Bioenergy Project Development and Biomass Supply

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-07-01

Modern biomass, and the resulting useful forms of bioenergy produced from it, are anticipated by many advocates to provide a significant contribution to the global primary energy supply of many IEA member countries during the coming decades. For non-member countries, particularly those wishing to achieve economic growth as well as meet the goals for sustainable development, the deployment of modern bioenergy projects and the growing international trade in biomass-based energy carriers offer potential opportunities.

Bibliography on Biomass Feedstock Research: 1978-2002

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cushman, J.H.

2003-05-01

This report provides bibliographic citations for more than 1400 reports on biomass feedstock development published by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and its collaborators from 1978 through 2002. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is engaged in analysis of biomass resource supplies, research on the sustainability of feedstock resources, and research on feedstock engineering and infrastructure. From 1978 until 2002, Oak Ridge National Laboratory also provided technical leadership for the U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Feedstock Development Program (BFDP), which supported research to identify and develop promising energy crops. This bibliography lists reports published by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and by its collaborators in the BFDP, including graduate student theses and dissertations.

Dynamic analysis of policy drivers for bioenergy commodity markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeffers, Robert F.; Jacobson, Jacob J.; Searcy, Erin M.

2013-01-01

Biomass is increasingly being considered as a feedstock to provide a clean and renewable source of energy in the form of both liquid fuels and electric power. In the United States, the biofuels and biopower industries are regulated by different policies and have different drivers, which impact the maximum price the industries are willing to pay for biomass. This article describes a dynamic computer simulation model that analyzes future behavior of bioenergy feedstock markets given policy and technical options. The model simulates the long-term dynamics of these markets by treating advanced biomass feedstocks as a commodity and projecting the total demand of each industry, as well as the market price over time. The model is used for an analysis of the United States bioenergy feedstock market that projects supply, demand, and market price given three independent buyers: domestic biopower, domestic biofuels, and foreign exports. With base-case assumptions, the biofuels industry is able to dominate the market and meet the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) targets for advanced biofuels. Further analyses suggest that United States bioenergy studies should include estimates of export demand in their projections, and that GHG-limiting policy would partially shield both industries from export dominance. - Highlights: ► We model a United States bioenergy feedstock commodity market. ► Three buyers compete for biomass: biopower, biofuels, and foreign exports. ► The presented methodology improves on dynamic economic equilibrium theory. ► With current policy incentives and ignoring exports, biofuels dominates the market. ► Overseas biomass demand could dominate unless a CO 2 -limiting policy is enacted.

Bioenergy systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mitchell, C.P.

1997-01-01

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that a bioenergy system has to be considered as an integrated process in which each stage or step interacts with other steps in the overall process. There are a number of stages in the supply and conversion of woody biomass for energy. Each step in the chain has implications for the next step and for overall system efficiency. The resource can take many forms and will have varying physical and chemical characteristics which will influence the efficiency and cost of conversion. The point in the supply chain at which size and moisture content is reduced and the manner in which it is done is influential in determining feedstock delivered cost and overall system costs. To illustrate the interactions within the overall system, the influence of the nature, size and moisture content of delivered feedstocks on costs of generating electricity via thermal conversion processes is examined using a model developed to investigate the inter-relationships between the stages in the supply chain. (author)

Feedstock and Conversion Supply System Design and Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jacobson, J. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Mohammad, R. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Cafferty, K. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Kenney, K. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Searcy, E. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Hansen, J. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2014-09-01

The success of the earlier logistic pathway designs (Biochemical and Thermochemical) from a feedstock perspective was that it demonstrated that through proper equipment selection and best management practices, conventional supply systems (referred to in this report as “conventional designs,” or specifically the 2012 Conventional Design) can be successfully implemented to address dry matter loss, quality issues, and enable feedstock cost reductions that help to reduce feedstock risk of variable supply and quality and enable industry to commercialize biomass feedstock supply chains. The caveat of this success is that conventional designs depend on high density, low-cost biomass with no disruption from incremental weather. In this respect, the success of conventional designs is tied to specific, highly productive regions such as the southeastern U.S. which has traditionally supported numerous pulp and paper industries or the Midwest U.S for corn stover.

Review of Sorghum Production Practices: Applications for Bioenergy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Turhollow Jr, Anthony F [ORNL; Webb, Erin [ORNL; Downing, Mark [ORNL

2010-06-01

Sorghum has great potential as an annual energy crop. While primarily grown for its grain, sorghum can also be grown for animal feed and sugar. Sorghum is morphologically diverse, with grain sorghum being of relatively short stature and grown for grain, while forage and sweet sorghums are tall and grown primarily for their biomass. Under water-limited conditions sorghum is reliably more productive than corn. While a relatively minor crop in the United States (about 2% of planted cropland), sorghum is important in Africa and parts of Asia. While sorghum is a relatively efficient user of water, it biomass potential is limited by available moisture. The following exhaustive literature review of sorghum production practices was developed by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to document the current state of knowledge regarding sorghum production and, based on this, suggest areas of research needed to develop sorghum as a commercial bioenergy feedstock. This work began as part of the China Biofuels Project sponsored by the DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program to communicate technical information regarding bioenergy feedstocks to government and industry partners in China, but will be utilized in a variety of programs in which evaluation of sorghum for bioenergy is needed. This report can also be used as a basis for data (yield, water use, etc.) for US and international bioenergy feedstock supply modeling efforts.

Wood biomass : fuel for wildfires or feedstock for bioenergy ?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miller, C.S. [Miller Dewulf Corp., Studio City, CA (United States)

2007-07-01

The clean conversion of woody biomass-to-energy has been touted as an alternative to fossil fuel energy and as a solution to environmental challenges. This presentation discussed the state of forest health in North America with particular reference to the higher incidence of megafires, such as recent fires in Colorado, San Diego, Lake Arrowhead, Lake Tahoe, Zaca, and Okefenokee. Federal authorities have an increased responsibility to preserve old forest stands; sustain and increase biodiversity; protect habitats; fight fires to protect real estate; and, contain and suppress wildfires. It was noted that while healthy forests absorb greenhouse gases (GHGs), burning forests release them. The Colorado Hayman fire alone emitted more carbon dioxide in one day than all the cars in the United States in one week. It was cautioned that unharvested fire residues contribute 300 per cent more GHG during decay. The problem of forest density was also discussed, noting that many forests on public lands have grown dangerously overcrowded due to a century of fire suppression and decades of restricted timber harvesting. A sustainable solution was proposed in which decaying biomass can be harvested in order to pay for forest management. Other solutions involve reforesting to historic models and mechanically thinning vulnerable forests for bioenergy. In California's Eagle Lake Ranger District, there are 8 stand-alone wood fired power plants with 171 MWh generating capacity. In addition, there are 5 small log sawmills with cogeneration facilities. A review of feedstock for bioenergy was also included in this presentation, along with an ethanol feedstock comparison of corn and woody biomass. Technologies to produce biofuels from biomass were also reviewed with reference to traditional conversion using sugar fermentation as well as biochemical enzymatic acid hydrolysis. It was concluded that woody biomass stores abundant energy that can be used to create heat, produce steam and

Washington biofuel feedstock crop supply under output price and quantity uncertainty

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zheng Qiujie; Shumway, C. Richard

2012-01-01

Subsidized development of an in-state biofuels industry has received some political support in the state of Washington, USA. Utilizing in-state feedstock supplies could be an efficient way to stimulate biofuel industries and the local economy. In this paper we estimate supply under output price and quantity uncertainty for major biofuel feedstock crops in Washington. Farmers are expected to be risk averse and maximize the utility of profit and uncertainty. We estimate very large Washington price elasticities for corn and sugar beets but a small price elasticity for a third potential feedstock, canola. Even with the large price elasticities for two potential feedstocks, their current and historical production levels in the state are so low that unrealistically large incentives would likely be needed to obtain sufficient feedstock supply for a Washington biofuel industry. Based on our examination of state and regional data, we find low likelihood that a Washington biofuels industry will develop in the near future primarily using within-state biofuel feedstock crops. - Highlights: ► Within-state feedstock crop supplies insufficient for Washington biofuel industry. ► Potential Washington corn and sugar beet supplies very responsive to price changes. ► Feedstock supplies more responsive to higher expected profit than lower risk. ► R and D for conversion of waste cellulosic feedstocks is potentially important policy.

Sustainability constraints on UK bioenergy development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thornley, Patricia; Upham, Paul; Tomei, Julia

2009-01-01

Use of bioenergy as a renewable resource is increasing in many parts of the world and can generate significant environmental, economic and social benefits if managed with due regard to sustainability constraints. This work reviews the environmental, social and economic constraints on key feedstocks for UK heat, power and transport fuel. Key sustainability constraints include greenhouse gas savings achieved for different fuels, land availability, air quality impacts and facility siting. Applying those constraints, we estimate that existing technologies would facilitate a sustainability constrained level of medium-term bioenergy/biofuel supply to the UK of 4.9% of total energy demand, broken down into 4.3% of heat demands, 4.3% of electricity, and 5.8% of transport fuel. This suggests that attempts to increase the supply above these levels could have counterproductive sustainability impacts in the absence of compensating technology developments or identification of additional resources. The barriers that currently prevent this level of supply being achieved have been analysed and classified. This suggests that the biggest policy impacts would be in stimulating the market for heat demand in rural areas, supporting feedstock prices in a manner that incentivised efficient use/maximum greenhouse gas savings and targeting investment capital that improves yield and reduces land-take.

Security of feedstocks supply for future bio-ethanol production in Thailand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silalertruksa, Thapat; Gheewala, Shabbir H.

2010-01-01

This study assesses the security of feedstock supply to satisfy the increased demand for bio-ethanol production based on the recent 15 years biofuels development plan and target (year 2008-2022) of the Thai government. Future bio-ethanol systems are modeled and the feedstock supply potentials analyzed based on three scenarios including low-, moderate- and high-yields improvement. The three scenarios are modeled and key dimensions including availability; diversity; and environmental acceptability of feedstocks supply in terms of GHG reduction are evaluated through indicators such as net feedstock balances, Shannon index and net life cycle GHG emissions. The results show that only the case of high yields improvement scenario can result in a reliable and sufficient supply of feedstocks to satisfy the long-term demands for bio-ethanol and other related industries. Cassava is identified as the critical feedstock and a reduction in cassava export is necessary. The study concludes that to enhance long-term security of feedstocks supply for sustainable bio-ethanol production in Thailand, increasing use of sugarcane juice as feedstock, improved yields of existing feedstocks and promoting production of bio-ethanol derived from agricultural residues are three key recommendations that need to be urgently implemented by the policy makers. - Research highlights: →Bioethanol in Thailand derived from molasses, cassava, sugarcane juice could yield reductions of 64%, 49% and 87% in GHGs when compared to conventional gasoline. →High yields improvement are required for a reliable and sufficient supply of molasses, cassava and sugarcane to satisfy the long-term demands for bio-ethanol and other related industries. →Other factors to enhance long-term security of feedstocks supply for sustainable bioethanol production in Thailand include increasing use of sugarcane juice as feedstock and promoting production of bioethanol derived from agricultural residues.

Biomass Feedstocks | Bioenergy | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Feedstocks Biomass Feedstocks Our mission is to enable the coordinated development of biomass generic biomass thermochemical conversion process (over a screened-back map of the United States) showing U.S. Biomass Resources, represented by photos of timber, corn stover, switchgrass, and poplar. All

Feeding a sustainable chemical industry: do we have the bioproducts cart before the feedstocks horse?

Science.gov (United States)

Dale, Bruce E

2017-09-21

A sustainable chemical industry cannot exist at scale without both sustainable feedstocks and feedstock supply chains to provide the raw materials. However, most current research focus is on producing the sustainable chemicals and materials. Little attention is given to how and by whom sustainable feedstocks will be supplied. In effect, we have put the bioproducts cart before the sustainable feedstocks horse. For example, bulky, unstable, non-commodity feedstocks such as crop residues probably cannot supply a large-scale sustainable industry. Likewise, those who manage land to produce feedstocks must benefit significantly from feedstock production, otherwise they will not participate in this industry and it will never grow. However, given real markets that properly reward farmers, demand for sustainable bioproducts and bioenergy can drive the adoption of more sustainable agricultural and forestry practices, providing many societal "win-win" opportunities. Three case studies are presented to show how this "win-win" process might unfold.

Proceedings. Feedstock preparation and quality 1997 workshop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mattsson, Jan Erik [ed.

1998-06-01

The IEA Bioenergy Feedstock Preparation and Quality 1997 Workshop dealt with fuel feedstock quality improvement and methods to determine feedstock properties. It was arranged by the Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences on behalf of the IEA Bioenergy Task XII Activity 4.1 Feedstock Preparation and Quality. This Activity is a 3-year cooperation 1995-1997 between Denmark, Sweden and the USA, mainly based on information exchange. The workshop had two sections: presentations by invited experts, and country reports on recent development in feedstock preparation and quality in the three participating countries. Separate abstracts have been prepared for four of the six papers presented

Metaheuristic Algorithms Applied to Bioenergy Supply Chain Problems: Theory, Review, Challenges, and Future

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krystel K. Castillo-Villar

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Bioenergy is a new source of energy that accounts for a substantial portion of the renewable energy production in many countries. The production of bioenergy is expected to increase due to its unique advantages, such as no harmful emissions and abundance. Supply-related problems are the main obstacles precluding the increase of use of biomass (which is bulky and has low energy density to produce bioenergy. To overcome this challenge, large-scale optimization models are needed to be solved to enable decision makers to plan, design, and manage bioenergy supply chains. Therefore, the use of effective optimization approaches is of great importance. The traditional mathematical methods (such as linear, integer, and mixed-integer programming frequently fail to find optimal solutions for non-convex and/or large-scale models whereas metaheuristics are efficient approaches for finding near-optimal solutions that use less computational resources. This paper presents a comprehensive review by studying and analyzing the application of metaheuristics to solve bioenergy supply chain models as well as the exclusive challenges of the mathematical problems applied in the bioenergy supply chain field. The reviewed metaheuristics include: (1 population approaches, such as ant colony optimization (ACO, the genetic algorithm (GA, particle swarm optimization (PSO, and bee colony algorithm (BCA; and (2 trajectory approaches, such as the tabu search (TS and simulated annealing (SA. Based on the outcomes of this literature review, the integrated design and planning of bioenergy supply chains problem has been solved primarily by implementing the GA. The production process optimization was addressed primarily by using both the GA and PSO. The supply chain network design problem was treated by utilizing the GA and ACO. The truck and task scheduling problem was solved using the SA and the TS, where the trajectory-based methods proved to outperform the population

Evolutionary algorithms approach for integrated bioenergy supply chains optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ayoub, Nasser; Elmoshi, Elsayed; Seki, Hiroya; Naka, Yuji

2009-01-01

In this paper, we propose an optimization model and solution approach for designing and evaluating integrated system of bioenergy production supply chains, SC, at the local level. Designing SC that simultaneously utilize a set of bio-resources together is a complicated task, considered here. The complication arises from the different nature and sources of bio-resources used in bioenergy production i.e., wet, dry or agriculture, industrial etc. Moreover, the different concerns that decision makers should take into account, to overcome the tradeoff anxieties of the socialists and investors, i.e., social, environmental and economical factors, was considered through the options of multi-criteria optimization. A first part of this research was introduced in earlier research work explaining the general Bioenergy Decision System gBEDS [Ayoub N, Martins R, Wang K, Seki H, Naka Y. Two levels decision system for efficient planning and implementation of bioenergy production. Energy Convers Manage 2007;48:709-23]. In this paper, brief introduction and emphasize on gBEDS are given; the optimization model is presented and followed by a case study on designing a supply chain of nine bio-resources at Iida city in the middle part of Japan.

Life cycle cost and economic assessment of biochar-based bioenergy production and biochar land application in Northwestern Ontario, Canada

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Krish Homagain; Chander Shahi; Nancy Luckai; Mahadev Sharma

2017-01-01

Background:Replacement of fossil fuel based energy with biochar-based bioenergy production can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions while mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change and global warming.However,the production of biochar-based bioenergy depends on a sustainable supply of biomass.Although,Northwestern Ontario has a rich and sustainable supply of woody biomass,a comprehensive life cycle cost and economic assessment of biochar-based bioenergy production technology has not been done so far in the region.Methods:In this paper,we conducted a thorough life cycle cost assessment (LCCA) of biochar-based bioenergy production and its land application under four different scenarios:1) biochar production with low feedstock availability;2) biochar production with high feedstock availability;3) biochar production with low feedstock availability and its land application;and 4) biochar production with high feedstock availability and its land application-using SimaPro(R),EIOLCA(R) software and spreadsheet modeling.Based on the LCCA results,we further conducted an economic assessment for the break-even and viability of this technology over the project period.Results:It was found that the economic viability of biochar-based bioenergy production system within the life cycle analysis system boundary based on study assumptions is directly dependent on costs of pyrolysis,feedstock processing (drying,grinding and pelletization) and collection on site and the value of total carbon offset provided by the system.Sensitivity analysis of transportation distance and different values of C offset showed that the system is profitable in case of high biomass availability within 200 km and when the cost of carbon sequestration exceeds CAD S60 per tonne of equivalent carbon (CO2e).Conclusions:Biochar-based bioenergy system is economically viable when life cycle costs and environmental assumptions are accounted for.This study provides a medium scale slow-pyrolysis plant scenario and

Biomass Feedstock National User Facility

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — Bioenergy research at the Biomass Feedstock National User Facility (BFNUF) is focused on creating commodity-scale feed-stocks from native biomass that meet the needs...

Regional Feedstock Partnership Summary Report: Enabling the Billion-Ton Vision

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Owens, Vance N. [South Dakota State Univ., Brookings, SD (United States). North Central Sun Grant Center; Karlen, Douglas L. [Dept. of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, Ames, IA (United States). National Lab. for Agriculture and the Environment; Lacey, Jeffrey A. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States). Process Science and Technology Division

2016-07-12

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Sun Grant Initiative established the Regional Feedstock Partnership (referred to as the Partnership) to address information gaps associated with enabling the vision of a sustainable, reliable, billion-ton U.S. bioenergy industry by the year 2030 (i.e., the Billion-Ton Vision). Over the past 7 years (2008–2014), the Partnership has been successful at advancing the biomass feedstock production industry in the United States, with notable accomplishments. The Billion-Ton Study identifies the technical potential to expand domestic biomass production to offset up to 30% of U.S. petroleum consumption, while continuing to meet demands for food, feed, fiber, and export. This study verifies for the biofuels and chemical industries that a real and substantial resource base could justify the significant investment needed to develop robust conversion technologies and commercial-scale facilities. DOE and the Sun Grant Initiative established the Partnership to demonstrate and validate the underlying assumptions underpinning the Billion-Ton Vision to supply a sustainable and reliable source of lignocellulosic feedstock to a large-scale bioenergy industry. This report discusses the accomplishments of the Partnership, with references to accompanying scientific publications. These accomplishments include advances in sustainable feedstock production, feedstock yield, yield stability and stand persistence, energy crop commercialization readiness, information transfer, assessment of the economic impacts of achieving the Billion-Ton Vision, and the impact of feedstock species and environment conditions on feedstock quality characteristics.

Interfacing feedstock logistics with bioenergy conversion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sokhansanj, S. [British Columbia Univ., Vancouver, BC (Canada). Oak Ridge National Lab

2010-07-01

The interface between biomass production and biomass conversion platforms was investigated. Functional relationships were assembled in a modeling platform to simulate the flow of biomass feedstock from farm and forest to a densification plant. The model considers key properties of biomass for downstream pre-processing and conversion. These properties include moisture content, cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin, ash, particle size, specific density and bulk density. The model simulates logistical operations such as grinding to convert biomass to pellets that are supplied to a biorefinery for conversion to heat, power, or biofuels. Equations were developed to describe the physical aspects of each unit operation. The effect that each of the process variables has on the efficiency of the conversion processes was described.

Food supply and bioenergy production within the global cropland planetary boundary.

Science.gov (United States)

Henry, R C; Engström, K; Olin, S; Alexander, P; Arneth, A; Rounsevell, M D A

2018-01-01

Supplying food for the anticipated global population of over 9 billion in 2050 under changing climate conditions is one of the major challenges of the 21st century. Agricultural expansion and intensification contributes to global environmental change and risks the long-term sustainability of the planet. It has been proposed that no more than 15% of the global ice-free land surface should be converted to cropland. Bioenergy production for land-based climate mitigation places additional pressure on limited land resources. Here we test normative targets of food supply and bioenergy production within the cropland planetary boundary using a global land-use model. The results suggest supplying the global population with adequate food is possible without cropland expansion exceeding the planetary boundary. Yet this requires an increase in food production, especially in developing countries, as well as a decrease in global crop yield gaps. However, under current assumptions of future food requirements, it was not possible to also produce significant amounts of first generation bioenergy without cropland expansion. These results suggest that meeting food and bioenergy demands within the planetary boundaries would need a shift away from current trends, for example, requiring major change in the demand-side of the food system or advancing biotechnologies.

A study of the development of bio-energy resources and the status of eco-society in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Xia; Huang, Yongmei; Gong, Jirui [State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); College of Resources Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); Zhang, Xinshi [State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); College of Resources Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); Institute of Botany, CAS, Beijing 100093 (China)

2010-11-15

Industrialization of bio-energy relies on the supply of resources on a large scale. The theoretical biomass resources could reach 2.61-3.51 billion tce (tons of coal equivalent)/a in China, while the available feedstock is about 440-640 million tce/a, however, among this only 1.5-2.5% has been transferred into energy at present. Marginal land utilization has great prospects of supplying bio-energy resources in China, with co-benefits, such as carbon sequestration, water/soil conservation, and wind erosion protection. There is a large area of marginal land in China, especially in northern China, including about 263 million ha of desertification land, 173 million ha of sand-land, and 17 million ha of salinizatin land. The plant species suitable to be grown in marginal lands, including some species in Salix, Hippophae, Tamarix, Caragana, and Prunus is also abundant Biomass feedstock in marginal lands would be 100 million tce/a in 2020, and 200 million tce/a in 2050. As a result, a win-win situation of eco-society and bio-energy development could be realized, with an expected 4-5% reduction of total CO{sub 2} emission in China in 2020-2050. Although much progress has been made in the field of bio-energy research in China, yet significant efforts should be taken in the future to fulfill large-scale industrialization of bio-energy. (author)

Effect of policy-based bioenergy demand on southern timber markets: A case study of North Carolina

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abt, Robert C.; Abt, Karen L.; Cubbage, Frederick W.; Henderson, Jesse D.

2010-01-01

Key factors driving renewable energy demand are state and federal policies requiring the use of renewable feedstocks to produce energy (renewable portfolio standards) and liquid fuels (renewable fuel standards). However, over the next decade, the infrastructure for renewable energy supplies is unlikely to develop as fast as both policy- and market-motivated renewable energy demands. This will favor the use of existing wood as a feedstock in the first wave of bioenergy production. The ability to supply wood over the next decade is a function of the residual utilization, age class structure, and competition from traditional wood users. Using the North Carolina Renewable Portfolio Standard as a case study, combined with assumptions regarding energy efficiency, logging residual utilization, and traditional wood demands over time, we simulate the impacts of increased woody biomass demand on timber markets. We focus on the dynamics resulting from the interaction of short-run demand changes and long-term supply responses. We conclude that logging residuals alone may be unable to meet bioenergy demands from North Carolina's Renewable Portfolio Standard. Thus, small roundwood (pulpwood) may be used to meet remaining bioenergy demands, resulting in increased timber prices and removals; displacement of traditional products; higher forest landowner incomes; and changes in the structure of the forest resource. (author)

State Bioenergy Primer: Information and Resources for States on Issues, Opportunities, and Options for Advancing Bioenergy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Byrnett, D. S.; Mulholland, D.; Zinsmeister, E.; Doris, E.; Milbrandt, A.; Robichaud. R.; Stanley, R.; Vimmerstedt, L.

2009-09-01

One renewable energy option that states frequently consider to meet their clean energy goals is the use of biomass resources to develop bioenergy. Bioenergy includes bioheat, biopower, biofuels, and bioproducts. This document provides an overview of biomass feedstocks, basic information about biomass conversion technologies, and a discussion of benefits and challenges of bioenergy options. The Primer includes a step-wise framework, resources, and tools for determining the availability of feedstocks, assessing potential markets for biomass, and identifying opportunities for action at the state level. Each chapter contains a list of selected resources and tools that states can use to explore topics in further detail.

Design of Sustainable Biomass Value Chains – Optimising the supply logistics and use of biomass over time

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Batidzirai, B.

2013-01-01

Modern bioenergy systems have significant potential to cost-effectively substitute fossil energy carriers with substantial GHG emissions reduction benefits. To mobilise large-scale biomass supplies, large volumes of biomass feedstock need to be secured, and competitive feedstock value chains need to

Climate risk management for the U.S. cellulosic biofuels supply chain

OpenAIRE

Langholtz, Matthew; Webb, Erin; Preston, Benjamin L.; Turhollow, Anthony; Breuer, Norman; Eaton, Laurence; King, Anthony W.; Sokhansanj, Shahabaddine; Nair, Sujithkumar Surendran; Downing, Mark

2014-01-01

As U.S. energy policy turns to bioenergy, and second-generation biofuels in particular, to foster energy security and environmental benefits, consideration should be given to the implications of climate risk for the incipient bioenergy industry. As a case-in-point, we review evidence from the 2012 U.S. drought, underscoring the risk of extreme weather events to the agricultural sector in general, and the bioenergy supply chain in particular, including reductions in feedstock production and hi...

Modeling the development and utilization of bioenergy and exploring the environmental economic benefits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Junnian; Yang, Wei; Higano, Yoshiro; Wang, Xian’en

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A complete bioenergy flow is schemed to industrialize bioenergy utilization. • An input–output optimization simulation model is developed. • Energy supply and demand and bioenergy industries’ development are optimized. • Carbon tax and subsidies are endogenously derived by the model. • Environmental economic benefits of bioenergy utilization are explored dynamically. - Abstract: This paper outlines a complete bioenergy flow incorporating bioresource procurement, feedstock supply, conversion technologies and energy consumption to industrialize the development and utilization of bioenergy. An input–output optimization simulation model is developed to introduce bioenergy industries into the regional socioeconomy and energy production and consumption system and dynamically explore the economic, energy and environmental benefits. 16-term simulation from 2010 to 2025 is performed in scenarios preset based on bioenergy industries, carbon tax-subsidization policy and distinct levels of greenhouse gas emission constraints. An empirical study is conducted to validate and apply the model. In the optimal scenario, both industrial development and energy supply and demand are optimized contributing to a 8.41% average gross regional product growth rate and a 39.9% reduction in accumulative greenhouse gas emission compared with the base scenario. By 2025 the consumption ratio of bioenergy in total primary energy could be increased from 0.5% to 8.2%. Energy self-sufficiency rate could be increased from 57.7% to 77.9%. A dynamic carbon tax rate and the extent to which bioenergy industrial development could be promoted are also elaborated. Regional economic development and greenhouse gas mitigation can be potentially promoted simultaneously by bioenergy utilization and a proper greenhouse gas emission constraint. The methodology presented is capable of introducing new industries or policies related to energy planning and detecting the best tradeoffs of

Bioenergy development pathways for Europe. Potentials, costs and environmental impacts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

De Wit, M.P.

