The removal efficiency (RE) of 3 kinds of seaweed biomass as a function of initial metal concentrations (Ci) for 3 lanthanides is shown in Fig. 5((a): La, (b): Eu, (c): Yb). With increasing Ci, the RE generally decreased exponentially; and at high Ci, similar RE (i. e., about 40%) occurred for each lanthanide even with any biomass. These data are well fitted into an exponential function (R2 ranging from 0.866 to 0.994) shown in Fig. 5; and the equations and R2 for each lanthanide in each biomass are shown in Table 2.

From the viewpoint of recovering trace metals from aqueous environment such as seawater, the removal efficiency at low concentration of metal is particularly important. The coefficient before exponential function in each equation in Table 2 represents the value of RE at low Ci near approximately zero mmol-dm-3. From Table 3, the coefficient for each lanthanide in Sargassum hemiphyllum and especially that for La in Ulva pertusa is large. This implies that U. p. could be an efficient adsorbent for La as well as S. h. for lanthanides in aqueous environment such as seawater.

The amount (mmol-g) of adsorbed lanthanide and released Ca from three kinds of Ca — loaded seaweed biomass is shown in Tables 3-5. Based on the data in these tables, relationship between the uptake of each lanthanide ion and calcium ion released from each biomass is shown both in terms of mill equivalent per gram (meq-g-1) in Fig. 6. Good and linear relationship is generally found for these samples between the uptake of each lanthanide and Ca released from these biomasses into the solution as shown in Fig. 6. Particularly, in case of S. h. and U. p., the slope of the line is about one with the y-intercept of the graphs almost passes through the origin. It indicates that ion-exchange process is found to be the main mechanism responsible for the sorption of lanthanide ion onto the seaweed as Tsui et al. [24] and Diniz & Volesky [31] also pointed out.

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 5. Removal efficiency of lanthanides ((a) :La, (b): Eu, (c) :Yb) by Ca-loaded seaweed biomass at different initial concentrations,^: Sargassum hemiphyllum,| : Schizymenia duby, ▲:Ulva pertusa. Each exponential function is also shown (S. h.; solid curve, S. d. : broken curve and U. p. : dotted curve ). Data are mean±standard deviation (n=3).

Petar Gvero, Semin Petrovic, Sasa Papuga and Milovan Kotur

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter http://dx. doi. org/10.5772/51551

1. Introduction

Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) is a country in southeastern Europe, on the western part of the Balkan Peninsula. B&H covers a total area of 51.129 km2 and it is almost landlocked, except for 26 km of Adriatic Sea coastline. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a transition country in the process of European integrations. The result of the privatization and the war situation in nineties is devastated economy which has to find a new ways for the further development. One of the results of transition process is also that major part of the industry are small and medium enterprises (SME) and that also has to be taken into consideration, because development strategies and plans has to be adapted according to this fact. This paper gives the analysis of the potential connections between renewable energy sources (RES), particularly biomass and sustainable development of the B&H’s economy, taking into consideration specific political structure of the state. Problem if the sustainable development and integration of RES in that is universal, and some of the analyzed issues and findings from this material can be interested not only for the people tries to establish some activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also for the people dealing with bioenergy generally. Bosnia and Herzegovina is consists from two entities: Republic of Srpska (RS), Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), and third administrative unit, Brcko District (BD). Energy sector, forestry, environmental and climate changes related issues are unider their jurisdiction.

1.2. Characterization of locations and field experiments

Evaluation of the canopy development of winter wheat and spring barley was carried out in small-plot field experiments established at two locations in Central and South Moravia (Table 1) within the period of three years (2005-2007). Experiments were conducted as contrast variants (Table 2) which took into account differences in the stand density and in the nutritional status of plants.

Each experimental variant was established in six replications: three of them were harvested, two were used for sampling, which enabled to analyse the structure and nutritional status of the stand, and one served for multispectral imaging of a demarcated area of 0.25 m2 (0.5 m x 0.5 m) as well as for measuring of LAI by device SunScan System-SS1-R3-BF3 (manufacturer Delta-T Devices Ltd., U. K.). In sampling plots, squares of the size 0.25 m2 (0.5 m x 0.5 m) were also demarcated to obtain plants samples used for analyses of stand structure and samples of soil used for the estimation of the content of mineral nitrogen (Nmin) in depths of 0-30 and 30-60 cm (N-NO3 and N-NH).

