IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/midasp/119348.html

Can Dispersed Biomass Processing Protect the Environment and Cover the Bottom Line for Biofuel?

Author

Listed:
  • Egbendewe-Mondzozo, Aklesso
  • Swinton, Scott M.
  • Bals, Bryan D.
  • Dale, Bruce E.

Abstract

This paper compares environmental and profitability outcomes for a centralized biorefinery for cellulosic ethanol that does all processing versus a biorefinery linked to a decentralized array of local depots that pretreat biomass into concentrated briquettes. The analysis uses a spatial bioeconomic model that maximizes predicted profit from crop and energy products, subject to the requirement that the biorefinery must be operated at full capacity. The model draws upon biophysical crop input-output coefficients simulated with the EPIC model, as well as input and output prices, spatial transportation costs, ethanol yields from biomass, and biorefinery capital and operational costs. The model was applied to 82 cropping systems simulated across 37 sub-watersheds in a 9-county region of southern Michigan in response to ethanol prices simulated to rise from $1.78 to $3.36 per gallon. Results show that the decentralized local biomass processing depots lead to lower profitability but better environmental performance, due to more reliance on perennial grasses than the centralized biorefinery. Simulated technological improvement that reduces the processing cost and increases the ethanol yield of switchgrass by 17% could cause a shift to more processing of switchgrass, with increased profitability and environmental benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Egbendewe-Mondzozo, Aklesso & Swinton, Scott M. & Bals, Bryan D. & Dale, Bruce E., 2011. "Can Dispersed Biomass Processing Protect the Environment and Cover the Bottom Line for Biofuel?," Staff Paper Series 119348, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:midasp:119348
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.119348
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/119348/files/StaffPaperEgbendeweMondozo2011-15.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.119348?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jones, C. A. & Dyke, P. T. & Williams, J. R. & Kiniry, J. R. & Benson, V. W. & Griggs, R. H., 1991. "EPIC: An operational model for evaluation of agricultural sustainability," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 341-350.
    2. Gassman, Philip W. & Reyes, Manuel R. & Green, Colleen H. & Arnold, Jeffrey G., 2007. "The Soil and Water Assessment Tool: Historical Development, Applications, and Future Research Directions," Hebrew University of Jerusalem Archive 10285, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
    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. Anna Malagò & Fayçal Bouraoui & Ad De Roo, 2018. "Diagnosis and Treatment of the SWAT Hydrological Response Using the Budyko Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, April.
    2. Ochoa, Vivian & Urbina-Cardona, Nicolás, 2017. "Tools for spatially modeling ecosystem services: Publication trends, conceptual reflections and future challenges," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 26(PA), pages 155-169.
    3. Karabulut, Armağan & Egoh, Benis N. & Lanzanova, Denis & Grizzetti, Bruna & Bidoglio, Giovanni & Pagliero, Liliana & Bouraoui, Fayçal & Aloe, Alberto & Reynaud, Arnaud & Maes, Joachim & Vandecasteele,, 2016. "Mapping water provisioning services to support the ecosystem–water–food–energy nexus in the Danube river basin," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 278-292.
    4. Yiannis Panagopoulos & Elias Dimitriou, 2020. "A Large-Scale Nature-Based Solution in Agriculture for Sustainable Water Management: The Lake Karla Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-22, August.
    5. Uribe, Natalia & Corzo, Gerald & Quintero, Marcela & van Griensven, Ann & Solomatine, Dimitri, 2018. "Impact of conservation tillage on nitrogen and phosphorus runoff losses in a potato crop system in Fuquene watershed, Colombia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 62-72.
