect the Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-15, September.
    2. Francesco Calise & Rafal Damian Figaj & Laura Vanoli, 2018. "Energy and Economic Analysis of Energy Savings Measures in a Swimming Pool Centre by Means of Dynamic Simulations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-27, August.
    3. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC, 2008. "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report," Working Papers id:1325, eSocialSciences.
    4. Manfren, Massimiliano & Caputo, Paola & Costa, Gaia, 2011. "Paradigm shift in urban energy systems through distributed generation: Methods and models," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 1032-1048, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sota Makino & Takeshi Onishi & Akika Itoh & Issei Sato & Tomohumi Huzita & Chihiro Kayo, 2021. "Sustainable Campus: Reducing Environmental and Financial Burdens by Using Pruned Branches for On-Campus Energy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-15, July.
    2. Luqman Razzaq & Muhammad Farooq & M. A. Mujtaba & Farooq Sher & Muhammad Farhan & Muhammad Tahir Hassan & Manzoore Elahi M. Soudagar & A. E. Atabani & M. A. Kalam & Muhammad Imran, 2020. "Modeling Viscosity and Density of Ethanol-Diesel-Biodiesel Ternary Blends for Sustainable Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Francisco G. Montoya & Alberto-Jesus Perea-Moreno, 2020. "Environmental Energy Sustainability at Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-3, November.
    4. Quetzalcoatl Hernandez-Escobedo & Alida Ramirez-Jimenez & Jesús Manuel Dorador-Gonzalez & Miguel-Angel Perea-Moreno & Alberto-Jesus Perea-Moreno, 2020. "Sustainable Solar Energy in Mexican Universities. Case Study: The National School of Higher Studies Juriquilla (UNAM)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-22, April.

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