Biomass

     The plant biological mass (wood residues, straw, energy plants) is one of the most significant renewable energy sources in Lithuania, that comprises the important part of the local fuel. The bio-mass is ecologically clean fuel.
     The annual potential of the wood fuel is approximately 3 Mm³ (1,4 Mm³ of the felling waste, 0,6 Mm³ waste of timber industry and 1 Mm³ of the fire-wood). Now about 2 Mm3 of the fire-wood and timber waste, i.e., approximately (60 - 70) % of the total potential of the wood fuel, is used for the energy requirements. About (20-25)% of this amount is used in the central heating boiler houses, the total power of which is 100 MW. The rest part is used in the small decentralized heating equipment, the efficiency coefficient of which is not high. There are many companies in Lithuania that produce and assemble the boiler-houses and their equipment. Such equipment is also imported. The power of the boiler-houses using the wood fuel is constantly increasing.
     About 4 mln. tons of the straw annually is gathered in Lithuania. About 0,5 mln. tons could be used as a fuel. Now 5 boiler-houses using the straw as a fuel with the total power of 3,5 MW are operating in the country. Only 1 % of the straw resources is used for the energy needs. Several enterprises of Lithuania make the equipment for the straw burning in Lithuania. Such equipment is also imported from Denmark.
     About 1 Mm³ (i.e., about 7 PJ) of the wood fuel (mostly the felling residue) is still not utilized in Lithuania. For this purpose the boilers with the total power of 300 MW should be installed and reconstructed.
     The great possibilities has the straw as a fuel (i.e., about 0,5 Mt or 7 PJ). For this purpose the boiler-houses using the straw with the total power of 300 MW and the thermal generators should be installed.
     The energy potential of the wood fuel and the straw is 0,67 Mtoe (28 PJ).
     Besides about 30 thousand hectares of the land are not suitable for agriculture in Lithuania and there are about 20 thousand hectares of the peat-bogs the exploitation of which soon be finished. The plantations of the energy plants or quickly-growing trees can be grown there. With the average yield of 10 tons/ha of the dry biomass, 500 thousand tons of the bio-mass can be harvested annually. There is a possibility to use the silt of the effluent from the water treatment plants to fertilize these plantations. Such investigations were started in Lithuanian Institute of Forestry.
     The resources of the biomass fuel can be replenished by using some part of the arable land for the growing of energy plants (agricultural crops and grasses). Such energy crops can give about 10 t/ha of the dry biomass every year, these plants do not exhaust the soil, as they keep the nitrogen in the soil, the usual agricultural machinery is suitable for their harvesting, these areas can be readily re-cultivated. But all these technologies (either tree plantations, or the cultivation of the areas of the energy plants, the plant care, the yield harvesting, the storage and the fuel preparation) must be substantiated. The growing of the energy plants would increase the employment of the village inhabitants.
     It is anticipated that the total power of the equipment using the plant biomass as a fuel will reach 350 MW and 1,75 TWh of the thermal energy will be made by the end of 2005.
     For the fulfillment of the program, the investigations determining the expansion possibilities of the utilization of the plant biomass as a fuel in different regions of the country are made and its trends are defined, as well as the technologies for the gathering of the felling residue and its utilization as a fuel.
     In order to replenish the resources of the fuel made from the plant bio-mass, the technologies and the strategy of the growing of the plantations of the energy trees and plants must be prepared. The resources of the biomass (agricultural crops and grasses) suitable for the fuel, their growing, the utilization methods and means for the energy needs must be determined.
     As the significant part of the biofuel is burned in the water heating boilers of the small power, their burning regimes should be investigated and their design must be optimized.
     In order to prepare the means and recommendations for the improvement of the operation efficiency of the boilers using the biofuel, the exploitation analysis of such boiler-houses and the burning equipment should be done and the ecological efficiency must be estimated.
     Besides the optimum variants of the financing of the construction of the equipment using the biofuel should be analyzed and defined.
     As the resources of the straw as a fuel are not sufficiently used at present, the air heater of the 500 kW power for the grain dryers, premises and green-houses must be created in the production field. The furnace for the burning of the wood waste of 0,5, 1,0 and 2,5 MW power will be designed and its production will be started in the future.
     The demonstration energy plantation of the trees and plants should be planted and cultivated.
     The growing of the energy plants for the fuel would increase the employment of the village inhabitants. Besides the biomass is the ecologically cleanest fuel.
     The booklet must be issued about the utilization of the biomass as a fuel and in the education field the workshops should be organized for the specialists of the Agricultural consulting services, agricultural communities, for the specialists of the municipal economy of the self-government bodies, the lecturers of the agricultural schools and the farmers.
     To make the favorable conditions to use the biomass for the energy purposes and to make such situation legal, the normative documents for the biomass preparation and the proposals for the legal base should be prepared.

