IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i6p2634-d1613768.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainability-Oriented Port Management: Biomass Gasification as a Strategic Tool for Green and Circular Maritime Logistics

Author

Listed:
  • Seyedeh Azadeh Alavi-Borazjani

    (Department of Environment and Planning and Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal)

  • Shahzada Adeel

    (Department of Business Education, University of Chenab, Gujrat 50700, Pakistan)

  • Valentina Chkoniya

    (Aveiro Institute of Accounting and Administration (ISCA) and Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP), University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
    Civil Engineering Department and Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE), University of Coimbra, 3030-788 Coimbra, Portugal)

  • Luís A. C. Tarelho

    (Department of Environment and Planning and Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal)

Abstract

The maritime industry faces growing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adopt sustainable practices. Ports, as critical logistics hubs, can drive this transition. This review aims to assess biomass gasification as a strategic tool for sustainable port management, highlighting its role in reducing fossil fuel dependency and promoting circular economy principles. Using a thematic review approach, recent advancements in gasification technology are analyzed alongside environmental, economic, and social impacts. However, key barriers, such as feedstock variability, high capital costs, and fragmented policies, hinder widespread adoption. Proposed solutions emphasize policy integration, stakeholder collaboration, and hybrid energy approaches. Case studies demonstrate successful implementations, reinforcing biomass gasification’s role in achieving greener, more resilient port operations. These insights provide a strategic foundation for policymakers and industry stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Seyedeh Azadeh Alavi-Borazjani & Shahzada Adeel & Valentina Chkoniya & Luís A. C. Tarelho, 2025. "Sustainability-Oriented Port Management: Biomass Gasification as a Strategic Tool for Green and Circular Maritime Logistics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-32, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:6:p:2634-:d:1613768
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/6/2634/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/6/2634/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Annette C. Rohr & Sharan L. Campleman & Christopher M. Long & Michael K. Peterson & Susan Weatherstone & Will Quick & Ari Lewis, 2015. "Potential Occupational Exposures and Health Risks Associated with Biomass-Based Power Generation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-64, July.
    2. Ramos, Ana & Rouboa, Abel, 2020. "Syngas production strategies from biomass gasification: Numerical studies for operational conditions and quality indexes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 1211-1221.
    3. Francesco Arfelli & Cristian Tosi & Luca Ciacci & Fabrizio Passarini, 2024. "Life Cycle Assessment of a Wood Biomass Gasification Plant and Implications for Syngas and Biochar Utilization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-15, May.
    4. Jeffrey B. Jacquet & Richard C. Stedman, 2014. "The risk of social-psychological disruption as an impact of energy development and environmental change," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(9), pages 1285-1304, September.
    5. YuJung Julia Lee & Zakir Husain & Mousumi Dutta, 2024. "Does improved cooking fuel empower women? Evidence from India," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(1), pages 574-587, February.
    6. Rey, J.R.C. & Pio, D.T. & Tarelho, L.A.C., 2021. "Biomass direct gasification for electricity generation and natural gas replacement in the lime kilns of the pulp and paper industry: A techno-economic analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    7. Vera Marcantonio & Luisa Di Paola & Marcello De Falco & Mauro Capocelli, 2023. "Modeling of Biomass Gasification: From Thermodynamics to Process Simulations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-30, October.
    8. Elena Fedorova & Kirsi Aaltonen & Eva Pongrácz, 2020. "Social Sustainability Dilemma: Escape or Communicate? Managing Social Risks Upstream of the Bioenergy Supply Chain," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, January.
    9. ABM Abdul Malek & M Hasanuzzaman & Nasrudin A Rahim & Yusuf A Al–Turki, 2021. "Energy, economic, and environmental analysis of 10-MW biomass gasification based power generation in Malaysia," Energy & Environment, , vol. 32(2), pages 295-337, March.
