Reducing life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of corn ethanol by integrating biomass to produce heat and power at ethanol plants

Kaliyan, Nalladurai; Morey, R. Vance; Tiffany, Douglas G.

doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2010.11.035

Cited by 33 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Murphy and Kendal [19], for example, examined the influence of different co-product handling techniques on the GHG intensity of co-produced corn and corn stover but did not examine the full life cycle of biofuels produced from these feedstocks combined. Several studies [20][21][22] examined how corn stover might be integrated as a source of biopower at corn ethanol plants, but two of these studies were limited to a technoeconomic perspective and did not consider life cycle GHG emissions. In addition, Ou et al [23] examined the economic performance of co-located corn grain and stover ethanol plants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policy Implications of Allocation Methods in the Life Cycle Analysis of Integrated Corn and Corn Stover Ethanol Production

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A biorefinery may produce multiple fuels from more than one feedstock. The ability of these fuels to qualify as one of the four types of biofuels under the US Renewable Fuel Standard and to achieve a low carbon intensity score under California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard can be strongly influenced by the approach taken to their life cycle analysis (LCA). For example, in facilities that may co-produce corn grain and corn stover ethanol, the ethanol production processes can share the combined heat and power (CHP) that is produced from the lignin and liquid residues from stover ethanol production. We examine different LCA approaches to corn grain and stover ethanol production considering different approaches to CHP treatment. In the baseline scenario, CHP meets the energy demands of stover ethanol production first, with additional heat and electricity generated sent to grain ethanol production. The resulting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for grain and stover ethanol are 57 and 25 g-CO 2 eq/MJ, respectively, corresponding to a 40 and 74 % reduction compared to the GHG emissions of gasoline. We illustrate that emissions depend on allocation of burdens of CHP production and corn farming, along with the facility capacities. Co-product handling techniques can strongly influence LCA results and should therefore be transparently documented.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policy Implications of Allocation Methods in the Life Cycle Analysis of Integrated Corn and Corn Stover Ethanol Production

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The major reason are N 2 O emissions, which result from the use of fertilizers and agrochemicals [11,14,16,23,156,158]. However, there are large ranges for cultivation-induced emissions because of the sensitivity to the specific cultivation area and management system [23].…”

Section: Ghg Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competing uses of biomass: Assessment and comparison of the performance of bio-based heat, power, fuels and materials

Gerssen‐Gondelach

Saygin

Wicke

et al. 2014

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

139

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The increasing production of modern bioenergy carriers and biomaterials intensifies the competition for different applications of biomass. To be able to optimize and develop biomass utilization in a sustainable way, this paper first reviews the status and prospects of biomass value chains for heat, power, fuels and materials, next assesses their current and long-term levelized production costs and avoided emissions, and then compares their greenhouse gas abatement costs. At present, the economically and environmentally preferred options are wood chip and pellet combustion in district heating systems and large-scale cofiring power plants (75-81 US$ 2005 /tCO 2 -eq avoided ), and large-scale fermentation of low cost Brazilian sugarcane to ethanol (-65 to -53 $/tCO 2 -eq avoided ) or biomaterials (-60 to -50 $/tCO 2 -eq avoided for ethylene and -320 to -228 $/tCO 2 -eq avoided for PLA; negative costs represent cost effective options). In the longer term, the cultivation and use of lignocellulosic energy crops can play an important role in reducing the costs and improving the emission balance of biomass value chains. Key conversion technologies for lignocellulosic biomass are large-scale gasification (bioenergy and biomaterials) and fermentation (biofuels and biomaterials). However, both routes require improvement of their technological and economic performance. Further improvements can be attained by biorefineries that integrate different conversion technologies to maximize the use of all biomass components.

show abstract

“…Estimated energy consumption, shown in Fig. 4 for each biorefi nery confi guration, is derived from Mueller 37 and Kaliyan et al 38 Th e system boundaries are diff erent between the cases where corn stover (CS) is used as process energy for heat and power production, including the cases that use natural gas as an energy source for heat production. CS collection and the replacement of nutrients lost because stover is ethanol in the early 2000s, which exerted pressure on producers to implement more energy effi cient technologies.…”

Section: Energy Use For Ethanol Productionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Estimated energy consumption, shown in Fig. for each biorefinery configuration, is derived from Mueller and Kaliyan et al …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the evolution of environmental and energy performance of the US corn ethanol industry: evaluation of selected metrics

Chum

Zhang

Hill

et al. 2013

Biofuels Bioprod Bioref

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Throughout the past two decades, numerous studies characterized the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and net energy balance of corn ethanol production in the USA. A wide range of reported values resulted from differences in the vintage of the data used to evaluate the ethanol conversion technology and the agricultural practices of corn production, which evolved substantially during the rapid growth phase of the industry. Methodological differences in life cycle assessments also caused the reported values to vary widely. With corn dry mills growing from 30% of total installed ethanol production capacity in 1990 to 80–90% from 2006 to 2011, we document the evolution of this industry using vintage‐specific data to analyze selected energy and environmental metrics, including GHG emissions, fossil energy use, direct land use, and GHG emissions reduction per hectare of land harvested for ethanol production. Our estimates indicate that production and use of corn ethanol emitted 44% fewer GHG emissions, consumed 54% less fossil energy and required 44% less land in 2010 compared to 1990 (on a life cycle basis). Our review and analysis point to strategies for reducing the carbon footprint of the corn dry mill industry by building on the progress already achieved. Using biomass (e.g. residues from corn production) for process heat or combined heat and power is one such strategy. Additional environmental benefits are projected from the adoption of integrated gasification combined cycle technology (using corn residues), which leads to energy‐self‐sufficient mills or net electricity producers depending on the power system configuration. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

show abstract

Reducing life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of corn ethanol by integrating biomass to produce heat and power at ethanol plants

Cited by 33 publications

References 15 publications

Policy Implications of Allocation Methods in the Life Cycle Analysis of Integrated Corn and Corn Stover Ethanol Production

Policy Implications of Allocation Methods in the Life Cycle Analysis of Integrated Corn and Corn Stover Ethanol Production

Competing uses of biomass: Assessment and comparison of the performance of bio-based heat, power, fuels and materials

Understanding the evolution of environmental and energy performance of the US corn ethanol industry: evaluation of selected metrics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About