Regional variations in greenhouse gas emissions of biobased products in the United States—corn-based ethanol and soybean oil

Kim, Seungdo; Dale, Bruce E.

doi:10.1007/s11367-009-0106-4

Cited by 71 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…The same occurs with studies on soybean LCA that have been carried out to date (e.g. Kim & Dale, 2009;Panichelli et al, 2009;Hou et al, 2011;Mohammadi et al, 2013). Moreover, most previous studies were limited to energy and GHG emissions, thus excluding other environmental impacts that are relevant throughout the agricultural process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Evaluating the environmental sustainability of energy crops: A life cycle assessment of Spanish rapeseed and Argentinean soybean cultivation

Fernández-Tirado

Parra-López

Romero-Gámez

2017

Span. j. agric. res.

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Rapeseed oil is expected to be increasingly used in Spain as raw material to produce biodiesel to the detriment of extra-EU imports of biodiesel mainly based on soybean oil from Argentina. Therefore, the environmental impacts produced throughout the life cycle of energy crops used to produce biodiesel which is consumed in Spain could be radically affected. In this context, the environmental impacts of rapeseed cultivation in Spain and soybean cultivation in Argentina, were compared under certain growing conditions using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Two methods of calculation for Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) and two functional units (FUs) were used to test potential biases. The results showed that the cultivation of soybean in Argentina had, in general, fewer environmental impacts than rapeseed cultivation in Spain when the FU was the area of cultivation, but these findings are inverted when the analysis is conducted according to the energy content of the biodiesel obtained from these crops. Soybean in fact has very low oil content, meaning that larger areas of land are required to obtain the same amount of biodiesel and that consequently it has a higher environmental impact by energy content. Fertilization was, in general, the process that generated the greatest environmental burdens, and is an area in which improvement is necessary in order to increase sustainability, particularly with regard to Spanish rapeseed.Additional key words: LCA; biodiesel; impacts; CML-IA.Correspondence should be addressed to Francisca Fernández-Tirado: fernandez@uma.esAbbreviations used: ASNPB100kmFF (the amount of seed (kg) needed to produce the biodiesel that would be required to drive 100 km in a diesel Ford Focus 1.8 TDdi 89HP); EU (European Union); FU (functional unit), GHG (greenhouse gas); LCA (life cycle assessment); LCI (life cycle inventory); LCIA (life cycle impact assessment), NT (no till); REOS (respiratory effects of organic substances).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Evaluating the environmental sustainability of energy crops: A life cycle assessment of Spanish rapeseed and Argentinean soybean cultivation

Fernández-Tirado

Parra-López

Romero-Gámez

2017

Span. j. agric. res.

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“…The ability to do this is due to the more spatially detailed inventory for the production of the rapeseed feedstock. Indeed Malça et al [108] in their review of GHG balances for European biodiesel chains identified more detailed modelling is required for soil emissions, such as N 2 O, which are sensitive to the regional variability (e.g., fertiliser application, rotation) [5,6,23,24,[26][27][28]. Such modelling advancements are crucial for improving the results of life cycle studies, and this is one of the objectives of the RELCA approach.…”

Section: Interpretation and Discussion Of Example Outputsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1), they identified three regional contexts which have been used to frame regionally focused life cycle thinking. With many burdens of bioenergy production strongly influenced by the regional variability (e.g., management, climate, soil) of biomass production [5,6,23,24,[26][27][28], O'Keeffe et al [19] identified the need to begin determining what is happening "within" a regional context for a bioenergy producing region. They also identified that life cycle thinking framed in a regionally contextualised manner is at a nascent stage, particularly with regard to implementing a suitable or appropriate life cycle impact assessment phase 4 .…”

Section: Regionally Contextualised Life Cycle Thinkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The magnitude of emissions from energy crop production depends on the production locations within a region and therefore, the associated regional variations in turn can have a significant influence on the environmental performance of the associated bioenergy systems [28,[45][46][47]. For this reason the purpose of the BioMod step is to determine the regional management practices, as well as the direct emissions associated with producing energy crops within a region.…”

Section: What Is Relca?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With many burdens of bioenergy production strongly influenced by the regional and spatial variability (e.g., management, climate, soil) of biomass production [5,6,23,24,[26][27][28] more regional and spatially representative life cycle approaches for assessing bioenergy systems [10,16,18,25] are required, to support the sustainable use of natural resources [11], such as biomass. The aim of this paper was to outline the challenges and options for developing a life cycle approach for assessing not only the regional environmental performance of bioenergy production, but also the spatial variability of that performance "within" a regional context [19].…”

Section: Relca (V10) the First Stepmentioning

confidence: 99%

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RELCA: a REgional Life Cycle inventory for Assessing bioenergy systems within a region

O’Keeffe¹,

Wochele-Marx²,

Thrän

2016

Energ Sustain Soc

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Background: The last decade has seen major development and adoption of bioenergy, particularly in Germany. This has resulted in a scattering of decentralised bioenergy plants across the landscape, due to their dependency on spatially diffuse biomass resources. Regional conditions (e.g., soils, climate, management) influence the environmental burdens resulting from biomass production and thus, also effect the environmental performance of bioenergy production. Therefore, more regionally focused life cycle approaches are required for assessing these bioenergy systems. The aim of this paper is to outline such an approach. "RELCA", is a regional life cycle inventory for assessing the regional and spatial variation in the environmental performance of bioenergy production within a region. Methods: Five modelling steps are combined to form the RELCA approach in order to determine: (1) regional crop allocation, (2) regional biomass management, (3) representative bioenergy plant models, (4) bioenergy plant catchments, and (5) indirect upstream emissions (non-regional) associated with regional bioenergy production. The challenges and options for each of these five modelling steps are outlined. Additionally, a simple example is provided using greenhouse gases emissions (GHG) to show how RELCA can be used to identify the potential regional distribution of environmental burdens associated with the production of a bioenergy product (e.g. biodiesel) within a region. Results: An approach for combining regionally distributed inventory for biomass production with regionally distributed inventory for bioenergy technologies, through the use of catchment delineation was developed. This enabled the introduction of greater regional details within the life cycle approach. As a first "proof of concept," GHG emissions were estimated for a simple example, illustrating how RELCA can identify the potential regional distribution of environmental burdens (direct and indirect) associated with producing a bioenergy product. Conclusions: RELCA (v1.0) is a powerful scoping approach, which is the first to investigate the regional and spatial variation in the environmental performance of bioenergy production within a region through the use of catchment delineation. RELCA (v1.0) is not without its limitations. Despite these, it still provides a good starting point for further discussion, improvements, and modelling developments for assessing the regional and spatial environmental implications of bioenergy production (e.g., such as impacts to soil, water, and biodiversity) for a within regional context .

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The Climate Benefit of Swedish Ethanol: Present and Prospective Performance

Börjesson¹,

Ahlgren²,

Berndes³

2015

Advances in Bioenergy

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Regional variations in greenhouse gas emissions of biobased products in the United States—corn-based ethanol and soybean oil

Abstract: Background, aim, and scope Regional variations

Cited by 71 publications

References 16 publications

Evaluating the environmental sustainability of energy crops: A life cycle assessment of Spanish rapeseed and Argentinean soybean cultivation

Evaluating the environmental sustainability of energy crops: A life cycle assessment of Spanish rapeseed and Argentinean soybean cultivation

RELCA: a REgional Life Cycle inventory for Assessing bioenergy systems within a region

The Climate Benefit of Swedish Ethanol: Present and Prospective Performance

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