Life Cycle Assessment of an Advanced Bioethanol Technology in the Perspective of Constrained Biomass Availability

Abstract

Among the existing environmental assessments of bioethanol, the studies suggesting an environmental benefit of bioethanol all ignore the constraints on the availability of biomass resources and the implications competition for biomass has on the assessment We show that toward 2030, regardless of whether a global or European perspective is applied, the amount of biomass, which can become available for bioethanol or other energy uses, will be physically and economically constrained. This implies that use of biomass or land for bioethanol production will most likely happen at the expense of alternative uses. In this perspective, we show that for the case of a new advanced bioethanol technology, in terms of reducing greenhouse emissions and fossil fuel dependency, more is lost than gained when prioritizing biomass or land for bioethanol. Technology pathways involving heat and power production and/or biogas, natural gas or electricity for transport are advantageous.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) of electricity generation technologies: Overview, comparability and limitations

“…While this approach may appear justifiable when focusing on residual biomass resources traditionally not exploited for energy purposes (i.e., remaining on agricultural land or used for animal feeding and/or bedding), such an assumption is questionable for energy crops [74]. Biomass and arable land are in fact expected to become a constrained resource with the increasing penetration of renewable energy in the system [74].…”

Safety, health, and environmental assessment of bioethanol production from sugarcane, corn, and corn stover

“…The three types of bioethanol production in this study, that is, ethanol derived from sugarcane, corn, and corn stover, refer to the most representative biomass resources for sucrose-containing materials, starch materials, and lignocellulosic biomass. Therefore, based on the results of this study, a new viewpoint, that is, process hazard assessment, can be implemented into bioethanol production in addition to economic aspects, LCIA, resource availability, and use of land and water discussed by other researchers [14][15][16]. In this context, the specific category of environmental impacts related with nutrients used in biomass cultivation, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, is also important and their input/output balances and cycles among involved carriers such as animal and plant should be carefully considered [44].…”

“…The environmental impact, mainly expressed as greenhouse gases emissions, has also been evaluated for bioethanol production from various feedstock, including corn in the USA [6][7][8][9], sugarcane in Brazil [10,11] and corn stover [12,13]. Additionally, the issues of biomass availability [14] and water and land use [15,16] have also been studied.…”

Energy and environmental analysis of a rapeseed biorefinery conversion process

“…In the near future, biomass will be a constrained resource/commodity, and such a constraint will determine market competition between different actors and need for alternative supply routes. These market related consequences have to be modelled in an LCA study if the study is to be used for consistent decision making [10]. Furthermore, most of the LCAs on biorefineries have a general character and they make use of default data, thereby focusing more on how biorefineries integrate in the energy system rather than on the technology development [e.g.…”