Optimizing biofuel production: An economic analysis for selected biofuel feedstock production in Hawaii

Tran, N.A.; Illukpitiya, Prabodh; Yanagida, John F.; Ogoshi, Richard

doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2011.01.012

Cited by 26 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Among the four crops, banagrass has the highest productivity. The productivity of banagrass, oil palm (biodiesel), eucalyptus, and leucaena is 1440.5, 203.4, 507, and 572 gallons per acres per year, respectively (Tran et al, 2011).…”

Section: Methods For Prioritizing Important Agricultural Landsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the potential for food and energy self-sufficiency on the island of Kauai, Hawaii

2015

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a b s t r a c tFood and energy security are major concerns in the Pacific and around the world. They are key planning priorities in the state of Hawaii as well. Approximately 90% of energy and food resources are imported to Hawaii from the continental USA or other parts of the world. While food and energy independence is a goal in many jurisdictions, assessment of the potential for local food and energy production is lacking. Research is needed to examine how agricultural lands can be used to meet food and energy demands, particularly on islands where land is limited. The contribution of this paper is the development of a community-orientated method for evaluating and prioritizing lands for food and energy self-sufficiency, based on local preferences and production possibilities. Based on a review of the literature, community meetings, and expert interviews, three scenarios were developed to assess food and energy production possibilities on Kauai. The first scenario considers maximum food production, the second assigns equal importance to food and energy production, and the third scenario maximizes energy production. Our analysis shows that while currently zoned agricultural lands on Kauai are capable of meeting the energy and nutritional needs of the current population under some conditions, it is not possible under the strictest definition of ''important agricultural lands''. Some aspect or interpretation of the criteria will always have to be relaxed in order to fulfill energy and food-self sufficiency goals. This work broadens policy discussions regarding the preservation of agricultural lands on small islands.

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Section: Methods For Prioritizing Important Agricultural Landsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the potential for food and energy self-sufficiency on the island of Kauai, Hawaii

2015

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“…The use of genetically modified crops, such as corn, also faces a number of local regulatory restrictions (McAvoy, 2014). High yielding banagrass has been identified as the most economically viable feedstock option in Hawaii (Black andVeatch, 2010 andTran et al, 2011). Therefore, from the standpoint of production cost and agro-environment conditions, banagrass will likely be a favorable option as compared to the existing lignocellulosic feedstock options.…”

Section: Well-to-wheel Analysismentioning

confidence: 97%

“…It is a perennial crop which matures within seven to eight months and yields multiple ratoon harvests. Since its original introduction from Australia to Hawaii in the mid-1970s, banagrass has been used locally as windbreaks and more recently has been studied as a bioethanol feedstock option (for resources potential and economic feasibility, see for example: Keffer et al, 2009;Black and Veatch, 2010;and Tran et al, 2011). The potential yield of banagrass depends on (Black and Veatch, 2010).…”

Section: Feedstock Productionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In the context of Hawaii, a perennial fodder crop known as Banagrass (Pennisetum purpureum) has been identified as a promising biomass source due to its robust growth (Black andVeatch, 2010 andTran et al, 2011) and high carbohydrate content (approximately 37% cellulose and 33% hemicellulose (Takara, 2012)). As Hawaii is highly dependent on imported oil (over 85% of primary energy demand is met through the use of imported petroleum products (DBEDT, 2011), and serves as a military hub in the Pacific region, the use of tropical fodder crops for biofuel production in recent years has been perceived to be of local and regional importance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Life cycle assessment of ethanol production from tropical banagrass (Pennisetum purpureum) using green and dry processing technologies in Hawaii

Mochizuki

Yanagida

Kumar

et al. 2014

Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy

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This study conducted well-to-pump and well-to wheel life-cycle assessment of fossil energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during ethanol production from tropical Banagrass (Pennisetum purpureum) using green-processing (with the use of fresh feedstocks) and dry or conventional processing (with the use of dried feedstocks) in the state of Hawaii. 10 000 MJ of energy was used as a functional unit with a systematic boundary drawn based on relative mass, energy, and economic value method using a 1% cutoff value, and the results were compared to those of conventional gasoline, and ethanol from corn and other ethanol lignocellulosic feedstocks. Detailed techno-economic model was built using the SuperPro designer. Ethanol yields were estimated at 0.27 l/kg (green processing with fungal co-product), 0.27 l/kg (green processing without co-product), and 0.29 l/kg (dry-processing) of feedstock, respectively. The well-to-pump analysis indicate that ethanol production consume 8200 MJ (green processing with co-product), 7600 MJ (green-processing without co-product) and 7200 MJ (dry-processing without co-product) of fossil energy and emit approximately144 kg CO 2 -eq., 90.6 kg CO 2 -eq., and 59.1 kg CO 2 -eq. per 10 000 MJ of ethanol produced, respectively; well-to-wheel analysis showed that 280 g of gCO 2 -eq., 260 g CO 2 -eq., and 250 g CO 2 -eq. of emissions were produced per kilometer by driving Flex Fuel Vehicle. In summary, ethanol produced using the green-processing technology required greater amount of fossil energy and produced more GHG emissions compared to that of dry processing technology, due to additional energy needed for fungal growth and related processes. Process power, enzyme, and chemical production during ethanol processing were identified as emissions hot-spots for both green and dry processing. V C 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

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“…Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum), a candidate energy crop capable of achieving high yields of 94 dry metric tons/hectare (Osgood et al, 1996), has been reported to have significant potential as a feedstock for large-scale renewable biofuel production in the state of Hawaii (Tran et al, 2011). Perennial feedstocks, however, are believed to change in composition over their natural course of maturation (Williams et al, 1980).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Characterizing compositional changes of Napier grass at different stages of growth for biofuel and biobased products potential

Takara

Khanal

2015

Bioresource Technology

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Napier grass, Pennisetum purpureum, is a high yielding, perennial feedstock that can be harvested year-round in (sub)tropical geographies of the world. Because of its high moisture content (∼ 80%w/w), Napier grass presents a unique opportunity for fractionation into solid and liquid streams, where the extruded cellulosic fibers can serve as a substrate for biofuel production, and the nutrient-rich juice can serve as a substrate for co-product generation. The aim of this study evaluated the effects of biomass age on constituents relevant to biofuel and biobased product generation. Although obvious morphological changes can be observed in the field due to natural senescence, the results obtained in this work suggested that the cellulose content does not change significantly with respect to age. Data surrounding the hemicellulose and lignin contents, however, were inconclusive as their degree of significance varied with the statistics applied to analyze the raw data.

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Optimizing biofuel production: An economic analysis for selected biofuel feedstock production in Hawaii

Cited by 26 publications

References 4 publications

Assessing the potential for food and energy self-sufficiency on the island of Kauai, Hawaii

Assessing the potential for food and energy self-sufficiency on the island of Kauai, Hawaii

Life cycle assessment of ethanol production from tropical banagrass (Pennisetum purpureum) using green and dry processing technologies in Hawaii

Characterizing compositional changes of Napier grass at different stages of growth for biofuel and biobased products potential

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