Multispectral images and samples of soil and plant material were obtained at the agronomically important developmental stages BBCH 25, 31, 37, 55, 65, 87 and 91. Analyses of stand structure and nutritional status involved:

— estimation of numbers and weights of individual tillers and plants,

— estimation of dry matter (DM) weight of the above-ground part of plants,

— estimation of chlorophyll content in leaves,

— analysis of DM of the above-ground part of plants (for contents of N, P, K, Ca, and Mg).

The segregation of tillers to productive and non-productive ones was performed as follows: When performing analyses, tillers were ordered according to their decreasing weight. The number of fully ripe ears per plot was taken as the number of productive tillers. In 2005, the total number of weighed tillers sampled at the growth stage BBCH 31 was lower than the number of fully ripe ears (only tillers heavier than 1 g were weighed so that their number was lower than that of ears). Due to this fact, the analysis was not performed. Tillers with the highest weight at the given developmental stage were rated as productive ones and the sum of their weights represented the so-called productive biomass. This value was separated from the total weight of fresh above-ground biomass per unit area of the stand.

The interpretation of DRIS index is the identification of nutrients that are limiting the crop yield from the presenting in nutritionally balanced or non-limiting. DRIS index can provide all null values or null values, positive and negative. However, the probability of having all zero values is small, therefore, it is necessary that all dual ratios show the same mean value of the standards. What happens under the conditions of analysis with the DRIS system is the presence of null values, positive and negative (Beaufils, 1973).

nutrient is in a state of nutritional balance (Walworth & Sumner, 1984). After determination of DRIS index is necessary to interpretate these positive and negative values of a particular nutrient, it would be a situation in which the nutrient would be in excess (+) or deficiency (-).

This chapter assesses how the biomass resources — that have been identified and quantified within the previous chapters — could actually be exploited. It is obviously that the resources represent varied, sizeable and replicable opportunities for investment in modern power and heat generation technologies. Use of indigenous, renewable resources would contribute to energy-independence and give environmental benefits notably — but not only — carbon reduction.

Ways of using biomass resources include co-firing with fossil fuels; combustion in new build combined heat and power (CHP) units; anaerobic digestion; combustion at smaller scale ranging from individual stoves and ovens in households to larger, modern boilers for heat provision to buildings etc. The main options of biomass exploitation in the BiH heat, electricity and CHP market sectors are presented below. Based on the estimates on biomass technical potential the options considered for heat & electricity generation include:

The total land area in Malaysia amounts to 32.90 million hectares. According to Hoi and Koh [32], the major agricultural crops grown in Malaysia are rubber (39.67 %), oil palm (34.56 %), rice (12.68 %), cocoa (6.75 %) and coconut (6.34 %) which indicated that major production of the agricultural sector had been rubber derived products including wood residues, however, by 1995 oil palm products became more significant [34].

Lignocellulosic biomass which is produced from the oil palm industries include oil palm trunks (OPT), empty fruit bunches (EFB), fronds, palm pressed fibres (PPF) and shells. Table 2.3 shows the breakdown of wastes from palm oil production in 2007 [35].

One of the major characteristics of the forestry and agricultural sector is the production of large quantities of processing residues that have no economic value other than energy generation. Their presence in recent years has created a major disposal problem due to the fact that open burning is being discouraged by the Department of Environment in Malaysia. Other than biomass from the plantations, the palm oil industry also produces other types of waste in large quantities mainly EFB, PPF, shell and palm oil mill effluent (POME). Table 2.4 shows the breakdown of product or waste from each bunch of fresh fruit (FFB) [36].

The EFB are usually air dried until the moisture content reaches about 40% when it is ready to be used as fuel in the palm oil processing plant [37]. The burnt waste is then used as fertiliser in plantations [38]. Other than that, EFB were also used in the plantations as a mulch, thus, can reduce the applied fertiliser cost and is a step towards environmental conservation by reducing dependence on fossil fuel required for the manufacture of inorganic fertilizer [39]. It is claimed that using the EFB as mulch has several advantages for the nutritional sustainability of the plantation. Some plantation owners claimed that the benefits of EFB as a fertiliser and as a soil conditioning agent are significant, because it releases nutrients slowly to the soil via microorganisms therefore effectively recycling the plant nutrients. It improves the soil structure due to better aeration, increases the water holding capacity and increases the soil pH, whilst other mill owners welcomed alternative methods of disposal. This is due to the inconvenience of handling and transporting, as well as the costs and problems concerning disposal of the waste on the plantation. However, open burning is no longer allowed by the authority because this process causes air pollution and by this means of disposal no energy is recovered [40].