2011-09-26

feedstocks and conversion technologies for biofuel production, simulations indicate that advanced second generation biofuels may surpass first generation biofuels somewhere in the next two decades. To establish a sizeable second generation biofuels industry a sufficiently large resource base of lignocellulose feedstocks is required. To expand beyond residues and wastes, short rotation crops form a particular interesting feedstock category, that is optimized for fast growth and high yields. Based on observed cost reductions in recent decades for the cultivation of poplar in Italy and eucalyptus in Brazil ranges in progress ratios were found of respectively 63-73% and 71-78%. Similar ratio's may apply to willow production in Europe. To expand biomass production responsibly in Europe policy makers and the agricultural sector face the challenge to stimulate efficient bioenergy applications and rationalize agriculture sustainably, e.g. by deployment of sustainability criteria. Integration of bioenergy production in the existing agriculture can realize strong synergy between a sustainable energy supply and the environment. This pleas for an integral European vision on sustainable energy and agriculture.

Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply, April 2005

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2005-04-01

The purpose of this report is to determine whether the land resources of the United States are capable of producing a sustainable supply of biomass sufficient to displace 30 percent or more of the country’s present petroleum consumption – the goal set by the Biomass R&D Technical Advisory Committee in their vision for biomass technologies. Accomplishing this goal would require approximately 1 billion dry tons of biomass feedstock per year.

World Bioenergy 2012. Proceedings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-11-01

The conference of 2012 had contributions on the following themes: A: World Pellets 2012, B: Market outlook, C: Energy systems, D: Transportation, E: World biorefinery 2012, F: Sustainable bioenergy day. 52 contributions in A - D. A: World Pellets 2012 is an integrated part of World Bioenergy 2012. A three day 'conference in the conference' covering all aspects of pellets: raw material potentials, innovative pellets production systems, torrefaction, new combustion technologies, trade and market development, health and safety aspects, etc. B) Market outlook: Policy and targets for renewable energy to find an alternative to fossil energy are being put in place, increasing the demand for sustainable modern bioenergy. Global trade and improved logistics open up to the markets. To facilitate international trade in bioenergy commodities, new trading places and indexes are needed, as well as generally accepted standards. Supply and demand must meet to guarantee stable prices. In this session you learn all about current market development, including drivers like incentives and policies. C) Energy Systems: Modern bioenergy is a young industry. Therefore, technical development is rapid, with many new innovations. This session focuses on technical development in the whole bioenergy chain, from harvesting of forest residues to combustion technologies and co-firing. Optimal use of biomass through district heating or cooling - small scale and large scale - and CHP technology for electricity production. D) Transportation: Sustainable transports are one of the key challenges of tomorrow. Can we transport biomass as well as other products sustainably and at what costs? Which are the future fuels for transports and when will biofuels be viewed as profitable? Biofuels for transport are under rapid development with new methods, producers and feedstock entering the markets. The future biofuels will be produced in biorefineries, to increase profitability and optimize feed-stock

IEA Bioenergy Annual Report 1994

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-01-01

The report describes the work in the Executive Committee and includes short reports from the four tasks which have been in operation 1992-94: Task VIII - Efficient and Environmentally-Sound Biomass Production Systems; Task IX - Harvesting and Supply of Woody Biomass for Energy; Task X - Biomass Utilization; Task XI - The Conversion of Municipal Solid Waste Feedstocks to Energy. The three new tasks (XII-XIV) for the period 1995-97 approved during 1994 are presented in the report. At the end of 1994 there were sixteen Contracting Parties to the IEA Bioenergy Agreement - Fifteen countries plus the European Commission. 164 refs

IEA Bioenergy Annual Report 1994

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1995-01-31

The report describes the work in the Executive Committee and includes short reports from the four tasks which have been in operation 1992-94: Task VIII - Efficient and Environmentally-Sound Biomass Production Systems; Task IX - Harvesting and Supply of Woody Biomass for Energy; Task X - Biomass Utilization; Task XI - The Conversion of Municipal Solid Waste Feedstocks to Energy. The three new tasks (XII-XIV) for the period 1995-97 approved during 1994 are presented in the report. At the end of 1994 there were sixteen Contracting Parties to the IEA Bioenergy Agreement - Fifteen countries plus the European Commission. 164 refs

Waste wood as bioenergy feedstock. Climate change impacts and related emission uncertainties from waste wood based energy systems in the UK.

Science.gov (United States)

Röder, Mirjam; Thornley, Patricia

2018-04-01

Considering the urgent need to shift to low carbon energy carriers, waste wood resources could provide an alternative energy feedstock and at the same time reduce emissions from landfill. This research examines the climate change impacts and related emission uncertainties of waste wood based energy. For this, different grades of waste wood and energy application have been investigated using lifecycle assessment. Sensitivity analysis has then been applied for supply chain processes and feedstock properties for the main emission contributing categories: transport, processing, pelletizing, urea resin fraction and related N 2 O formation. The results show, depending on the waste wood grade, the conversion option, scale and the related reference case, that emission reductions of up to 91% are possible for non-treated wood waste. Compared to this, energy from treated wood waste with low contamination can achieve up to 83% emission savings, similar to untreated waste wood pellets, but in some cases emissions from waste wood based energy can exceed the ones of the fossil fuel reference - in the worst case by 126%. Emission reductions from highly contaminated feedstocks are largest when replacing electricity from large-scale coal and landfill. The highest emission uncertainties are related to the wood's resin fraction and N 2 O formation during combustion and, pelletizing. Comparing wood processing with diesel and electricity powered equipment also generated high variations in the results, while emission variations related to transport are relatively small. Using treated waste wood as a bioenergy feedstock can be a valid option to reduce emissions from energy production but this is only realisable if coal and landfill gas are replaced. To achieve meaningful emission reduction in line with national and international climate change targets, pre-treatment of waste wood would be required to reduce components that form N 2 O during the energy conversion. Copyright © 2017

Fostering sustainable feedstock production for advanced biofuels on underutilised land in Europe

Science.gov (United States)

Mergner, Rita; Janssen, Rainer; Rutz, Dominik; Knoche, Dirk; Köhler, Raul; Colangeli, Marco; Gyuris, Peter

2017-04-01

Background In context of growing competition between land uses, bioenergy development is often seen as one of possible contributors to such competition. However, the potential of underutilized land (contaminated, abandoned, marginal, fallow land etc.) which is not used or cannot be used for productive activities is not exhausted and offers an attractive alternative for sustainable production of different biomass feedstocks in Europe. Depending on biomass feedstocks, different remediation activities can be carried out in addition. Bioenergy crops have the potential to be grown profitably on underutilized land and can therefore offer an attractive source of income on the local level contributing to achieving the targets of the Renewable Energy Directive (EC/2009). The FORBIO project The FORBIO project demonstrates the viability of using underutilised land in EU Member States for sustainable bioenergy feedstock production that does not affect the supply of food, feed and land currently used for recreational or conservation purposes. Project activities will serve to build up and strengthen local bioenergy value chains that are competitive and that meet the highest sustainability standards, thus contributing to the market uptake of sustainable bioenergy in the EU. Presented results The FORBIO project will develop a methodology to assess the sustainable bioenergy production potential on available underutilized lands in Europe at local, site-specific level. Based on this methodology, the project will produce multiple feasibility studies in three selected case study locations: Germany (lignite mining and sewage irrigation fields in the metropolis region of Berlin and Brandenburg), Italy (contaminated land from industrial activities in Sulcis, Portoscuso) and Ukraine (underutilised marginal agricultural land in the North of Kiev). The focus of the presentation will be on the agronomic and techno-economic feasibility studies in Germany, Italy and Ukraine. Agronomic

Determining switchgrass biomass supplies for cellulosic biorefineries

Science.gov (United States)

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is being developed into a bioenergy crop for use in temperate regions of the USA. Information on spatial and temporial variation for stands and biomass yield among and within fields in large agroecoregions is not available. A reliable feedstock supply will be essent...

ASSERT FY16 Analysis of Feedstock Companion Markets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lamers, Patrick [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Hansen, Jason [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Jacobson, Jacob J. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Nguyen, Thuy [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Nair, Shyam [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Searcy, Erin [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Hess, J. Richard [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2016-09-01

Meeting Co-Optima biofuel production targets will require large quantities of mobilized biomass feedstock. Mobilization is of key importance as there is an abundance of biomass resources, yet little is available for purchase, let alone at desired quantity and quality levels needed for a continuous operation, e.g., a biorefinery. Therefore Co-Optima research includes outlining a path towards feedstock production at scale by understanding routes to mobilizing large quantities of biomass feedstock. Continuing along the vertically-integrated path that pioneer cellulosic biorefineries have taken will constrain the bioenergy industry to high biomass yield areas, limiting its ability to reach biofuel production at scale. To advance the cellulosic biofuels industry, a separation between feedstock supply and conversion is necessary. Thus, in contrast to the vertically integrated supply chain, two industries are required: a feedstock industry and a conversion industry. The split is beneficial for growers and feedstock processers as they are able to sell into multiple markets. That is, depots that produce value-add feedstock intermediates that are fully fungible in both the biofuels refining and other, so-called companion markets. As the biofuel industry is currently too small to leverage significant investment in up-stream infrastructure build-up, it requires an established (companion) market to secure demand, which de-risks potential investments and makes a build-up of processing and other logistics infrastructure more likely. A common concern to this theory however is that more demand by other markets could present a disadvantage for biofuels production as resource competition may increase prices leading to reduced availability of low-cost feedstock for biorefineries. To analyze the dynamics across multiple markets vying for the same resources, particularly the potential effects on resource price and distribution, the Companion Market Model (CMM) has been developed in this

ASSERT FY16 Analysis of Feedstock Companion Markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lamers, Patrick; Hansen, Jason; Jacobson, Jacob J.; Nguyen, Thuy; Nair, Shyam; Searcy, Erin; Hess, J. Richard

2016-01-01

Meeting Co-Optima biofuel production targets will require large quantities of mobilized biomass feedstock. Mobilization is of key importance as there is an abundance of biomass resources, yet little is available for purchase, let alone at desired quantity and quality levels needed for a continuous operation, e.g., a biorefinery. Therefore Co-Optima research includes outlining a path towards feedstock production at scale by understanding routes to mobilizing large quantities of biomass feedstock. Continuing along the vertically-integrated path that pioneer cellulosic biorefineries have taken will constrain the bioenergy industry to high biomass yield areas, limiting its ability to reach biofuel production at scale. To advance the cellulosic biofuels industry, a separation between feedstock supply and conversion is necessary. Thus, in contrast to the vertically integrated supply chain, two industries are required: a feedstock industry and a conversion industry. The split is beneficial for growers and feedstock processers as they are able to sell into multiple markets. That is, depots that produce value-add feedstock intermediates that are fully fungible in both the biofuels refining and other, so-called companion markets. As the biofuel industry is currently too small to leverage significant investment in up-stream infrastructure build-up, it requires an established (companion) market to secure demand, which de-risks potential investments and makes a build-up of processing and other logistics infrastructure more likely. A common concern to this theory however is that more demand by other markets could present a disadvantage for biofuels production as resource competition may increase prices leading to reduced availability of low-cost feedstock for biorefineries. To analyze the dynamics across multiple markets vying for the same resources, particularly the potential effects on resource price and distribution, the Companion Market Model (CMM) has been developed in this

Climate, economic, and environmental impacts of producing wood for bioenergy

Science.gov (United States)

Birdsey, Richard; Duffy, Philip; Smyth, Carolyn; Kurz, Werner A.; Dugan, Alexa J.; Houghton, Richard

2018-05-01

Increasing combustion of woody biomass for electricity has raised concerns and produced conflicting statements about impacts on atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations, climate, and other forest values such as timber supply and biodiversity. The purposes of this concise review of current literature are to (1) examine impacts on net GHG emissions and climate from increasing bioenergy production from forests and exporting wood pellets to Europe from North America, (2) develop a set of science-based recommendations about the circumstances that would result in GHG reductions or increases in the atmosphere, and (3) identify economic and environmental impacts of increasing bioenergy use of forests. We find that increasing bioenergy production and pellet exports often increase net emissions of GHGs for decades or longer, depending on source of feedstock and its alternate fate, time horizon of analysis, energy emissions associated with the supply chain and fuel substitution, and impacts on carbon cycling of forest ecosystems. Alternative uses of roundwood often offer larger reductions in GHGs, in particular long-lived wood products that store carbon for longer periods of time and can achieve greater substitution benefits than bioenergy. Other effects of using wood for bioenergy may be considerable including induced land-use change, changes in supplies of wood and other materials for construction, albedo and non-radiative effects of land-cover change on climate, and long-term impacts on soil productivity. Changes in biodiversity and other ecosystem attributes may be strongly affected by increasing biofuel production, depending on source of material and the projected scale of biofuel production increases.

Role of arthropod communities in bioenergy crop litter decomposition†.

Science.gov (United States)

Zangerl, Arthur R; Miresmailli, Saber; Nabity, Paul; Lawrance, Allen; Yanahan, Alan; Mitchell, Corey A; Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J; David, Mark B; Berenbaum, May R; DeLucia, Evan H

2013-10-01

The extensive land use conversion expected to occur to meet demands for bioenergy feedstock production will likely have widespread impacts on agroecosystem biodiversity and ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration. Although arthropod detritivores are known to contribute to litter decomposition and thus energy flow and nutrient cycling in many plant communities, their importance in bioenergy feedstock communities has not yet been assessed. We undertook an experimental study quantifying rates of litter mass loss and nutrient cycling in the presence and absence of these organisms in three bioenergy feedstock crops-miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), and a planted prairie community. Overall arthropod abundance and litter decomposition rates were similar in all three communities. Despite effective reduction of arthropods in experimental plots via insecticide application, litter decomposition rates, inorganic nitrogen leaching, and carbon-nitrogen ratios did not differ significantly between control (with arthropods) and treatment (without arthropods) plots in any of the three community types. Our findings suggest that changes in arthropod faunal composition associated with widespread adoption of bioenergy feedstock crops may not be associated with profoundly altered arthropod-mediated litter decomposition and nutrient release. © 2012 Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Mobilizing Sustainable Bioenergy Supply Chains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Smith, Tat; Lattimore, Brenna; Berndes, Göran

This report summarizes the results of an IEA Bioenergy inter-Task project involving collaborators from Tasks 37 (Energy from Biogas), 38 (Climate Change Effects of Biomass and Bioenergy Systems), 39 (Commercialising Conventional and Advanced Liquid Biofuels from Biomass), 40 (Sustainable Internat......-scale mobilization of major bioenergy resources through five case studies that determine the factors critical to their sustainable mobilization....

Decentralised bioenergy systems: A review of opportunities and threats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mangoyana, Robert B.; Smith, Timothy F.

2011-01-01

Decentralised bioenergy systems are receiving increasing attention due to the potential ability to support local development, create local employment, and contribute to climate change mitigation. These issues, along with other bioenergy sustainability issues, are reviewed through eighteen international case studies with the objective of identifying opportunities and threats to decentralised bioenergy systems. The case studies were selected based on feedstock type, bioenergy type, production capacity, synergistic alliances, ownership structure and physical locations. This variation was used to provide a basis for evaluating opportunities and threats from different contexts. Commercial viability remains the primary concern for the sustainability of decentralised bioenergy systems. There are, however, opportunities for compounding benefits through integrating small scale decentralised bioenergy systems with other production systems. Integrated production, including closed loop models, allow waste materials from one process to be used as inputs in other production processes, and thereby increasing economic, social and environmental outcomes. Synergistic opportunities along the bioenergy production chain, which include feedstock production, bioenergy marketing and distribution could also be exploited by communities and other investors to minimise decentralised production risk. - Research Highlights: → Small scale decentralised bioenergy production is a potentially sustainable energy system. →Economic viability limits small scale decentralised bioenergy production. → Synergistic alliances along the bioenergy production chain could enhance viability.

Reliable Biomass Supply Chain Design under Feedstock Seasonality and Probabilistic Facility Disruptions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhixue Liu

2017-11-01

Full Text Available While biomass has been recognized as an important renewable energy source which has a range of positive impacts on the economy, environment, and society, the existence of feedstock seasonality and risk of service disruptions at collection facilities potentially compromises the efficiency and reliability of the energy supply system. In this paper, we consider reliable supply chain design for biomass collection against feedstock seasonality and time-varying disruption risks. We optimize facility location, inventory, biomass quantity, and shipment decisions in a multi-period planning horizon setting. A real-world case in Hubei, China is studied to offer managerial insights. Our computational results show that: (1 the disruption risk significantly affects both the optimal facility locations and the supply chain cost; (2 no matter how the failure probability changes, setting backup facilities can significantly decrease the total cost; and (3 the feedstock seasonality does not affect locations of the collection facilities, but it affects the allocations of collection facilities and brings higher inventory cost for the biomass supply chain.

Bio-energy Alliance High-Tonnage Bio-energy Crop Production and Conversion into Conventional Fuels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Capareda, Sergio [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Biological & Agricultural Engineering; El-Halwagi, Mahmoud [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering; Hall, Kenneth R. [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering; Holtzapple, Mark [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering; Searcy, Royce [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Biological & Agricultural Engineering; Thompson, Wayne H. [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Soil and Crop Sciences; Baltensperger, David [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Soil and Crop Sciences; Myatt, Robert [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Soil and Crop Sciences; Blumenthal, Jurg [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Soil and Crop Sciences

2012-11-30

Maintaining a predictable and sustainable supply of feedstock for bioenergy conversion is a major goal to facilitate the efficient transition to cellulosic biofuels. Our work provides insight into the complex interactions among agronomic, edaphic, and climatic factors that affect the sustainability of bioenergy crop yields. Our results provide science-based agronomic response measures that document how to better manage bioenergy sorghum production from planting to harvest. We show that harvest aids provide no significant benefit as a means to decrease harvest moisture or improve bioenergy yields. Our efforts to identify optimal seeding rates under varied edaphic and climatological conditions reinforce previous findings that sorghum is a resilient plant that can efficiently adapt to changing population pressures by decreasing or increasing the numbers of additional shoots or tillers – where optimal seeding rates for high biomass photoperiod sensitive sorghum is 60,000 to 70,000 seeds per acre and 100,000 to 120,000 seeds per acre for sweet varieties. Our varietal adaptability trials revealed that high biomass photoperiod sensitive energy sorghum consistently outperforms conventional photoperiod insensitive sweet sorghum and high biomass forage sorghum as the preferred bioenergy sorghum type, with combined theoretical yields of both cellulosic and fermentable water-soluble sugars producing an average yield of 1,035 gallons of EtOH per acre. Our nitrogen trials reveal that sweet sorghums produce ample amounts of water-soluble sugars with minimal increases in nitrogen inputs, and that excess nitrogen can affect minor increases in biomass yields and cellulosic sugars but decrease bioenergy quality by decreasing water-soluble sugar concentrations and increasing ash content, specifically when plant tissue nitrogen concentrations exceed 0.6 %, dry weight basis. Finally, through our growth and re-growth trials, we show that single-cut high biomass sorghum bioenergy yields

Demand and supply of hydrogen as chemical feedstock in USA

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, C. J.; Tang, K.; Kelley, J. H.; Berger, B. J.

1979-01-01

Projections are made for the demand and supply of hydrogen as chemical feedstock in USA. Industrial sectors considered are petroleum refining, ammonia synthesis, methanol production, isocyanate manufacture, edible oil processing, coal liquefaction, fuel cell electricity generation, and direct iron reduction. Presently, almost all the hydrogen required is produced by reforming of natural gas or petroleum fractions. Specific needs and emphases are recommended for future research and development to produce hydrogen from other sources to meet the requirements of these industrial sectors. The data and the recommendations summarized in this paper are based on the Workshop 'Supply and Demand of Hydrogen as Chemical Feedstock' held at the University of Houston on December 12-14, 1977.

Biochar-based bioenergy and its environmental impact in Northwestern Ontario Canada:A review

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Krish Homagain; Chander Shahi; Nancy Luckai; Mahadev Sharma

2014-01-01

Biochar is normally produced as a by-product of bioenergy. However, if biochar is produced as a co-product with bioenergy from sustainably managed forests and used for soil amendment, it could pro-vide a carbon neutral or even carbon negative solution for current envi-ronmental degradation problems. In this paper, we present a comprehen-sive review of biochar production as a co-product of bioenergy and its implications. We focus on biochar production with reference to biomass availability and sustainability and on biochar utilization for its soil amendment and greenhouse gas emissions reduction properties. Past studies confirm that northwestern Ontario has a sustainable and sufficient supply of biomass feedstock that can be used to produce bioenergy, with biochar as a co-product that can replace fossil fuel consumption, increase soil productivity and sequester carbon in the long run. For the next step, we recommend that comprehensive life cycle assessment of bio-char-based bioenergy production, from raw material collection to biochar application, with an extensive economic assessment is necessary for making this technology commercially viable in northwestern Ontario.

A participatory systems approach to modeling social, economic, and ecological components of bioenergy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buchholz, Thomas S.; Volk, Timothy A.; Luzadis, Valerie A.

2007-01-01

Availability of and access to useful energy is a crucial factor for maintaining and improving human well-being. Looming scarcities and increasing awareness of environmental, economic, and social impacts of conventional sources of non-renewable energy have focused attention on renewable energy sources, including biomass. The complex interactions of social, economic, and ecological factors among the bioenergy system components of feedstock supply, conversion technology, and energy allocation have been a major obstacle to the broader development of bioenergy systems. For widespread implementation of bioenergy to occur there is a need for an integrated approach to model the social, economic, and ecological interactions associated with bioenergy. Such models can serve as a planning and evaluation tool to help decide when, where, and how bioenergy systems can contribute to development. One approach to integrated modeling is by assessing the sustainability of a bioenergy system. The evolving nature of sustainability can be described by an adaptive systems approach using general systems principles. Discussing these principles reveals that participation of stakeholders in all components of a bioenergy system is a crucial factor for sustainability. Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) is an effective tool to implement this approach. This approach would enable decision-makers to evaluate bioenergy systems for sustainability in a participatory, transparent, timely, and informed manner

Site-adapted cultivation of bioenergy crops - a strategy towards a greener and innovative feedstock production

Science.gov (United States)

Ruf, Thorsten; Emmerling, Christoph

2017-04-01

Cultivation of bioenergy crops is of increasing interest to produce valuable feedstocks e.g. for anaerobic digestion. In the past decade, the focus was primarily set to cultivation of the most economic viable crop, namely maize. In Germany for example, the cultivation area of maize was expanded from approx. 200,000 ha in 2006 to 800,000 ha in 2015. However, this process initiated a scientific and public discussion about the sustainability of intense maize cultivation. Concerns addressed in this context are depletion of soil organic matter, soil erosion and compaction as well as losses of (agro-)biodiversity. However, from a soil science perspective, several problems arise from not site-adapted cultivation of maize. In contrast, the cultivation of perennial bioenergy crops may provide a valuable opportunity to preserve or even enhance soil fertility and agrobiodiversity without limiting economic efficiency. Several perennial energy crops, with various requirements regarding stand conditions, allow a beneficial selection of the most suitable species for a respective location. The study aimed to provide a first step towards a more strategic planning of bioenergy crop cultivation with respect to spatial arrangement, distribution and connectivity of sites on a regional scale. The identification of pedological site characteristics is a crucial step in this process. With the study presented, we tried to derive site information that allow for an assessment of the suitability for specific energy crops. Our idea is to design a multifunctional landscape with a coexistence of sites with reduced management for soil protection and highly productive site. By a site adapted cultivation of perennial energy plants in sensitive areas, a complex, heterogeneous landscape could be reached.

76 FR 64839 - Sugar Program; Feedstock Flexibility Program for Bioenergy Producers

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-19

... sugar to ethanol and other bioenergy production. Surplus Determination As required by the 2008... with selling sugar for ethanol, if FFP is activated, are significantly lower than if sales could be... eligible sugar buyer, the bioenergy producer must produce bioenergy products, including fuel grade ethanol...

Feedstock quality : an important consideration in forest biomass supply

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ryans, M. [FP Innovations, Vancouver, BC (Canada). FERIC

2009-07-01

The move to forest-based sources of biomass requires an emphasis on the quality of forest residues. Customers set the feedstock requirements, and demand homogeneous and predictable quality. The top quality factors are appropriate moisture content, consistent particle size, chlorine content, and clean material. The seasonal variability of the resource means that suppliers must determine how to deliver a year-round supply with appropriate moisture content. Methods such as pre-piling and covering with a tarp are being tested. Although mills tailored for biomass deliveries have modernized boilers capable of burning a variety of biomass feedstocks at varying moisture contents, a 10 per cent reduction in moisture content can offer a good return on investment because suppliers could transports more energy content and less water per tonne of biomass. This presentation also discussed the range of equipment choices available for delivering the right-sized biomass, and outlined the right and wrong practices that influence biomass quality along the supply chain. figs.

Biomass Supply Chain and Conversion Economics of Cellulosic Ethanol

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez, Ronalds W.

2011-12-01

Cellulosic biomass is a potential and competitive source for bioenergy production, reasons for such acclamation include: biomass is one the few energy sources that can actually be utilized to produce several types of energy (motor fuel, electricity, heat) and cellulosic biomass is renewable and relatively found everywhere. Despite these positive advantages, issues regarding cellulosic biomass availability, supply chain, conversion process and economics need a more comprehensive understanding in order to identify the near short term routes in biomass to bioenergy production. Cellulosic biomass accounts for around 35% to 45% of cost share in cellulosic ethanol production, in addition, different feedstock have very different production rate, (dry ton/acre/year), availability across the year, and chemical composition that affect process yield and conversion costs as well. In the other hand, existing and brand new conversion technologies for cellulosic ethanol production offer different advantages, risks and financial returns. Ethanol yield, financial returns, delivered cost and supply chain logistic for combinations of feedstock and conversion technology are investigated in six studies. In the first study, biomass productivity, supply chain and delivered cost of fast growing Eucalyptus is simulated in economic and supply chain models to supply a hypothetic ethanol biorefinery. Finding suggests that Eucalyptus can be a potential hardwood grown specifically for energy. Delivered cost is highly sensitive to biomass productivity, percentage of covered area. Evaluated at different financial expectations, delivered cost can be competitive compared to current forest feedstock supply. In the second study, Eucalyptus biomass conversion into cellulosic ethanol is simulated in the dilute acid pretreatment, analysis of conversion costs, cost share, CAPEX and ethanol yield are examined. In the third study, biomass supply and delivered cost of loblolly pine is simulated in economic

Forest based biomass for energy in Uganda: Stakeholder dynamics in feedstock production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hazelton, Jennifer A.; Windhorst, Kai; Amezaga, Jaime M.

