IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v128y2018ipbp520-528.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental and exergetic sustainability assessment of power generation from biomass

Author

Listed:
  • Stougie, Lydia
  • Tsalidis, Georgios A.
  • van der Kooi, Hedzer J.
  • Korevaar, Gijsbert

Abstract

Power generation from biomass is mentioned as a means to make our society more sustainable as it decreases greenhouse gas emissions of fossil origin and reduces the dependency on finite energy carriers, such as coal, oil and natural gas. When assessing the sustainability of power generation from biomass, it is important to consider the supply chain of the used biofuel by conducting a life cycle assessment of the system. Besides regular sustainability assessments, such as the calculation of the environmental sustainability, attention should be paid to exergy losses, i.e. the loss of ‘energy quality’, caused by the system as a whole, because every process and activity is accompanied with the loss of exergy and because the amount of exergy on earth can only be replenished by capturing new exergy from solar and tidal energy. This research compares the use of livestock manure and verge grass for power generation by assessing the systems from an environmental as well as an exergetic life cycle point of view. The assessed systems are the following: combustion of bioethanol from the fermentation of verge grass, combustion of substitute natural gas from anaerobic digestion of cow and pig manure and combustion of substitute natural gas from supercritical water gasification of cow and pig manure. The environmental sustainability is assessed by calculating ReCiPe endpoint indicators and the exergetic sustainability is assessed by applying the relatively new Total Cumulative Exergy Loss (TCExL) method. The TCExL method considers all exergy losses caused by a technological system during its life cycle, i.e. the internal exergy loss caused by the conversion of materials and energy, the abatement of emissions and the exergy loss related to land use. In addition to comparing the three systems as well as both assessment methods, the influence of taking into account the system’s by-products as ‘avoided products’ and via ‘allocation’ on the assessment results is investigated. The bioethanol system appears more sustainable from an environmental sustainability point of view, while the bioethanol and supercritical water gasification systems are preferred from an exergetic sustainability point of view. The indicator of the environmental sustainability assessment is highly influenced by the way of taking into account by-products, while the exergetic sustainability indicator is not.

Suggested Citation

  • Stougie, Lydia & Tsalidis, Georgios A. & van der Kooi, Hedzer J. & Korevaar, Gijsbert, 2018. "Environmental and exergetic sustainability assessment of power generation from biomass," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(PB), pages 520-528.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:128:y:2018:i:pb:p:520-528
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2017.06.046
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148117305529
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2017.06.046?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. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    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. Saša Igić & Dragana Bošković & Barbara Vujkov & Nemanja Igić & Todor Janić & Dalibor Jeličić & Vladica Ristić & Boris Dumnić, 2020. "Analysis of the Correlation between Combustion Products in Biomass Thermal Power Plant Using Association Rule Mining," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-13, October.
    2. Wei Li & Desheng Xue & Xu Huang, 2018. "The Role of Manufacturing in Sustainable Economic Development: A Case of Guangzhou, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Guoxian Cao & Chaoyang Guo & Hezhong Li, 2022. "Risk Analysis of Public–Private Partnership Waste-to-Energy Incineration Projects from the Perspective of Rural Revitalization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-19, July.
    4. Anna Stoppato & Alberto Benato, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of a Commercially Available Organic Rankine Cycle Unit Coupled with a Biomass Boiler," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-17, April.
    5. Danial Esfandiary Abdolmaleki & Shoeib Faraji Abdolmaleki & Pastora M. Bello Bugallo, 2023. "Evaluating Renewable Energy and Ranking 17 Autonomous Communities in Spain: A TOPSIS Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-12, August.
    6. Tang, Yuanjun & Dong, Jun & Li, Guoneng & Zheng, Youqu & Chi, Yong & Nzihou, Ange & Weiss-Hortala, Elsa & Ye, Chao, 2020. "Environmental and exergetic life cycle assessment of incineration- and gasification-based waste to energy systems in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    7. Wang, Yongli & Yang, Jiale & Zhou, Minhan & Zhang, Danyang & Song, Fuhao & Dong, Fugui & Zhu, Jinrong & Liu, Lin, 2021. "Evaluating the sustainability of China's power generation industry based on a matter-element extension model," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    8. Prestipino, Mauro & Salmeri, Fabio & Cucinotta, Filippo & Galvagno, Antonio, 2021. "Thermodynamic and environmental sustainability analysis of electricity production from an integrated cogeneration system based on residual biomass: A life cycle approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    9. Yin, Weijie & Wang, Shuai & Zhang, Kai & He, Yurong, 2020. "Numerical investigation of in situ gasification chemical looping combustion of biomass in a fluidized bed reactor," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 216-225.
    10. Bala, Anju & Singh, Bijender, 2019. "Cellulolytic and xylanolytic enzymes of thermophiles for the production of renewable biofuels," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 1231-1244.
    11. Catherine Lalman & Hirushie Karunathilake & Rajeev Ruparathna, 2023. "To Dispose or to Reuse? Analyzing the Life Cycle Impacts and Costs of Disposal, Sterilization, and Reuse of Electrophysiological Catheters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-23, March.
    12. Xingyu Zhang & Liang Chen & Yubing Gao & Jinzhu Hu & Jun Yang & Manchao He, 2019. "Study of An Innovative Approach of Roof Presplitting for Gob-Side Entry Retaining in Longwall Coal Mining," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-16, August.
    13. Zalazar-Garcia, Daniela & Fernandez, Anabel & Rodriguez-Ortiz, Leandro & Torres, Erick & Reyes-Urrutia, Andrés & Echegaray, Marcelo & Rodriguez, Rosa & Mazza, Germán, 2022. "Exergo-ecological analysis and life cycle assessment of agro-wastes using a combined simulation approach based on Cape-Open to Cape-Open (COCO) and SimaPro free-software," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(P1), pages 60-71.
    14. Jun Li & Lixian Wang & Yong Chi & Zhaozhi Zhou & Yuanjun Tang & Hui Zhang, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment of Advanced Circulating Fluidized Bed Municipal Solid Waste Incineration System from an Environmental and Exergetic Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-16, October.

