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Bioenergy Devices: Energy and Emissions Performance for the Residential and Industrial Sectors in Mexico

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Abstract

Biomass represents 10% of the total energy use and 55% of all renewable energy in Mexico. It is a key energy source to help Mexico achieve a low-carbon development path to comply with the strict climate mitigation targets needed to avoid catastrophic consequences. However, a major limitation in the construction of reliable future mitigation scenarios is the lack of information regarding in-country greenhouse emission factors associated to both traditional and modern bioenergy devices. This paper aims to close this gap, providing detailed estimates of energy and emission factors from bioenergy devices in the Mexican residential and industrial sectors. In particular, four energy tasks, comprising 67% of current bioenergy use in the country, were selected (charcoal production, biomass drying, space heating, and cooking) with a total of nine bioenergy devices: traditional earth mound charcoal kiln, flash dryer, heater, five types of cookstoves, and an open fire. The thermal efficiency ranged from 10 ± 1 to 26 ± 5% for the cooking devices, 95 ± 1 to 96 ± 1% for the space heater, 34 ± 8% for the charcoal kiln, and 10 ± 2% for the biomass dryer. The modified combustion efficiency was calculated to be 88 ± 1% for the earth mound charcoal kiln, 96–98% for the cookstove, and 93–98% for the space heater. The products of incomplete combustion ranged from 21 ± 6 to 48 ± 12 g for the cooking devices and 58 ± 18 to 340 ± 107 g for the space heaters. CO2 emission factors ranged from 102 ± 2 to 119 ± 2 g/MJ for the local biomass stoves. Relative to other pollutants, the CO emissions per energy unit were the highest, ranging from 1193 ± 184 mg/MJ for the space heater to 18,121 ± 1232 mg/MJ for the earth mound charcoal kiln. The total global warming potential was estimated to be 35 ± 2 gCO2e/MJ for the ONIL stove (modified) and 158 ± 4 gCO2e/MJ for the earth mound charcoal kiln. The estimates presented in this study represent an important contribution to Mexico’s inventories in terms of energy performance and emissions parameters of four energy tasks in the industrial and residential sectors. This information will be a baseline to estimate carbon footprint, life cycle assessments, GHG emissions scenarios, and mitigation strategies for local and regional Mexican conditions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Mexican Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) and the Mexican Secretariat of Energy (Fondo de Sustentabilidad Energética) for supporting this research on the project entitled “Clúster de biocombustibles sólidos para generación térmica y eléctrica”, Project Number (246911).

Funding

This research was funded by the Fondo de Sustentabilidad Energética SENER-CONACYT, grant number 2014 246911.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Innovación y Evaluación en Bioenergía (LINEB) y Grupo de Innovación Ecotecnológica y Bioenergía (GIEB), Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad (IIES), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro 8701, Colonia Ex-Hacienda de San José de la Huerta, Michoacán, 58190, Morelia, México

    Víctor Ruiz-García, Paulo Medina, Juan Vázquez, Dante Villanueva, Saraí Ramos & Omar Masera

  2. Universidad Intercultural Indigena de Michoacán (UIIM), Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, México

    Dante Villanueva

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  1. Víctor Ruiz-García
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Contributions

Conceptualization, J.V., P. M. and V.R.-G.; formal analysis, J. V., S. R., D.V., and V.R.-G.; funding acquisition, O.M. and V.R.-G.; methodology, J.V. and V.R.-G.; writing—original draft, J.V., P. M., and V.R.-G.; writing—review and editing, V.R.-G., and O.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Víctor Ruiz-García.

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Ruiz-García, V., Medina, P., Vázquez, J. et al. Bioenergy Devices: Energy and Emissions Performance for the Residential and Industrial Sectors in Mexico. Bioenerg. Res. 15, 1764–1776 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-021-10362-5

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