2013-01-01

Insufficient energy supply and low levels of development are closely linked. Both are major issues in Uganda where growing demand cannot be met by overstretched infrastructure and the majority still rely on traditional biomass use. Uganda's renewable energy policy focuses on decentralised sources including modern biomass. In this paper, stakeholder dynamics and potential socio-economic impacts of eight modern bioenergy feedstock production models in Uganda are considered, and key considerations for future planning provided. For these models the main distinctions were land ownership (communal or private) and feedstock type (by-product or plantation). Key social issues varied by value chain (corporate, government or farmer/NGO), and what production arrangement was in place (produced for own use or sale). Small, privately owned production models can be profitable but are unlikely to benefit landless poor and, if repeated without strategic planning, could result in resource depletion. Larger projects can have greater financial benefits, though may have longer term natural resource impacts felt by adjacent communities. Bioenergy initiatives which allow the rural poor to participate through having a collaborative stake, rather than receiving information, and provide opportunities for the landless are most likely to result in socio-economic rural development to meet policy goals. The structured approach to understanding stakeholder dynamics used was found to be robust and sufficiently adaptable to provide meaningful analysis. In conclusion; local, context-specific planning and assessment for bioenergy projects, where all stakeholders have the opportunity to be collaborators in the process throughout its full lifecycle, is required to achieve rural development objectives. -- Highlights: • Stakeholder dynamics and socio-economics in 8 Ugandan bioenergy projects considered. • Key distinctions were ownership, feedstock, value chain and production arrangement. • Small

Cost Methodology for Biomass Feedstocks: Herbaceous Crops and Agricultural Residues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Turhollow Jr, Anthony F [ORNL; Webb, Erin [ORNL; Sokhansanj, Shahabaddine [ORNL

2009-12-01

This report describes a set of procedures and assumptions used to estimate production and logistics costs of bioenergy feedstocks from herbaceous crops and agricultural residues. The engineering-economic analysis discussed here is based on methodologies developed by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) and the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA). An engineering-economic analysis approach was chosen due to lack of historical cost data for bioenergy feedstocks. Instead, costs are calculated using assumptions for equipment performance, input prices, and yield data derived from equipment manufacturers, research literature, and/or standards. Cost estimates account for fixed and variable costs. Several examples of this costing methodology used to estimate feedstock logistics costs are included at the end of this report.

The Impact of Field Size on the Environment and Energy Crop Production Efficiency for a Sustainable Indigenous Bioenergy Supply Chain in the Republic of Ireland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rory Deverell

2009-11-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates, using the GIS platform, the potential impacts of meeting national bioenergy targets using only indigenous sources of feedstock on the habitats and carbon stores that exist within Ireland’s field boundaries. A survey of the Republic of Irelands field was conducted in order to estimate and map the size and geographic distribution of the Republic of Ireland’s field boundaries. The planting and harvesting costs associated with possible bioenergy crop production systems were determined using the relationship between the seasonal operating efficiency and the average field size. The results indicate that Ireland will need a large proportion of its current agricultural area (at least 16.5% in order to its meet national bioenergy targets by 2020. The demand cannot be met by the current area that both has suitable soil type for growing the bioenergy crops and is large enough for the required operating efficiency. The results of this study indicate that implementing and meeting national bioenergy targets using only indigenous feedstock will likely impact the country’s field boundary resources negatively, as crop producers seek to improve production efficiency through field consolidation and field boundary removal. It was found that such boundary removal results in a loss of up to 6 tC/km2 and 0.7 ha/km of previously permanent habitat where average field size is small. The impact of field consolidation on these resources reduces substantially as larger fields become consolidated.

The effects of location, feedstock availability, and supply-chain logistics on the greenhouse gas emissions of forest-biomass energy utilization in Finland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jappinen, E,

2013-11-01

Forest biomass represents a geographically distributed feedstock, and geographical location affects the greenhouse gas (GHG) performance of a given forest-bioenergy system in several ways. For example, biomass availability, forest operations, transportation possibilities and the distances involved, biomass end-use possibilities, fossil reference systems, and forest carbon balances all depend to some extent on location. The overall objective of this thesis was to assess the GHG emissions derived from supply and energy-utilization chains of forest biomass in Finland, with a specific focus on the effect of location in relation to forest biomass's availability and the transportation possibilities. Biomass availability and transportation-network assessments were conducted through utilization of geographical information system methods, and the GHG emissions were assessed by means of lifecycle assessment. The thesis is based on four papers in which forest biomass supply on industrial scale was assessed. The feedstocks assessed in this thesis include harvesting residues, smalldiameter energy wood and stumps. The principal implication of the findings in this thesis is that in Finland, the location and availability of biomass in the proximity of a given energyutilization or energy-conversion plant is not a decisive factor in supply-chain GHG emissions or the possible GHG savings to be achieved with forest-biomass energy use. Therefore, for the greatest GHG reductions with limited forest-biomass resources, energy utilization of forest biomass in Finland should be directed to the locations where most GHG savings are achieved through replacement of fossil fuels. Furthermore, one should prioritize the types of forest biomass with the lowest direct supply-chain GHG emissions (e.g., from transport and comminution) and the lowest indirect ones (in particular, soil carbon-stock losses), regardless of location. In this respect, the best combination is to use harvesting residues

National Geo-Database for Biofuel Simulations and Regional Analysis of Biorefinery Siting Based on Cellulosic Feedstock Grown on Marginal Lands

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Izaurralde, Roberto C.; Zhang, Xuesong; Sahajpal, Ritvik; Manowitz, David H.

2012-04-01

The goal of this project undertaken by GLBRC (Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center) Area 4 (Sustainability) modelers is to develop a national capability to model feedstock supply, ethanol production, and biogeochemical impacts of cellulosic biofuels. The results of this project contribute to sustainability goals of the GLBRC; i.e. to contribute to developing a sustainable bioenergy economy: one that is profitable to farmers and refiners, acceptable to society, and environmentally sound. A sustainable bioenergy economy will also contribute, in a fundamental way, to meeting national objectives on energy security and climate mitigation. The specific objectives of this study are to: (1) develop a spatially explicit national geodatabase for conducting biofuel simulation studies and (4) locate possible sites for the establishment of cellulosic ethanol biorefineries. To address the first objective, we developed SENGBEM (Spatially Explicit National Geodatabase for Biofuel and Environmental Modeling), a 60-m resolution geodatabase of the conterminous USA containing data on: (1) climate, (2) soils, (3) topography, (4) hydrography, (5) land cover/ land use (LCLU), and (6) ancillary data (e.g., road networks, federal and state lands, national and state parks, etc.). A unique feature of SENGBEM is its 2008-2010 crop rotation data, a crucially important component for simulating productivity and biogeochemical cycles as well as land-use changes associated with biofuel cropping. ARRA support for this project and to the PNNL Joint Global Change Research Institute enabled us to create an advanced computing infrastructure to execute millions of simulations, conduct post-processing calculations, store input and output data, and visualize results. These computing resources included two components installed at the Research Data Center of the University of Maryland. The first resource was 'deltac': an 8-core Linux server, dedicated to county-level and state-level simulations

ACMECS Bioenergy Network: Implementing a transnational science-based policy network on bioenergy

Science.gov (United States)

Bruckman, Viktor J.; Haruthaithanasan, Maliwan; Kraxner, Florian; Brenner, Anna

2017-04-01

Despite the currently low prices for fossil energy resulting from a number of geopolitical reasons, intergovernmental efforts are being made towards a transition to a sustainable bio-economy. The main reasons for this include climate change mitigation, decreasing dependencies fossil fuel imports and hence external market fluctuations, diversification of energy generation and feedstock production for industrial processes. Since 2012, the ACMECS bioenergy network initiative leads negotiations and organizes workshops to set up a regional bioenergy network in Indochina, with the aim to promote biomass and -energy markets, technology transfer, rural development and income generation. Policy development is guided by the International Union of Forest Research Institutions (IUFRO) Task Force "Sustainable Forest Bioenergy Network". In this paper, we highlight the achievements so far and present results of a multi-stakeholder questionnaire in combination with a quantitative analysis of the National Bioenergy Development Plans (NBDP's). We found that traditional fuelwood is still the most important resource for generating thermal energy in the region, especially in rural settings, and it will remain an important resource even in 25 years. However, less fuelwood will be sourced from natural forests as compared to today. NBDP's have a focus on market development, technology transfer and funding possibilities of a regional bioenergy strategy, while the responses of the questionnaire favored more altruistic goals, i.e. sustainable resource management, environmental protection and climate change mitigation, generation of rural income and community involvement etc. This is surprising, since a sub-population of the (anonymous) questionnaire respondents was actually responsible drafting the NBDP's. We therefore suggest the following measures to ensure regulations that represent the original aims of the network (climate change mitigation, poverty alleviation, sustainable resource use

Projected gains and losses of wildlife habitat from bioenergy-induced landscape change

Science.gov (United States)

Tarr, Nathan M.; Rubino, Matthew J.; Costanza, Jennifer K.; McKerrow, Alexa; Collazo, Jaime A.; Abt, Robert C.

2016-01-01

Domestic and foreign renewable energy targets and financial incentives have increased demand for woody biomass and bioenergy in the southeastern United States. This demand is expected to be met through purpose-grown agricultural bioenergy crops, short-rotation tree plantations, thinning and harvest of planted and natural forests, and forest harvest residues. With results from a forest economics model, spatially explicit state-and-transition simulation models, and species–habitat models, we projected change in habitat amount for 16 wildlife species caused by meeting a renewable fuel target and expected demand for wood pellets in North Carolina, USA. We projected changes over 40 years under a baseline ‘business-as-usual’ scenario without bioenergy production and five scenarios with unique feedstock portfolios. Bioenergy demand had potential to influence trends in habitat availability for some species in our study area. We found variation in impacts among species, and no scenario was the ‘best’ or ‘worst’ across all species. Our models projected that shrub-associated species would gain habitat under some scenarios because of increases in the amount of regenerating forests on the landscape, while species restricted to mature forests would lose habitat. Some forest species could also lose habitat from the conversion of forests on marginal soils to purpose-grown feedstocks. The conversion of agricultural lands on marginal soils to purpose-grown feedstocks increased habitat losses for one species with strong associations with pasture, which is being lost to urbanization in our study region. Our results indicate that landscape-scale impacts on wildlife habitat will vary among species and depend upon the bioenergy feedstock portfolio. Therefore, decisions about bioenergy and wildlife will likely involve trade-offs among wildlife species, and the choice of focal species is likely to affect the results of landscape-scale assessments. We offer general principals

The Role of Bioenergy in Enhancing Energy, Food and Ecosystem Sustainability Based on Societal Perceptions and Preferences in Asia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lilibeth A. Acosta

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This paper discussed the analysis of the survey on sustainability of bioenergy conducted in the Philippines, India and China. It acquired general perceptions of the people by asking them (a specific questions about their level of familiarity with bioenergy; (b relationship of their work to bioenergy; and (c their opinion on contribution of various feedstock on the economy and impact of bioenergy production on food security. In addition to these questions, we estimated preference weights of various feedstock based on the conjoint choices on bioenergy’s contribution to social stability, social welfare and ecological balance. The estimates revealed significant trade-offs not only among these three dimensions of sustainability but also the relative importance of energy security, food security and ecosystem capacity to other economic, social and environmental objectives. The types of first generation feedstock that are currently used for biofuel production in the respective countries and those that offer alternative household use are perceived as important to the economy and preferred bioenergy feedstock. Based on the results of the study, the preferred role of bioenergy for sustainable development reflects the social and economic concerns in the respective Asian countries, e.g., energy security in China, food security in India, and ecosystem degradation in the Philippines.

Nitrous oxide emission and soil carbon sequestration from herbaceous perennial biofuel feedstocks

Science.gov (United States)

Greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation and renewable, domestic fuels are needed in the United States. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and big bluestem (Andropogon gerdardii Vitman) are potential bioenergy feedstocks that may meet this need. However, managing perennial grasses for feedstock requires nitro...

The future of bioenergy in Sweden. Background and summary of outstanding issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berndes, G.

2006-01-01

This report is intended to give a background to discussions about the future of bioenergy in Sweden, to be used by the Swedish Energy Agency in the planning of future efforts in the biofuel supply chain. An overview of the present supply and use of biomass in Sweden is given, and trends and prospects for increased use of bioenergy in Sweden are assessed. Both sources of increased bioenergy demand and possibilities for increased domestic supply are treated. Biomass contributes about 110 TWh, or one fifth of the Swedish energy supply. Biomass is mainly used for energy within the forest industry, in district heating plants, in the residential sector and for electricity production. More than 50% of the heat comes from biomass today. Based on a number of studies it is concluded that there is a potential for a substantial increase in the Swedish biofuel use, by introduction of new forest management practices and a re-orientation of agriculture. Calculations indicate that there is scope for a substantial increase in bioenergy use in Sweden and that the Swedish bioenergy potential is large enough to accommodate such an increase. However, related to the aspirations in the EC biofuel directive and the hopes that Sweden by taking early steps could become a major supplier of liquid biofuels in EU, it is also shown that Sweden to a significant extent would need to rely on imported bioenergy (biomass feedstock at the magnitude 100 TWh) in order to supply a biofuels industry capable of providing for the domestic market and also exporting substantial volumes of liquid biofuels to Europe. The prospects for a large-scale import of biofuels are discussed based on an analysis of the potential global biomass production and use in forestry and agriculture. A number of issues of great importance for increased biomass use are discussed - competitive land uses, availability of water, international trade rules, and international politics. The report also discusses additional and new uses of

Navigating Bioenergy. Contributing to informed decision making on bioenergy issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vis, M.; Reumerman, P.; Frederiks, B. [BTG Biomass Technology Group, Enschede (Netherlands)

2009-11-15

In order to further contribute to sustainable global bioenergy development, UNIDO will this year be launching the Bioenergy Capacity Building Programme (BIOCAB), offering a comprehensive training package to policy makers and entrepreneurs aimed at enhancing their engagement in shaping a sustainable bioenergy industry in developing countries. The training package, disseminated through a network of key institutions and certified trainers, will consist of four modules covering the following subjects: Technologies and Processes, Policy, Socio-Economic and Environmental Issues, Financial and Project Development Issues, Industrial Applications for Productive Use. While designing the training package and its modules at a meeting hosted by UNIDO at headquarters in August 2008, experts reiterated a demand, previously expressed by UNIDO clients at various international fora, for an easy-to-read, practical and user-friendly introduction to certain contentious bioenergy issues. The expert meeting selected the most hotly-debated bioenergy issues and came up with the following eight topics: (1) Jatropha, the feedstock of the future?; (2) Biomethane, is it an underestimated energy source?; (3) Energy from Municipal Solid Waste, can this potential be realized?; (4) The Biorefinery Concept, how relevant is it for developing countries?; (5) Competition with Food, what are the facts in the food versus fuel discussion?; (6) Sustainability and Certification of Biomass, what are the benefits?; (7) Clean Development Mechanism, how does it work?; (8) Success Stories.

Incorporating bioenergy into sustainable landscape designs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dale, Virginia H.; Kline, Keith L.; Buford, Marilyn A.

2016-01-01

The paper describes an approach to landscape design that focuses on integrating bioenergy production with other components of environmental, social and economic systems. Landscape design as used here refers to a spatially explicit, collaborative plan for management of landscapes and supply chains...... land-management objectives from a wide array of stakeholders, up-front planning requirements, and the complexity and level of effort needed for successful stakeholder involvement. A landscape design process may be stymied by insufficient data or participation. An impetus for coordination is critical....... Landscape design can involve multiple scales and build on existing practices to reduce costs or enhance services. Appropriately applied to a specific context, landscape design can help people assess trade-offs when making choices about locations, types of feedstock, transport, refining and distribution...

International bioenergy transport costs and energy balance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamelinck, Carlo N.; Suurs, Roald A.A.; Faaij, Andre P.C.

2005-01-01

To supply biomass from production areas to energy importing regions, long-distance international transport is necessary, implying additional logistics, costs, energy consumption and material losses compared to local utilisation. A broad variety of bioenergy chains can be envisioned, comprising different biomass feedstock production systems, pre-treatment and conversion operations, and transport of raw and refined solid biomass and liquid bio-derived fuels. A tool was developed to consistently compare the possible bioenergy supply chains and assess the influence of key parameters, such as distance, timing and scale on performance. Chains of European and Latin American bioenergy carriers delivered to Western Europe were analysed using generic data. European biomass residues and crops can be delivered at 90 and 70 euros/tonne dry (4.7 and 3.7 euros/GJ HHV ) when shipped as pellets. South American crops are produced against much lower costs. Despite the long shipping distance, the costs in the receiving harbour can be as low as 40 euros/tonne dry or 2.1 euros/GJ HHV ; the crop's costs account for 25-40% of the delivered costs. The relatively expensive truck transport from production site to gathering point restricts the size of the production area; therefore, a high biomass yield per hectare is vital to enable large-scale systems. In all, 300 MW HHV Latin American biomass in biomass integrated gasification/combined cycle plants may result in cost of electricity as little as 3.5 euros cent/kWh, competitive with fossil electricity. Methanol produced in Latin America and delivered to Europe may cost 8-10 euros/GJ HHV , when the pellets to methanol conversion is done in Europe the delivered methanol costs are higher. The energy requirement to deliver solid biomass from both crops and residues from the different production countries is 1.2-1.3 MJ primary /MJ delivered (coal ∼ 1.1 MJ/MJ). International bioenergy trade is possible against low costs and modest energy loss

Bioenergy in Australia: An improved approach for estimating spatial availability of biomass resources in the agricultural production zones

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herr, Alexander; Dunlop, Michael

2011-01-01

Bioenergy production from crops and agricultural residues has a greenhouse gas mitigation potential. However, there is considerable debate about the size of this potential. This is partly due to difficulties in estimating the feedstock resource base accurately and with good spatial resolution. Here we provide two techniques for spatially estimating crop-based bioenergy feedstocks in Australia using regional agricultural statistics and national land use maps. The approach accommodates temporal variability by estimating ranges of feedstock availability and the shifting nature of zones of the highest spatial concentration of feedstocks. The techniques are applicable to biomass production from forestry, agricultural residues or oilseeds, all of which have been proposed as biofuel feedstocks. -- Highlights: → Dasymetric mapping appoach for producing spatial and temporal variation maps in feedstock production.→ Combines land use and crop statistics to produce regionally precise feedstock maps. → Feedstock concentrations and feedstock density maps enable identification of feedstock concentration spatially and comparison of yearly variation in production.

Green supply chain management and environmental performance of firms in the bioenergy sector in Brazil: An exploratory survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stefanelli, Nelson Oliveira; Jabbour, Charbel José Chiappetta; Jabbour, Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa

2014-01-01

To achieve sustainable development, supply chains must become greener. In this context, the importance of green supply chain management (GSCM) increases because it can contribute to improving firms’ environmental performance (EP). However, little is known about these subjects in the context of firms in the bioenergy sector (sugarcane and ethanol production in Brazil). Thus, the objective of this work is to present the results of a survey conducted on 80 micro-, small-, and medium-sized firms that are suppliers in the Brazilian bioenergy sector (sugarcane and ethanol production). These results indicate that GSCM practices strengthen the EP of firms in the sector. Therefore, this article contributes to the existing literature because it addresses the relationship between GSCM and EP in an understudied sector (sugarcane and ethanol production). - Highlights: • To achieve sustainable development, supply chains must become greener. • Little is known about these subjects in the context of firms in the bioenergy sector. • This research is based on an exploratory survey. • GSCM practices strengthen the EP of firms in the sector

Bioenergy. The manifold renewable energy. 4. compl. rev. ed.; Bioenergie. Die vielfaeltige erneuerbare Energie

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-06-15

Bioenergy is the most important renewable energy source in Germany. With about 70 percent bioenergy contributes to the largest share of energy supply from renewable energy sources. This brochure provides an overview of the various possibilities, advantages and opportunities in the use of biomass and bioenergy.

Bioenergy in the United States: progress and possibilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cook, J.; Beyea, J.

2000-01-01

Concerns about global climate change and air quality have increased interest in biomass and other energy sources that are potentially CO 2 -neutral and less polluting. Large-scale bioenergy development could indeed bring significant ecological benefits - or equally significant damage - depending on the specific paths taken. In particular, the land requirements for biomass production are potentially immense. Various entities in the United States have performed research; prepared cost-supply assessments, environmental impact assessments, life cycle analyses and externality impact assessments; and engaged in demonstration and development regarding biomass crops and other potential biomass energy feedstocks. These efforts have focused on various biomass wastes, forest management issues, and biomass crops, including both perennial herbaceous crops and fast-growing woody crops. Simultaneously, several regional and national groups of bioenergy stakeholders have issued consensus recommendations and guidelines for sustainable bioenergy development. It is a consistent conclusion from these efforts that displacing annual agricultural crops with native perennial biomass crops could - in addition to reducing fossil fuel use and ameliorating associated ecological problems - also help restore natural ecosystem functions in worked landscapes, and thereby preserve natural biodiversity. Conversely, if forests are managed and harvested more intensively - and/or if biomass crops displace more natural land cover such as forests and wetlands - it is likely that ecosystem functions would be impaired and biodiversity lost. (author)

Feedstock Supply and Logistics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2016-06-01

Providing biomass for conversion into high-quality biofuels, biopower, and bioproducts represents an economic opportunity for communities across the nation. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and its partners are developing the technologies and systems needed to sustainably and economically deliver a diverse range of biomass in formats that enable efficient use in biorefineries.

The future of bioenergy in Sweden. Background and summary of outstanding issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berndes, G. [Chalmers Univ. of Technology, Goeteborg (Sweden). Dept. of Energy and Environment; Magnusson, Leif [EnerGia Konsulterande Ingenjoerer AB, Stockholm (Sweden)

2006-12-30

This report is intended to give a background to discussions about the future of bioenergy in Sweden, to be used by the Swedish Energy Agency in the planning of future efforts in the biofuel supply chain. An overview of the present supply and use of biomass in Sweden is given, and trends and prospects for increased use of bioenergy in Sweden are assessed. Both sources of increased bioenergy demand and possibilities for increased domestic supply are treated. Biomass contributes about 110 TWh, or one fifth of the Swedish energy supply. Biomass is mainly used for energy within the forest industry, in district heating plants, in the residential sector and for electricity production. More than 50% of the heat comes from biomass today. Based on a number of studies it is concluded that there is a potential for a substantial increase in the Swedish biofuel use, by introduction of new forest management practices and a re-orientation of agriculture. Calculations indicate that there is scope for a substantial increase in bioenergy use in Sweden and that the Swedish bioenergy potential is large enough to accommodate such an increase. However, related to the aspirations in the EC biofuel directive and the hopes that Sweden by taking early steps could become a major supplier of liquid biofuels in EU, it is also shown that Sweden to a significant extent would need to rely on imported bioenergy (biomass feedstock at the magnitude 100 TWh) in order to supply a biofuels industry capable of providing for the domestic market and also exporting substantial volumes of liquid biofuels to Europe. The prospects for a large-scale import of biofuels are discussed based on an analysis of the potential global biomass production and use in forestry and agriculture. A number of issues of great importance for increased biomass use are discussed - competitive land uses, availability of water, international trade rules, and international politics. The report also discusses additional and new uses of

Global Simulation of Bioenergy Crop Productivity: Analytical framework and Case Study for Switchgrass

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nair, S. Surendran [University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK); Nichols, Jeff A. {Cyber Sciences} [ORNL; Post, Wilfred M [ORNL; Wang, Dali [ORNL; Wullschleger, Stan D [ORNL; Kline, Keith L [ORNL; Wei, Yaxing [ORNL; Singh, Nagendra [ORNL; Kang, Shujiang [ORNL

2014-01-01

Contemporary global assessments of the deployment potential and sustainability aspects of biofuel crops lack quantitative details. This paper describes an analytical framework capable of meeting the challenges associated with global scale agro-ecosystem modeling. We designed a modeling platform for bioenergy crops, consisting of five major components: (i) standardized global natural resources and management data sets, (ii) global simulation unit and management scenarios, (iii) model calibration and validation, (iv) high-performance computing (HPC) modeling, and (v) simulation output processing and analysis. A case study with the HPC- Environmental Policy Integrated Climate model (HPC-EPIC) to simulate a perennial bioenergy crop, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and global biomass feedstock analysis on grassland demonstrates the application of this platform. The results illustrate biomass feedstock variability of switchgrass and provide insights on how the modeling platform can be expanded to better assess sustainable production criteria and other biomass crops. Feedstock potentials on global grasslands and within different countries are also shown. Future efforts involve developing databases of productivity, implementing global simulations for other bioenergy crops (e.g. miscanthus, energycane and agave), and assessing environmental impacts under various management regimes. We anticipated this platform will provide an exemplary tool and assessment data for international communities to conduct global analysis of biofuel biomass feedstocks and sustainability.

Expected international demand for woody and herbaceous feedstock

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lamers, Patrick [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Jacobson, Jacob [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Mohammad, Roni [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Wright, Christopher [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2015-03-01

The development of a U.S. bioenergy market and ultimately ‘bioeconomy’ has primarily been investigated with a national focus. Limited attention has been given to the potential impacts of international market developments. The goal of this project is to advance the current State of Technology of a single biorefinery to the global level providing quantitative estimates on how international markets may influence the domestic feedstock supply costs. The scope of the project is limited to feedstock that is currently available and new crops being developed to be used in a future U.S. bioeconomy including herbaceous residues (e.g., corn stover), woody biomass (e.g., pulpwood), and energy crops (e.g., switchgrass). The timeframe is set to the periods of 2022, 2030, and 2040 to align with current policy targets (e.g., the RFS2) and future updates of the Billion Ton data. This particular milestone delivers demand volumes for generic woody and herbaceous feedstocks for the main (net) importing regions along the above timeframes. The regional focus of the study is the European Union (EU), currently the largest demand region for U.S. pellets made from pulpwood and forest residues. The pellets are predominantly used in large-scale power plants (>5MWel) in the United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands (NL), Belgium (BE), and Denmark (DK).

Risoe energy report 2. New and emerging bioenergy technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Larsen, H; Kossmann, J; Soenderberg Petersen, L [eds.

