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Comparison of biofuel life-cycle GHG emissions assessment tools: The case studies of ethanol produced from sugarcane, corn, and wheat

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  • Pereira, L.G.
  • Cavalett, O.
  • Bonomi, A.
  • Zhang, Y.
  • Warner, E.
  • Chum, H.L.

Abstract

The use of alternative fuels, particularly bio-based fuels, has been an important strategy to achieve greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions compared to petroleum-based fuels. However, discrepancies between results obtained by using different attributional life-cycle assessment (LCA) tools have challenged the credibility of the individual assessments, and as result, the progress towards or compliance with GHG mitigation targets. The objective of this study was to identify the main differences and commonalities in methodological structures, calculation procedures, and assumptions for the major commercial biofuel, ethanol, across three public LCA tools, BioGrace (EU), GHGenius (Canada), and GREET (U.S.), and a research-oriented fourth, the Virtual Sugarcane Biorefinery (VSB), a Brazilian platform for sugarcane ethanol assessments.

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  • Pereira, L.G. & Cavalett, O. & Bonomi, A. & Zhang, Y. & Warner, E. & Chum, H.L., 2019. "Comparison of biofuel life-cycle GHG emissions assessment tools: The case studies of ethanol produced from sugarcane, corn, and wheat," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 1-12.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:110:y:2019:i:c:p:1-12
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2019.04.043
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