IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v198y2017icp426-439.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Integrating agronomic factors into energy efficiency assessment of agro-bioenergy production – A case study of ethanol and biogas production from maize feedstock

Author

Listed:
  • Arodudu, Oludunsin Tunrayo
  • Helming, Katharina
  • Voinov, Alexey
  • Wiggering, Hubert

Abstract

Previous life cycle assessments for agro-bioenergy production rarely considered some agronomic factors with local and regional impacts. While many studies have found the environmental and socio-economic impacts of producing bioenergy on arable land not good enough to be considered sustainable, others consider it still as one of the most effective direct emission reduction and fossil fuel replacement measures. This study improved LCA methods in order to examine the individual and combined effects of often overlooked agronomic factors (e.g. alternative farm power, seed sowing, fertilizer, tillage and irrigation options) on life-cycle energy indicators (net energy gain-NEG, energy return on energy invested-EROEI), across the three major agro-climatic zones namely tropic, sub-tropic and the temperate landscapes. From this study, we found that individual as well as combined effects of agronomic factors may improve the energy productivity of arable bioenergy sources considerably in terms of the NEG (from between 6.8 and 32.9GJ/ha to between 99.5 and 246.7GJ/ha for maize ethanol; from between 39.0 and 118.4GJ/ha to between 127.9 and 257.9GJ/ha for maize biogas) and EROEI (from between 1.2 and 1.8 to between 2.1 and 3.0 for maize ethanol, from between 4.3 and 12.1 to between 15.0 and 33.9 for maize biogas). The agronomic factors considered by this study accounted for an extra 7.5–14.6 times more of NEG from maize ethanol, an extra 2.2–3.3 times more of NEG from maize biogas, an extra 1.7 to 1.8 times more of EROEI from maize ethanol, and an extra 2.8–3.5 times more of EROEI from maize biogas respectively. This therefore underscores the need to factor in local and regional agronomic factors into energy efficiency and sustainability assessments, as well as decision making processes regarding the application of energy from products of agro-bioenergy production.