2003-11-01

Three growing concerns - sustainability (particularly in the transport sector), security of energy supply and climate change - have combined to increase interest in bioenergy. The trend towards bioenergy has been further encouraged by technological advances in biomass conversion and significant changes in energy markets. We even have a new term, 'modern bioenergy', to cover those areas of bioenergy technology - traditional as well as emerging - that could expand the role of bioenergy. Besides its potential to be carbon-neutral if produced sustainable, modern bioenergy shows the promise of covering a considerable part of the world's energy needs, increasing the security of energy supply through the use of indigenous resources, and improving local employment and land-use. To make these promises, however, requires further R and D. This report provides a critical examination of modern bioenergy, and describes current trends in both established and emerging bioenergy technologies. As well as examining the implications for the global energy scene, the report draws national conclusions for European and Danish energy supply, industry and energy research. The report presents the status of current R and D in biomass resources, supply systems, end products and conversion methods. A number of traditional and modern bioenergy technologies are assessed to show their current status, future trends and international R and D plans. Recent studies of emerging bioenergy technologies from international organisations and leading research organisations are reviewed. (BA)

Assessing Potential Air Pollutant Emissions from Agricultural Feedstock Production using MOVES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eberle, Annika [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Warner, Ethan [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Zhang, Yi Min [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Inman, Daniel J [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Carpenter Petri, Alberta C [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Heath, Garvin A [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hettinger, Dylan J [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Bhatt, Arpit H [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2018-03-29

Biomass feedstock production is expected to grow as demand for biofuels and bioenergy increases. The change in air pollutant emissions that may result from large-scale biomass supply has implications for local air quality and human health. We developed spatially explicit emissions inventories for corn grain and six cellulosic feedstocks through the extension of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Feedstock Production Emissions to Air Model (FPEAM). These inventories include emissions of seven pollutants (nitrogen oxides, ammonia, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, sulfur oxides, and carbon monoxide) generated from biomass establishment, maintenance, harvest, transportation, and biofuel preprocessing activities. By integrating the EPA's MOtor Vehicle Emissions Simulator (MOVES) into FPEAM, we created a scalable framework to execute county-level runs of the MOVES-Onroad model for representative counties (i.e., those counties with the largest amount of cellulosic feedstock production in each state) on a national scale. We used these results to estimate emissions from the on-road transportation of biomass and combined them with county-level runs of the MOVES-Nonroad model to estimate emissions from agricultural equipment. We also incorporated documented emission factors to estimate emissions from chemical application and the operation of drying equipment for feedstock processing, and used methods developed by the EPA and the California Air Resources Board to estimate fugitive dust emissions. The model developed here could be applied to custom equipment budgets and is extensible to accommodate additional feedstocks and pollutants. Future work will also extend this model to analyze spatial boundaries beyond the county-scale (e.g., regional or sub-county levels).

Biomass supply in EU27 from 2010 to 2030

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Panoutsou, Calliope; Eleftheriadis, John; Nikolaou, Anastasia

2009-01-01

With biomass staying high in the EU political agenda and most of the recent documents acknowledging that it has the potential to make a very significant contribution to reaching the 20% target [], the issue of supply in terms of feedstock types, availability constraints and costs in different Member States is set to determine the future technology uptake and market deployment prospects. This paper is based on one of the initial studies, 'Bioenergy's role in the EU market. A view of developments until 2020', and presents a structured review for EU biomass resources, aiming to map technical potentials and provide detailed information on availability, costs and future trends for biomass potentials of different residual feedstocks in EU27. (author)

The availability and economic analyses of using marginal land for bioenergy production in China

Science.gov (United States)

Yuqi, Chen; Xudong, Guo; Chunyan, Lv

2017-04-01

' perspective, low income led to none incentive of energy plants' cultivation. From the bioenergy plants' perspective, unstable supply and high cost of feedstock constrained the normal operation. In China, both energy crop' s cultivation and bioenergy production depend too much on government subsidies. It was impossible to develop bioenergy based on marginal land if only rely on the market at present.

11. Rostock bioenergy forum. Proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelles, Michael

2017-01-01

The seven main focus of the bioenergy forum were: 1. Political regulation and its consequences; 2. Flexible energy supply; 3. Biorefineries for the use of residues from bioenergy production; 4. Process optimization biogas; 5. Alternative substrates for biogas production; 6. Cross-sectoral bioenergy concept; 7. Transport sector (biofuels). Five lectures are separately analyzed for this database. [de

Bioenergy for sustainable development: An African context

Science.gov (United States)

Mangoyana, Robert Blessing

This paper assesses the sustainability concerns of bioenergy systems against the prevailing and potential long term conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa with a special attention on agricultural and forestry waste, and cultivated bioenergy sources. Existing knowledge and processes about bioenergy systems are brought into a “sustainability framework” to support debate and decisions about the implementation of bioenergy systems in the region. Bioenergy systems have been recommended based on the potential to (i) meet domestic energy demand and reduce fuel importation (ii) diversify rural economies and create employment (iii) reduce poverty, and (iv) provide net energy gains and positive environmental impacts. However, biofuels will compete with food crops for land, labour, capital and entrepreneurial skills. Moreover the environmental benefits of some feedstocks are questionable. These challenges are, however, surmountable. It is concluded that biomass energy production could be an effective way to achieve sustainable development for bioenergy pathways that (i) are less land intensive, (ii) have positive net energy gains and environmental benefits, and (iii) provide local socio-economic benefits. Feasibility evaluations which put these issues into perspective are vital for sustainable application of agricultural and forest based bioenergy systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Such evaluations should consider the long run potential of biofuels accounting for demographic, economic and technological changes and the related implications.

Risoe energy report 2. New and emerging bioenergy technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Larsen, H.; Kossmann, J.; Soenderberg Petersen, L. (eds.)

2003-11-01

Three growing concerns - sustainability (particularly in the transport sector), security of energy supply and climate change - have combined to increase interest in bioenergy. The trend towards bioenergy has been further encouraged by technological advances in biomass conversion and significant changes in energy markets. We even have a new term, 'modern bioenergy', to cover those areas of bioenergy technology - traditional as well as emerging - that could expand the role of bioenergy. Besides its potential to be carbon-neutral if produced sustainable, modern bioenergy shows the promise of covering a considerable part of the world's energy needs, increasing the security of energy supply through the use of indigenous resources, and improving local employment and land-use. To make these promises, however, requires further R and D. This report provides a critical examination of modern bioenergy, and describes current trends in both established and emerging bioenergy technologies. As well as examining the implications for the global energy scene, the report draws national conclusions for European and Danish energy supply, industry and energy research. The report presents the status of current R and D in biomass resources, supply systems, end products and conversion methods. A number of traditional and modern bioenergy technologies are assessed to show their current status, future trends and international R and D plans. Recent studies of emerging bioenergy technologies from international organisations and leading research organisations are reviewed. (BA)

Optimizing Biomass Feedstock Logistics for Forest Residue Processing and Transportation on a Tree-Shaped Road Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hee Han

2018-03-01

Full Text Available An important task in forest residue recovery operations is to select the most cost-efficient feedstock logistics system for a given distribution of residue piles, road access, and available machinery. Notable considerations include inaccessibility of treatment units to large chip vans and frequent, long-distance mobilization of forestry equipment required to process dispersed residues. In this study, we present optimized biomass feedstock logistics on a tree-shaped road network that take into account the following options: (1 grinding residues at the site of treatment and forwarding ground residues either directly to bioenergy facility or to a concentration yard where they are transshipped to large chip vans, (2 forwarding residues to a concentration yard where they are stored and ground directly into chip vans, and (3 forwarding residues to a nearby grinder location and forwarding the ground materials. A mixed-integer programming model coupled with a network algorithm was developed to solve the problem. The model was applied to recovery operations on a study site in Colorado, USA, and the optimal solution reduced the cost of logistics up to 11% compared to the conventional system. This is an important result because this cost reduction propagates downstream through the biomass supply chain, reducing production costs for bioenergy and bioproducts.

Comparing Bioenergy Production Sites in the Southeastern US Regarding Ecosystem Service Supply and Demand

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Markus A.; Chand, Tanzila; Priess, Joerg A.

2015-01-01

Biomass for bioenergy is debated for its potential synergies or tradeoffs with other provisioning and regulating ecosystem services (ESS). This biomass may originate from different production systems and may be purposefully grown or obtained from residues. Increased concerns globally about the sustainable production of biomass for bioenergy has resulted in numerous certification schemes focusing on best management practices, mostly operating at the plot/field scale. In this study, we compare the ESS of two watersheds in the southeastern US. We show the ESS tradeoffs and synergies of plantation forestry, i.e., pine poles, and agricultural production, i.e., wheat straw and corn stover, with the counterfactual natural or semi-natural forest in both watersheds. The plantation forestry showed less distinct tradeoffs than did corn and wheat production, i.e., for carbon storage, P and sediment retention, groundwater recharge, and biodiversity. Using indicators of landscape composition and configuration, we showed that landscape planning can affect the overall ESS supply and can partly determine if locally set environmental thresholds are being met. Indicators on landscape composition, configuration and naturalness explained more than 30% of the variation in ESS supply. Landscape elements such as largely connected forest patches or more complex agricultural patches, e.g., mosaics with shrub and grassland patches, may enhance ESS supply in both of the bioenergy production systems. If tradeoffs between biomass production and other ESS are not addressed by landscape planning, it may be reasonable to include rules in certification schemes that require, e.g., the connectivity of natural or semi-natural forest patches in plantation forestry or semi-natural landscape elements in agricultural production systems. Integrating indicators on landscape configuration and composition into certification schemes is particularly relevant considering that certification schemes are governance

Comparing bioenergy production sites in the Southeastern US regarding ecosystem service supply and demand.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Markus A; Chand, Tanzila; Priess, Joerg A

2015-01-01

Biomass for bioenergy is debated for its potential synergies or tradeoffs with other provisioning and regulating ecosystem services (ESS). This biomass may originate from different production systems and may be purposefully grown or obtained from residues. Increased concerns globally about the sustainable production of biomass for bioenergy has resulted in numerous certification schemes focusing on best management practices, mostly operating at the plot/field scale. In this study, we compare the ESS of two watersheds in the southeastern US. We show the ESS tradeoffs and synergies of plantation forestry, i.e., pine poles, and agricultural production, i.e., wheat straw and corn stover, with the counterfactual natural or semi-natural forest in both watersheds. The plantation forestry showed less distinct tradeoffs than did corn and wheat production, i.e., for carbon storage, P and sediment retention, groundwater recharge, and biodiversity. Using indicators of landscape composition and configuration, we showed that landscape planning can affect the overall ESS supply and can partly determine if locally set environmental thresholds are being met. Indicators on landscape composition, configuration and naturalness explained more than 30% of the variation in ESS supply. Landscape elements such as largely connected forest patches or more complex agricultural patches, e.g., mosaics with shrub and grassland patches, may enhance ESS supply in both of the bioenergy production systems. If tradeoffs between biomass production and other ESS are not addressed by landscape planning, it may be reasonable to include rules in certification schemes that require, e.g., the connectivity of natural or semi-natural forest patches in plantation forestry or semi-natural landscape elements in agricultural production systems. Integrating indicators on landscape configuration and composition into certification schemes is particularly relevant considering that certification schemes are governance

Comparing bioenergy production sites in the Southeastern US regarding ecosystem service supply and demand.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Markus A Meyer

Full Text Available Biomass for bioenergy is debated for its potential synergies or tradeoffs with other provisioning and regulating ecosystem services (ESS. This biomass may originate from different production systems and may be purposefully grown or obtained from residues. Increased concerns globally about the sustainable production of biomass for bioenergy has resulted in numerous certification schemes focusing on best management practices, mostly operating at the plot/field scale. In this study, we compare the ESS of two watersheds in the southeastern US. We show the ESS tradeoffs and synergies of plantation forestry, i.e., pine poles, and agricultural production, i.e., wheat straw and corn stover, with the counterfactual natural or semi-natural forest in both watersheds. The plantation forestry showed less distinct tradeoffs than did corn and wheat production, i.e., for carbon storage, P and sediment retention, groundwater recharge, and biodiversity. Using indicators of landscape composition and configuration, we showed that landscape planning can affect the overall ESS supply and can partly determine if locally set environmental thresholds are being met. Indicators on landscape composition, configuration and naturalness explained more than 30% of the variation in ESS supply. Landscape elements such as largely connected forest patches or more complex agricultural patches, e.g., mosaics with shrub and grassland patches, may enhance ESS supply in both of the bioenergy production systems. If tradeoffs between biomass production and other ESS are not addressed by landscape planning, it may be reasonable to include rules in certification schemes that require, e.g., the connectivity of natural or semi-natural forest patches in plantation forestry or semi-natural landscape elements in agricultural production systems. Integrating indicators on landscape configuration and composition into certification schemes is particularly relevant considering that certification

Market development problems for sustainable bio-energy systems in Sweden. (The BIOMARK project)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Helby, Peter (ed.); Boerjesson, Paal; Hansen, Anders Christian; Roos, Anders; Rosenqvist, Haakan; Takeuchi, Linn

2003-03-01

The report consists of three case studies relating to Swedish bio-energy markets. The first is concerned with a general analysis of costs and benefits of transition to biomass-based electricity in Sweden. The analysis indicates that many price relations in Sweden do not support the transition to bio-energy. Future prospects for biomass conversion technologies versus natural gas based technologies may not be in favour of bio-energy with the existing fuel prices. Additionally, there is no effective utilisation of the large economic benefits that could be gained by coordinating the bio-energy fuel chain with the management of other material flows such as the nutrient flows in the water cycle. In government policies, the supply of biomass does not seem to receive the same attention as the conversion technologies. Potentially, this could lead to a shortage of biomass feedstock when the conversion technology part of the programmes succeeds. The second study is about market development for energy crops, specifically Salix. The analysis shows that real-life development is far behind prognoses and scenarios, confirming worries about future supplies of biomass. While Salix is associated with significant positive externalities and provides a large potential for co-benefits, the institutional setting is not favourable for the exploitation of these advantages. A particular problem is the high risk farmers face when planting Salix, as future demand is uncertain and prices difficult to predict. A better distribution of risk among the market actors, particularly between farmers and district heating companies, might be the best strategy for renewed growth in this sector. The third study is concerned with the wood pellets market, which experienced a supply crisis in the winter 2001/02, as producers were unable to satisfy demand or did so only at highly elevated prices. The analysis points to weakness in market governance, especially insufficient information flows between actors

Market development problems for sustainable bio-energy systems in Sweden. (The BIOMARK project)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Helby, Peter; Boerjesson, Paal; Hansen, Anders Christian; Roos, Anders; Rosenqvist, Haakan; Takeuchi, Linn

2003-03-01

The report consists of three case studies relating to Swedish bio-energy markets. The first is concerned with a general analysis of costs and benefits of transition to biomass-based electricity in Sweden. The analysis indicates that many price relations in Sweden do not support the transition to bio-energy. Future prospects for biomass conversion technologies versus natural gas based technologies may not be in favour of bio-energy with the existing fuel prices. Additionally, there is no effective utilisation of the large economic benefits that could be gained by coordinating the bio-energy fuel chain with the management of other material flows such as the nutrient flows in the water cycle. In government policies, the supply of biomass does not seem to receive the same attention as the conversion technologies. Potentially, this could lead to a shortage of biomass feedstock when the conversion technology part of the programmes succeeds. The second study is about market development for energy crops, specifically Salix. The analysis shows that real-life development is far behind prognoses and scenarios, confirming worries about future supplies of biomass. While Salix is associated with significant positive externalities and provides a large potential for co-benefits, the institutional setting is not favourable for the exploitation of these advantages. A particular problem is the high risk farmers face when planting Salix, as future demand is uncertain and prices difficult to predict. A better distribution of risk among the market actors, particularly between farmers and district heating companies, might be the best strategy for renewed growth in this sector. The third study is concerned with the wood pellets market, which experienced a supply crisis in the winter 2001/02, as producers were unable to satisfy demand or did so only at highly elevated prices. The analysis points to weakness in market governance, especially insufficient information flows between actors

Bioenergy

CERN Document Server

Wall, Judy; Demain, Arnold L

2008-01-01

Given the limited supply of fossil fuels and the devastating effects of ever-increasing greenhouse gases, researchers have been committed to finding alternative fuel sources. Perhaps one of the least explored areas is bioenergy from microbes. In this landmark volume, world-renowned experts explore the possible contributions of microbes to the next generation of fuels. In 31 detailed chapters, Bioenergy provides thorough explanations of the current knowledge and future areas for research on microbial energy conversions. The volume begins with 10 chapters on ethanol production from cellulosic fe

Value of Distributed Preprocessing of Biomass Feedstocks to a Bioenergy Industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Christopher T Wright

2006-07-01

Biomass preprocessing is one of the primary operations in the feedstock assembly system and the front-end of a biorefinery. Its purpose is to chop, grind, or otherwise format the biomass into a suitable feedstock for conversion to ethanol and other bioproducts. Many variables such as equipment cost and efficiency, and feedstock moisture content, particle size, bulk density, compressibility, and flowability affect the location and implementation of this unit operation. Previous conceptual designs show this operation to be located at the front-end of the biorefinery. However, data are presented that show distributed preprocessing at the field-side or in a fixed preprocessing facility can provide significant cost benefits by producing a higher value feedstock with improved handling, transporting, and merchandising potential. In addition, data supporting the preferential deconstruction of feedstock materials due to their bio-composite structure identifies the potential for significant improvements in equipment efficiencies and compositional quality upgrades. Theses data are collected from full-scale low and high capacity hammermill grinders with various screen sizes. Multiple feedstock varieties with a range of moisture values were used in the preprocessing tests. The comparative values of the different grinding configurations, feedstock varieties, and moisture levels are assessed through post-grinding analysis of the different particle fractions separated with a medium-scale forage particle separator and a Rototap separator. The results show that distributed preprocessing produces a material that has bulk flowable properties and fractionation benefits that can improve the ease of transporting, handling and conveying the material to the biorefinery and improve the biochemical and thermochemical conversion processes.

Bioenergy: how much can we expect for 2050?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haberl, Helmut; Erb, Karl-Heinz; Krausmann, Fridolin; Running, Steve; Kolby Smith, W; Searchinger, Timothy D

2013-01-01

Estimates of global primary bioenergy potentials in the literature span almost three orders of magnitude. We narrow that range by discussing biophysical constraints on bioenergy potentials resulting from plant growth (NPP) and its current human use. In the last 30 years, terrestrial NPP was almost constant near 54 PgC yr −1 , despite massive efforts to increase yields in agriculture and forestry. The global human appropriation of terrestrial plant production has doubled in the last century. We estimate the maximum physical potential of the world’s total land area outside croplands, infrastructure, wilderness and denser forests to deliver bioenergy at approximately 190 EJ yr −1 . These pasture lands, sparser woodlands, savannas and tundras are already used heavily for grazing and store abundant carbon; they would have to be entirely converted to bioenergy and intensive forage production to provide that amount of energy. Such a high level of bioenergy supply would roughly double the global human biomass harvest, with far-reaching effects on biodiversity, ecosystems and food supply. Identifying sustainable levels of bioenergy and finding ways to integrate bioenergy with food supply and ecological conservation goals remains a huge and pressing scientific challenge. (perspective)

Uncertainties in Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Advanced Biomass Feedstock Logistics Supply Chains in Kansas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Long Nguyen

2014-11-01

Full Text Available To meet Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA cellulosic biofuel mandates, the United States will require an annual domestic supply of about 242 million Mg of biomass by 2022. To improve the feedstock logistics of lignocellulosic biofuels in order to access available biomass resources from areas with varying yields, commodity systems have been proposed and designed to deliver quality-controlled biomass feedstocks at preprocessing “depots”. Preprocessing depots densify and stabilize the biomass prior to long-distance transport and delivery to centralized biorefineries. The logistics of biomass commodity supply chains could introduce spatially variable environmental impacts into the biofuel life cycle due to needing to harvest, move, and preprocess biomass from multiple distances that have variable spatial density. This study examines the uncertainty in greenhouse gas (GHG emissions of corn stover logistics within a bio-ethanol supply chain in the state of Kansas, where sustainable biomass supply varies spatially. Two scenarios were evaluated each having a different number of depots of varying capacity and location within Kansas relative to a central commodity-receiving biorefinery to test GHG emissions uncertainty. The first scenario sited four preprocessing depots evenly across the state of Kansas but within the vicinity of counties having high biomass supply density. The second scenario located five depots based on the shortest depot-to-biorefinery rail distance and biomass availability. The logistics supply chain consists of corn stover harvest, collection and storage, feedstock transport from field to biomass preprocessing depot, preprocessing depot operations, and commodity transport from the biomass preprocessing depot to the biorefinery. Monte Carlo simulation was used to estimate the spatial uncertainty in the feedstock logistics gate-to-gate sequence. Within the logistics supply chain GHG emissions are most sensitive to the

Perennial Grass Bioenergy Cropping on Wet Marginal Land

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Das, Srabani; Teuffer, Karin; Stoof, Cathelijne R.; Walter, Michael F.; Walter, M.T.; Steenhuis, Tammo S.; Richards, Brian K.

2018-01-01

The control of soil moisture, vegetation type, and prior land use on soil health parameters of perennial grass cropping systems on marginal lands is not well known. A fallow wetness-prone marginal site in New York (USA) was converted to perennial grass bioenergy feedstock production. Quadruplicate

Bioenergy yield from cultivated land in Denmark - competition between food, bioenergy and fossil fuels under physical and environmental constraints

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Callesen, I.; OEstergaard, H. (Technical Univ. of Denmark, Risoe National Lab. for Sustainable Energy. Biosystems Div., Roskilde (Denmark)); Grohnheit, P.E. (Technical Univ. of Denmark, Risoe National Lab. for Sustainable Energy. Systems Analysis Div., Roskilde (Denmark))

2011-07-15

Globally, bioenergy is emphasized as an important contributor to reach strategic goals of energy security. The commodity markets for energy, bioenergy and food are interdependent and interacting through the energy dependency of agriculture, an increasing demand for both food and energy, and the option to replace fossil energy resources with bioenergy resources. A model for supply of biomass for bioenergy in Denmark was developed using linear programming. The model includes biomass supply from annual crops on arable land, short rotation forestry (willow) and plantation forestry, and minimizes production costs of an energy mix consisting of bioenergy and fossil diesel oil. Here, we analyze the possibilities of substituting domestic bioenergy for fossil energy under the constraint of a given food supply and environmental constraints on land use. Crop area distributions of a total area of 3200 kha were simulated in two sets of scenarios, each examining a range of fossil oil prices. Both scenarios were based on cost and production data of the year 2005. Scenario (a) required a total food and feed energy yield similar to that produced in the year 2005; scenario (b) addressed high prioritization of dedicated bioenergy crops. This was secured by relaxing the food and feed supply to 50% of the 2005 production level. Further, a maximum limit of 25% cultivation area with willow in short rotation was set, and the area reserved for permanent grassland was set to 275 kha (+100 kha compared to 2005). The trade-based animal husbandry sector was excluded from the analysis and the forest area was fixed to 600 kha. The crop area distributions were affected by fossil oil prices varying from oil index 25 to 200. Oil index 100approx9.4 Euro GJ-1 corresponded with a crude oil price of 55$ per barrel in 2005. The woody biofuels, especially high-yielding willow in short rotation, were competitive with fossil oil from around oil index 40 and occupied the maximum allowed area in all crop

Spatio-temporal availability of field crop residues for biofuel production in Northwest and Southwest China

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Han, L.; Wang, X.; Spiertz, J.H.J.; Yang, L.; Zhou, Y.; Liu, J.; Xie, G.

2015-01-01

Developing bioenergy from plant feedstocks is considered an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and secure biofuel supply. This study is an assessment of the availability of field crop residues for bioenergy feedstocks in northwest China (NWC) and southwest China (SWC). The amount of

[Reflection on developing bio-energy industry of large oil company].

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Haiyang; Su, Haijia; Tan, Tianwei; Liu, Shumin; Wang, Hui

2013-03-01

China's energy supply becomes more serious nowadays and the development of bio-energy becomes a major trend. Large oil companies have superb technology, rich experience and outstanding talent, as well as better sales channels for energy products, which can make full use of their own advantages to achieve the efficient complementary of exist energy and bio-energy. Therefore, large oil companies have the advantages of developing bio-energy. Bio-energy development in China is in the initial stage. There exist some problems such as available land, raw material supply, conversion technologies and policy guarantee, which restrict bio-energy from industrialized development. According to the above key issues, this article proposes suggestions and methods, such as planting energy plant in the marginal barren land to guarantee the supply of bio-energy raw materials, cultivation of professional personnel, building market for bio-energy counting on large oil companies' rich experience and market resources about oil industry, etc, aimed to speed up the industrialized process of bio-energy development in China.

Potential land competition between open-pond microalgae production and terrestrial dedicated feedstock supply systems in the U.S.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Langholtz, Matthew H.; Coleman, Andre M.; Eaton, Laurence M.; Wigmosta, Mark S.; Hellwinckel, Chad M.; Brandt, Craig C.

2016-08-01

Biofuels produced from both terrestrial and algal biomass feedstocks can contribute to energy security while providing economic, environmental, and social benefits. To assess the potential for land competition between these two feedstock types in the United States, we evaluate a scenario in which 41.5 x 109 L yr-1 of second-generation biofuels are produced on pastureland, the most likely land base where both feedstock types may be deployed. This total includes 12.0 x 109 L yr-1 of biofuels from open-pond microalgae production and 29.5 x 109 L yr-1 of biofuels from terrestrial dedicated feedstock supply systems. Under these scenarios, open-pond microalgae production is projected to use 1.2 million ha of private pastureland, while terrestrial dedicated feedstock supply systems would use 14.0 million ha of private pastureland. A spatial meta-analysis indicates that potential competition for land under these scenarios would be concentrated in 110 counties, containing 1.0 and 1.7 million hectares of algal and terrestrial dedicated feedstock production, respectively. A land competition index applied to these 110 counties suggests that 38 to 59 counties could experience competition for upwards of 40% of a county’s pastureland. However, this combined 2.7 million ha represents only 2%-5% of total pastureland in the U.S., with the remaining 12.5 million ha of algal or terrestrial dedicated feedstock production on pastureland in non-competing areas.

Biomass traits and candidate genes for bioenergy revealed through association genetics in coppiced European Populus nigra (L.)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Allwright, Mike Robert; Payne, Adrienne; Emiliani, Giovanni; Milner, Suzanne; Viger, Maud; Rouse, Franchesca; Keurentjes, Joost J.B.; Bérard, Aurélie; Wildhagen, Henning; Faivre-Rampant, Patricia; Polle, Andrea; Morgante, Michele; Taylor, Gail

2016-01-01

Background: Second generation (2G) bioenergy from lignocellulosic feedstocks has the potential to develop as a sustainable source of renewable energy; however, significant hurdles still remain for large-scale commercialisation. Populus is considered as a promising 2G feedstock and understanding

Biomass for bioenergy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bentsen, Niclas Scott

Across the range of renewable energy resources, bioenergy is probably the most complex, as using biomass to support energy services ties into a number of fields; climate change, food production, rural development, biodiversity and environmental protection. Biomass offer several options...... for displacing fossil resources and is perceived as one of the main pillars of a future low-carbon or no-carbon energy supply. However, biomass, renewable as it is, is for any relevant, time horizon to be considered a finite resource as it replenishes at a finite rate. Conscientious stewardship of this finite...... the undesirable impacts of bioenergy done wrong. However, doing bioenergy right is a significant challenge due to the ties into other fields of society. Fundamentally plant biomass is temporary storage of solar radiation energy and chemically bound energy from nutrients. Bioenergy is a tool to harness solar...

The biophysical link between climate, water, and vegetation in bioenergy agro-ecosystems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bagley, Justin E.; Davis, Sarah C.; Georgescu, Matei; Hussain, Mir Zaman; Miller, Jesse; Nesbitt, Stephen W.; VanLoocke, Andy; Bernacchi, Carl J.

