Design of biomass value chains that are synergistic with the food–energy–water nexus: Strategies and opportunities

Abstract

Humanity's future sustainable supply of energy, fuels and materials is aiming towards renewable sources such as biomass. Several studies on biomass value chains (BVCs) have demonstrated the feasibility of biomass in replacing fossil fuels. However, many of the activities along the chain can disrupt the food-energy-water (FEW) nexus given that these resource systems have been ever more interlinked due to increased global population and urbanisation. Essentially, the design of BVCs has to integrate the systems-thinking approach of the FEW nexus; such that, existing concerns on food, water and energy security, as well as the interactions of the BVCs with the nexus, can be incorporated in future policies. To date, there has been little to no literature that captures the synergistic opportunities between BVCs and the FEW nexus. This paper presents the first survey of process systems engineering approaches for the design of BVCs, focusing on whether and how these approaches considered synergies with the FEW nexus. Among the surveyed mathematical models, the approaches include multi-stage supply chain, temporal and spatial integration, multi-objective optimisation and uncertainty-based risk management. Although the majority of current studies are more focused on the economic impacts of BVCs, the mathematical tools can be remarkably useful in addressing critical sustainability issues in BVCs. Thus, future research directions must capture the details of food-energy-water interactions with the BVCs, together with the development of more insightful multi-scale, multi-stage, multi-objective and uncertainty-based approaches.

Input-Output Efficiency of Water-Energy-Food and Its Driving Forces: Spatial-Temporal Heterogeneity of Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

“…Actually, the process of coal mining, processing, and refining needs plenty of water, as well as hydropower generation [56]. In addition, biomass resources mainly come from the organic matter of animals and plants [57,58]. From the perspective of the food subsystem, the main resources to be invested in food production and consumption include water, energy, chemical fertilizers, plastic film for farm use and cultivated land, etc.…”

Optimization of process parameters of self-purging microwave pyrolysis of corn cob for biochar production

“…By identifying the optimal conditions, the scale-up of this technology could be investigated in terms of its economic and environmental impacts (Doliente and Samsatli, 2019; J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f al., 2019). Accounting for these impacts is paramount in the commercial implementation of waste technologies and their sustainable integration into biomass supply chains in both developed and developing countries (Doliente et al, 2020;Tapia et al, 2019).…”

“…The optimal biochar product was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive x-ray (EDX), x-ray fluorescence (XRF), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), and cyclic voltammetry (CV). By identifying the optimal conditions, the scale-up of this technology could be investigated in terms of its economic and environmental impacts ( Doliente and Samsatli, 2019 ; Tapia et al., 2019 ). Accounting for these impacts is paramount in the commercial implementation of waste valorization technologies and their sustainable integration into biomass supply chains in both developed and developing countries ( Doliente et al., 2020 ; Tapia et al., 2019 ).…”

Land for biomass?

“…A total of 134 peer-reviewed studies were found through the systematic literature search. However, studies that focused on agricultural residues were excluded [478][479][480] , land use mapping [481][482][483][484] , stakeholders' perspectives and decision making [485][486][487][488] , farmland services (e.g., dairy and poultry) [489][490][491] and review style studies [492][493][494][495] . Thus, in total only 59 studies fell within the scope of the study.…”

“…There are considerably more tradeoffs than synergies between the impacts of land use for dedicated energy crops on GHG emission reduction (SDG 13) and zero hunger (SDG 2). Literature has highlighted that food security risks increase when land dedicated to food production is limited by the production of dedicated energy crops 46,495,510,513,518,[528][529][530] . Land competition can negatively affect agricultural production and food supply, and lead to increases in food prices 37,511 .…”