Carter Ellison, Shan Ming, Zhong Yuan, Ding Weimeng, Zhang Yichen, Baumgartner Jill, Yang Xudong
Colorado State University, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
Tsinghua University, Building Science, Beijing, China.
Energy Sustain Dev. 2018 Oct;46:42-52. doi: 10.1016/j.esd.2018.06.004. Epub 2018 Jul 6.
Recent national strategic plans in China have set renewable energy targets for rural household energy programs, including those that advance the production of densified biomass fuels (e.g. pellets, briquettes) for use in household cooking and heating stoves. There is presently very little information on potential barriers to the successful development of densified biomass for household cooking and heating in China, but such knowledge may be informative in settings that aim to replace unprocessed coal and other polluting fuels with renewable, cleaner-burning energy sources. We designed a case study to coordinate data-gathering efforts at rural field sites in southwestern Sichuan province and northeastern Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, where production of densified biomass fuels is under development for household end-users. We conducted interviews with factory personnel, local administrative leaders, and sector experts involved in the production and distribution of densified fuel, including pellets and briquettes, for household use. Results from our qualitative textual data analysis yielded several recommendations for improving development of densified biomass fuels for household end-use. These included reducing heterogeneity of feedstocks, increasing financial support for operational costs (e.g. collection, transport, and storage of raw materials; storage and distribution of final products), improving household perceptions of and subsequent demand for densified biomass fuels, and increasing enforcement of national and provincial policies banning the use of coal and open-field biomass burning. Collection and storage of raw materials and the final densified fuel product were consistently noted as critical challenges to scaling up production at all three sites. Finally, the perspectives of factory managers and local village administrators that we present also indicated that production of densified biomass fuels would most likely be more successful and reproducible in places where national-level policies are viewed as obligatory.
中国近期的国家战略计划为农村家庭能源项目设定了可再生能源目标，其中包括推进致密生物质燃料（如颗粒、煤球）的生产，以供家庭烹饪和取暖炉灶使用。目前，关于中国致密生物质用于家庭烹饪和取暖的成功发展可能面临的潜在障碍的信息非常少，但这些知识对于旨在用可再生、燃烧更清洁的能源替代未加工煤炭和其他污染性燃料的地区可能具有参考价值。我们设计了一个案例研究，以协调在四川省西南部以及吉林省和黑龙江省东北部农村实地的数据收集工作，这些地区正在为家庭终端用户开发致密生物质燃料。我们采访了参与家用致密燃料（包括颗粒和煤球）生产和分销的工厂人员、地方行政领导和行业专家。我们对定性文本数据分析的结果提出了一些改进家用致密生物质燃料开发的建议。这些建议包括减少原料的异质性、增加对运营成本的财政支持（如原材料的收集、运输和储存；最终产品的储存和分销）、提高家庭对致密生物质燃料的认知度和后续需求，以及加强国家和省级禁止使用煤炭和露天生物质燃烧政策的执行力度。原材料和最终致密燃料产品的收集与储存一直被视为在所有三个地点扩大生产的关键挑战。最后，我们所呈现的工厂经理和当地村官的观点也表明，在将国家层面政策视为必须遵守的地方，致密生物质燃料的生产最有可能更成功且可复制。