2014-01-01

Land use change for bioenergy feedstocks is likely to intensify as energy demand rises simultaneously with increased pressure to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Initial assessments of the impact of adopting bioenergy crops as a significant energy source have largely focused on the potential for bioenergy agroecosystems to provide global-scale climate regulating ecosystem services via biogeochemical processes. Such as those processes associated with carbon uptake, conversion, and storage that have the potential to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). However, the expansion of bioenergy crops can also lead to direct biophysical impacts on climate through water regulating services. Perturbations of processes influencing terrestrial energy fluxes can result in impacts on climate and water across a spectrum of spatial and temporal scales. Here, we review the current state of knowledge about biophysical feedbacks between vegetation, water, and climate that would be affected by bioenergy-related land use change. The physical mechanisms involved in biophysical feedbacks are detailed, and interactions at leaf, field, regional, and global spatial scales are described. Locally, impacts on climate of biophysical changes associated with land use change for bioenergy crops can meet or exceed the biogeochemical changes in climate associated with rising GHG's, but these impacts have received far less attention. Realization of the importance of ecosystems in providing services that extend beyond biogeochemical GHG regulation and harvestable yields has led to significant debate regarding the viability of various feedstocks in many locations. The lack of data, and in some cases gaps in knowledge associated with biophysical and biochemical influences on land–atmosphere interactions, can lead to premature policy decisions. - Highlights: • The physical basis for biophysical impacts of expanding bioenergy agroecosystems on climate and water is described. • We

Biofuel Feedstock Assessment for Selected Countries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kline, K.L.; Oladosu, G.A.; Wolfe, A.K.; Perlack, R.D.; Dale, V.H.

2008-02-18

Findings from biofuel feedstock production assessments and projections of future supply are presented and discussed. The report aims to improve capabilities to assess the degree to which imported biofuel could contribute to meeting future U.S. targets to reduce dependence on imported oil. The study scope was focused to meet time and resource requirements. A screening process identified Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, India, Mexico, and the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) region for initial analysis, given their likely role in future feedstock supply relevant to U.S. markets. Supply curves for selected feedstocks in these countries are projected for 2012, 2017 and 2027. The supply functions, along with calculations to reflect estimated supplies available for export and/or biofuel production, were provided to DOE for use in a broader energy market allocation study. Potential cellulosic supplies from crop and forestry residues and perennials were also estimated for 2017 and 2027. The analysis identified capacity to potentially double or triple feedstock production by 2017 in some cases. A majority of supply growth is derived from increasing the area cultivated (especially sugarcane in Brazil). This is supplemented by improving yields and farming practices. Most future supplies of corn and wheat are projected to be allocated to food and feed. Larger shares of future supplies of sugarcane, soybean and palm oil production will be available for export or biofuel. National policies are catalyzing investments in biofuel industries to meet targets for fuel blending that generally fall in the 5-10% range. Social and environmental concerns associated with rapid expansion of feedstock production are considered. If the 2017 projected feedstock supply calculated as ‘available’ for export or biofuel were converted to fuel, it would represent the equivalent of about 38 billion gallons of gasoline. Sugarcane and bagasse dominate the available supply, representing 64

Biofuel Feedstock Assessment For Selected Countries

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kline, Keith L [ORNL; Oladosu, Gbadebo A [ORNL; Wolfe, Amy K [ORNL; Perlack, Robert D [ORNL; Dale, Virginia H [ORNL

2008-02-01

Findings from biofuel feedstock production assessments and projections of future supply are presented and discussed. The report aims to improve capabilities to assess the degree to which imported biofuel could contribute to meeting future U.S. targets to reduce dependence on imported oil. The study scope was focused to meet time and resource requirements. A screening process identified Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, India, Mexico, and the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) region for initial analysis, given their likely role in future feedstock supply relevant to U.S. markets. Supply curves for selected feedstocks in these countries are projected for 2012, 2017 and 2027. The supply functions, along with calculations to reflect estimated supplies available for export and/or biofuel production, were provided to DOE for use in a broader energy market allocation study. Potential cellulosic supplies from crop and forestry residues and perennials were also estimated for 2017 and 2027. The analysis identified capacity to potentially double or triple feedstock production by 2017 in some cases. A majority of supply growth is derived from increasing the area cultivated (especially sugarcane in Brazil). This is supplemented by improving yields and farming practices. Most future supplies of corn and wheat are projected to be allocated to food and feed. Larger shares of future supplies of sugarcane, soybean and palm oil production will be available for export or biofuel. National policies are catalyzing investments in biofuel industries to meet targets for fuel blending that generally fall in the 5-10% range. Social and environmental concerns associated with rapid expansion of feedstock production are considered. If the 2017 projected feedstock supply calculated as 'available' for export or biofuel were converted to fuel, it would represent the equivalent of about 38 billion gallons of gasoline. Sugarcane and bagasse dominate the available supply

IEA Bioenergy Countries' Report: Bioenergy policies and status of implementation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bacovsky, Dina [Bioenergy 2020+ GmbH, Graz (Austria); Ludwiczek, Nikolaus [Bioenergy 2020+ GmbH, Graz (Austria); Pointner, Christian [Bioenergy 2020+ GmbH, Graz (Austria); Verma, Vijay Kumar [Bioenergy 2020+ GmbH, Graz (Austria)

2016-08-05

This report was prepared from IEA statistical data, information from IRENA, and IEA Bioenergy Tasks’ country reports, combined with data provided by the IEA Bioenergy Executive Committee. All individual country reports were reviewed by the national delegates to the IEA Bioenergy Executive Committee, who have approved the content. In the first section of each country report, national renewable energy targets are presented (first table in each country report), and the main pieces of national legislation are discussed. In the second section of each country report the total primary energy supply (TPES) by resources and the contribution of bioenergy are presented. All data is taken from IEA statistics for the year 2014. Where 2014 data was not available, 2013 data was used. It is worth noting that data reported in national statistics can differ from the IEA data presented, as the reporting categories and definitions are different. In the third section of each country report, the research focus related to bioenergy is discussed. Relevant funding programs, major research institutes and projects are described. In the fourth section, recent major bioenergy developments are described. Finally, in the fifth section, links to sources of information are provided.

Nutrient fertilizer requirements for sustainable biomass supply to meet U.S. bioenergy goal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Han, Fengxiang X.; King, Roger L.; Lindner, Jeffrey S.; Monts, David L.; Su, Yi; Luthe, John C. [Institute for Clean Energy Technology, Mississippi State University, 205 Research Blvd., Starkville, MS 39759 (United States); Yu, Tzu-Yi [Department of Information Management, National Chi-Nan University, 470 University Rd., Puli, Nantou, 54561 Taiwan (China); Durbha, Surya S.; Younan, Nicolas H. [GeoResources Institute, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 39759 (United States); Plodinec, M. John [Savannah River National Laboratory, Bldg 773-A, Aiken, SC 29808 (United States)

2011-01-15

The U.S. Biomass Roadmap set forth a goal that, by the year 2030, biomass will supply energy approximately equivalent to 30% of current petroleum consumption. Here we report on the amount of nutrient fertilizers required to meet the proposed 1-billion tons of sustainable bioenergy biomass production annually. To meet this goal, U.S. agriculture (assuming a scenario with high yield increase and land use change) will have net removals of 40.3, 12.7, and 36.2 Tg (million tons) of N, P{sub 2}O{sub 5}, and K{sub 2}O, respectively. The 1-billion tons of bioenergy biomass production alone will remove 16.9, 5.2, and 18.2 Tg of N, P{sub 2}O{sub 5,} and K{sub 2}O, respectively, from U.S. agricultural land. Considering the efficiencies of fertilizers in soils and the contribution of biomass residuals in fields, the overall bioenergy-focused agriculture would require 58.2, 27.3, and 31.7 Tg of N, P{sub 2}O{sub 5,} and K{sub 2}O fertilizers, respectively; this corresponds to an overall nutrient fertilizer application increase by a factor of 5.5 over the base line (1997). This study indicates an increased need for domestic and/or international production facilities for fertilizers if the goal of the Biomass Roadmap is to be attained. (author)

Environmental life cycle assessment of producing willow, alfalfa and straw from spring barley as feedstocks for bioenergy or biorefinery systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Parajuli, Ranjan; Knudsen, Marie Trydeman; Djomo, Sylvestre Njakou

2017-01-01

The current study aimed at evaluating potential environmental impacts for the production of willow, alfalfa and straw from spring barley as feedstocks for bioenergy or biorefinery systems. A method of Life Cycle Assessment was used to evaluate based on the following impact categories: Global...... and land occupation. Environmental impacts for straw were economically allocated from the impacts obtained for spring barley. The results obtained per ton dry matter showed a lower carbon footprint for willow and alfalfa compared to straw. It was due to higher soil carbon sequestration and lower N2O...... emissions. Likewise, willow and alfalfa had lower EP than straw. Straw had lowest NRE use compared to other biomasses. PFWTox was lower in willow and alfalfa compared to straw. A critical negative effect on soil quality was found with the spring barley production and hence for straw. Based on the energy...

Design of a biomass-to-biorefinery logistics system through bio-inspired metaheuristic optimization considering multiple types of feedstocks

Science.gov (United States)

Trueba, Isidoro

Bioenergy has become an important alternative source of energy to alleviate the reliance on petroleum energy. Bioenergy offers significant potential to mitigate climate change by reducing life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions relative to fossil fuels. The Energy Independence and Security Act mandate the use of 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels including 16 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuels by the year 2022. It is clear that Biomass can make a substantial contribution to supplying future energy demand in a sustainable way. However, the supply of sustainable energy is one of the main challenges that mankind will face over the coming decades. For instance, many logistical challenges will be faced in order to provide an efficient and reliable supply of quality feedstock to biorefineries. 700 million tons of biomass will be required to be sustainably delivered to biorefineries annually to meet the projected use of biofuels by the year of 2022. This thesis is motivated by the urgent need of advancing knowledge and understanding of the highly complex biofuel supply chain. While corn ethanol production has increased fast enough to keep up with the energy mandates, production of biofuels from different types of feedstocks has also been incremented. A number of pilot and demonstration scale advanced biofuel facilities have been set up, but commercial scale facilities are yet to become operational. Scaling up this new biofuel sector poses significant economic and logistical challenges for regional planners and biofuel entrepreneurs in terms of feedstock supply assurance, supply chain development, biorefinery establishment, and setting up transport, storage and distribution infrastructure. The literature also shows that the larger cost in the production of biomass to ethanol originates from the logistics operation therefore it is essential that an optimal logistics system is designed in order to keep low the costs of producing ethanol and make possible the shift from

Wood pellets, what else? Greenhouse gas parity times of European electricity from wood pellets produced in the south-eastern United States using different softwood feedstocks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hanssen, Steef V. [Radboud Univ., Nijmegen (Netherlands). Dept. of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science; Utrecht Univ., Utrecht (The Netherlands). Copernicus Inst. of Sustainable Development, Faculty of Geosciences; Duden, Anna S. [Utrecht Univ., Utrecht (The Netherlands). Copernicus Inst. of Sustainable Development, Faculty of Geosciences; Junginger, Martin [Utrecht Univ., Utrecht (The Netherlands). Copernicus Inst. of Sustainable Development, Faculty of Geosciences; Dale, Virginia H. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Environmental Sciences Division, Center for BioEnergy Sustainability; van der Hilst, Floor [Utrecht Univ., Utrecht (The Netherlands). Copernicus Inst. of Sustainable Development, Faculty of Geosciences

2016-12-29

Several EU countries import wood pellets from the south-eastern United States. The imported wood pellets are (co-)fired in power plants with the aim of reducing overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electricity and meeting EU renewable energy targets. To assess whether GHG emissions are reduced and on what timescale, we construct the GHG balance of wood-pellet electricity. This GHG balance consists of supply chain and combustion GHG emissions, carbon sequestration during biomass growth, and avoided GHG emissions through replacing fossil electricity. We investigate wood pellets from four softwood feedstock types: small roundwood, commercial thinnings, harvest residues, and mill residues. Per feedstock, the GHG balance of wood-pellet electricity is compared against those of alternative scenarios. Alternative scenarios are combinations of alternative fates of the feedstock material, such as in-forest decomposition, or the production of paper or wood panels like oriented strand board (OSB). Alternative scenario composition depends on feedstock type and local demand for this feedstock. Results indicate that the GHG balance of wood-pellet electricity equals that of alternative scenarios within 0 to 21 years (the GHG parity time), after which wood-pellet electricity has sustained climate benefits. Parity times increase by a maximum of twelve years when varying key variables (emissions associated with paper and panels, soil carbon increase via feedstock decomposition, wood-pellet electricity supply chain emissions) within maximum plausible ranges. Using commercial thinnings, harvest residues or mill residues as feedstock leads to the shortest GHG parity times (0-6 years) and fastest GHG benefits from wood-pellet electricity. Here, we find shorter GHG parity times than previous studies, for we use a novel approach that differentiates feedstocks and considers alternative scenarios based on (combinations of) alternative feedstock fates, rather than on alternative land

Next steps in determining the overall sustainability of perennial bioenergy crops

Science.gov (United States)

Perennial bioenergy crops are being developed and evaluated in the United States to partially offset petroleum transport fuels. Accurate accounting of upstream and downstream greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is necessary to measure the overall carbon intensity of new biofuel feedstocks. For example, c...

Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasability of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Perlack, R.D.

2005-12-15

whether the land resources of the United States are capable of producing a sustainable supply of biomass sufficient to displace 30 percent or more of the country's present petroleum consumption--the goal set by the Advisory Committee in their vision for biomass technologies. Accomplishing this goal would require approximately 1 billion dry tons of biomass feedstock per year.

Bioenergy production on degraded and marginal land

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wicke, B.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/306645955

2011-01-01

Current global energy supply is primarily based on fossil fuels and is widely considered to be unsustainable. Bioenergy is considered an important option in making future global energy more sustainable. However, increasing global trade and consumption of bioenergy in industrialised countries has

Modeling Woody Biomass Procurement for Bioenergy Production at the Atikokan Generating Station in Northwestern Ontario, Canada

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thakur Upadhyay

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Efficient procurement and utilization of woody biomass for bioenergy production requires a good understanding of biomass supply chains. In this paper, a dynamic optimization model has been developed and applied to estimate monthly supply and procurement costs of woody biomass required for the Atikokan Generating Station (AGS in northwestern Ontario, based on its monthly electricity production schedule. The decision variables in the model are monthly harvest levels of two types of woody biomass, forest harvest residues and unutilized biomass, from 19,315 forest depletion cells (each 1 km2 for a one year planning horizon. Sixteen scenarios are tested to examine the sensitivity of the cost minimization model to changing economic and technological parameters. Reduction in moisture content and improvement of conversion efficiency showed relatively higher reductions in monthly and total costs of woody biomass feedstock for the AGS. The results of this study help in understanding and designing decision support systems for optimal biomass supply chains under dynamic operational frameworks.

Incorporating social benefits in multi-objective optimization of forest-based bioenergy and biofuel supply chains

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cambero, Claudia; Sowlati, Taraneh

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Quantified social benefits of forest- based biomass supply chain. • Developed multi-objective optimization model. • Incorporated social benefits into multi-objective model. • Solved the model using the AUGMECON method. • Applied the model to a case study in Canada. - Abstract: Utilization of forest and wood residues to produce bioenergy and biofuels could generate additional revenue streams for forestry companies, reduce their environmental impacts and generate new development opportunities for forest-dependent communities. Further development of forest-based biorefineries entails addressing complexities and challenges related to biomass procurement, logistics, technologies, and sustainability. Numerous optimization models have been proposed for the economic and environmental design of biomass-to-bioenergy or biofuel supply chains. A few of them also maximized the job creation potential of the supply chain through the use of employment multipliers. The use of a total job creation indicator as the social optimization objective implies that all new jobs generate the same level of social benefit. In this paper, we quantify the potential social benefit of new forest-based biorefinery supply chains considering different impacts of new jobs based on their type and location. This social benefit is incorporated into a multi-objective mixed integer linear programming model that maximizes the social benefit, net present value and greenhouse gas emission saving potential of a forest-based biorefinery supply chain. The applicability of the model is illustrated through a case study in the interior region of British Columbia, Canada where different utilization paths for available forest and wood residues are investigated. The multi-objective optimization model is solved using a Pareto-generating method. The analysis of the generated set of Pareto-optimal solutions show a trade-off between the net present value of the supply chain and the other two

Synergistic microbial consortium for bioenergy generation from complex natural energy sources.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Victor Bochuan; Yam, Joey Kuok Hoong; Chua, Song-Lin; Zhang, Qichun; Cao, Bin; Chye, Joachim Loo Say; Yang, Liang

2014-01-01

Microbial species have evolved diverse mechanisms for utilization of complex carbon sources. Proper combination of targeted species can affect bioenergy production from natural waste products. Here, we established a stable microbial consortium with Escherichia coli and Shewanella oneidensis in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to produce bioenergy from an abundant natural energy source, in the form of the sarcocarp harvested from coconuts. This component is mostly discarded as waste. However, through its usage as a feedstock for MFCs to produce useful energy in this study, the sarcocarp can be utilized meaningfully. The monospecies S. oneidensis system was able to generate bioenergy in a short experimental time frame while the monospecies E. coli system generated significantly less bioenergy. A combination of E. coli and S. oneidensis in the ratio of 1:9 (v:v) significantly enhanced the experimental time frame and magnitude of bioenergy generation. The synergistic effect is suggested to arise from E. coli and S. oneidensis utilizing different nutrients as electron donors and effect of flavins secreted by S. oneidensis. Confocal images confirmed the presence of biofilms and point towards their importance in generating bioenergy in MFCs.

Utilization of summer legumes as bioenergy feedstocks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cantrell, Keri B.; Bauer, Philip J.; Ro, Kyoung S. [United States Department of Agriculture, ARS, Coastal Plains Soil, Water, and Plant Research Center, 2611 W. Lucas St. Florence, SC 29501 (United States)

2010-12-15

Sunn hemp (Crotolaria juncea), is a fast growing, high biomass yielding tropical legume that may be a possible southeastern bioenergy crop. When comparing this legume to a commonly grown summer legume - cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata), sunn hemp was superior in biomass yield (kg ha{sup -1}) and subsequent energy yield (GJ ha{sup -1}). In one year of the study after 12 weeks of growth, sunn hemp had 10.7 Mg ha{sup -1} of biomass with an energy content of 19.0 Mg ha{sup -1}. This resulted in an energy yield of 204 GJ ha{sup -1}. The energy content was 6% greater than that of cowpeas. Eventhough sunn hemp had a greater amount of ash, plant mineral concentrations were lower in some cases of minerals (K, Ca, Mg, S) known to reduce thermochemical conversion process efficiency. Pyrolytic degradation of both legumes revealed that sunn hemp began to degrade at higher temperatures as well as release greater amounts of volatile matter at a faster rate. (author)

Bioenergy and African transformation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lynd, Lee R; Sow, Mariam; Chimphango, Annie Fa; Cortez, Luis Ab; Brito Cruz, Carlos H; Elmissiry, Mosad; Laser, Mark; Mayaki, Ibrahim A; Moraes, Marcia Afd; Nogueira, Luiz Ah; Wolfaardt, Gideon M; Woods, Jeremy; van Zyl, Willem H

2015-01-01

Among the world's continents, Africa has the highest incidence of food insecurity and poverty and the highest rates of population growth. Yet Africa also has the most arable land, the lowest crop yields, and by far the most plentiful land resources relative to energy demand. It is thus of interest to examine the potential of expanded modern bioenergy production in Africa. Here we consider bioenergy as an enabler for development, and provide an overview of modern bioenergy technologies with a comment on application in an Africa context. Experience with bioenergy in Africa offers evidence of social benefits and also some important lessons. In Brazil, social development, agricultural development and food security, and bioenergy development have been synergistic rather than antagonistic. Realizing similar success in African countries will require clear vision, good governance, and adaptation of technologies, knowledge, and business models to myriad local circumstances. Strategies for integrated production of food crops, livestock, and bioenergy are potentially attractive and offer an alternative to an agricultural model featuring specialized land use. If done thoughtfully, there is considerable evidence that food security and economic development in Africa can be addressed more effectively with modern bioenergy than without it. Modern bioenergy can be an agent of African transformation, with potential social benefits accruing to multiple sectors and extending well beyond energy supply per se. Potential negative impacts also cut across sectors. Thus, institutionally inclusive multi-sector legislative structures will be more effective at maximizing the social benefits of bioenergy compared to institutionally exclusive, single-sector structures.

Global Simulation of Bioenergy Crop Productivity: Analytical Framework and Case Study for Switchgrass

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kang, Shujiang [ORNL; Kline, Keith L [ORNL; Nair, S. Surendran [University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK); Nichols, Dr Jeff A [ORNL; Post, Wilfred M [ORNL; Brandt, Craig C [ORNL; Wullschleger, Stan D [ORNL; Wei, Yaxing [ORNL; Singh, Nagendra [ORNL

2013-01-01

A global energy crop productivity model that provides geospatially explicit quantitative details on biomass potential and factors affecting sustainability would be useful, but does not exist now. This study describes a modeling platform capable of meeting many challenges associated with global-scale agro-ecosystem modeling. We designed an analytical framework for bioenergy crops consisting of six major components: (i) standardized natural resources datasets, (ii) global field-trial data and crop management practices, (iii) simulation units and management scenarios, (iv) model calibration and validation, (v) high-performance computing (HPC) simulation, and (vi) simulation output processing and analysis. The HPC-Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (HPC-EPIC) model simulated a perennial bioenergy crop, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), estimating feedstock production potentials and effects across the globe. This modeling platform can assess soil C sequestration, net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, nonpoint source pollution (e.g., nutrient and pesticide loss), and energy exchange with the atmosphere. It can be expanded to include additional bioenergy crops (e.g., miscanthus, energy cane, and agave) and food crops under different management scenarios. The platform and switchgrass field-trial dataset are available to support global analysis of biomass feedstock production potential and corresponding metrics of sustainability.

A framework for the analysis of the security of supply of utilising carbon dioxide as a chemical feedstock.

Science.gov (United States)

Fraga, Eric S; Ng, Melvin

2015-01-01

Recent developments in catalysts have enhanced the potential for the utilisation of carbon dioxide as a chemical feedstock. Using the appropriate energy efficient catalyst enables a range of chemical pathways leading to desirable products. In doing so, CO2 provides an economically and environmentally beneficial source of C1 feedstock, while improving the issues relating to security of supply that are associated with fossil-based feedstocks. However, the dependence on catalysts brings other supply chains into consideration, supply chains that may also have security of supply issues. The choice of chemical pathways for specific products will therefore entail an assessment not only of economic factors but also the security of supply issues for the catalysts. This is a multi-criteria decision making problem. In this paper, we present a modified 4A framework based on the framework suggested by the Asian Pacific Energy Research centre for macro-economic applications. The 4A methodology is named after the criteria used to compare alternatives: availability, acceptability, applicability and affordability. We have adapted this framework for the consideration of alternative chemical reaction processes using a micro-economic outlook. Data from a number of sources were collected and used to quantify each of the 4A criteria. A graphical representation of the assessments is used to support the decision maker in comparing alternatives. The framework not only allows for the comparison of processes but also highlights current limitations in the CCU processes. The framework presented can be used by a variety of stakeholders, including regulators, investors, and process industries, with the aim of identifying promising routes within a broader multi-criteria decision making process.

Bird communities and biomass yields in potential bioenergy grasslands.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter J Blank

Full Text Available Demand for bioenergy is increasing, but the ecological consequences of bioenergy crop production on working lands remain unresolved. Corn is currently a dominant bioenergy crop, but perennial grasslands could produce renewable bioenergy resources and enhance biodiversity. Grassland bird populations have declined in recent decades and may particularly benefit from perennial grasslands grown for bioenergy. We asked how breeding bird community assemblages, vegetation characteristics, and biomass yields varied among three types of potential bioenergy grassland fields (grass monocultures, grass-dominated fields, and forb-dominated fields, and assessed tradeoffs between grassland biomass production and bird habitat. We also compared the bird communities in grassland fields to nearby cornfields. Cornfields had few birds compared to perennial grassland fields. Ten bird Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN were observed in perennial grassland fields. Bird species richness and total bird density increased with forb cover and were greater in forb-dominated fields than grass monocultures. SGCN density declined with increasing vertical vegetation density, indicating that tall, dense grassland fields managed for maximum biomass yield would be of lesser value to imperiled grassland bird species. The proportion of grassland habitat within 1 km of study sites was positively associated with bird species richness and the density of total birds and SGCNs, suggesting that grassland bioenergy fields may be more beneficial for grassland birds if they are established near other grassland parcels. Predicted total bird density peaked below maximum biomass yields and predicted SGCN density was negatively related to biomass yields. Our results indicate that perennial grassland fields could produce bioenergy feedstocks while providing bird habitat. Bioenergy grasslands promote agricultural multifunctionality and conservation of biodiversity in working landscapes.

A stochastic programming approach towards optimization of biofuel supply chain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Azadeh, Ali; Vafa Arani, Hamed; Dashti, Hossein

2014-01-01

Bioenergy has been recognized as an important source of energy that will reduce dependency on petroleum. It would have a positive impact on the economy, environment, and society. Production of bioenergy is expected to increase. As a result, we foresee an increase in the number of biorefineries in the near future. This paper analyzes challenges with supplying biomass to a biorefinery and shipping biofuel to demand centers. A stochastic linear programming model is proposed within a multi-period planning framework to maximize the expected profit. The model deals with a time-staged, multi-commodity, production/distribution system, facility locations and capacities, technologies, and material flows. We illustrate the model outputs and discuss the results through numerical examples considering disruptions in biofuel supply chain. Finally, sensitivity analyses are performed to gain managerial insights on how profit changes due to existing uncertainties. - Highlights: • A robust model of biofuel SC is proposed and a sensitivity analysis implemented. • Demand of products is a function of price and GBM (Geometric Brownian Motion) is used for prices of biofuels. • Uncertainties in SC network are captured through defining probabilistic scenarios. • Both traditional feedstock and lignocellulosic biomass are considered for biofuel production. • Developed model is applicable to any related biofuel supply chain regardless of region

Farm-level feasibility of bioenergy depends on variations across multiple sectors

Science.gov (United States)

Myhre, Mitchell; Barford, Carol

2013-03-01

The potential supply of bioenergy from farm-grown biomass is uncertain due to several poorly understood or volatile factors, including land availability, yield variability, and energy prices. Although biomass production for liquid fuel has received more attention, here we present a case study of biomass production for renewable heat and power in the state of Wisconsin (US), where heating constitutes at least 30% of total energy demand. Using three bioenergy systems (50 kW, 8.8 MW and 50 MW) and Wisconsin farm-level data, we determined the net farm income effect of producing switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) as a feedstock, either for on-farm use (50 kW system) or for sale to an off-farm energy system operator (8.8 and 50 MW systems). In southern counties, where switchgrass yields approach 10 Mg ha-1 yr-1, the main determinants of economic feasibility were the available land area per farm, the ability to utilize bioheat, and opportunity cost assumptions. Switchgrass yield temporal variability was less important. For the state median farm size and switchgrass yield, at least 25% (50 kW system) or 50% (8.8 MW system) bioheat utilization was required to economically offset propane or natural gas heat, respectively, and purchased electricity. Offsetting electricity only (50 MW system) did not generate enough revenue to meet switchgrass production expenses. Although the opportunity cost of small-scale (50 kW) on-farm bioenergy generation was higher, it also held greater opportunity for increasing farm net income, especially by replacing propane-based heat.

