Water, Energy, and Carbon Footprints of Bioethanol from the U.S. and Brazil

Mekonnen, Mesfin; Romanelli, Thiago Libório; Ray, Chittaranjan; Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert; Liska, Adam; Neale, Christopher M. U.

doi:10.1021/acs.est.8b03359

Cited by 67 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Demands for biofuel have driven the conversion of agricultural land to maize in North America and sugarcane in South America, creating tensions with food production, deforestation and exposing plant-derived bioenergy as not necessarily "clean" nor "green." Bioethanol derived from maize has a high carbon footprint due to the fossil fuel-derived fertilizers required for its cultivation (Fairley, 2011;Mekonnen et al, 2018;Stehfest, Ross, & Bouwman, 2010), whereas the sugarcane industry has a lower carbon footprint because the bagasse waste product from the initial energy recovery is then used to cogenerate heat and electricity displacing energy required for bioethanol production (Mekonnen et al, 2018), even taking into consideration carbon emissions from crops burned prior to harvest (de Figueiredo, Panosso, Romão, & La Scala, 2010).…”

Section: Challeng E S and Ris K S Of G E T Ting From Pl Ant To P Owermentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant Power: Opportunities and challenges for meeting sustainable energy needs from the plant and fungal kingdoms

Grace

Lovett

Gore

et al. 2020

Plants People Planet

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Section: Challeng E S and Ris K S Of G E T Ting From Pl Ant To P Owermentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant Power: Opportunities and challenges for meeting sustainable energy needs from the plant and fungal kingdoms

Grace

Lovett

Gore

et al. 2020

Plants People Planet

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“…Owing to its affordability and convenience, domestic consumers of fuels in low-income countries are traditionally tied to charcoal, especially in urban areas (Mekonnen et al, 2018). Despite forest management systems implemented in some countries, wood is usually sourced from natural forests and very often harvested illegally, defeating the laws in place for biodiversity preservation, ecosystem conservation and the countries Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) for emission reduction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preparation of charcoal briquette from palm kernel shells: case study in Ghana

Bonsu

Takase

Mantey³

2020

Heliyon

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In Ghana, the potential of palm kernel shells as renewable energy in charcoal production has not been exploited adequately. Using a low-cost instrument (kiln and compressor box) built from local resources, we produced charcoal briquette from palm kernel (Elaeis guineensis) shells. Further, we measured and compared its efficiency using starch as a binder to traditional charcoal and commonly used fuelwood (Acacia) in Cape Coast. Following the American Standards for Testing and Materials (ASTM), the proximate analysis was conducted for all fuels with results indicating that palm kernel shell (PKS) briquette produced had a moisture content of 1.08 %, as compared to 9.25 % in charcoal and 16.00 % in fuelwood. The volatile matter, ash content and fixed carbon recorded were 71.80 %, 0.06 %, and 27.07 % in PKS briquette, 86.00 %, 0.78 %, and 3.97 % in charcoal and 80.50 %, 2.04 %, 1.46 % in fuelwood respectively. The calorific values for charred PKS increased after binding to form the PKS briquette with the highest value among the other fuels. The calorific value for the other fuels were 17.5 MJ/kg for charcoal, 18.72 MJ/kg for charred PKS, and 18.72 MJ/kg for PKS briquette. We also conducted an ignition test, combustion test, fuel burning rate (FBR), and specific fuel consumption (SFC) on PKS briquette and charcoal to determine their suitability as cooking fuels. Charcoal readily ignited as compared to PKS briquette with respective fuel mass of 5.08 g and 25.5 g. The resultant briquette possesses desirable combustion characteristics such as no smoke emissions and ash formation. The FBR and SFC in PKS briquette recorded the highest in comparison with charcoal. The values recorded were 2.84 g/min and 20.05 g/ml respectively while that of charcoal was 0.42 g/ min and 3.48 g/ml respectively. PKS briquette produced from this study showed high calorific value, low moisture content, and a fast burning rate amongst other excellent properties. These properties are potential indicators that the proper utilization and production of PKS briquette as renewable energy in Ghana would contribute to solving the existing energy crisis. Additionally, reduce climate change impacts, via the reduction in the over-dependence on fuelwood and charcoal for domestic and commercial heating.

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“…GHG footprints have been derived for a wide variety of first-generation biofuel production systems [e.g. 17,[19][20][21]. For the GHG payback times metric (GPBTs), the initial GHG emissions from land transformation are considered an 'investment' that can be 'paid back' if the fossil fuel is replaced by a biofuel with lower fossil GHG emissions during production and use for a certain period [11,12,15,22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing greenhouse gas footprints and payback times of crop-based biofuel production worldwide

et al. 2019

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Two metrics are typically used to quantify the full greenhouse gas (GHG) balance of biofuel production: the GHG footprint (in kg CO 2-eq/MJ bioenergy produced) and the GHG payback time (in years). The goal of the present study was to quantify and compare spatially explicit GHG footprints and payback times of crop-based bioethanol and biodiesel production, focusing on locations where the four main feedstockscorn, sugarcane, soybean and rapeseedare currently cultivated. The largest GHG footprints and longest payback times were found for sugarcane in the tropics, owing to large original carbon stocks in the tropical ecoregions. The lowest GHG footprints and shortest payback times were found in the temperate ecoregions of the USA and Europe, with relatively low initial carbon stocks. For corn, GHG footprints were below the fossil reference and payback times were shorter than 30 years in 71-74% of cumulative production (for sugarcane, in 29-30% of the cumulative production). Soybean and rapeseed have intermediate results, at 49-62% of the cumulative production. The two metrics were highly correlated, except for locations where an infinite payback time was calculated. Overall, GHG footprints and payback times yield similar results when it comes to quantifying GHG balances of biofuels.

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Water, Energy, and Carbon Footprints of Bioethanol from the U.S. and Brazil

Cited by 67 publications

References 71 publications

Plant Power: Opportunities and challenges for meeting sustainable energy needs from the plant and fungal kingdoms

Plant Power: Opportunities and challenges for meeting sustainable energy needs from the plant and fungal kingdoms

Preparation of charcoal briquette from palm kernel shells: case study in Ghana

Comparing greenhouse gas footprints and payback times of crop-based biofuel production worldwide

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