Biogas production is the most important and promising alternative for replacing fossil fuels in an environmentally friendly manner. Along with the many renewable energy sources available, biogas production occupies an irreplaceable position due to the undeniable availability of biomass and the need to manage agro-commercial waste. The article reviews the current state of technology used in the production of biogas for selected European examples in terms of methane fermentation efficiency and actual energy production. The novelty of the article is its description of innovative trends that have great potential to play an important role in this field in the near future. The development of the biogas industry in Europe is evident, although the dynamics vary from country to country. Different models are presented, which are based on the different types of feedstock used for biogas production and the proportion of substrates used in co-digesters. Of course, Germany is the undisputed pioneer in the use of this renewable energy source. Nevertheless, the efforts to improve energy self-reliance and environmental impacts are reflected in the growing number of operational biogas plants in other European countries, which provides hope for rapid progress toward the complete abolition of the conventional exploitation of fossil fuels.

This paper describes examples of energy crops that are profitable to burn, and whose cultivation is not complicated or expensive. Rapid growth of biomass, especially the green mass of energy crops, is indicated, which means that, in relation to fossil fuels, energy crops are considered renewable raw materials. An assessment of Polish non-food energy agriculture was conducted in the context of the prospects of a renewable energy source, namely, biomass. Recommendations for crop cultivation, the size of possible yields and the most important parameters of the obtained biomass, which have the greatest impact on the suitability of energy use, are presented. Materials of biological origin for combustion are divided into three groups: wood waste, by-products and plant products for the energy industry. It is indicated that 2 tons (Mg) of dry wood or straw is energetically equivalent to 1 Mg of coal, and 1 m³ of biogas is energetically equivalent to 1 kg of Polish coal. A novelty of this article is the interpretation of obtaining primary energy, including energy from renewable sources, in the European Union and Poland, taking into account the production of wood waste, straw, cereals and energy crops. The mechanism of the impact of the production parameters of energy crops was revealed during the prepared analysis of the prospects of Polish energy agriculture. Additionally, we conducted an analysis of the potential of biomass as a source of energy in the context of: obtaining primary energy, including energy from renewable sources, in the European Union and Poland; the number of biogas plants in Poland; and the area of agricultural land that is potentially useful for the cultivation of energy crops.

This article concerns the method of material consumption assessment of the cylinder-piston group of diesel engines in the biodiesel environment. The obtained experimental dependences of the wear coefficients on the example of the tribounit cylinder liner and the piston ring can be used to forecast the resource use during operation under specific conditions of the engine and the environment as a whole. The article systematizes the types of biofuels, depending on the type of raw materials from which they were made, taking into account the process and application. The physical and chemical aspects of the catalysts used for biofuels were indicated. The applied experimental methods for tribological wear of the piston-cylinder pair were analyzed. B70 biodiesel was used in the research, i.e., 70% mineral diesel oil and 30% methyl esters of rapeseed oil. Experimental tribotechnical studies of the influence of biofuels on the behavior of various materials have shown that when using this type of fuel, it is necessary to replace the materials from which some parts of the cylinder-piston group are made. To solve this problem, research has been carried out on a specially designed friction machine. The novelty in the article concerns the association, based on the literature, of hydrogen consumption causing material wear in friction contacts. The mechanism of the interaction of various construction materials during such friction has been disclosed.

The results of experimental research concerning the assessment of the permeability of porous materials with respect to gas flow are presented in this paper. The conducted research applied to, among others, chars (acquired from the UCG thermal process) with an anisotropic gap-porous structure and - for comparative purposes - model materials such as pumice and polyamide agglomerates. The research was conducted with the use of a special test stand that enables the measuring of gas permeability with respect to three flow orientations compared with symmetric cubic-shaped samples. The research results show the explicit impact of the flow direction on the permeability of chars, which results from their anisotropic internal structures. The suitability of calculation methods employed to calculate the hydrodynamics of the gas flow through porous materials was also evaluated

With regard to the problem of current solar irradiation of the tracking surface by the tracker, this can be rationally assessed using a modeled flux with parameters close to the natural direct in accordance with the maximum transparent atmosphere. As part of the experimental research, the values of the air optical mass index in the zenith angle ranging from 0° to 90° were presented for the surface at sea level. The conducted analysis made it possible to confront the experimental research with the models of the optical air transparency mass index. In order to maximize the energy of the controlled beam of the sun’s rays, the angle of their incidence on the tracking surface by the tracker should be minimized. The modeling results show the actual hourly dependencies, which are average values of the intensity of the multi-year measurement. It was found that seasonal dependencies can be considered as theoretically possible and then used to assess the energy efficiency of the tracking surface. Theoretically, they also correspond to the maximum possible energy efficiency of continuous tracking of the Sun with a two-axis rotary tracker. A polar-rotary tracker is a device where the axis of rotation is parallel to the axis of the earth and orients the tracking surface using the simplest synchronous algorithm with a constant angular speed ω = 15 grad/h. The novelty of the article is a method presenting the combination of a normal trajectory with direction towards the sun. Due to the deviation towards the polar axis, the normal touches the horizon, not at six hours after full sun, but earlier and simultaneously. In this way, an uniaxial pole-rotating tracker provides the same irradiation regime as a biaxial one in terms of the deviation of the tracking surface from the axis of rotation, which is equal to the tilt of the sun.

This study discusses results of experiments on hydrodynamic assessment of gas flow through backbone (skeletal) porous materials with an anisotropic structure. The research was conducted upon materials of diversified petrographic characteristics, both natural origin (rocky, pumice) and process materials (char and coke). The study was conducted for a variety of hydrodynamic conditions, using air, as well as for nitrogen and carbon dioxide. The basis for assessing hydrodynamics of gas flow through porous material was a gas stream that results from the pressure forcing such flow. The results of measurements indicate a clear impact of the type of material on the gas permeability, and additionally – as a result of their anisotropic internal structure – to a significant effect of the flow direction on the value of gas stream.