Impacts of managing perennial grasses in the northern Midwest United States for bioenergy on soil organic C and nitrous oxide emission

Science.gov (United States)

In the USA perennial grasses [e.g., switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and big bluestem (Andropogon gerdardii Vitman)] are proposed as cellulosic feedstock. Perennial grasses are often touted as being low input and as having a C-neutral foot print, but managing them as bioenergy feedstock means addin...

Technology Roadmaps: Bioenergy for Heat and Power

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-07-01

The Technology Roadmap Bioenergy for Heat and Power highlights the importance of bioenergy in providing heat in the buildings sector and in industry, and shows what contribution it could make to meeting steadlily growing world electricity demand. The critical role of sustainability as well as the importance of international trade in meeting the projected demand for bioenergy, are highlighted in the roadmap, as well as the need for large-scale biomass plants in providing The roadmap identifies key actions by different stakeholders in the bioenergy sector, and sets out milestones for technology development in order to achieve a doubling of global bioenergy supply by 2050. It addresses the need for further R&D efforts, highlights measures to ensure sustainability of biomass production, and underlines the need for international collaboration to enhance the production and use of sustainable, modern bioenergy in different world regions.

Technology Roadmaps: Bioenergy for Heat and Power

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-08-01

The Technology Roadmap Bioenergy for Heat and Power highlights the importance of bioenergy in providing heat in the buildings sector and in industry, and shows what contribution it could make to meeting steadlily growing world electricity demand. The critical role of sustainability as well as the importance of international trade in meeting the projected demand for bioenergy, are highlighted in the roadmap, as well as the need for large-scale biomass plants in providing The roadmap identifies key actions by different stakeholders in the bioenergy sector, and sets out milestones for technology development in order to achieve a doubling of global bioenergy supply by 2050. It addresses the need for further R&D efforts, highlights measures to ensure sustainability of biomass production, and underlines the need for international collaboration to enhance the production and use of sustainable, modern bioenergy in different world regions.

Possibilities and limitations for sustainable bioenergy production systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smeets, E.M.W.

2008-01-01

The focus of this thesis is on the possibilities and limitations of sustainable bioenergy production systems. First, the potential contribution of bioenergy to the energy supply in different world regions in the year 2050 from different biomass sources (dedicated woody energy crops, residues and

Evolution and Development of Effective Feedstock Specifications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garold Gresham; Rachel Emerson; Amber Hoover; Amber Miller; William Bauer; Kevin Kenney

2013-09-01

The U.S. Department of Energy promotes the production of a range of liquid fuels and fuel blend stocks from lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks by funding fundamental and applied research that advances the state of technology in biomass collection, conversion, and sustainability. As part of its involvement in this program, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) investigates the feedstock logistics economics and sustainability of these fuels. The 2012 feedstock logistics milestone demonstrated that for high-yield areas that minimize the transportation distances of a low-density, unstable biomass, we could achieve a delivered cost of $35/ton. Based on current conventional equipment and processes, the 2012 logistics design is able to deliver the volume of biomass needed to fulfill the 2012 Renewable Fuel Standard’s targets for ethanol. However, the Renewable Fuel Standard’s volume targets are continuing to increase and are expected to peak in 2022 at 36 billion gallons. Meeting these volume targets and achieving a national-scale biofuels industry will require expansion of production capacity beyond the 2012 Conventional Feedstock Supply Design Case to access diverse available feedstocks, regardless of their inherent ability to meet preliminary biorefinery quality feedstock specifications. Implementation of quality specifications (specs), as outlined in the 2017 Design Case – “Feedstock Supply System Design and Economics for Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Hydrocarbon Fuels” (in progress), requires insertion of deliberate, active quality controls into the feedstock supply chain, whereas the 2012 Conventional Design only utilizes passive quality controls.

Bioenergy from agricultural residues in Ghana

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Sune Tjalfe

and biomethane under Ghanaian conditions. Detailed characterisations of thirteen of the most common agricultural residues in Ghana are presented, enabling estimations of theoretical bioenergy potentials and identifying specific residues for future biorefinery applications. When aiming at residue-based ethanol...... to pursue increased implementation of anaerobic digestion in Ghana, as the first bioenergy option, since anaerobic digestion is more flexible than ethanol production with regard to both feedstock and scale of production. If possible, the available manure and municipal liquid waste should be utilised first....... A novel model for estimating BMP from compositional data of lignocellulosic biomasses is derived. The model is based on a statistical method not previously used in this area of research and the best prediction of BMP is: BMP = 347 xC+H+R – 438 xL + 63 DA , where xC+H+R is the combined content of cellulose...

Maize feedstocks with improved digestibility reduce the costs and environmental impacts of biomass pretreatment and saccharification

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Torres Salvador, A.F.; Slegers, Ellen; Noordam-Boot, C.M.M.; Dolstra, O.; Vlaswinkel, L.; Boxtel, van A.J.B.; Visser, R.G.F.; Trindade, L.M.

2016-01-01

Background - Despite the recognition that feedstock composition influences biomass conversion efficiency, limited information exists as to how bioenergy crops with reduced recalcitrance can improve the economics and sustainability of cellulosic fuel conversion platforms. We have compared the

Future Perspectives of International Bioenergy Trade – Summary

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kranzl, L.; Matzenberger, J.; Junginger, H.M.; Daioglou, V.; Tromborg, E.; Keramidas, K.

2013-01-01

According to the IEA World Energy Outlook 2012, primary demand for bioenergy will strongly increase up to the year 2035: the demand for biofuels and biomass for electricity is expected to triple. These changes will have an impact on the regional balance of demand and supply of bioenergy leading to

Scenarios of bioenergy development impacts on regional groundwater withdrawals

Science.gov (United States)

Uden, Daniel R.; Allen, Craig R.; Mitchell, Rob B.; Guan, Qingfeng; McCoy, Tim D.

2013-01-01

Irrigation increases agricultural productivity, but it also stresses water resources (Huffaker and Hamilton 2007). Drought and the potential for drier conditions resulting from climate change could strain water supplies in landscapes where human populations rely on finite groundwater resources for drinking, agriculture, energy, and industry (IPCC 2007). For instance, in the North American Great Plains, rowcrops are utilized for livestock feed, food, and bioenergy production (Cassman and Liska 2007), and a large portion is irrigated with groundwater from the High Plains aquifer system (McGuire 2011). Under projected future climatic conditions, greater crop water use requirements and diminished groundwater recharge rates could make rowcrop irrigation less feasible in some areas (Rosenberg et al. 1999; Sophocleous 2005). The Rainwater Basin region of south central Nebraska, United States, is an intensively farmed and irrigated Great Plains landscape dominated by corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L.) production (Bishop and Vrtiska 2008). Ten starch-based ethanol plants currently service the region, producing ethanol from corn grain (figure 1). In this study, we explore the potential of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), a drought-tolerant alternative bioenergy feedstock, to impact regional annual groundwater withdrawals for irrigation under warmer and drier future conditions. Although our research context is specific to the Rainwater Basin and surrounding North American Great Plains, we believe the broader research question is internationally pertinent and hope that this study simulates similar research in other areas.

Stochastic optimization of a multi-feedstock lignocellulosic-based bioethanol supply chain under multiple uncertainties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Osmani, Atif; Zhang, Jun

2013-01-01

An integrated multi-feedstock (i.e. switchgrass and crop residue) lignocellulosic-based bioethanol supply chain is studied under jointly occurring uncertainties in switchgrass yield, crop residue purchase price, bioethanol demand and sales price. A two-stage stochastic mathematical model is proposed to maximize expected profit by optimizing the strategic and tactical decisions. A case study based on ND (North Dakota) state in the U.S. demonstrates that in a stochastic environment it is cost effective to meet 100% of ND's annual gasoline demand from bioethanol by using switchgrass as a primary and crop residue as a secondary biomass feedstock. Although results show that the financial performance is degraded as variability of the uncertain parameters increases, the proposed stochastic model increasingly outperforms the deterministic model under uncertainties. The locations of biorefineries (i.e. first-stage integer variables) are insensitive to the uncertainties. Sensitivity analysis shows that “mean” value of stochastic parameters has a significant impact on the expected profit and optimal values of first-stage continuous variables. Increase in level of mean ethanol demand and mean sale price results in higher bioethanol production. When mean switchgrass yield is at low level and mean crop residue price is at high level, all the available marginal land is used for switchgrass cultivation. - Highlights: • Two-stage stochastic MILP model for maximizing profit of a multi-feedstock lignocellulosic-based bioethanol supply chain. • Multiple uncertainties in switchgrass yield, crop residue purchase price, bioethanol demand, and bioethanol sale price. • Proposed stochastic model outperforms the traditional deterministic model under uncertainties. • Stochastic parameters significantly affect marginal land allocation for switchgrass cultivation and bioethanol production. • Location of biorefineries is found to be insensitive to the stochastic environment

New geospatial approaches for efficiently mapping forest biomass logistics at high resolution over large areas

Science.gov (United States)

John Hogland; Nathaniel Anderson; Woodam Chung

2018-01-01

Adequate biomass feedstock supply is an important factor in evaluating the financial feasibility of alternative site locations for bioenergy facilities and for maintaining profitability once a facility is built. We used newly developed spatial analysis and logistics software to model the variables influencing feedstock supply and to estimate and map two components of...

U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Downing, Mark [ORNL; Eaton, Laurence M [ORNL; Graham, Robin Lambert [ORNL; Langholtz, Matthew H [ORNL; Perlack, Robert D [ORNL; Turhollow Jr, Anthony F [ORNL; Stokes, Bryce [Navarro Research & Engineering; Brandt, Craig C [ORNL

2011-08-01

The report, Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply (generally referred to as the Billion-Ton Study or 2005 BTS), was an estimate of 'potential' biomass based on numerous assumptions about current and future inventory, production capacity, availability, and technology. The analysis was made to determine if conterminous U.S. agriculture and forestry resources had the capability to produce at least one billion dry tons of sustainable biomass annually to displace 30% or more of the nation's present petroleum consumption. An effort was made to use conservative estimates to assure confidence in having sufficient supply to reach the goal. The potential biomass was projected to be reasonably available around mid-century when large-scale biorefineries are likely to exist. The study emphasized primary sources of forest- and agriculture-derived biomass, such as logging residues, fuel treatment thinnings, crop residues, and perennially grown grasses and trees. These primary sources have the greatest potential to supply large, reliable, and sustainable quantities of biomass. While the primary sources were emphasized, estimates of secondary residue and tertiary waste resources of biomass were also provided. The original Billion-Ton Resource Assessment, published in 2005, was divided into two parts-forest-derived resources and agriculture-derived resources. The forest resources included residues produced during the harvesting of merchantable timber, forest residues, and small-diameter trees that could become available through initiatives to reduce fire hazards and improve forest health; forest residues from land conversion; fuelwood extracted from forests; residues generated at primary forest product processing mills; and urban wood wastes, municipal solid wastes (MSW), and construction and demolition (C&D) debris. For these forest resources, only residues, wastes, and small

Optimization of bioenergy yield from cultivated land in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Callesen, Ingeborg; Grohnheit, Poul Erik; Østergård, Hanne

2010-01-01

A cost minimization model for supply of starch, oil, sugar, grassy and woody biomass for bioenergy in Denmark was developed using linear programming. The model includes biomass supply from annual crops on arable land, short rotation forestry (willow) and plantation forestry. Crop area distributions...... and feed production, or e) on site carbon sequestration. In addition, two oil price levels were considered. The crop area distributions differed between scenarios and were affected by changing fossil oil prices up to index 300 (using 55$ per barrel in 2005 as index = 100). The bioenergy supply (district...... heating, electric power, biogas, RME or bioethanol) varied between 56 PJ in the “2005” scenario at oil index 100 and 158 PJ at oil index 300 in the groundwater scenario. Our simple model demonstrates the effect of prioritizing multiple uses of land resources for food, feed or bioenergy, while maintaining...

Aquatic plant Azolla as the universal feedstock for biofuel production.

Science.gov (United States)

Miranda, Ana F; Biswas, Bijoy; Ramkumar, Narasimhan; Singh, Rawel; Kumar, Jitendra; James, Anton; Roddick, Felicity; Lal, Banwari; Subudhi, Sanjukta; Bhaskar, Thallada; Mouradov, Aidyn

2016-01-01

The quest for sustainable production of renewable and cheap biofuels has triggered an intensive search for domestication of the next generation of bioenergy crops. Aquatic plants which can rapidly colonize wetlands are attracting attention because of their ability to grow in wastewaters and produce large amounts of biomass. Representatives of Azolla species are some of the fastest growing plants, producing substantial biomass when growing in contaminated water and natural ecosystems. Together with their evolutional symbiont, the cyanobacterium Anabaena azollae, Azolla biomass has a unique chemical composition accumulating in each leaf including three major types of bioenergy molecules: cellulose/hemicellulose, starch and lipids, resembling combinations of terrestrial bioenergy crops and microalgae. The growth of Azolla filiculoides in synthetic wastewater led up to 25, 69, 24 and 40 % reduction of NH 4 -N, NO 3 -N, PO 4 -P and selenium, respectively, after 5 days of treatment. This led to a 2.6-fold reduction in toxicity of the treated wastewater to shrimps, common inhabitants of wetlands. Two Azolla species, Azolla filiculoides and Azolla pinnata, were used as feedstock for the production of a range of functional hydrocarbons through hydrothermal liquefaction, bio-hydrogen and bio-ethanol. Given the high annual productivity of Azolla, hydrothermal liquefaction can lead to the theoretical production of 20.2 t/ha-year of bio-oil and 48 t/ha-year of bio-char. The ethanol production from Azolla filiculoides, 11.7 × 10 3  L/ha-year, is close to that from corn stover (13.3 × 10 3  L/ha-year), but higher than from miscanthus (2.3 × 10 3  L/ha-year) and woody plants, such as willow (0.3 × 10 3  L/ha-year) and poplar (1.3 × 10 3  L/ha-year). With a high C/N ratio, fermentation of Azolla biomass generates 2.2 mol/mol glucose/xylose of hydrogen, making this species a competitive feedstock for hydrogen production compared with other bioenergy crops

The role of bioenergy in the electricity and heating market; Die Rolle der Bioenergie im Strom-/Waermemarkt

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baur, Frank [IZES gGmbH, Saarbruecken (Germany); Hauser, Eva; Wem, Bernhard

2014-07-01

Bioenergy, especially from biomass crops, is today increasingly viewed with criticism on grounds ranging from economic and ecological to sociopolitical, especially when potential competing uses are taken into account. On the other hand, due to characteristics that distinguish it from other renewable energy resources, bioenergy can already today make a significant contribution to the ongoing transformation of the energy supply system. This can occur through existing as well as through new production plants. The present article provides an overview of possible approaches to this end and goes on to assess the future role of bioenergy in the electricity and heating market on this basis.

Supply Chain Sustainability Analysis of Renewable Hydrocarbon Fuels via Indirect Liquefaction, Fast Pyrolysis, and Hydrothermal Liquefaction: Update of the 2016 State-of-Technology Cases and Design Cases

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cai, Hao [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States; Dunn, Jennifer [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States; Pegallapati, Ambica [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States; Li, Qianfeng [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States; Canter, Christina [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States; Tan, Eric [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Biddy, Mary [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Davis, Ryan [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Markham, Jennifer [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Talmadge, Michael [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hartley, Damon [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Thompson, David [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Meyer, Pimphan A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Zhu, Yunhua [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Snowden-Swan, Lesley [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Jones, Susanne [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2017-02-01

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) aims to develop and deploy technologies to transform renewable biomass resources into commercially viable, high-performance biofuels, bioproducts and biopower through public and private partnerships (DOE, 2016). BETO and its national laboratory teams conduct in-depth technoeconomic assessments (TEA) of biomass feedstock supply and logistics and conversion technologies to produce biofuels, and life-cycle analysis of overall system sustainability.

Comparing Effects of Feedstock and Run Conditions on Pyrolysis Products Produced at Pilot-Scale

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dunning, Timothy C [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Gaston, Katherine R [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Wilcox, Esther [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2018-01-19

Fast pyrolysis is a promising pathway for mass production of liquid transportable biofuels. The Thermochemical Process Development Unit (TCPDU) pilot plant at NREL is conducting research to support the Bioenergy Technologies Office's 2017 goal of a $3 per gallon biofuel. In preparation for down select of feedstock and run conditions, four different feedstocks were run at three different run conditions. The products produced were characterized extensively. Hot pyrolysis vapors and light gasses were analyzed on a slip stream, and oil and char samples were characterized post run.

Energy policy and the role of bioenergy in Poland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nilsson, Lars J.; Pisarek, Marcin; Buriak, Jerzy; Oniszk-Poplawska, Anna; Bucko, Pawel; Ericsson, Karin; Jaworski, Lukasz

2006-01-01

Poland, as many other countries, has ambitions to increase the use of renewable energy sources. In this paper, we review the current status of bioenergy in Poland and make a critical assessment of the prospects for increasing the share of bioenergy in energy supply, including policy implications. Bioenergy use was about 4% (165 PJ) of primary energy use (3900 PJ) and 95% of renewable energy use (174 PJ) in 2003, mainly as firewood in the domestic sector. Targets have been set to increase the contribution of renewable energy to 7.5% in 2010, in accordance with the EU accession treaty, and to 14% in 2020. Bioenergy is expected to be the main contributor to reaching those targets. From a resource perspective, the use of bioenergy could at least double in the near term if straw, forestry residues, wood-waste, energy crops, biogas, and used wood were used for energy purposes. The long-term potential, assuming short rotation forestry on potentially available agricultural land is about one-third, or 1400 PJ, of current total primary energy use. However, in the near term, Poland is lacking fundamental driving forces for increasing the use of bioenergy (e.g., for meeting demand increases, improving supply security, or further reducing sulphur or greenhouse gas emissions). There is yet no coherent policy or strategy for supporting bioenergy. Co-firing with coal in large plants is an interesting option for creating demand and facilitating the development of a market for bioenergy. The renewable electricity quota obligation is likely to promote such co-firing but promising applications of bioenergy are also found in small- and medium-scale applications for heat production. Carbon taxes and, or, other financial support schemes targeted also at the heating sector are necessary in the near term in order to reach the 7.5% target. In addition, there is a need to support the development of supply infrastructure, change certain practices in forestry, coordinate RD and D efforts, and

Techno-economic assessment of micro-algae as feedstock for renewable bio-energy production

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jonker, J.G.G.; Faaij, A.P.C.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/10685903X

2013-01-01

This paper determines the energy consumption ratio and overall bio-energy production costs of microalgae cultivation, harvesting and conversion to secondary energy carriers, thus helping to clarify future perspectives of micro-algae production for energy purposes. A limitation growth model is

Willow and poplar for bioenergy on former cropland

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Georgiadis, Petros

and water demands of the trees. The water requirements of SRWCs are generally high, and high evapotranspiration rates in both SRC willow and SRF poplar decreased deep percolation, which along with low N concentrations led to low N leaching. Excessive N leaching was only observed when SRC was fertilized......Climate change is one of the 21st century’s greatest challenges and calls for immediate action through the implementation of mitigation strategies. A shift from fossil fuel to renewable energy is a key factor for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, with bioenergy being...... the predominant sector of renewables in the current European and global energy markets. Dedicated energy crops, such as short rotation woody crops (SRWC), are promising bioenergy feedstock in southern Scandinavia due to their high yields. Such cropping systems have high demands for land, water, and nutrients...

Advancing Bioenergy in Europe. Exploring bioenergy systems and socio-political issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McCormick, Kes

2007-09-15

This research work explores the implementation of bioenergy systems in Europe focusing on socio-political issues. The purpose is to improve understanding of key drivers and barriers for bioenergy. The author conducted literature reviews, case studies, site visits, stakeholder interviews, industry interactions, and research workshops. The research process also involved extensive fieldwork and the development of 12 case studies from 8 countries in Europe. Combating climate change and enhancing energy security are identified in the literature as key drivers for bioenergy. Promoting regional development is also often mentioned although it is not well explored by empirical studies. This thesis analyses regional development activity associated with the implementation of bioenergy systems in 4 case studies from Sweden. The case studies suggest there are at least 4 benefits that can flow from bioenergy systems. These benefits can be key drivers for local and regional actors. The key drivers include: Distribution and diversification; Partnerships and synergies; Business and employment; Environment and landscape. The key barriers include: Economic conditions; Know-how and institutional capacity; Supply chain co-ordination. The second research objective for this thesis is to investigate and discuss experiences of supportive (and disruptive) policies and actions for the implementation of bioenergy systems in Europe. The main findings include: Bioenergy systems: While there are key barriers hindering bioenergy systems, this research identifies no absolute barriers to realising the targets on bioenergy utilisation defined by the European Union. Interestingly, there are some consistent policies and actions evident in the case studies that are employed to overcome key barriers, including: investment grants; policy measures; pilot projects; local initiatives; local champions; and supply contracts. Not surprisingly, supportive economic policies and partnerships between the public

Importance of rural bioenergy for developing countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Demirbas, Ayse Hilal; Demirbas, Imren

2007-01-01

Energy resources will play an important role in the world's future. Rural bioenergy is still the predominant form of energy used by people in the less developed countries, and bioenergy from biomass accounts for about 15% of the world's primary energy consumption and about 38% of the primary energy consumption in developing countries. Furthermore, bioenergy often accounts for more than 90% of the total rural energy supplies in some developing countries. Earth life in rural areas of the world has changed dramatically over time. Industrial development in developing countries, coming at a time of low cost plentiful oil supplies, has resulted in greater reliance on the source of rural bioenergy than is true in the developed countries. In developed countries, there is a growing trend towards employing modern technologies and efficient bioenergy conversion using a range of biofuels, which are becoming cost wise competitive with fossil fuels. Currently, much attention has been a major focus on renewable alternatives in the developing countries. Renewable energy can be particularly appropriate for developing countries. In rural areas, particularly in remote locations, transmission and distribution of energy generated from fossil fuels can be difficult and expensive. Producing renewable energy locally can offer a viable alternative. Renewable energy can facilitate economic and social development in communities but only if the projects are intelligently designed and carefully planned with local input and cooperation. Particularly in poor rural areas, the costs of renewable energy projects will absorb a significant part of participants' small incomes. Bio-fuels are important because they replace petroleum fuels. Biomass and biofuels can be used as a substitute for fossil fuels to generate heat, power and/or chemicals. Generally speaking, biofuels are generally considered as offering many benefits, including sustainability, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, regional

A methodology and decision support tool for informing state-level bioenergy policymaking: New Jersey biofuels as a case study

Science.gov (United States)

Brennan-Tonetta, Margaret

This dissertation seeks to provide key information and a decision support tool that states can use to support long-term goals of fossil fuel displacement and greenhouse gas reductions. The research yields three outcomes: (1) A methodology that allows for a comprehensive and consistent inventory and assessment of bioenergy feedstocks in terms of type, quantity, and energy potential. Development of a standardized methodology for consistent inventorying of biomass resources fosters research and business development of promising technologies that are compatible with the state's biomass resource base. (2) A unique interactive decision support tool that allows for systematic bioenergy analysis and evaluation of policy alternatives through the generation of biomass inventory and energy potential data for a wide variety of feedstocks and applicable technologies, using New Jersey as a case study. Development of a database that can assess the major components of a bioenergy system in one tool allows for easy evaluation of technology, feedstock and policy options. The methodology and decision support tool is applicable to other states and regions (with location specific modifications), thus contributing to the achievement of state and federal goals of renewable energy utilization. (3) Development of policy recommendations based on the results of the decision support tool that will help to guide New Jersey into a sustainable renewable energy future. The database developed in this research represents the first ever assessment of bioenergy potential for New Jersey. It can serve as a foundation for future research and modifications that could increase its power as a more robust policy analysis tool. As such, the current database is not able to perform analysis of tradeoffs across broad policy objectives such as economic development vs. CO2 emissions, or energy independence vs. source reduction of solid waste. Instead, it operates one level below that with comparisons of kWh or

The role of bioenergy in a renewable energy system - perspectives for bioenergy on the background of the energy system transition in Germany

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scholwin, Frank [Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum, Leipzig (Germany); Universitaet Rostock, Rostock (Germany)], e-mail: frank.scholwin@uni-rostock.de; Szarka, Nora [Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum, Leipzig (Germany); Nelles, Michael [Universitaet Rostock, Rostock (Germany)

2012-11-01

The German Federal Government has set the target of a minimum 80% share of renewable energies in the power consumption and 60% in the final energy consumption by 2050, in order to contribute to the ambitious greenhouse gas reduction target of 80-95% reduction compared to 1990. In such a future energy system the role of biomass must be reviewed and the most intelligent and effective solutions for its conversion and use must be evaluated. On this background this contribution highlights technological possibilities to supply future energy demand in different sectors,, describes possible benefits in terms of security of supply and economic advantages, as well as requirements regarding biomass supply assortments for demand oriented bioenergy supply technologies. The results show technical as well as economic feasibility of demand oriented bioenergy supply under today's conditions.

Application of Buckmaster Electrolyte Ion Leakage Test to Woody Biofuel Feedstocks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Broderick, Thomas F [Forest Concepts, LLC; Dooley, James H [Forest Concepts, LLC

2014-08-28

In an earlier ASABE paper, Buckmaster reported that ion conductivity of biomass leachate in aqueous solution was directly correlated with activity access to plant nutrients within the biomass materials for subsequent biological or chemical processing. The Buckmaster test involves placing a sample of the particles in a beaker of constant-temperature deionized water and monitoring the change in electrical conductivity over time. We adapted the Buckmaster method to a range of woody biomass and other cellulosic bioenergy feedstocks. Our experimental results suggest differences of electrolyte leakage between differently processed woody biomass particles may be an indicator of their utility for conversion in bioenergy processes. This simple assay appears to be particularly useful to compare different biomass comminution techniques and particle sizes for biochemical preprocessing.

Transpiration and biomass production of the bioenergy crop Giant Knotweed Igniscum under various supplies of water and nutrients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mantovani Dario

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Soil water availability, nutrient supply and climatic conditions are key factors for plant production. For a sustainable integration of bioenergy plants into agricultural systems, detailed studies on their water uses and growth performances are needed. The new bioenergy plant Igniscum Candy is a cultivar of the Sakhalin Knotweed (Fallopia sachalinensis, which is characterized by a high annual biomass production. For the determination of transpiration-yield relations at the whole plant level we used wicked lysimeters at multiple irrigation levels associated with the soil water availability (25, 35, 70, 100% and nitrogen fertilization (0, 50, 100, 150 kg N ha-1. Leaf transpiration and net photosynthesis were determined with a portable minicuvette system. The maximum mean transpiration rate was 10.6 mmol m-2 s-1 for well-watered plants, while the mean net photosynthesis was 9.1 μmol m-2 s-1. The cumulative transpiration of the plants during the growing seasons varied between 49 l (drought stressed and 141 l (well-watered per plant. The calculated transpiration coefficient for Fallopia over all of the treatments applied was 485.6 l kg-1. The transpiration-yield relation of Igniscum is comparable to rye and barley. Its growth performance making Fallopia a potentially good second generation bioenergy crop.

