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Good or bad bioethanol from a greenhouse gas perspective - What determines this?

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  • Börjesson, Pål

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe how the greenhouse gas (GHG) benefits of ethanol from agricultural crops depend on local conditions and calculation methods. The focus is mainly on the fuels used in the ethanol process and biogenic GHG from the soils cultivated. To ensure that "good" ethanol is produced, with reference to GHG benefits, the following demands must be met: (i) ethanol plants should use biomass and not fossil fuels, (ii) cultivation of annual feedstock crops should be avoided on land rich in carbon (above and below ground), such as peat soils used as permanent grassland, etc., (iii) by-products should be utilised efficiently in order to maximise their energy and GHG benefits and (iv) nitrous oxide emissions should be kept to a minimum by means of efficient fertilisation strategies, and the commercial nitrogen fertiliser utilised should be produced in plants which have nitrous oxide gas cleaning. Several of the current ethanol production systems worldwide fullfill the majority of these demands, whereas some production systems do not. Thus, the findings in this paper helps identifying current "good" systems, how today's "fairly good" systems could be improved, and which inherent "bad" systems that we should avoid.

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  • Börjesson, Pål, 2009. "Good or bad bioethanol from a greenhouse gas perspective - What determines this?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(5), pages 589-594, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:86:y:2009:i:5:p:589-594
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    1. Searchinger, Timothy & Heimlich, Ralph & Houghton, R. A. & Dong, Fengxia & Elobeid, Amani & Fabiosa, Jacinto F. & Tokgoz, Simla & Hayes, Dermot J. & Yu, Hun-Hsiang, 2008. "Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12881, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
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    1. Bharathiraja, B. & Jayamuthunagai, J. & Sudharsanaa, T. & Bharghavi, A. & Praveenkumar, R. & Chakravarthy, M. & Yuvaraj, D., 2017. "Biobutanol – An impending biofuel for future: A review on upstream and downstream processing tecniques," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P1), pages 788-807.
    2. Thornley, Patricia & Upham, Paul & Tomei, Julia, 2009. "Sustainability constraints on UK bioenergy development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5623-5635, December.
    3. Zhu, L.D. & Hiltunen, E. & Antila, E. & Zhong, J.J. & Yuan, Z.H. & Wang, Z.M., 2014. "Microalgal biofuels: Flexible bioenergies for sustainable development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 1035-1046.
    4. Alexandre C. Nicolella & Walter Belluzzo, 2011. "Impact Of Reducing The Pre-Harvestburning Of Sugar-Cane Area On Respiratory Health In Brazil," Anais do XXXVIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 38th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 118, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    5. Galdos, Marcelo & Cavalett, Otávio & Seabra, Joaquim E.A. & Nogueira, Luiz Augusto Horta & Bonomi, Antonio, 2013. "Trends in global warming and human health impacts related to Brazilian sugarcane ethanol production considering black carbon emissions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 576-582.
    6. Prabhakar, S.V.R.K. & Elder, Mark, 2009. "Biofuels and resource use efficiency in developing Asia: Back to basics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(Supplemen), pages 30-36, November.
    7. Dias, Marina O.S. & Junqueira, Tassia L. & Cavalett, Otávio & Pavanello, Lucas G. & Cunha, Marcelo P. & Jesus, Charles D.F. & Maciel Filho, Rubens & Bonomi, Antonio, 2013. "Biorefineries for the production of first and second generation ethanol and electricity from sugarcane," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 72-78.
    8. Santos, Omar Inacio Benedetti & Rathmann, Regis, 2009. "Identification and analysis of local and regional impacts from the introduction of biodiesel production in the state of Piauí," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 4011-4020, October.
    9. Varrone, C. & Liberatore, R. & Crescenzi, T. & Izzo, G. & Wang, A., 2013. "The valorization of glycerol: Economic assessment of an innovative process for the bioconversion of crude glycerol into ethanol and hydrogen," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 349-357.
    10. Saga, Kiyotaka & Imou, Kenji & Yokoyama, Shinya & Minowa, Tomoaki, 2010. "Net energy analysis of bioethanol production system from high-yield rice plant in Japan," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(7), pages 2164-2168, July.
    11. Foteinis, Spyros & Kouloumpis, Victor & Tsoutsos, Theocharis, 2011. "Life cycle analysis for bioethanol production from sugar beet crops in Greece," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 4834-4841, September.
    12. Behera, Shuvashish & Kar, Shaktimay & Mohanty, Rama Chandra & Ray, Ramesh Chandra, 2010. "Comparative study of bio-ethanol production from mahula (Madhuca latifolia L.) flowers by Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells immobilized in agar agar and Ca-alginate matrices," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 96-100, January.
    13. Kumar, Manish & Gayen, Kalyan, 2011. "Developments in biobutanol production: New insights," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(6), pages 1999-2012, June.

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