    6. Deng, Yang & Ou, Yang & Pang, Shujiang & Yan, Baixing & Zhu, Hui & Yan, Liming & Cui, Qi, 2025. "Multi-objective optimization of best management practices at watershed scale: A case study of drinking water source watersheds in northeast black soil region of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    7. Rabotyagov, Sergey S., 2007. "Four essays on environmental policy under uncertainty with applications to water quality and carbon sequestration," ISU General Staff Papers 2007010108000016610, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    8. Khadije Norouzi Khatiri & Mohammad Hossein Niksokhan & Amin Sarang & Asghar Kamali, 2020. "Coupled Simulation-Optimization Model for the Management of Groundwater Resources by Considering Uncertainty and Conflict Resolution," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 34(11), pages 3585-3608, September.
    9. Yongfen Zhang & Nong Wang & Chongjun Tang & Shiqiang Zhang & Yuejun Song & Kaitao Liao & Xiaofei Nie, 2021. "A New Indicator to Better Represent the Impact of Landscape Pattern Change on Basin Soil Erosion and Sediment Yield in the Upper Reach of Ganjiang, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-18, September.
    10. Juraj Balkovič & Erwin Schmid & Rastislav Skalský & Martina Nováková, 2011. "Modelling soil organic carbon changes on arable land under climate change - a case study analysis of the Kočín farm in Slovakia," Soil and Water Research, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 6(1), pages 30-42.
    11. Glendenning, C.J. & van Ogtrop, F.F. & Mishra, A.K. & Vervoort, R.W., 2012. "Balancing watershed and local scale impacts of rain water harvesting in India—A review," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 1-13.
    12. Gerardo Alcalá & Luis Fernando Grisales-Noreña & Quetzalcoatl Hernandez-Escobedo & Jose Javier Muñoz-Criollo & J. D. Revuelta-Acosta, 2021. "SHP Assessment for a Run-of-River (RoR) Scheme Using a Rectangular Mesh Sweeping Approach (MSA) Based on GIS," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-21, May.
    13. Ojeda, Jonathan J. & Volenec, Jeffrey J. & Brouder, Sylvie M. & Caviglia, Octavio P. & Agnusdei, Mónica G., 2018. "Modelling stover and grain yields, and subsurface artificial drainage from long-term corn rotations using APSIM," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 154-171.
    14. Liu, Hongxing & Gopalakrishnan, Sathya & Browning, Drew & Sivandran, Gajan, 2019. "Valuing water quality change using a coupled economic-hydrological model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 32-40.
    15. Ping Lei & Ram Kumar Shrestha & Bing Zhu & Suju Han & Hongbin Yang & Shaojun Tan & Jiupai Ni & Deti Xie, 2021. "A Bibliometric Analysis on Nonpoint Source Pollution: Current Status, Development, and Future," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-14, July.
    16. Azad, Md Abdus Samad & Liem, Monica & Ancev, Tihomir & Lee, Lisa Yu-Ting, 2008. "Measuring Environmental Performance of Irrigated Cotton Enterprises," 2008 Conference (52nd), February 5-8, 2008, Canberra, Australia 6004, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    17. Huang, Feng & Li, Baoguo, 2010. "Assessing grain crop water productivity of China using a hydro-model-coupled-statistics approach: Part I: Method development and validation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(7), pages 1077-1092, July.
    18. Shailendra Singh & Soonho Hwang & Jeffrey G. Arnold & Rabin Bhattarai, 2023. "Evaluation of Agricultural BMPs’ Impact on Water Quality and Crop Production Using SWAT+ Model," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-16, July.
    19. Xie, Hua & You, Liangzhi & Dile, Yihun T. & Worqlul, Abeyou W. & Bizimana, Jean-Claude & Srinivasan, Raghavan & Richardson, James W. & Gerik, Thomas & Clark, Neville, 2021. "Mapping development potential of dry-season small-scale irrigation in Sub-Saharan African countries under joint biophysical and economic constraints - An agent-based modeling approach with an application to Ethiopia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    20. Zhang, Xueliang & Ding, Beibei & Hou, Yonghao & Feng, Puyu & Liu, De Li & Srinivasan, Raghavan & Chen, Yong, 2024. "Assessing the feasibility of sprinkler irrigation schemes and their adaptation to future climate change in groundwater over-exploitation regions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ags:midasp:119348. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/damsuus.html .

    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.