Supply Chain Sustainability Analysis of Indirect Liquefaction of Blended Biomass to Produce High Octane Gasoline

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cai, Hao [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Canter, Christina E. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Dunn, Jennifer B. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Tan, Eric [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Biddy, Mary [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Talmadge, Michael [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hartley, Damon S. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Snowden-Swan, Lesley [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2015-09-01

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) aims at developing and deploying technologies to transform renewable biomass resources into commercially viable, high-performance biofuels, bioproducts and biopower through public and private partnerships (DOE, 2015). BETO also performs a supply chain sustainability analysis (SCSA). This report describes the SCSA of the production of renewable high octane gasoline (HOG) via indirect liquefaction (IDL) of lignocellulosic biomass. This SCSA was developed for the 2017 design case for feedstock logistics (INL, 2014) and for the 2022 target case for HOG production via IDL (Tan et al., 2015). The design includes advancements that are likely and targeted to be achieved by 2017 for the feedstock logistics and 2022 for the IDL conversion process. The 2017 design case for feedstock logistics demonstrated a delivered feedstock cost of $80 per dry U.S. short ton by the year 2017 (INL, 2014). The 2022 design case for the conversion process, as modeled in Tan et al. (2015), uses the feedstock 2017 design case blend of biomass feedstocks consisting of pulpwood, wood residue, switchgrass, and construction and demolition waste (C&D) with performance properties consistent with a sole woody feedstock type (e.g., pine or poplar). The HOG SCSA case considers the 2017 feedstock design case (the blend) as well as individual feedstock cases separately as alternative scenarios when the feedstock blend ratio varies as a result of a change in feedstock availability. These scenarios could be viewed as bounding SCSA results because of distinctive requirements for energy and chemical inputs for the production and logistics of different components of the blend feedstocks.

Watershed scale impacts of bioenergy, landscape changes, and ecosystem response

Science.gov (United States)

Chaubey, Indrajeet; Cibin, Raj; Chiang, Li-Chi

2013-04-01

In recent years, high US gasoline prices and national security concerns have prompted a renewed interest in alternative fuel sources to meet increasing energy demands, particularly by the transportation sector. Food and animal feed crops, such as corn and soybean, sugarcane, residue from these crops, and cellulosic perennial crops grown specifically to produce bioenergy (e.g. switchgrass, Miscanthus, mixed grasses), and fast growing trees (e.g. hybrid poplar) are expected to provide the majority of the biofeedstock for energy production. One of the grand challenges in supplying large quantities of grain-based and lignocellulosic materials for the production of biofuels is ensuring that they are produced in environmentally sustainable and economically viable manner. Feedstock selection will vary geographically based on regional adaptability, productivity, and reliability. Changes in land use and management practices related to biofeedstock production may have potential impacts on water quantity and quality, sediments, and pesticides and nutrient losses, and these impacts may be exacerbated by climate variability and change. We have made many improvements in the currently available biophysical models (e.g. Soil and Water Assessment Tool or SWAT model) to evaluate sustainability of energy crop production. We have utilized the improved model to evaluate impacts of both annual (e.g. corn) and perennial bioenergy crops (e.g. Miscanthus and switchgrass at) on hydrology and water quality under the following plausible bioenergy crop production scenarios: (1) at highly erodible areas; (2) at agriculturally marginal areas; (3) at pasture areas; (4) crop residue (corn stover) removal; and (5) combinations of above scenarios. Overall results indicated improvement in water quality with introduction of perennial energy crops. Stream flow at the watershed outlet was reduced under energy crop production scenarios and ranged between 0.3% and 5% across scenarios. Erosion and sediment

Bioenergy from stillage anaerobic digestion to enhance the energy balance ratio of ethanol production.

Science.gov (United States)

Fuess, Lucas Tadeu; Garcia, Marcelo Loureiro

2015-10-01

The challenges associated with the availability of fossil fuels in the past decades intensified the search for alternative energy sources, based on an ever-increasing demand for energy. In this context, the application of anaerobic digestion (AD) as a core treatment technology in industrial plants should be highlighted, since this process combines the pollution control of wastewaters and the generation of bioenergy, based on the conversion of the organic fraction to biogas, a methane-rich gaseous mixture that may supply the energetic demands in industrial plants. In this context, this work aimed at assessing the energetic potential of AD applied to the treatment of stillage, the main wastewater from ethanol production, in an attempt to highlight the improvements in the energy balance ratio of ethanol by inserting the heating value of methane as a bioenergy source. At least 5-15% of the global energy consumption in the ethanol industry could be supplied by the energetic potential of stillage, regardless the feedstock (i.e. sugarcane, corn or cassava). The association between bagasse combustion and stillage anaerobic digestion in sugarcane-based distilleries could provide a bioenergy surplus of at least 130% of the total fossil fuel input into the ethanol plant, considering only the energy from methane. In terms of financial aspects, the economic gains could reach US$ 0.1901 and US$ 0.0512 per liter of produced ethanol, respectively for molasses- (Brazil) and corn-based (EUA) production chains. For large-scale (∼1000 m(3)EtOH per day) Brazilian molasses-based plants, an annual economic gain of up to US$ 70 million could be observed. Considering the association between anaerobic and aerobic digestion, for the scenarios analyzed, at least 25% of the energetic potential of stillage would be required to supply the energy consumption with aeration, however, more suitable effluents for agricultural application could be produced. The main conclusion from this work

Greenhouse gas fluxes and root productivity in a switchgrass and loblolly pine intercropping system for bioenergy production

Science.gov (United States)

Paliza Shrestha; John R. Seiler; Brian D. Strahm; Eric B. Sucre; Zakiya H. Leggett

2015-01-01

This study is part of a larger collaborative effort to determine the overall environmental sustainability of intercropping pine (Pinus taeda L.) and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), both of which are promising feedstock for bioenergy production in the Lower Coastal Plain in North Carolina.

Biogeochemical research priorities for sustainable biofuel and bioenergy feedstock production in the Americas

Science.gov (United States)

Hero T. Gollany; Brian D. Titus; D. Andrew Scott; Heidi Asbjornsen; Sigrid C. Resh; Rodney A. Chimner; Donald J. Kaczmarek; Luiz F.C. Leite; Ana C.C. Ferreira; Kenton A. Rod; Jorge Hilbert; Marcelo V. Galdos; Michelle E. Cisz

2015-01-01

Rapid expansion in biomass production for biofuels and bioenergy in the Americas is increasing demand on the ecosystem resources required to sustain soil and site productivity. We review the current state of knowledge and highlight gaps in research on biogeochemical processes and ecosystem sustainability related to biomass production. Biomass production systems...

REMARKS TO THE CURRENT DISCUSSION ABOUT BIOENERGY –BIOENERGY FOR THE PUBLIC AND/ OR FOR THE AGRICULTURAL OR RURAL AREAS ONLY ?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Ruckenbauer

2008-09-01

Full Text Available An energy system that is based on the use of renewable energy resources must be service –oriented and should be able to cover the varying energy demands. Moreover it must be flexible and cost effective by using on optimal mix of predominantly renewable energy sources. Agriculture will play an important role in the future if an optimal mix between food/feed production and energy plant production could be found. The present examples in the world to gain agricultural land for energy plants on the expenses of forests is going into the wrong direction. The cost intensive investments at present performed in Europe for biofuel and bioenergy production will certainly influence prices for crops and biomass supply. In this paper, strategies are questioned and discussed if the goals of the EU-commission to replace substantial parts of the fossile energy demands by bioenergy supply is feasible and can be realistic. As an example for a national agricultural situation, Austria, as am member of the PBBA, has elaborated a study about the timely development how much of the arable land can be utilized in the period between 2005 and 2020 for various bioenergy sources .The results demonstrate that, at the maximum , agriculture can only supply about 22 % of the total arable land for additional bioenergy as biofuel and biogas without interfering the national self food/feed supply and the protection of the sensible environment and emission situation. Finally, recent University research studies are presented about new processes to achieve a better and more efficient use of cereal and maize straw for biogas production already performed in the present 358 local biogas plants in Austria.

Modelling supply and demand of bioenergy from short rotation coppice and Miscanthus in the UK.

Science.gov (United States)

Bauen, A W; Dunnett, A J; Richter, G M; Dailey, A G; Aylott, M; Casella, E; Taylor, G

2010-11-01

Biomass from lignocellulosic energy crops can contribute to primary energy supply in the short term in heat and electricity applications and in the longer term in transport fuel applications. This paper estimates the optimal feedstock allocation of herbaceous and woody lignocellulosic energy crops for England and Wales based on empirical productivity models. Yield maps for Miscanthus, willow and poplar, constrained by climatic, soil and land use factors, are used to estimate the potential resource. An energy crop supply-cost curve is estimated based on the resource distribution and associated production costs. The spatial resource model is then used to inform the supply of biomass to geographically distributed demand centres, with co-firing plants used as an illustration. Finally, the potential contribution of energy crops to UK primary energy and renewable energy targets is discussed. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monetization of Environmental Externalities (Emissions from Bioenergy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isabelle BROSE

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Bioenergy from agriculture is today in the heart of sustainabledevelopment, integrating its key components: environment and climate change,energy economics and energy supply, agriculture, rural and social development.Each bioenergy production route presents externalities that must be assessed inorder to compare one bioenergy route to another (bioenergy route. The lack ofprimary and reliable data on externalities is, nevertheless, an important nontechnologicalbarrier to the implementation of the best (bioenergy routes. In thisarticle, we want to monetize one environmental externality from bioenergy:emissions (GHG: CO2, CH4, N2O, O3; CO, NOx, SO2, metal, and PM. We have tomonetize emissions on the basis of their effects on health, global warming, and soiland water quality. Emissions will be quantified through Life Cycle Analysis (LCAand ECOINVENT database. Impacts on health will be monetized on the basis ofmortality (number of life expectancy years lost multiplied by Value Of Life Year(VOLY and morbidity (number of ill persons multiplied by Cost Of Illness(COI. Impacts on global warming will be monetized by Benefits Transfers fromthe Stern Review and its critics. Finally, impacts on soil and water quality will bemonetized by Averting Behaviour or Defensive Expenses methods. Monetizationresults will be gathered, weighted, and incorporated in states and firms’ decisionmakingtools. They would enhance capacity of policy makers and managers tochose the best (bioenergy routes.

Manipulating microRNAs for improved biomass and biofuels from plant feedstocks.

Science.gov (United States)

Trumbo, Jennifer Lynn; Zhang, Baohong; Stewart, Charles Neal

2015-04-01

Petroleum-based fuels are nonrenewable and unsustainable. Renewable sources of energy, such as lignocellulosic biofuels and plant metabolite-based drop-in fuels, can offset fossil fuel use and reverse environmental degradation through carbon sequestration. Despite these benefits, the lignocellulosic biofuels industry still faces many challenges, including the availability of economically viable crop plants. Cell wall recalcitrance is a major economic barrier for lignocellulosic biofuels production from biomass crops. Sustainability and biomass yield are two additional, yet interrelated, foci for biomass crop improvement. Many scientists are searching for solutions to these problems within biomass crop genomes. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in almost all biological and metabolic process in plants including plant development, cell wall biosynthesis and plant stress responses. Because of the broad functions of their targets (e.g. auxin response factors), the alteration of plant miRNA expression often results in pleiotropic effects. A specific miRNA usually regulates a biologically relevant bioenergy trait. For example, relatively low miR156 overexpression leads to a transgenic feedstock with enhanced biomass and decreased recalcitrance. miRNAs have been overexpressed in dedicated bioenergy feedstocks such as poplar and switchgrass yielding promising results for lignin reduction, increased plant biomass, the timing of flowering and response to harsh environments. In this review, we present the status of miRNA-related research in several major biofuel crops and relevant model plants. We critically assess published research and suggest next steps for miRNA manipulation in feedstocks for increased biomass and sustainability for biofuels and bioproducts. © 2015 Society for Experimental Biology, Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Spatial variation in environmental impacts of bioenergy supply chains

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hilst, F. van der; Dam, J.M.C. van; Verweij, P.A.; Riksen, M.J.P.M.; Sanders, J.P.M.; Faaij, A.P.C.

In this study, the spatial variation of potential environmental impacts of bioenergy crops is quantitatively assessed. The cultivation of sugar beet and Miscanthus for bioethanol production in the North of the Netherlands is used as a case study. The environmental impacts included are greenhouse gas

Bioenergy options. Multidisciplinary participatory method for assessing bioenergy options for rural villages in Tanzania

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kauzeni, A S; Masao, H P; Sawe, E N; Shechambo, F C [Dar Es Salaam Univ. (Tanzania). Inst. of Resource Assessment; Ellegaard, A [Stockholm Environment Inst. (Sweden)

1999-12-31

In Tanzania, like in many other developing countries in Southern and Eastern Africa, bioenergy planning has received relatively little attention, compared to planning for `modern` energy sources, although it accounts for about 90% of the country`s energy supply. As a result there is less understanding of the complexity and diversity of bioenergy systems. There is a lack of reliable data and information on bio-resources, their consumption and interaction with social, economic, institutional and environmental factors. This is largely due to lack of adequately developed and easily understood methods of data and information development, analysis and methods of evaluating available bioenergy options. In order to address the above constraints a project was initiated where the general objective was to develop and test a multi-disciplinary research method for identifying bioenergy options that can contribute to satisfying the energy needs of the rural household, agricultural and small scale industrial sectors, promote growth and facilitate sustainable development. The decision on the development and testing of a multidisciplinary research method was based on the fact that in Tanzania several bioenergy programmes have been introduced e.g. tree planting, improved cookstoves, biogas, improved charcoal making kilns etc. for various purposes including combating deforestation; promoting economic growth, substitution of imported petroleum fuels, health improvement, and raising standards of living. However efforts made in introducing these programmes or interventions have met with limited success. This situation prevails because developed bioenergy technologies are not being adopted in adequate numbers by the target groups. There are some indications from the study that some of the real barriers to effective bioenergy interventions or adoption of bioenergy technologies lie at the policy level and not at the project level. After the development and testing of the methodology

Bioenergy options. Multidisciplinary participatory method for assessing bioenergy options for rural villages in Tanzania

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kauzeni, A.S.; Masao, H.P.; Sawe, E.N.; Shechambo, F.C. [Dar Es Salaam Univ. (Tanzania). Inst. of Resource Assessment; Ellegaard, A. [Stockholm Environment Inst. (Sweden)

1998-12-31

In Tanzania, like in many other developing countries in Southern and Eastern Africa, bioenergy planning has received relatively little attention, compared to planning for `modern` energy sources, although it accounts for about 90% of the country`s energy supply. As a result there is less understanding of the complexity and diversity of bioenergy systems. There is a lack of reliable data and information on bio-resources, their consumption and interaction with social, economic, institutional and environmental factors. This is largely due to lack of adequately developed and easily understood methods of data and information development, analysis and methods of evaluating available bioenergy options. In order to address the above constraints a project was initiated where the general objective was to develop and test a multi-disciplinary research method for identifying bioenergy options that can contribute to satisfying the energy needs of the rural household, agricultural and small scale industrial sectors, promote growth and facilitate sustainable development. The decision on the development and testing of a multidisciplinary research method was based on the fact that in Tanzania several bioenergy programmes have been introduced e.g. tree planting, improved cookstoves, biogas, improved charcoal making kilns etc. for various purposes including combating deforestation; promoting economic growth, substitution of imported petroleum fuels, health improvement, and raising standards of living. However efforts made in introducing these programmes or interventions have met with limited success. This situation prevails because developed bioenergy technologies are not being adopted in adequate numbers by the target groups. There are some indications from the study that some of the real barriers to effective bioenergy interventions or adoption of bioenergy technologies lie at the policy level and not at the project level. After the development and testing of the methodology

Field-based estimates of global warming potential in bioenergy systems of Hawaii: Crop choice and deficit irrigation

Science.gov (United States)

Replacing fossil fuel with biofuel is environmentally viable only if the net greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of the system is reduced. The effects of replacing annual arable crops with perennial bioenergy feedstocks on net GHG production and soil carbon (C) stock are critical to the system-level bal...

DOE-INES New Planet Bioenergy Technical Report Final Public Version 7-22-16

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Niederschulte, Mark [INEOS New Planet BioEnergy LLC, Vero Beach, FL (United States); Russell, Kelly [INEOS New Planet BioEnergy LLC, Vero Beach, FL (United States); Connors, Keith [INEOS New Planet BioEnergy LLC, Vero Beach, FL (United States)

2016-07-22

INEOS Bio and New Planet Energy Florida formed a joint venture company called INEOS New Planet BioEnergy (“INPB”) in 2009. This venture’s intent was to demonstrate at commercial scale INEOS Bio’s third-generation technology (the “Bio Process”) that converts a variety of lignocellulosic feedstocks into bioethanol and renewable electricity. INPB applied for and was awarded a $50,000,000 Department of Energy (“DOE”) grant in 2009 to support the construction of the commercial demonstration plant. The grant was a cost-sharing arrangement requiring at least 50% equity participation by the grantee. INPB completed construction of the Indian River BioEnergy Center in Vero Beach, Florida in June, 2012. The facility is designed to produce 8 million gallons per year of fuel-grade bioethanol and 6MW of electrical power, with upwards of 2MW exported to the electrical grid. Construction of the Indian River BioEnergy Center was completed on-time and within its capital budget of $121 million.

Design, modeling, and analysis of a feedstock logistics system.

Science.gov (United States)

Judd, Jason D; Sarin, Subhash C; Cundiff, John S

2012-01-01

Given the location of a bio-energy plant for the conversion of biomass to bio-energy, a feedstock logistics system that relies on the use of satellite storage locations (SSLs) for temporary storage and loading of round bales is proposed. Three equipment systems are considered for handling biomass at the SSLs, and they are either placed permanently or are mobile and thereby travel from one SSL to another. A mathematical programming-based approach is utilized to determine SSLs and equipment routes in order to minimize the total cost. The use of a Side-loading Rack System results in average savings of 21.3% over a Densification System while a Rear-loading Rack System is more expensive to operate than either of the other equipment systems. The utilization of mobile equipment results in average savings of 14.8% over the equipment placed permanently. Furthermore, the Densification System is not justifiable for transportation distances less than 81 km. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recent developments of biofuels/bioenergy sustainability certification: A global overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scarlat, Nicolae; Dallemand, Jean-Francois

2011-01-01

The objective of this paper is to provide a review on the latest developments on the main initiatives and approaches for the sustainability certification for biofuels and/or bioenergy. A large number of national and international initiatives lately experienced rapid development in the view of the biofuels and bioenergy targets announced in the European Union, United States and other countries worldwide. The main certification initiatives are analysed in detail, including certification schemes for crops used as feedstock for biofuels, the various initiatives in the European Union, United States and globally, to cover biofuels and/or biofuels production and use. Finally, the possible way forward for biofuel certification is discussed. Certification has the potential to influence positively direct environmental and social impact of bioenergy production. Key recommendations to ensure sustainability of biofuels/bioenergy through certification include the need of an international approach and further harmonisation, combined with additional measures for global monitoring and control. The effects of biofuels/bioenergy production on indirect land use change (ILUC) is still very uncertain; addressing the unwanted ILUC requires sustainable land use planning and adequate monitoring tools such as remote sensing, regardless of the end-use of the product. - Research highlights: → There is little harmonisation between certification initiatives. → Certification alone is probably not able to avoid certain indirect effects. → Sustainability standards should be applied globally to all agricultural commodities. → A critical issue to certification is implementation and verification. → Monitoring and control of land use changes through remote sensing are needed.

Bio-energy status document 2012; Statusdocument bio-energie 2012

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bles, M.; Schepers, B.L.; Van Grinsven, A.H.; Bergsma, G.C.; Croezen, H.C.

2013-05-15

In 2012 bio-energy contributed over 71 PJ to the Dutch energy supply, a rise of almost 2 PJ over 2011. This means that 75% of the renewable energy consumed in the Netherlands is now derived from biomass. The growth is due mainly to the increase in the mandatory biotransport fuel percentage from 4.25% to 4.5%. The use of energy from 'other biomass combustion' (incl. paper sludge, green waste and chicken excrement) recovered to the level of 2010, following a marked drop in 2011 due to plant maintenance, termination of the MEP ('Environmental Quality of Power Generation') subsidy scheme and high biomass prices. At large power stations there was a considerable decrease in co-incineration of biomass because of incidents (a fire at the Nijmegen coal-fired plant) and a maintenance backlog (at the Amer power station). These are some of the results reported in the 'Bio-energy status document 2012', prepared by CE Delft for NL Agency. In addition to a review and characterisation of the current situation, the report contains an update on government policies on bio-energy and a review of the sources and sustainability of the biomass used in the Netherlands [Dutch] De bijdrage van bio-energie aan de Nederlandse energievoorziening bedroeg in 2012 ruim 71 PJ, een stijging van bijna 2 PJ ten opzichte van 2011. Daarmee is 75% van het verbruik van hernieuwbare energie in Nederland afkomstig van bio-energie. De stijging wordt vooral veroorzaakt door de oplopende bijmengplicht van biotransportbrandstoffen van 4,25% naar 4,5%. Verbruik van energie uit 'overige biomassaverbranding' (o.a. papierslib, groenafval en kippenmest) herstelde zicht tot het niveau van 2010, na een forse daling in 2011 door onderhoud aan installaties, afloop van MEP-subsidies en hoge prijzen van biomassa. Het bij- en meestoken van biomassa in grote elektriciteitscentrales daalde juist aanzienlijk door calamiteiten en uitloop van onderhoud (brand kolencentrale bij Nijmegen

Profitability potential for Pinus taeda L. (loblolly pine) short-rotation bioenergy plantings in the southern USA

Science.gov (United States)

James H. Perdue; John A. Stanturf; Timothy M. Young; Xia Huang; Derek Dougherty; Michael Pigott; Zhimei Guo

2017-01-01

The use of renewable resources is important to the developing bioenergy economy and short rotation woody crops (SRWC) are key renewable feedstocks. A necessary step in advancing SRWC is defining regions suitable for SRWC commercial activities and assessing the relative economic viability among suitable regions. The goal of this study was to assess the potential...

Bioenergy potentials from forestry to 2050. Preliminary results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smeets, E.; Faaij, A.; Lewandowski, I.

2004-05-01

In this study a bottom-up scenario analysis of the global bioenergy production potential is carried out, with specific attention for the impact of underlying factors, existing outlook studies on demand and supply and gaps in the knowledge base that explain the large range in estimates. Key variables are the demand for industrial roundwood and fuelwood, plantation establishment rates and natural forest growth. Key uncertainties are the supply of wood from trees outside and the impact of sustainable forest management (SFM) of yields. Results show that the world is capable of meeting the future demand for industrial roundwood and fuelwood, without further deforestation. The total potential of bioenergy from surplus forest growth and residues is estimated at 27 to 140 EJy -1 in 2050

11. Rostock bioenergy forum. Proceedings; 11. Rostocker Bioenergieforum. Tagungsband

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nelles, Michael (ed.)

2017-08-01

The seven main focus of the bioenergy forum were: 1. Political regulation and its consequences; 2. Flexible energy supply; 3. Biorefineries for the use of residues from bioenergy production; 4. Process optimization biogas; 5. Alternative substrates for biogas production; 6. Cross-sectoral bioenergy concept; 7. Transport sector (biofuels). Five lectures are separately analyzed for this database. [German] Die sieben Themenschwerpunkte des Bioenergieforums waren: 1. Politische Regulierung und deren Folgen; 2. Flexible Energiebereitstellung; 3. Bioraffinerie zur Nutzung von Reststoffen der Bioenergiegewinnung; 4. Prozessoptimierung Biogas; 5. Alternative Substrate zur Biogasgewinnung; 6. Sektoruebergreifende regionale Bioenergiekonzept; und 7. Transportsektor (Biokraftstoffe). Fuenf Vortraege wurden fuer diese Datenbank separat aufgenommen.

Environmental factors affecting the spatial distribution and trophic interactions of arthropod communities at a bioenergy farm in the Southeastern Plains, USA

Science.gov (United States)

The abundance and composition of arthropod communities in agricultural landscapes vary across space and time, responding to environmental features, resources and behavioral cues. As “second-generation” bioenergy feedstocks continue to develop, knowledge is needed about the broader scale ecological i...

Efficient and sustainable deployment of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage in mitigation pathways

Science.gov (United States)

Kato, E.; Moriyama, R.; Kurosawa, A.

2016-12-01

Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is a key component of mitigation strategies in future socio-economic scenarios that aim to keep mean global temperature rise well below 2°C above pre-industrial, which would require net negative carbon emissions at the end of the 21st century. Also, in the Paris agreement from COP21, it is denoted "a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century" which could require large scale deployment of negative emissions technologies later in this century. Because of the additional requirement for land, developing sustainable low-carbon scenarios requires careful consideration of the land-use implications of large-scale BECCS. In this study, we present possible development strategies of low carbon scenarios that consider interaction of economically efficient deployment of bioenergy and/or BECCS technologies, biophysical limit of bioenergy productivity, and food production. In the evaluations, detailed bioenergy representations, including bioenergy feedstocks and conversion technologies with and without CCS, are implemented in an integrated assessment model GRAPE. Also, to overcome a general discrepancy about yield development between 'top-down' integrate assessment models and 'bottom-up' estimates, we applied yields changes of food and bioenergy crops consistent with process-based biophysical models; PRYSBI-2 (Process-Based Regional-Scale Yield Simulator with Bayesian Inference) for food crops, and SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) for bioenergy crops in changing climate conditions. Using the framework, economically viable strategy for implementing sustainable BECCS are evaluated.

Ecological sustainability of alternative biomass feedstock production for environmental benefits and bioenergy

Science.gov (United States)

Ronald S., Jr. Zalesny; Jill A. Zalesny; Edmund O. Bauer

2007-01-01

The incorporation of intensive forestry with waste management fills a much-needed niche throughout numerous phytotechnology applications. There is a growing opportunity to incorporate sustainable recycling of waste waters as irrigation and fertilization for alternative biomass feedstock production systems. However, the success of short rotation woody crops is largely...

Bioenergy in Germany. Facts and figures. Solid fuels, biofuels, biogas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-04-11

The brochure under consideration gives statistical information about the bioenergy in Germany: Renewable energies (bioenergy) and solid fuels. For example, the structure of the primary energy consumption in the year 2010, the energy supply from renewables, gross electricity generation, the total sales of renewables, growth in number of installed pellet boilers, wood fuel equivalent prices by energy value or biofuels in comparison with heating oil are presented.

Biofuel and Bioenergy implementation scenarios. Final report of VIEWLS WP5, modelling studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wakker, A.; Egging, R.; Van Thuijl, E.; Van Tilburg, X.; Deurwaarder, E.P.; De Lange, T.J.; Berndes, G.; Hansson, J.