    10. Sansaniwal, S.K. & Pal, K. & Rosen, M.A. & Tyagi, S.K., 2017. "Recent advances in the development of biomass gasification technology: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 363-384.
    11. Giada La Scalia & Luca Adelfio & Concetta Manuela La Fata & Rosa Micale, 2022. "Economic and Environmental Assessment of Biomass Power Plants in Southern Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-14, August.
    12. Pasquale Marcello Falcone & Edgardo Sica, 2019. "Assessing the Opportunities and Challenges of Green Finance in Italy: An Analysis of the Biomass Production Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-14, January.
    13. Hameed, Zeeshan & Aslam, Muhammad & Khan, Zakir & Maqsood, Khuram & Atabani, A.E. & Ghauri, Moinuddin & Khurram, Muhammad Shahzad & Rehan, Mohammad & Nizami, Abdul-Sattar, 2021. "Gasification of municipal solid waste blends with biomass for energy production and resources recovery: Current status, hybrid technologies and innovative prospects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    14. Ramazan Ozkan Yildiz & Elif Koc & Oguzhan Der & Murat Aymelek, 2024. "Unveiling the Contemporary Research Direction and Current Business Management Strategies for Port Decarbonization Through a Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-38, December.
    15. Alberto Antonio Bengue & Seyedeh Azadeh Alavi-Borazjani & Valentina Chkoniya & José Luís Cacho & Mariantonietta Fiore, 2024. "Prioritizing Criteria for Establishing a Green Shipping Corridor Between the Ports of Sines and Luanda Using Fuzzy AHP," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-32, November.
    16. Reinhard Rauch & Jitka Hrbek & Hermann Hofbauer, 2014. "Biomass gasification for synthesis gas production and applications of the syngas," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(4), pages 343-362, July.
    17. Hao Chen & Erik Dahlquist & Konstantinos Kyprianidis, 2024. "Retrofitting Biomass Combined Heat and Power Plant for Biofuel Production—A Detailed Techno-Economic Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-23, January.
    18. Yao, Xiwen & Zhao, Zhicheng & Chen, Shoukun & Zhou, Haodong & Xu, Kaili, 2020. "Migration and transformation behaviours of ash residues from a typical fixed-bed gasification station for biomass syngas production in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    19. Elizabeth Lindstad & Gunnar S. Eskeland & Agathe Rialland & Anders Valland, 2020. "Decarbonizing Maritime Transport: The Importance of Engine Technology and Regulations for LNG to Serve as a Transition Fuel," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-21, October.
    20. Amiya K. Chakravarty, 2014. "Sustainable Supply Chains," Springer Texts in Business and Economics, in: Supply Chain Transformation, edition 127, chapter 9, pages 273-305, Springer.
    21. Alexandra Mallett, 2013. "Technology cooperation for sustainable energy: a review of pathways," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(2), pages 234-250, March.
    22. Rakesh N, & Dasappa, S., 2018. "A critical assessment of tar generated during biomass gasification - Formation, evaluation, issues and mitigation strategies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1045-1064.
    23. M. Jean Blair & Bruno Gagnon & Andrew Klain & Biljana Kulišić, 2021. "Contribution of Biomass Supply Chains for Bioenergy to Sustainable Development Goals," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-28, February.
    24. Hanyu Lu & Lufei Huang, 2021. "Optimization of Shore Power Deployment in Green Ports Considering Government Subsidies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-14, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Giuntini, Lorenzo & Lamioni, Rachele & Linari, Luca & Saccomano, Pietro & Mainardi, Davide & Tognotti, Leonardo & Galletti, Chiara, 2022. "Decarbonization of a tissue paper plant: Advanced numerical simulations to assess the replacement of fossil fuels with a biomass-derived syngas," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 884-893.
    2. Motta, Ingrid Lopes & Miranda, Nahieh Toscano & Maciel Filho, Rubens & Wolf Maciel, Maria Regina, 2018. "Biomass gasification in fluidized beds: A review of biomass moisture content and operating pressure effects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 998-1023.
    3. Seyedeh Azadeh Alavi-Borazjani & Shahzada Adeel & Valentina Chkoniya, 2025. "Hydrogen as a Sustainable Fuel: Transforming Maritime Logistics," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-36, March.