Oil-palm fronds have been successfully used as a substitute for tropical grasses by ruminant producers in Malaysia [41]. Nowadays, the PPF is usually burnt in the palm oil processing plant as fuel and the excess is disposed of in the plantations [42]. The PPF are burnt in a boiler with some palm shells to produce the power for running the mill (self-sufficient). The boilers used are normally of grate-type beds which are manufactured locally [13]. Most of the crude palm oil mills harness the energy from the shell and fibre in their own low — pressure boilers and normally the oil palm trunk would be left to decompose naturally at the plantation [37]. This practice not only disturbs the process of plantation due to the low decomposition rate, it also encourages the spread of diseases and insects like rhinoces beetles

and ganoderma that are harmful to the plantation [37]. Moreover, most of the plantations have to adopt the push-felling technique and trunk-shredding which leads to burning [43].

The utilization and generation of oil palm biomass is widely accepted and offers benefits for rural areas related to employment, rural infrastructure, the conservation of cultivated areas and hence the attractiveness of rural regions. The new markets for Malaysia can be developed, especially for developing countries, where oil palm biomass has a higher contribution to the overall energy supply. Also the establishment of an industry related to ‘oil palm biomass for energy» technology could be supported.

• Bulk procurement of renewable energy technologies is limited due to the current small market for renewable energy based modern energy services. Hence the (technical) infrastructure to support renewable energy development does not exist;

• Local manufacturing and/or assembly of renewable energy technology components are currently mostly lacking;

• There is only limited technical capacity to design, install, operate, manage and maintain renewable energy based modern energy services, mainly as a result of lack of past activities in this field;

• The technical skills, including conclusive data comparing energy technologies for equivalent energy services, is limited;

• Norms and standards in terms of renewable energy performance, manufacture, installation and maintenance are weak and/or non-existing.

It is clear that without addressing the above barriers, it will be difficult to promote sustainable energy alternatives to increase biomass use in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the same time, Governments at the entity and state level as well as the other institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina have little capacity — financial, technical or institutional — to address these barriers [6].

1.2.2. Characteristics of Buccinum tenuissimum shell biomass

X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns of the four kinds of Buccinum tenuissimum shell biomass samples are shown in Fig. 7. The crystal structure of the shell biomass was transformed from aragonite (CaCO3) into calcite (CaCO3) phase by heat-treatment (480°C, 6h). Moreover, the crystal structure of the shell biomass was mainly transformed into calcium oxide (CaO) by heat-treatment (950°C, 6h); and was mainly into calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) by adding water after heat-treatment (950°C, 6h). SEM pictures of the four kinds of sieved shell biomass samples are shown in Fig. 8. Comparing Fig. 8(b) with Fig. 8(a), comparatively clear crystal with a lot of big particles may be observed by heat-traetment (480°C, 6h). It is suggested that ground original sample contains a lot of organic materials such as protein, and most of organic matter seem to disappear by heat-traetment. Moreover, fine crystal particle is not observed in Fig. 8 (c). This may be attributable to the phenomena that many crystals were connected largely with each other due to high-temperature sintering. Meanwhile, relative clear crystal (sizes are mostly 1.0-4.0pm) is observed in Fig. 8 (d).

(a)

(b)

(c)

(a) (b)

Furthermore, the measurement of specific surface area of the four kinds of sieved samples was performed in this study; and the results are shown in Table 6 along with the main crystal structure of these samples. Remarkably decrease of specific surface area (i. e., from 3.32m2/g to 0.390m2/g for BET, or from 5.35 m2/g to 0.612 m2/g for Langmuir) was found after heat-treatment (480°C, 6h). It is suggested that the crystal structure transformation (i. e., from aragonite (CaCO3) into calcite (CaCO3) phase) and also the difference of the surface morphology can be closely related to the remarkable decrease of specific surface area of the shell biomass. On the other hand, the surface area of "heat-treatment (950°C, 6h) sample" was 1.88m2/g for BET or 3.10m2/g for Langmuir respectively; and that of "heat-treatment (950°C, 6h) and water added sample" was 6.37m2/g for BET or 9.91m2/g for Langmuir, respectively.

Bosnia and Herzegovina have significant physical potential regarding to renewable energy sources and belongs to the list of the countries which can develop their energy sector mainly based on that. Due to that hydro, biomass, geothermal, wind and solar potential can play important role in the whole state economy in the forthcoming period.