The Liquid Biofuels and Oils

     The available situation. Approximately 550 thousand tons of diesel fuels and 15 thousand tons of various oils are used annually in Lithuania. The fuels are made of imported crude oil and the oils are imported from abroad. Minimizing the import expenditures and with the employment and environmental problems in mind, it is expedient to substitute some part of the mineral fuels and oils by the biological ones, produced from the rape grown in Lithuania. The rape in the country is grown in the area of 37,4 thousand hectares, but this area could be increased up to 180-240 thousand hectares without the violation of agricultural practices. (Program of development of cultivate the rape and the provision of population with oil) 50 thousand hectares of the rape is sufficient for the vegetable oil, thus the remaining amount of 540-720 thousand tons of the rape seeds can be used to produce 178-238 thousand tons of the biolfuels and oils. We can get an extra 500 thousand tons of the oil-cake, that is the valuable admixture for the feeds, that can be used instead of the soy.
     About 34 thousand tons of ethanol is made annually in Lithuania, but the production capacity is twice as much. The ethanol produced from the extra grain and other agricultural products could be used in the process of the petrol production in company "Mazeikiu nafta".
     The technological processes of the production of biofuels and oils are widely investigated and introduced in many European countries. The biggest production companies of tractors and cars gave the licenses to use them without any restriction. There is enough data in the literature about the impact of the biofuels and oils to the environment. The utilization of these products is stimulated by the directives of the European Community (AUTO OIL I and II, COM(97)481, 92/82/EEC etc.). The preliminary tests of the production and utilization of the biofuels and oils are made in Lithuanian Agricultural University and Lithuanian Institute of Agricultural Engineering. Before the economic estimation of the production of biological fuels and oils, the economic and energetic evaluation of the local materials used must be made corresponding the specific situation of Lithuania. "Nova" summarized experience in other countries in this sphere and fulfilled technical economic estimation of this renewable energy.
     The main purposes. The experience of the European countries and the investigations fulfilled in Lithuania enable to conclude, that it is expedient to build the demonstration plant for the production of biofuels and oils, the output of which would be not less than 1000 tons of the rape methyl ester (RME) per year. The project of such plant (for the production of biofuels and oils) should be done in Lithuania with the cooperation with the personnel of scientists and engineers. The technological equipment should be also made in Lithuania. Only the elaborate equipment (presses, filters, control and automation devices) should be imported from abroad. The demonstration plant should be built from the state means and the means of various funds: (Lithuanian investment fund of environment protection, Rural support fund) and international funds, Municipal environment protection fund. The tender should be organized for the construction of the demonstration plant.
     Produced biofuels and oils should be used in the public transport of the big cities, in the forest works and recreation zones.
     The normative documents meeting the requirements of EC with the specific situation of Lithuania in mind must be prepared to ensure the successful use of biofuels and oils.

Biogas

     The available situation. The resources of the organic materials that can be used for the production of biogas are constantly accumulating and regenerating in the agricultural production of the countries. The most important of them are the animal manure and the organic waste of the food processing industry. But profitable processing of these organic materials in order to get the gas is possible only in big production objects. Such are 26 complexes for 6 - 30 thousand pigs. The total number of the pigs kept there is 339 thousand pigs. There are 343 farms housing 200 pigs that belong to the communities and the private farmers. The total number of the pigs kept there is 162 thousand pigs. There are 704 farms for more than 50 cows or cattle. There are 270 thousand cattle there. The annual energy potential of the manure accumulated in the pig complexes is 15 mln. m3 of biogas; it is 7,2 mln. m3 of biogas in the private farms and the farms of communities; and it is 65,2 mln. m3 of biogas in the cattle farms of the same category. The total energy potential accumulated in the mentioned farms is 87,4 mln. m3 of biogas per year or 524,4 GWh.
     The reduction of the demand of the agricultural products in the country minimized the use of the arable lands by 0,5 mln. ha. This area could be used to grow the energy plants. The utilization of the green mass in the anaerobic processing during the summer would maximize the energy potential of the biological digesters installed in the farms. The produced biogas could be used to dry the hay and the grain and the processed bio-mass can be used to fertilize the soils.
     There are three power plants of 2,1 MW total capacity in the country at present. There is a power plant of 1.5 MW capacity in Panevėžys, that processes the production waste of the alcohol company "Sema". There is a power plant of 0,3 MW, that processes the effluent of the cleaning facilities of Utena and there is the power plant of the same capacity, that processes the pig manure in the agricultural community "Vycia" in Kaunas region.
     The main purposes. The capacity of the power plants will not be significantly increased by 2005 due to big investments, required for the construction of new power plants. It is planned to build the power plant of 0,1 MW capacity. The main object of the fulfilled works is to prepare the better technologies for the production and utilization of the biogas, to reduce the investments for the development of the new power plants of bio-gas production and to improve their energetic and economic efficiency.
     The energy potential of the organic materials used for bio-gas production, the technical and technological possibilities of their use, the energetic, economic and environmental efficiency of their processing are investigated. Possibilities of biogas proceeding from plant mass and biogas accumulation in the largest dumps of Lithuania also will be investigated.
     Monitoring of the operating demonstration power plants and the updating of their technologies will be proceeded.