Life cycle assessment of lignocellulosic bioethanol: Environmental impacts and energy balance

Morales, Marjorie; Quintero, Julián; Conejeros, Raúl; Aroca, Germán

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2014.10.097

Cited by 220 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…The net energy value (NEV), the difference between the energy output and energy input, was 32.2 MJ/L ethanol. This value was found to be competitive with other lignocellulosic feedstock studies reviewed by Morales et al (2015). Interestingly, the NEV of coffee pulp found to be higher Fig.…”

Section: Process Descriptionsupporting

confidence: 50%

Technical possibilities of bioethanol production from coffee pulp: a renewable feedstock

Gurram

Al-Shannag

Knapp

et al. 2015

Clean Techn Environ Policy

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The present paper investigated the technical possibilities of bioethanol production from coffee pulp in a sustainable manner. Coffee pulp is a largely underutilized waste stream and has the potential to become a bioethanol feedstock if processing is economically viable. This study aimed to characterize the chemical composition of coffee pulp with relevance to bioethanol production and to compare results to other bioethanol feedstocks. Based on the total sugar yield, we investigated bioethanol production using AspenPlus simulation software. In the sugar characterization part, total carbohydrates were measured after complete acid hydrolysis of dry pulp, while water-soluble carbohydrates were measured after acid hydrolysis of soxhlet extracted solutions. Moisture, lignin, and ash contents were measured gravimetrically after appropriate heating treatments. The results showed sugar contents, expressed as percentages of dry mass, as follows: 5.8, 5.2, 20.2, 4.2, and 4.7 % for arabinose, galactose, glucose, xylose, and mannose, respectively. Arabinose, galactose, and glucose were the only water-extracted simple sugars, at 1.0, 1.4, and 2.6 % of dry mass, respectively. AspenPlus simulation was based on processing 10,000 ton/day of coffee pulp. The results demonstrated sugar and ethanol yield of 2100 and 1050 ton/day, respectively. This would make annually profit of $0.13 million. The simulation estimated the capital investment cost was about $2 million. In order to satisfy the process economy, the process operation cost must be operated at minimum of $1.87 million annually. The life-cycle analysis showed the net value of energy of the whole process is an economical as well as the balance of CO 2 emission/reduction was on the environmental favor.

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Section: Process Descriptionsupporting

confidence: 50%

Technical possibilities of bioethanol production from coffee pulp: a renewable feedstock

Gurram

Al-Shannag

Knapp

et al. 2015

Clean Techn Environ Policy

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“…To take just the example of the development of alternative energy sources, many possible shifts can be evoked. They include, for instance, the heavy metal releases associated with the production of some photovoltaics (Fthenakis et al 2009), the impacts of biogas systems on acidification (Varun et al 2009), the effects of some bioethanol cultures on acidification, eutrophication and photochemical smog (Morales et al 2015), or the carcinogenic risks associated with the construction of certain mini hydro power plants (Hanafi and Riman 2015). The manufacturing and recycling processes of wind turbines can also be improved from a human toxicity and terrestrial ecotoxicity point of view (Martínez et al 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From value-added tax to a damage and value-added tax partially based on life cycle assessment: principles and feasibility

Timmermans

Achten

2018

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose The purpose of this article is to examine the arguments in favor of a shift from value-added tax (VAT) or sales tax to a damage and value-added tax (DaVAT) partially based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of goods and services. With this shift, goods and services that seriously harm the environment and human health will be priced up, those that impact them less will be priced down. The paper recalls the proposal made by De Camillis and Goralczyk (Int J Life Cycle Assess 18: [263][264][265][266][267][268][269][270][271][272] 2013) to differentiate the VAT rate associated with products according to their environmental impacts over their life cycle. The paper suggests a new way to convert VAT into DaVAT, examines the operating principles of such a system, and considers its practical feasibility. The new policy tool based on LCA presented is intended to be applied to every country wishing to reform its consumption tax system in order to strive for a more sustainable future. Some aspects specific to countries having the same currency, notably the Euro zone, are also discussed. Methods The proposal of De Camillis and Goralczyk is discussed from the perspective of both environmental performance and compliance with LCA standards. To overcome the identified difficulties, a new way of adapting VAT (or consumption taxes in general) according to LCA is suggested. The proposal relies on three essential points: (i) apply VAT (or consumption taxes in general) to all goods and services and reduce its multiple rates to one single low rate (e.g., 3%) called uniform VAT (UVAT); (ii) add to UVAT a per-unit tax called global damage tax (GDT) calculated on the basis of environmental impacts assessed by means of specific or generic LCAs. In the case of potentially high-polluting products or industries, a specific LCA will be automatically imposed. The obligation to assess high-polluting activities already exists in many countries with, e.g., environmental impact studies, but the impacts are not necessarily evaluated by LCA; (iii) in order to reflect environmental, social, or ethical concerns specific to a country, another damage tax termed specific damage tax (SDT) is proposed that extends beyond LCA. DaVAT is the sum of UVAT, GDT, and SDT. DaVAT is conceived not as an additional burden but rather as a shift of taxation, as the rate of the old consumption taxes can decrease proportionally to the increase of GDT. DaVAT is also designed in such a way that the erosion of tax revenues, when pollutant would decline, is offset by the extension of the tax to all goods and services and by the possibility to gradually re-increase the UVAT rate when the number of highly polluting products decreases. Results and discussion The proposal is examined first from a theoretical point of view by considering which principles should be used to comply with LCA standards and general requirements of (environmental) tax policies. Four general principles emerge: consistency in the choice of the functional unit and in the characterization, n...

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“…A combination of both methods is the so-called exergetic life cycle assessment (ELCA) [14][15][16][17][18]. This type of LCA requires closed material and energy balances.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exergy and CO2 Analyses as Key Tools for the Evaluation of Bio-Ethanol Production

Kang

Tan

2016

Sustainability

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Abstract:The background of bioethanol as an alternative to conventional fuels is analyzed with the aim of examining the efficiency of bioethanol production by first (sugar-based) and second (cellulose-based) generation processes. Energy integration is of paramount importance for a complete recovery of the processes' exergy potential. Based upon literature data and our own findings, exergy analysis is shown to be an important tool in analyzing integrated ethanol production from an efficiency and cost perspective.

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Life cycle assessment of lignocellulosic bioethanol: Environmental impacts and energy balance

Cited by 220 publications

References 77 publications

Technical possibilities of bioethanol production from coffee pulp: a renewable feedstock

Technical possibilities of bioethanol production from coffee pulp: a renewable feedstock

From value-added tax to a damage and value-added tax partially based on life cycle assessment: principles and feasibility

Exergy and CO2 Analyses as Key Tools for the Evaluation of Bio-Ethanol Production

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