Regarding to small hydro, some analysis says that theoretically water power of B&H amounts 99,256 GWh/year, technical water power potential of 356 small and big HPP (which may be built) amounts to 23,395 GWh/year, out of which 2,599 GWh/year is in small HPP. From that amount around 77% is in Republic of Srpska (RS) and 23% is in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FB&H).

Real potential for wind energy in B&H is still not fully estimated. Some estimations related to 16 macro-locations under investigations goes says that total estimated installed capacity can be 720 to 950 MW, which can produce 1440 to 1950 GWh, annually [4]. It is important to emphasize that the existing infrastructure offers adequate conditions for connecting possible locations to the grid, as the high — and medium-voltage network is well developed.

Theoretical potential of the solar energy in B&H amounts 74.65 PWh. Technical potential amounts 190.277,80 GWh, that is 6.2 times more than quantity of energy out of totally balance needs for the primary energy in FB&H during 2000 [4]. Despite this, the use of solar energy is insignificant and the exploitation of solar energy with flat-plate collectors is also limited.

It is difficult to estimate total B&H’s physical and technical geothermal potential. All estimates are mainly based on some experimental drills and theoretical investigations, and according to that temperatures at the known locations in north and central part of the country are between 54 and 85°C. This temperature level is relatively low for electricity generation, but it is interesting for district heating systems.

The imaging set consisted of a multispectral camera DuncanTech MS-3100 (manufacturer Geospatial Systems, Inc., USA) with the objective Sigma 14 mm F2.8 Aspherical HSM, a notebook Acer Aspire 1362 (AMD Sempron 2800+, 512MB RAM, 60GB HD), and a framegrabber (videograbber) National Instruments NI-1428, which was connected with the notebook via PCMCIA and communicated with the camera via a CameraLink interface. Power for the whole set was supplied from a portable 42 Ah accumulator with a 12V/220V changer (transformer). The camera was controlled via a COM interface and the recording of images was performed in DTcontrol software. Because of a problematic connectivity with the framegrabber the notebook was later on replaced by a desktop PC (Intel Pentium II 400 Mhz, 640 MB RAM, 40 GB HDD) with a framegrabber placed in the PCI slot and with a 17" LCD monitor.

The imaging part of the camera consisted of three CCD elements with filters of the size 7.6 x 6.2 mm, which recorded in three bands of electromagnetic radiation — green (500-600 nm, peak 550 nm), red (600-700 nm, peak 650 nm) and near infrared (750-900 nm, peak 830 nm).

By composing 8 bit images from CCD the so-called CIR (colour infrared) the image was obtained in false colours with the size of 1,392 x 1,039 pixels, and this was subsequently stored in a wireless TIFF format. The use of a wide (14 mm) objective enabled to reach (in combination with the physical size of the CCD element) a wide angle of recording (ca 26° x 20°).

For imaging from the height of 5.5 m, a mobile aluminium scaffold was used (Figure 4); this corresponded with the image area 2.54 x 1.9 m (4.83 m2) and the spatial resolution of less than 2 mm per pixel. Since 2005, a set of optic etalons SphereOptics Zenith® was a part of each imaged scene to normalize the reflectance of radiation in accordance with existing light conditions. This set consisted of four polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) etalons with exactly calibrated reflectances of 10 %, 25 %, 50 %, and 70 %. Used material had the so-called Lambert perfectly diffusing surface for which the intensity of reflected radiation was independent of direction of radiation incidence. From the viewpoint of field measurements resistance and washability of polytetrafluorethylene were also advantageous.

MS 3100

CameraLink

+ COM + 12V

cables

12V/220V

changer

acumulator

framegrabber

laptop

area of interest

Figure 4. A view of imaging equipment

When processing recorded images, a radiometric correction was performed at first to eliminate differences in light conditions of imaging (sunny — overcast), i. e. to normalize
reflectance. The normalization of images to constant light conditions was performed on the basis of a conversion of digital numbers (DN) of image pixels according to the measured and calibrated reflectance of a 25 % optic etalon. Using images processed in this way it was thereafter possible to calculate the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) according to the equation NDVI = (NIR — R)/(NIR + R). Simultaneously, average values of DN and NDVI of the demarcated part of the canopy were determined on the basis of CIR and NDVI images (NIR = Near Infrared, R = Red, CIR = Colour Infrared).