In industrialized countries, it is expected that the future generation of bioenergy will be from the direct combustion of residues and wastes obtained from biomass. Bioenergy production using woody biomass is a fast developing application since this fuel source is considered to be carbon neutral. The harnessing of bioenergy from these sources produces residue in the form of ash. As the demand for bioenergy production increases, ash and residue volumes will increase. Major challenges will arise relating to the efficient management of these byproducts. The primary concerns for ash are its storage, disposal, use and the presence of unburned carbon. The continual increase in ash volume will result in decreased ash storage facilities (in cases of limited room for landfill expansion), as well as increased handling, transporting and spreading costs. The utilization of ash has been the focus of many studies, hence this review investigates the likely environmental and technological challenges that increased ash generation may cause. The presence of alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, chlorine, sulphur and silicon influences the reactivity and leaching to the inorganic phases which may have significant impacts on soils and the recycling of soil nutrient. Discussed are some of the existing technologies for the processing of ash. Unburned carbon present in ash allows for the exploration of using ash as a fuel. The paper proposes sieve fractionation as a suitable method for the separation of unburnt carbon present in bottom ash obtained from a fixed-bed combustion system, followed by the application of the gasification technology to particle sizes of energy importance. It is hoped that this process will significantly reduce the volume of ash disposed at landfills.

Anaerobic digestion is a well established technology for the reduction of organic matter and stabilization of wastewater. Biogas, a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide, is produced as a useful by-product of the process. Current solid waste management at the city of Prince George is focused on disposal of waste and not on energy recovery. Co-digestion of fresh fruit and vegetable waste with sewer sludge can improve biogas yield by increasing the load of biodegradable material. A six week full-scale project co-digesting almost 15,000 kg of supermarket waste was completed. Average daily biogas production was found to be significantly higher than in previous years. Digester operation remained stable over the course of the study as indicated by the consistently low volatile acids-to-alkalinity ratio. Undigested organic material was visible in centrifuged sludge suggesting that the waste should have been added to the primary digester to prevent short circuiting and to increase the hydraulic retention time of the freshly added waste.

The compatibility of wood from mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosa) killed lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) with Portland cement was investigated based on time-since-death as a quantitative estimator, and the presence of blue-stained sapwood, brown rot, or white rot as qualitative indicators. The exothermic behavior of cement hydration, maximum heat rate, time to reach this maximum, and total heat released within a 3.5–24 h interval were used for defining a new wood-cement compatibility index (CX). CX was developed and accounted for large discrepancies in assessing wood-cement compatibility compared to the previous methods. Using CX, no significant differences were found between fresh or beetle-killed wood with respect to the suitability for cement; except for the white rot samples which reached or exceeded the levels of incompatibility. An outstanding physicochemical behavior was also found for blue-stained sapwood and cement, producing significantly higher compatibility indices.

The pulp and paper industry in an effort to offset fossil fuel demand uses woody biomass combustion as a renewable energy source to meet their ever-growing energy demands. Boiler combustion systems are often used to provide this energy. However, large amounts of high carbon ash are produced from some boilers resulting in technological, economic and environmental challenge. This high carbon ash is considered to be of very little economic and environmental value and is typically sent to landfills. Reuse of this ash in some boilers requires upgrading and is not economically feasible. Therefore, this study investigates the feasibility of gasifying high carbon wood ash of particle sizes smaller than 3 mm, while comparing its behaviour to that of unburned wood. Gasification was conducted in a stainless steel bubbling fluidized bed reactor 3-inch diameter and height of approximately 800 mm using air and air-steam as gasifying agents. Parameters of interest included equivalence ratio (ER), gas calorific value, carbon conversion efficiency and produced gas yield. High carbon ash was successfully gasified at low temperatures and atmospheric pressure and showed similar trends as woody biomass. The higher heating value (HHV) and carbon conversion efficiency increased with increasing temperature. The H 2 /CO molar ratio was higher for the air-steam process. Future areas of research could include investigating the viability of producing a gas of even higher heating value.

Fruit and vegetable waste (FVW) was co-digested with first stage (FSS) and second stage anaerobic digester sludge (SSS) separately, over the course of 10 days, in batch reactors. Addition of FVW significantly increased the methane production in both sludges. After 10 days of digestion FSS + FVW produced 514 ± 57 L CH4 kg VS−1added compared with 392 ± 16 L CH4 for the SSS + FVW. The increased methane yield was most likely due to the higher inoculum substrate ratio of the FSS. The final VS and COD contents of the sewer sludge and FVW mixtures were not significantly different from the control values suggesting that all of the FVW added was degraded within 10 days. It is recommended that FVW be added to the first stage of the anaerobic digester in order to maximize methane generation.

Two kraft lignins, one precipitated with carbon dioxide and the other with sulphuric acid, have been fractionated into three distinct fractions by sequential extraction using organic solvents of increasing hydrogen-bonding capacity. The lignins and fractions were comparatively characterized in terms of yield, methoxyl group content, molecular weight distribution, and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. For a given lignin, the fractions showed differences in yield, composition, and chemical structure. A significant portion (21%) of the carbon dioxide precipitated kraft lignin is composed of ethyl acetate soluble material of low molecular weight. This fraction, which is richer in guaiacyl moieties than the other fractions, is virtually absent in the sulphuric acid precipitated kraft lignin. The occurrence of "tails" in the high molecular weight fraction, especially from the carbon dioxide precipitated kraft lignin, suggests the presence of material of very high molecular weight. Data from ¹³C NMR spectroscopy does little to elucidate the nature or origin of the material causing these tails. Keywords: kraft lignins, heterogeneity, fractionation, characterization.