    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. Mechthild Donner & Anne Verniquet & Jan Broeze & Katrin Kayser & Hugo de Vries, 2021. "Critical success and risk factors for circular business models valorising agricultural waste and by-products," Post-Print hal-03004851, HAL.
    2. Cornelis Leeuwen & Jos Frijns & Annemarie Wezel & Frans Ven, 2012. "City Blueprints: 24 Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of the Urban Water Cycle," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2177-2197, June.
    3. CHEN, Helen S.Y., 2020. "Designing Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains," OSF Preprints m82ar, Center for Open Science.
    4. Jim Butcher, 2006. "The United Nations International Year of Ecotourism: a critical analysis of development implications," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 6(2), pages 146-156, April.
    5. Denise Ravet, 2011. "Lean production: the link between supply chain and sustainable development in an international environment," Post-Print hal-00691666, HAL.
    6. Mara Del Baldo, 2012. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate governance in Italian SMEs: the experience of some “spirited businesses”," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(1), pages 1-36, February.
    7. Megan Devonald & Nicola Jones & Sally Youssef, 2022. "‘We Have No Hope for Anything’: Exploring Interconnected Economic, Social and Environmental Risks to Adolescents in Lebanon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    8. Rigby, Dan & Woodhouse, Phil & Young, Trevor & Burton, Michael, 2001. "Constructing a farm level indicator of sustainable agricultural practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 463-478, December.
    9. Michael Howes & Liana Wortley & Ruth Potts & Aysin Dedekorkut-Howes & Silvia Serrao-Neumann & Julie Davidson & Timothy Smith & Patrick Nunn, 2017. "Environmental Sustainability: A Case of Policy Implementation Failure?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-17, January.
    10. Shiferaw, Bekele & Holden, Stein, 1999. "Soil Erosion and Smallholders' Conservation Decisions in the Highlands of Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 739-752, April.
    11. Ibrahim Ari & Muammer Koc, 2018. "Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development: Understanding the Interrelations between Public Investment and Sovereign Debt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    12. Parnphumeesup, Piya & Kerr, Sandy A., 2011. "Stakeholder preferences towards the sustainable development of CDM projects: Lessons from biomass (rice husk) CDM project in Thailand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3591-3601, June.
    13. Pengji Wang & Adrian T. H. Kuah & Qinye Lu & Caroline Wong & K. Thirumaran & Emmanuel Adegbite & Wesley Kendall, 2021. "The impact of value perceptions on purchase intention of sustainable luxury brands in China and the UK," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(3), pages 325-346, May.
    14. Christoph M. Schmidt & Nils aus dem Moore, 2014. "Wie geht es uns? Die W3-Indikatoren für eine neue Wohlstandsmessung," RWI Positionen, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, pages 16, 03.
    15. Katundu Imasiku & Valerie M. Thomas & Etienne Ntagwirumugara, 2020. "Unpacking Ecological Stress from Economic Activities for Sustainability and Resource Optimization in Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-12, April.
    16. Chin-Shan Lu & Kuo-Chung Shang & Chi-Chang Lin, 2016. "Examining sustainability performance at ports: port managers’ perspectives on developing sustainable supply chains," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(8), pages 909-927, November.
    17. Kebede, Yohannes, 1993. "The Limits to Common Resource Management: The Bypassed Commons or Commons without Tragedy," MPRA Paper 662, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 May 1993.
    18. John Stanley & Janet Stanley, 2023. "Improving Appraisal Methodology for Land Use Transport Measures to Reduce Risk of Social Exclusion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-18, August.
    19. Piotr Siemiątkowski & Patryk Tomaszewski & Joanna Marszałek-Kawa & Janusz Gierszewski, 2020. "The Financing of Renewable Energy Sources and the Level of Sustainable Development of Poland’s Provinces in the Area of Environmental Order," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, October.
    20. J.C. Gaillard, 2010. "Vulnerability, capacity and resilience: Perspectives for climate and development policy," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 218-232.

    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:renene:v:128:y:2018:i:pb:p:520-528. 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.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    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.