Suggested Citation

  • Arodudu, Oludunsin Tunrayo & Helming, Katharina & Voinov, Alexey & Wiggering, Hubert, 2017. "Integrating agronomic factors into energy efficiency assessment of agro-bioenergy production – A case study of ethanol and biogas production from maize feedstock," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 426-439.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:198:y:2017:i:c:p:426-439
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.02.017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261917301423
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.02.017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Srirangan, Kajan & Akawi, Lamees & Moo-Young, Murray & Chou, C. Perry, 2012. "Towards sustainable production of clean energy carriers from biomass resources," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 172-186.
    2. Zhou, Adrian & Thomson, Elspeth, 2009. "The development of biofuels in Asia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(Supplemen), pages 11-20, November.
    3. Moraes, Bruna S. & Zaiat, Marcelo & Bonomi, Antonio, 2015. "Anaerobic digestion of vinasse from sugarcane ethanol production in Brazil: Challenges and perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 888-903.
    4. Shemfe, Mobolaji B. & Whittaker, Carly & Gu, Sai & Fidalgo, Beatriz, 2016. "Comparative evaluation of GHG emissions from the use of Miscanthus for bio-hydrocarbon production via fast pyrolysis and bio-oil upgrading," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 22-33.
    5. Nathan Gagnon & Charles A.S. Hall & Lysle Brinker, 2009. "A Preliminary Investigation of Energy Return on Energy Investment for Global Oil and Gas Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-14, July.
    6. Cleveland, Cutler J., 2005. "Net energy from the extraction of oil and gas in the United States," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 769-782.
    7. David Murphy & Charles Hall & Bobby Powers, 2011. "New perspectives on the energy return on (energy) investment (EROI) of corn ethanol," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 179-202, February.
    8. Charles A.S. Hall & Bruce E. Dale & David Pimentel, 2011. "Seeking to Understand the Reasons for Different Energy Return on Investment (EROI) Estimates for Biofuels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(12), pages 1-20, December.
    9. Charles A. S. Hall & Stephen Balogh & David J.R. Murphy, 2009. "What is the Minimum EROI that a Sustainable Society Must Have?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-23, January.
    10. Mohamed Mrini & Faouzi Senhaji & David Pimentel, 2001. "Energy Analysis of Sugarcane Production in Morocco," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 109-126, June.
    11. Moraes, Bruna S. & Junqueira, Tassia L. & Pavanello, Lucas G. & Cavalett, Otávio & Mantelatto, Paulo E. & Bonomi, Antonio & Zaiat, Marcelo, 2014. "Anaerobic digestion of vinasse from sugarcane biorefineries in Brazil from energy, environmental, and economic perspectives: Profit or expense?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 825-835.
    12. Demirbas, Ayhan, 2011. "Competitive liquid biofuels from biomass," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 17-28, January.
    13. David J. Murphy & Charles A.S. Hall & Michael Dale & Cutler Cleveland, 2011. "Order from Chaos: A Preliminary Protocol for Determining the EROI of Fuels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(10), pages 1-20, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ingrao, Carlo & Bacenetti, Jacopo & Adamczyk, Janusz & Ferrante, Valentina & Messineo, Antonio & Huisingh, Donald, 2019. "Investigating energy and environmental issues of agro-biogas derived energy systems: A comprehensive review of Life Cycle Assessments," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 296-307.
    2. Jianliang Wang & Yuru Yang & Yongmei Bentley & Xu Geng & Xiaojie Liu, 2018. "Sustainability Assessment of Bioenergy from a Global Perspective: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-19, August.
    3. Muhammad N. Ashraf & Muhammad H. Mahmood & Muhammad Sultan & Narges Banaeian & Muhammad Usman & Sobhy M. Ibrahim & Muhammad U. B. U. Butt & Muhammad Waseem & Imran Ali & Aamir Shakoor & Zahid M. Khan, 2020. "Investigation of Input and Output Energy for Wheat Production: A Comprehensive Study for Tehsil Mailsi (Pakistan)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-22, August.
    4. Magdalena Muradin & Joanna Kulczycka, 2020. "The Identification of Hotspots in the Bioenergy Production Chain," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-17, November.
    5. Daniela M. Yamaji & Saulo F. Amâncio-Vieira & Reginaldo Fidelis & Eduardo A. do R. Contani, 2024. "Proposal of Multicriteria Decision-Making Models for Biogas Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-18, February.
    6. Li, Mo & Fu, Qiang & Singh, Vijay P. & Liu, Dong & Li, Jiang, 2020. "Optimization of sustainable bioenergy production considering energy-food-water-land nexus and livestock manure under uncertainty," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    7. Stanisław Bielski & Renata Marks-Bielska & Paweł Wiśniewski, 2022. "Investigation of Energy and Economic Balance and GHG Emissions in the Production of Different Cultivars of Buckwheat ( Fagopyrum esculentum Moench): A Case Study in Northeastern Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-24, December.
    8. Saija Rasi & Karetta Timonen & Katri Joensuu & Kristiina Regina & Perttu Virkajärvi & Hannele Heusala & Elina Tampio & Sari Luostarinen, 2020. "Sustainability of Vehicle Fuel Biomethane Produced from Grass Silage in Finland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-11, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Salehi, Mohammad & Khajehpour, Hossein & Saboohi, Yadollah, 2020. "Extended Energy Return on Investment of multiproduct energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    2. Chen, Xuejun & Lu, Hailong & Gu, Lijuan & Shang, Shilong & Zhang, Yi & Huang, Xin & Zhang, Le, 2022. "Preliminary evaluation of the economic potential of the technologies for gas hydrate exploitation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    3. Hu, Yan & Hall, Charles A.S. & Wang, Jianliang & Feng, Lianyong & Poisson, Alexandre, 2013. "Energy Return on Investment (EROI) of China's conventional fossil fuels: Historical and future trends," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 352-364.
    4. Jingxuan Feng & Lianyong Feng & Jianliang Wang, 2018. "Analysis of Point-of-Use Energy Return on Investment and Net Energy Yields from China’s Conventional Fossil Fuels," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, February.
    5. Lina I. Brand-Correa & Paul E. Brockway & Claire L. Copeland & Timothy J. Foxon & Anne Owen & Peter G. Taylor, 2017. "Developing an Input-Output Based Method to Estimate a National-Level Energy Return on Investment (EROI)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, April.
    6. Marco Vittorio Ecclesia & João Santos & Paul E. Brockway & Tiago Domingos, 2022. "A Comprehensive Societal Energy Return on Investment Study of Portugal Reveals a Low but Stable Value," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, May.
    7. Feng, Jingxuan & Feng, Lianyong & Wang, Jianliang & King, Carey W., 2018. "Modeling the point of use EROI and its implications for economic growth in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 232-242.
    8. Bo Xu & Lianyong Feng & William X. Wei & Yan Hu & Jianliang Wang, 2014. "A Preliminary Forecast of the Production Status of China’s Daqing Oil field from the Perspective of EROI," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-21, November.
    9. Court, Victor & Fizaine, Florian, 2017. "Long-Term Estimates of the Energy-Return-on-Investment (EROI) of Coal, Oil, and Gas Global Productions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 145-159.
    10. Delannoy, Louis & Longaretti, Pierre-Yves & Murphy, David J. & Prados, Emmanuel, 2021. "Peak oil and the low-carbon energy transition: A net-energy perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    11. Hall, Charles A.S. & Lambert, Jessica G. & Balogh, Stephen B., 2014. "EROI of different fuels and the implications for society," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 141-152.
    12. David Grassian & Daniel Olsen, 2019. "Lifecycle Energy Accounting of Three Small Offshore Oil Fields," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-23, July.
    13. Carey W. King & John P. Maxwell & Alyssa Donovan, 2015. "Comparing World Economic and Net Energy Metrics, Part 1: Single Technology and Commodity Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-26, November.
    14. King, Carey W., 2014. "Matrix method for comparing system and individual energy return ratios when considering an energy transition," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 254-265.
    15. Sampedro, Jon & Kyle, Page & Ramig, Christopher W. & Tanner, Daniel & Huster, Jonathan E. & Wise, Marshall A., 2021. "Dynamic linking of upstream energy and freight demands for bio and fossil energy pathways in the Global Change Analysis Model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    16. David J. Murphy & Michael Carbajales-Dale & Devin Moeller, 2016. "Comparing Apples to Apples: Why the Net Energy Analysis Community Needs to Adopt the Life-Cycle Analysis Framework," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-15, November.
    17. Devin Moeller & David Murphy, 2016. "Net Energy Analysis of Gas Production from the Marcellus Shale," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-13, May.
    18. Pazuch, Felix Augusto & Nogueira, Carlos Eduardo Camargo & Souza, Samuel Nelson Melegari & Micuanski, Viviane Cavaler & Friedrich, Leandro & Lenz, Anderson Miguel, 2017. "Economic evaluation of the replacement of sugar cane bagasse by vinasse, as a source of energy in a power plant in the state of Paraná, Brazil," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 34-42.
    19. Florian Fizaine & Victor Court, 2016. "The energy-economic growth relationship: a new insight from the EROI perspective," Working Papers 1601, Chaire Economie du climat.
    20. Charles Guay-Boutet, 2023. "Estimating the Disaggregated Standard EROI of Canadian Oil Sands Extracted via Open-pit Mining, 1997–2016," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-21, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:198:y:2017:i:c:p:426-439. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.