EES Blog

In a new broad analysis researchers model the impact of fossil fuels for non-energy purposes vs. lower-emission alternatives, such as the use of biomass.

In research and popular media, much attention is focused on the impact of fossil fuels used for energy purposes. In a new EES paper, researchers focus instead on the non-energy uses of fossil fuels, their impact, and lower-emissions alternatives. Non-energy uses are defined as “fuels that are used as raw materials […] and are not consumed as a fuel or transformed into another fuel,” and primarily include feedstock for chemical production of ethylene, methanol, and ammonia, and oil products like waxes and lubricants. Coal, gas, and oil usage for non-energy purposes currently account for up to 7% of global CO2 emissions.

In their paper, Daioglou et al. present a global model for emissions reduction in non-energy processes, called the Non-Energy Demand and Emissions Model, or NEDE. This model projects that the global demand of non-energy processes will more than double over the next 100 years. Their analysis explores the alternative of using biomass for feedstock chemical production, promoting fuel switching in climate policy, and post-consumer waste management such as mechanical recycling and cascading processes. By comparing current usage and feedstock substitution costs, and by projecting based on economic, population, and fuel price developments, the model predicts that substituting fossils fuels, particularly coal, with biomass for non-energy purposes could significantly reduce emissions. Post-consumer waste management processes are currently too inefficient to significantly reduce emissions; however, climate policy that promotes fuel switching through carbon taxation can help to implement emissions-reducing practices.

It is interesting that Daioglou et al. point out that there are currently a lack of broad studies on the emission reduction potential of using biomass in non-energy processes, as was apparently pointed out in the recent Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Speaking as someone outside of this field of research, I would say that lowering emissions of non-energy processes certainly takes a back seat in the media to the use of fossil fuels for energy purposes. While the relative impact of non-energy processes may seem small by comparison, if the NEDE model is correct then analyses such as this one will grow increasingly important. As the authors note, there is still much research to be done to determine if biomass is optimal for reducing emissions for non-energy purposes, but his broad analysis is certainly a good start.

Read more in the full EES article here:

Energy Demand and Emissions of the Non-Energy Sector
Vassilis Daioglou, Andre Faaij, Deger Saygin, Birka Wicke, Martin Patel and Detlef Peter van Vuuren
Energy Environ. Sci., 2013, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C3EE42667J

The next generation of flexible electronic devices will use transparent nanopaper, a flexible, renewable and tunable substrate that can be used in thin film resistors, organic light emitting diodes and organic photovoltaics.

Hybrid NFC nanopaper

Renewable, flexible paper electronics have been a tantalizing prospect for quite a while, yet they suffered from significant flaws including large surface roughness and high opacity.  New techniques have been developed to extract what is known as nanofibril cellulose (NFC) from natural wood fibers.  The paper that can be made from NFC has high transparency, extremely low surface roughness and good mechanical properties.  This review article covers fabrication techniques for nanopaper, optical and mechanical properties of the nanopaper, and devices constructed using electronics on transparent nanopaper.

While researchers are still working to develop high throughput, low energy fabrication techniques for nanopapers, the currently developed techniques have already yielded paper with exciting properties.  The optical transparency of the nanopaper can be as high as 90%, and the amount of haze can be tuned to optimize for a variety of applications.  High haze is ideal for light scattering in photovoltaics and in screens for outdoor viewing, while low haze is optimal for high clarity screens for indoor viewing.  Nanopaper also has extremely low surface roughness (5 nm), high mechanical strength and low thermal expansion.

Organic LED made using transparent nanopaper

These physical and optical properties make nanopaper an ideal medium for the next generation of flexible electronics.  When coated with a conductive layer such as ITO, carbon nanotubes or silver nanowires, the conductivity of the nanopaper is high enough to allow it to be used in thin film transistors and organic LEDs.  Though not yet as efficient as plastic substrates, nanopaper can also be used to make organic photovoltaics with much higher efficiencies than those with paper substrates.  Finally, researchers have created a resistive touch screen from nanopaper – one that outperforms PET (polyethylene terephthalate) in sunny conditions.

Want to know more?  Check out the full article in EES today!

Transparent paper: fabrications, properties, and device applications

Hongli Zhu, Zhiqiang Fang, Colin Preston, Yuanyuan Li and Liangbing Hu

DOI: 10.1039/c3ee43024c

Take a look at this week’s selection! These articles are available free for a limited time:

Use of potential determining ions to control energetics and photochemical charge transfer of a nanoscale water splitting photocatalyst
Rachel L. Chamousis and Frank E. Osterloh
DOI: 10.1039/C3EE42993H, Paper

A fast, inexpensive method for predicting overcharge performance in lithium-ion batteries
Susan A. Odom, Selin Ergun, Pramod P. Poudel and Sean R. Parkin
DOI: 10.1039/C3EE42305K, Paper

Take a look at this week’s selection! These articles are available free for a limited time:

Strongly coupled carbon nanofiber–metal oxide coaxial nanocables with enhanced lithium storage properties
Genqiang Zhang, Hao Bin Wu, Harry E. Hoster and Xiong Wen (David) Lou
DOI: 10.1039/C3EE43123A, Communication

Upgrading of lignin-derived bio-oils by catalytic hydrodeoxygenation
Majid Saidi, Fereshteh Samimi, Dornaz Karimipourfard, Tarit Nimmanwudipong, Bruce C. Gates and Mohammad Reza Rahimpour
DOI: 10.1039/C3EE43081B, Review Article

Human hair-derived carbon flakes for electrochemical supercapacitors
Wenjing Qian, Fengxia Sun, Yanhui Xu, Lihua Qiu, Changhai Liu, Suidong Wang and Feng Yan
DOI: 10.1039/C3EE43111H, Paper

Lithium and oxygen vacancies and their role in Li2O2 charge transport in Li–O2 batteries
J. B. Varley, V. Viswanathan, J. K. Nørskov and A. C. Luntz
DOI: 10.1039/C3EE42446D, Paper