    4. Li, Jian & Tao, Junyu & Yan, Beibei & Jiao, Liguo & Chen, Guanyi & Hu, Jianli, 2021. "Review of microwave-based treatments of biomass gasification tar," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    5. Ramos, Ana & Rouboa, Abel, 2022. "Life cycle thinking of plasma gasification as a waste-to-energy tool: Review on environmental, economic and social aspects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    6. Sajid, Muhammad & Raheem, Abdul & Ullah, Naeem & Asim, Muhammad & Ur Rehman, Muhammad Saif & Ali, Nisar, 2022. "Gasification of municipal solid waste: Progress, challenges, and prospects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    7. Benedikt, F. & Schmid, J.C. & Fuchs, J. & Mauerhofer, A.M. & Müller, S. & Hofbauer, H., 2018. "Fuel flexible gasification with an advanced 100 kW dual fluidized bed steam gasification pilot plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 329-343.
    8. Dong, Lei & Tao, Junyu & Zhang, Zhaoling & Yan, Beibei & Cheng, Zhanjun & Chen, Guanyi, 2021. "Energy utilization and disposal of herb residue by an integrated energy conversion system: A pilot scale study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(PB).
    9. Mohsin Raza & Abrar Inayat & Basim Abu-Jdayil, 2021. "Crude Glycerol as a Potential Feedstock for Future Energy via Thermochemical Conversion Processes: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-27, November.
    10. Hameed, Zeeshan & Aslam, Muhammad & Khan, Zakir & Maqsood, Khuram & Atabani, A.E. & Ghauri, Moinuddin & Khurram, Muhammad Shahzad & Rehan, Mohammad & Nizami, Abdul-Sattar, 2021. "Gasification of municipal solid waste blends with biomass for energy production and resources recovery: Current status, hybrid technologies and innovative prospects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    11. Zhang, Heng & Hao, Zhenhua & Li, Junguo & Yang, Xin & Wang, Zhiqing & Liu, Zheyu & Huang, Jiejie & Zhang, Yongqi & Fang, Yitian, 2021. "Effect of coal ash additive on potassium fixation and melting behaviors of the mixture under simulated biomass gasification condition," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 806-814.
    12. Antonio Molino & Vincenzo Larocca & Simeone Chianese & Dino Musmarra, 2018. "Biofuels Production by Biomass Gasification: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-31, March.
    13. Matheus Oliveira & Ana Ramos & Tamer M. Ismail & Eliseu Monteiro & Abel Rouboa, 2022. "A Review on Plasma Gasification of Solid Residues: Recent Advances and Developments," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, February.
    14. Yang, Lan & Wang, Xue-Chao & Dai, Min & Chen, Bin & Qiao, Yuanbo & Deng, Huijing & Zhang, Dingfan & Zhang, Yizhe & Villas Bôas de Almeida, Cecília Maria & Chiu, Anthony S.F. & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & W, 2021. "Shifting from fossil-based economy to bio-based economy: Status quo, challenges, and prospects," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    15. AlNouss, Ahmed & McKay, Gordon & Al-Ansari, Tareq, 2020. "Enhancing waste to hydrogen production through biomass feedstock blending: A techno-economic-environmental evaluation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    16. Qadri, Hussain Mohi ud Din & Ali, Hassnian & Abideen, Zain ul & Jafar, Ahmad, 2024. "Mapping the Evolution of Green Finance Research and Development in Emerging Green Economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    17. Ramos, Ana & Monteiro, Eliseu & Rouboa, Abel, 2019. "Numerical approaches and comprehensive models for gasification process: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 188-206.
    18. Zhong, Hanbin & Xiong, Qingang & Yin, Lina & Zhang, Juntao & Zhu, Yuqin & Liang, Shengrong & Niu, Ben & Zhang, Xinyu, 2020. "CFD-based reduced-order modeling of fluidized-bed biomass fast pyrolysis using artificial neural network," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 613-626.
    19. Du, Shilin & Shu, Rui & Guo, Feiqiang & Mao, Songbo & Bai, Jiaming & Qian, Lin & Xin, Chengyun, 2022. "Porous coal char-based catalyst from coal gangue and lignite with high metal contents in the catalytic cracking of biomass tar," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    20. Bassey, Uduak & Sarquah, Khadija & Hartmann, Michael & Tom, Abasi-ofon & Beck, Gesa & Antwi, Edward & Narra, Satyanarayana & Nelles, Michael, 2023. "Thermal treatment options for single-use, multilayered and composite waste plastics in Africa," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).

    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:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:6:p:2634-:d:1613768. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.