Economics and GHG emission reduction of a PLA bio-refinery system—Combining bottom-up analysis with price elasticity effects

Abstract

This paper analyses energy savings, GHG emission reductions and costs of bio-refinery systems for polylactic acid (PLA) production. The systems comprise 'multi-functional' uses of biomass resources, i.e. use of agricultural residues for energy consumption, use of by-products, and recycling and wasteto-energy recovery of materials. We evaluate the performance of these systems per kg of bio-based polymer produced and per ha of biomass production. The evaluation is done using data of Poland assuming that biomass and PLA production is embedded in a European energy and material market. First, the performance of different bio-refinery systems is investigated by means of a bottom-up chain analysis. Second, an analysis is applied that derives market prices of products and land depending on the own-price elasticity of demand. Thus, the costs of bio-refinery systems depending on the demand of land and material are determined. It is found that all PLA bio-refinery systems considered lead to net savings of non-renewable energy consumption of 70-220 GJ/(ha yr) and net GHG emission reductions of 3-17 Mg CO 2eq /(ha yr). Most of these PLA bio-refinery systems lead to net costs for the overall system of up to 4600 D /(ha yr). PLA production from short rotation wood leads to net benefits of about 1100 D /(ha yr) if a high amount of a high value product, i.e. fibres, is produced. Multi-functionality is necessary to ensure the viability of PLA bio-refinery systems from biomass with regard to energy savings and GHG emission reduction. However, the multi-functional use of biomass does not contribute much to overall incomes. Multifunctional biomass use -especially the use of biomass residues for energy consumption -contributes significantly to savings of nonrenewable energy sources. Own-price elasticity of the demand for materials influences the overall * Corresponding author.E-mail address: V.Dornburg@chem.uu.nl (V. Dornburg).

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