2005-11-01

This report is published within the framework of the European Commission-supported project 'Clear Views on Clean Fuels' or VIEWLS. The overall objectives of this project are to provide structured and clear data on the availability and performance of biofuel and to identify the possibilities and strategies towards large-scale sustainable production, use and trading of biofuels for the transport sector in Europe, including Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC). This reports constitutes the outcome of the Work Package 5 (WP5) of the VIEWLS project. In WP5 the EU biofuels and bioenergy markets are modelled with the aim to conduct quantitative analyses on the production and costs of biofuels and on the resulting market structure and supply chains. In a bigger context, where possible, WP5 aims also to provide insight into larger socio-economic impacts of bioenergy trade within Europe. The objective of this research is to develop a cost efficient biofuel strategy for Europe in terms of biofuel production, cost and trade, and to assess its larger impact on bioenergy markets and trade up to 2030. Based on the biomass availability and associated costs within EU25, under different conditions, scenarios for biofuels production and cost can be constructed using quantitative modelling tools. Combining this with (cost) data on biofuel conversion technologies and transport of biomass and biofuels, the lowest cost biofuel supply chain given a certain demand predetermined by the biofuels Directive can be designed. In a broader context, this is supplemented by a design of a sustainable bioenergy supply chain in view of the fact that biomass-heat, biomass-electricity and biofuels are competing for the same biomass resources. In other words, the scarcity of bioenergy crops, as manifested through overall bioenergy demand, is an essential variable in bioenergy scenarios

Technoeconomic and policy drivers of project performance for bioenergy alternatives using biomass from beetle-killed trees

Science.gov (United States)

Robert M. Campbell; Nathaniel M. Anderson; Daren E. Daugaard; Helen T. Naughton

2018-01-01

As a result of widespread mortality from beetle infestation in the forests of the western United States, there are substantial stocks of biomass suitable as a feedstock for energy production. This study explored the financial viability of four production pathway scenarios for the conversion of beetle-killed pine to bioenergy and bioproducts in the Rocky Mountains....

The feasibility of producing adequate feedstock for year–round cellulosic ethanol production in an intensive agricultural fuelshed

Science.gov (United States)

Uden, Daniel R.; Mitchell, Rob B.; Allen, Craig R.; Guan, Qingfeng; McCoy, Tim D.

2013-01-01

To date, cellulosic ethanol production has not been commercialized in the United States. However, government mandates aimed at increasing second-generation biofuel production could spur exploratory development in the cellulosic ethanol industry. We conducted an in-depth analysis of the fuelshed surrounding a starch-based ethanol plant near York, Nebraska that has the potential for cellulosic ethanol production. To assess the feasibility of supplying adequate biomass for year-round cellulosic ethanol production from residual maize (Zea mays) stover and bioenergy switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) within a 40-km road network service area of the existing ethanol plant, we identified ∼14,000 ha of marginally productive cropland within the service area suitable for conversion from annual rowcrops to switchgrass and ∼132,000 ha of maize-enrolled cropland from which maize stover could be collected. Annual maize stover and switchgrass biomass supplies within the 40-km service area could range between 429,000 and 752,000 metric tons (mT). Approximately 140–250 million liters (l) of cellulosic ethanol could be produced, rivaling the current 208 million l annual starch-based ethanol production capacity of the plant. We conclude that sufficient quantities of biomass could be produced from maize stover and switchgrass near the plant to support year-round cellulosic ethanol production at current feedstock yields, sustainable removal rates and bioconversion efficiencies. Modifying existing starch-based ethanol plants in intensive agricultural fuelsheds could increase ethanol output, return marginally productive cropland to perennial vegetation, and remove maize stover from productive cropland to meet feedstock demand.

Beetle-kill to carbon-negative bioenergy in the Rockies: stand, enterprise, and regional-scale perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

Field, J.; Paustian, K.

2016-12-01

The interior mountain West is particularly vulnerable to climate change with potential impacts including drought and wildfire intensification, and wide-scale species disruptions due to shifts in habitable elevation ranges or other effects. One such example is the current outbreak of native mountain pine and spruce beetles across the Rockies, with warmer winters, dryer summers, and a legacy of logging and fire suppression all interacting to result in infestation and unprecedented tree mortality over more than 42 million acres. Current global climate change mitigation commitments imply that shifts to renewable energy must be supplemented with widespread deployment of carbon-negative technologies such as BECCS and biochar. Carefully-designed forest bioenergy and biochar industries can play an important role in meeting these targets, valorizing woody biomass and allowing more acres to be actively managed under existing land management goals while simultaneously displacing fossil energy use and directly sequestering carbon. In this work we assess the negative emissions potential from the deployment of biochar co-producing thermochemical bioenergy technologies in the Rockies using beetle-kill wood as a feedstock, a way of leveraging a climate change driven problem for climate mitigation. We start with a review and classification of bioenergy lifecycle assessment emission source categories, clarifying the differences in mechanism and confidence around emissions sources, offsets, sequestration, and leakage effects. Next we develop methods for modeling ecosystem carbon response to biomass removals at the stand scale, considering potential species shifts and regrowth rates under different harvest systems deployed in different areas. We then apply a lifecycle assessment framework to evaluate the performance of a set of real-world bioenergy technologies at enterprise scale, including biomass logistics and conversion product yields. We end with an exploration of regional

Crop and Soil Responses to Using Corn Stover as a Bioenergy Feedstock: Observations from the Northern US Corn Belt

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jane M. F. Johnson

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Corn (Zea mays L. stover is a potential bioenergy feedstock, but little is known about the impacts of reducing stover return on yield and soil quality in the Northern US Corn Belt. Our study objectives were to measure the impact of three stover return rates (Full (~7.8 Mg ha−1 yr−1, Moderate (~3.8 Mg ha−1 yr−1 or Low (~1.5 Mg ha yr−1 Return on corn and soybean (Glycine max. L [Merr.] yields and on soil dynamic properties on a chisel-tilled (Chisel field, and well- (NT1995 or newly- (NT2005 established no-till managed fields. Stover return rate did not affect corn and soybean yields except under NT1995 where Low Return (2.88 Mg ha−1 reduced yields compared with Full and Moderate Return (3.13 Mg ha−1. In NT1995 at 0–5 cm depth, particulate organic matter in Full Return and Moderate Return (14.3 g kg−1 exceeded Low Return (11.3 g kg−1. In NT2005, acid phosphatase activity was reduced about 20% in Low Return compared to Full Return. Also the Low Return had an increase in erodible-sized dry aggregates at the soil surface compared to Full Return. Three or fewer cycles of stover treatments revealed little evidence for short-term impacts on crop yield, but detected subtle soil changes that indicate repeated harvests may have negative consequences if stover removed.

The role of bioenergy in the energy transition. The ''Smart Bioenergy'' concept; Die Rolle der Bioenergie in der Energiewende. Das ''Smart Bioenergy''-Konzept

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thraen, Daniela [Helmholtz-Zentrum fuer Umweltforschung - UFZ, Leipzig (Germany). Dept. Bioenergie (BEN); DBFZ Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum gGmbH, Leipzig (Germany). Bereich Bioenergiesysteme; Seitz, Stefanie B.; Wirkner, Ronny; Nelles, Michael [DBFZ Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum gGmbH, Leipzig (Germany). Bereich Bioenergiesysteme

2016-08-01

The energy system's transformation away from fossil and therefore finite resources and ecological harmful use towards renewable energy sources and sustainable forms of usage proceeds. But even after 35 years, the German energy transition has yet not reached its ambitious goals. Moreover, in the recent years the progress has stagnated in certain areas. This is due to the fact that one of the central challenges of the energy system's changeover to an sole use renewable energy (RE) have not yet mastered: the reliable and stable delivery of RE for all energy dependent sectors starting form electricity via heat to mobility in the face of fluctuating energy sources like sun and wind. Bioenergy with its flexible use of innovative technologies and smart integration in the overall system is therefore vital to grant stability of energy supply. Furthermore, bioenergy can recourse on sustainable resources and may become therefore the backbone of the future bioeconomy. For this purpose an integrative approach is necessary that aligns the aforementioned building blocks in a cohesive whole: the Smart Bioenergy concept - that will be presented here with its elements but also open questions and challenges.

IEA Bioenergy. Annual report 1996

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-01-01

The report describes the organization and the results of the recently completed and the ongoing tasks. Ongoing tasks 1995 were: Biomass Production, Harvesting and Supply (Task XII); Biomass Utilization (Task XIII); Energy Recovery from Municipal Waste (Task XIV) and Greenhouse Gas Balances of Bioenergy Systems (Task XV). Lists of publications from the different tasks are given

IEA bioenergy annual report 1995

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

The report describes the organization and the results of the recently completed and the ongoing tasks. Ongoing tasks 1995 were: Biomass Production, Harvesting and Supply (Task XII); Biomass Utilization (Task XIII); Energy Recovery from Municipal Waste (Task XIV) and Greenhouse Gas Balances of Bioenergy Systems (Task XV). Lists of publications from the different tasks are given. 151 refs

IEA Bioenergy. Annual report 1996

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-04-01

The report describes the organization and the results of the recently completed and the ongoing tasks. Ongoing tasks 1995 were: Biomass Production, Harvesting and Supply (Task XII); Biomass Utilization (Task XIII); Energy Recovery from Municipal Waste (Task XIV) and Greenhouse Gas Balances of Bioenergy Systems (Task XV). Lists of publications from the different tasks are given

IEA bioenergy annual report 1995

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-06-01

The report describes the organization and the results of the recently completed and the ongoing tasks. Ongoing tasks 1995 were: Biomass Production, Harvesting and Supply (Task XII); Biomass Utilization (Task XIII); Energy Recovery from Municipal Waste (Task XIV) and Greenhouse Gas Balances of Bioenergy Systems (Task XV). Lists of publications from the different tasks are given. 151 refs

Bioenergy production and forest landscape change in the southeastern United States

Science.gov (United States)

Costanza, Jennifer K.; Abt, Robert C.; McKerrow, Alexa; Collazo, Jaime A.

2016-01-01

Production of woody biomass for bioenergy, whether wood pellets or liquid biofuels, has the potential to cause substantial landscape change and concomitant effects on forest ecosystems, but the landscape effects of alternative production scenarios have not been fully assessed. We simulated landscape change from 2010 to 2050 under five scenarios of woody biomass production for wood pellets and liquid biofuels in North Carolina, in the southeastern United States, a region that is a substantial producer of wood biomass for bioenergy and contains high biodiversity. Modeled scenarios varied biomass feedstocks, incorporating harvest of ‘conventional’ forests, which include naturally regenerating as well as planted forests that exist on the landscape even without bioenergy production, as well as purpose-grown woody crops grown on marginal lands. Results reveal trade-offs among scenarios in terms of overall forest area and the characteristics of the remaining forest in 2050. Meeting demand for biomass from conventional forests resulted in more total forest land compared with a baseline, business-as-usual scenario. However, the remaining forest was composed of more intensively managed forest and less of the bottomland hardwood and longleaf pine habitats that support biodiversity. Converting marginal forest to purpose-grown crops reduced forest area, but the remaining forest contained more of the critical habitats for biodiversity. Conversion of marginal agricultural lands to purpose-grown crops resulted in smaller differences from the baseline scenario in terms of forest area and the characteristics of remaining forest habitats. Each scenario affected the dominant type of land-use change in some regions, especially in the coastal plain that harbors high levels of biodiversity. Our results demonstrate the complex landscape effects of alternative bioenergy scenarios, highlight that the regions most likely to be affected by bioenergy production are also critical for

Two levels decision system for efficient planning and implementation of bioenergy production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ayoub, Nasser; Martins, Ricardo; Wang, Kefeng; Seki, Hiroya; Naka, Yuji

2007-01-01

When planning bioenergy production from biomass, planners should take into account each and every stakeholder along the biomass supply chains, e.g. biomass resources suppliers, transportation, conversion and electricity suppliers. Also, the planners have to consider social concerns, environmental and economical impacts related with establishing the biomass systems and the specific difficulties of each country. To overcome these problems in a sustainable manner, a robust decision support system is required. For that purpose, a two levels general Bioenergy Decision System (gBEDS) for bioenergy production planning and implementation was developed. The core part of the gBEDS is the information base, which includes the basic bioenergy information and the detailed decision information. Basic bioenergy information include, for instance, the geographical information system (GIS) database, the biomass materials' database, the biomass logistic database and the biomass conversion database. The detailed decision information considers the parameters' values database with their default values and the variables database, values obtained by simulation and optimization. It also includes a scenario database, which is used for demonstration to new users and also for case based reasoning by planners and executers. Based on the information base, the following modules are included to support decision making: the simulation module with graph interface based on the unit process (UP) definition and the genetic algorithms (GAs) methods for optimal decisions and the Matlab module for applying data mining methods (fuzzy C-means clustering and decision trees) to the biomass collection points, to define the location of storage and bioenergy conversion plants based on the simulation and optimization model developed of the whole life cycle of bioenergy generation. Furthermore, Matlab is used to set up a calculation model with crucial biomass planning parameters (e.g. costs, CO 2 emissions), over

Non-technical success factors for bioenergy projects—Learning from a multiple case study in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blumer, Yann B.; Stauffacher, Michael; Lang, Daniel J.; Hayashi, Kiyotada; Uchida, Susumu

2013-01-01

There is wide agreement in the literature that non-technical factors play a decisive role in the successful implementation of bioenergy projects. One underlying reason is that such projects require the involvement of many stakeholders, such as feedstock producers, engineers, authorities and the concerned public. We analyze the role of bioenergy-specific non-technical factors for the success of bioenergy projects. In a broad literature review we first identify potential success factors belonging to the five dimensions project characteristics, policy framework, regional integration, public perception and stakeholders. Using these factors as conceptual framework, we next analyze six Japanese pilot projects for bioenergy utilization supported by Japans Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council. We apply Rough Set Analysis, a data mining method that can be used for small sample sizes to identify patterns in a dataset. We find that, by and large, non-technical factors from all five dimensions – such as the stability of the local policy framework – co-occur with project success. Furthermore, we show that there are diverging interpretations as to what success in a bioenergy project means. This requires tradeoffs between various goals, which should be identified and addressed explicitly at early stages of such a project. - Highlights: • We collect a broad list of non-technical success factors for bioenergy projects. • These are applied to six pilot projects in Japan and shown to be relevant. • We acknowledge different aspects of project success and their potential conflicts

Bioenergy Status Document 2012; Statusdocument Bio-energie 2012

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bles, M.; Schepers, B.; Van Grinsven, A.; Bergsma, G.; Croezen, H. [CE Delft, Delft (Netherlands)

2013-05-15

In addition to a review and characterisation of the current situation, the report contains an update on government policies on bio-energy and a review of the sources and sustainability of the biomass used in the Netherlands [Dutch] Het statusdocument bio-energie 2012 geeft de huidige status weer van bio-energie in Nederland, inclusief trends en verwachtingen voor de toekomst. Het doel van dit document is inzicht verstrekken in de ontwikkelingen van bio-energie, voor overheden en marktpartijen.

Air-quality and Climatic Consequences of Bioenergy Crop Cultivation

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, William Christian

Bioenergy is expected to play an increasingly significant role in the global energy budget. In addition to the use of liquid energy forms such as ethanol and biodiesel, electricity generation using processed energy crops as a partial or full coal alternative is expected to increase, requiring large-scale conversions of land for the cultivation of bioenergy feedstocks such as cane, grasses, or short rotation coppice. With land-use change identified as a major contributor to changes in the emission of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), many of which are known contributors to the pollutants ozone (O 3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), careful review of crop emission profiles and local atmospheric chemistry will be necessary to mitigate any unintended air-quality consequences. In this work, the atmospheric consequences of bioenergy crop replacement are examined using both the high-resolution regional chemical transport model WRF/Chem (Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry) and the global climate model CESM (Community Earth System Model). Regional sensitivities to several representative crop types are analyzed, and the impacts of each crop on air quality and climate are compared. Overall, the high emitting crops (eucalyptus and giant reed) were found to produce climate and human health costs totaling up to 40% of the value of CO 2 emissions prevented, while the related costs of the lowest-emitting crop (switchgrass) were negligible.

Evaluation of attached periphytical algal communities for biofuel feedstock generation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sandefur, H.N.; Matlock, M.D.; Costello, T.A. [Arkansas Univ., Division of Agriculture, Fayetteville, AR (United States). Dept. of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability

2010-07-01

This paper reported on a study that investigated the feasibility of using algal biomass as a feedstock for biofuel production. Algae has a high lipid content, and with its high rate of production, it can produce more oil on less land than traditional bioenergy crops. In addition, algal communities can remove nutrients from wastewater. Enclosed photobioreactors and open pond systems are among the many different algal growth systems that can be highly productive. However, they can also be difficult to maintain. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the ability of a pilot scale algal turf scrubber (ATS) to facilitate the growth of attached periphytic algal communities for the production of biomass feedstock and the removal of nutrients from a local stream in Springdale, Arizona. The ATS operated for a 9 month sampling period, during which time the system productivity averaged 26 g per m{sup 2} per day. The removal of total phosphorus and total nitrogen averaged 48 and 13 per cent, respectively.

Biofuels feedstock development program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wright, L.L.; Cushman, J.H.; Ehrenshaft, A.R.; McLaughlin, S.B.; McNabb, W.A.; Martin, S.A.; Ranney, J.W.; Tuskan, G.A.; Turhollow, A.F.

1993-11-01

The Department of Energy's (DOE's) Biofuels Feedstock Development Program (BFDP) leads the nation in the research, development, and demonstration of environmentally acceptable and commercially viable dedicated feedstock supply systems (DFSS). The purpose of this report is to highlight the status and accomplishments of the research that is currently being funded by the BFDP. Highlights summarized here and additional accomplishments are described in more detail in the sections associated with each major program task. A few key accomplishments include (1) development of a methodology for doing a cost-supply analysis for energy crops and the application of that methodology to looking at possible land use changes around a specific energy facility in East Tennessee; (2) preliminary documentation of the relationship between woody crop plantation locations and bird diversity at sites in the Midwest, Canada, and the pacific Northwest supplied indications that woody crop plantations could be beneficial to biodiversity; (3) the initiation of integrated switchgrass variety trials, breeding research, and biotechnology research for the south/southeast region; (4) development of a data base management system for documenting the results of herbaceous energy crop field trials; (5) publication of three issues of Energy Crops Forum and development of a readership of over 2,300 individuals or organizations as determined by positive responses on questionnaires

Estimating Biofuel Feedstock Water Footprints Using System Dynamics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Inman, Daniel; Warner, Ethan; Stright, Dana; Macknick, Jordan; Peck, Corey

2016-07-01

Increased biofuel production has prompted concerns about the environmental tradeoffs of biofuels compared to petroleum-based fuels. Biofuel production in general, and feedstock production in particular, is under increased scrutiny. Water footprinting (measuring direct and indirect water use) has been proposed as one measure to evaluate water use in the context of concerns about depleting rural water supplies through activities such as irrigation for large-scale agriculture. Water footprinting literature has often been limited in one or more key aspects: complete assessment across multiple water stocks (e.g., vadose zone, surface, and ground water stocks), geographical resolution of data, consistent representation of many feedstocks, and flexibility to perform scenario analysis. We developed a model called BioSpatial H2O using a system dynamics modeling and database framework. BioSpatial H2O could be used to consistently evaluate the complete water footprints of multiple biomass feedstocks at high geospatial resolutions. BioSpatial H2O has the flexibility to perform simultaneous scenario analysis of current and potential future crops under alternative yield and climate conditions. In this proof-of-concept paper, we modeled corn grain (Zea mays L.) and soybeans (Glycine max) under current conditions as illustrative results. BioSpatial H2O links to a unique database that houses annual spatially explicit climate, soil, and plant physiological data. Parameters from the database are used as inputs to our system dynamics model for estimating annual crop water requirements using daily time steps. Based on our review of the literature, estimated green water footprints are comparable to other modeled results, suggesting that BioSpatial H2O is computationally sound for future scenario analysis. Our modeling framework builds on previous water use analyses to provide a platform for scenario-based assessment. BioSpatial H2O's system dynamics is a flexible and user

Developing a sustainability framework for the assessment of bioenergy systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elghali, Lucia; Clift, Roland; Sinclair, Philip; Panoutsou, Calliope; Bauen, Ausilio

2007-01-01

The potential for biomass to contribute to energy supply in a low-carbon economy is well recognised. However, for the sector to contribute fully to sustainable development in the UK, specific exploitation routes must meet the three sets of criteria usually recognised as representing the tests for sustainability: economic viability in the market and fiscal framework within which the supply chain operates; environmental performance, including, but not limited to, low carbon dioxide emissions over the complete fuel cycle; and social acceptability, with the benefits of using biomass recognised as outweighing any negative social impacts. This paper describes an approach to developing a methodology to establish a sustainability framework for the assessment of bioenergy systems to provide practical advice for policy makers, planners and the bioenergy industry, and thus to support policy development and bioenergy deployment at different scales. The approach uses multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and decision-conferencing, to explore how such a process is able to integrate and reconcile the interests and concerns of diverse stakeholder groups

Designing bioenergy crop buffers to mitigate nitrous oxide emissions and water quality impacts from agriculture

Science.gov (United States)

Gopalakrishnan, G.; Negri, C. M.

2010-12-01

There is a strong societal need to evaluate and understand the environmental aspects of bioenergy production, especially due to the significant increases in production mandated by many countries, including the United States. Bioenergy is a land-based renewable resource and increases in production are likely to result in large-scale conversion of land from current uses to bioenergy crop production; potentially causing increases in the prices of food, land and agricultural commodities as well as disruption of ecosystems. Current research on the environmental sustainability of bioenergy has largely focused on the potential of bioenergy crops to sequester carbon and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and possible impacts on water quality and quantity. A key assumption in these studies is that bioenergy crops will be grown in a manner similar to current agricultural crops such as corn and hence would affect the environment similarly. This study presents a systems approach where the agricultural, energy and environmental sectors are considered as components of a single system, and bioenergy crops are used to design multi-functional agricultural landscapes that meet society’s requirements for food, energy and environmental protection. We evaluate the production of bioenergy crop buffers on marginal land and using degraded water and discuss the potential for growing cellulosic bioenergy crops such as miscanthus and switchgrass in optimized systems such that (1) marginal land is brought into productive use; (2) impaired water is used to boost yields (3); clean freshwater is left for other uses that require higher water quality; and (4) feedstock diversification is achieved that helps ecological sustainability, biodiversity, and economic opportunities for farmers. The process-based biogeochemical model DNDC was used to simulate crop yield, nitrous oxide production and nitrate concentrations in groundwater when bioenergy crops were grown in buffer strips adjacent to

BioEnergy Feasibility in South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Hugo, Wim

2015-04-01

The BioEnergy Atlas for South Africa is the result of a project funded by the South African Department of Science and Technology, and executed by SAEON/ NRF with the assistance of a number of collaborators in academia, research institutions, and government. Now nearing completion, the Atlas provides an important input to policy and decision support in the country, significantly strengthens the availability of information resources on the topic, and provides a platform whereby current and future contributions on the subject can be managed, preserved, and disseminated. Bioenergy assessments have been characterized in the past by poor availability and quality of data, an over-emphasis on potentials and availability studies instead of feasibility assessment, and lack of comprehensive evaluation in competition with alternatives - both in respect of competing bioenergy resources and other renewable and non-renewable options. The BioEnergy Atlas in its current edition addresses some of these deficiencies, and identifies specific areas of interest where future research and effort can be directed. One can qualify the potentials and feasible options for BioEnergy exploitation in South Africa as follows: (1) Availability is not a fixed quantum. Availability of biomass and resulting energy products are sensitive to both the exclusionary measures one applies (food security, environmental, social and economic impacts) and the price at which final products will be competitive. (2) Availability is low. Even without allowing for feasibility and final product costs, the availability of biomass is low: biomass productivity in South Africa is not high by global standards due to rainfall constraints, and most arable land is used productively for food and agribusiness-related activities. This constrains the feasibility of purposely cultivated bioenergy crops. (3) Waste streams are important. There are significant waste streams from domestic solid waste and sewage, some agricultural

Bioenergy: Resource efficiency and contributions to energy- and climate policy objectives; Bioenergi: Resurseffektivitet och bidrag till energi- och klimatpolitiska maal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berndes, Goeran; Karlsson, Sten [Chalmers Univ. of Technology, SE-412 96 Goeteborg (Sweden). Div. of Physical Resource Theory; Boerjesson, Paal; Rosenqvist, Haakan [Lund Univ., Lund (Sweden). Environmental and Energy Systems Studies

2008-09-15

transition, and given specific targets for mitigation or use of renewables within a certain sector, is also important. In addition to climate impact, bioenergy initiatives are motivated by for example the goal of creating jobs as well as the goal of improving the nation's security of supply. Discussions surrounding security of supply have mainly focused on our dependency on imported oil. Naturally, this puts the transportation sector in sharp relief; consequently, liquid biofuels are advocated as the most effective bioenergy alternative when the goal is increasing the security of energy supply. However, in the rest of Europe, the growing dependency on imported natural gas is also a central issue. In the long run, conditions may change dramatically when new technologies are established, if these are deployed large-scale. For instance, plug-in hybrid technology makes possible a far-reaching liberation from the need for transportable fuels in the transportation sector.

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

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Arodudu, Oludunsin Tunrayo; Helming, Katharina; Voinov, Alexey; Wiggering, Hubert

2017-01-01

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,

Pathways and pitfalls of implementing the use of woodfuels in Germany's bioenergy sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Plieninger, Tobias; Thiel, Andreas; Bens, Oliver; Huettl, Reinhard F.

2009-01-01

The paper presents an empirical study on the use of woody biomass for energy supply in Germany and the federal state of Brandenburg. It aims to explain the role forestry enterprises have for bioenergy provision in this area. The 'Institutions of Sustainability' framework is used as an analytical tool to investigate the role of private and public actors in these transactions, respectively, in the governance structures they are subject to. Empirical evidence was gathered by in-depth interviews with actors from forestry and bioenergy practice. Triggered by favorable governance structures, i.e. strong support by national and regional policies, rising prices for fossil energy sources, and co-operation of committed individuals and groups, a new bioenergy industry has been successfully established. However, the forestry sector has so far been just a marginal fuel supplier for this industry. The study identifies pitfalls impeding a broad implementation of wood-energy supply in forestry: not cost-covering prices offered by the bioenergy sector, lacking market transparency and security of supply, lacking mobilization of forest wood, and a preference among forest managers to sell products to the wood-processing industry. In terms of the Institutions of Sustainability the properties of transactions (asset specificities, uncertainties, separability), characteristics of actors (values, rationality) and governance structures (long-term contractual obligations elsewhere) are decisive in explaining the current form of transaction. (author)

Bio-energy in Europe: changing technology choices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faaij, Andre P.C.

2006-01-01

Bio-energy is seen as one of the key options to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and substitute fossil fuels. This is certainly evident in Europe, where a kaleidoscope of activities and programs was and is executed for developing and stimulating bio-energy. Over the past 10-15 years in the European Union, heat and electricity production from biomass increased with some 2% and 9% per year, respectively, between 1990 and 2000 and biofuel production increased about eight-fold in the same period. Biomass contributed some two-thirds of the total renewable energy production in the European Union (EU) (2000 PJ) or 4% of the total energy supply in 1999. Given the targets for heat, power and biofuels, this contribution may rise to some 10% (6000 PJ) in 2010. Over time, the scale at which bio-energy is being used has increased considerably. This is true for electricity and combined heat and power plants, and how biomass markets are developing from purely regional to international markets, with increasing cross-border trade-flows. So far, national policy programs proved to be of vital importance for the success of the development of bio-energy, which led to very specific technological choices in various countries. For the future, a supra-national approach is desired: comprehensive research development, demonstration and deployment trajectories for key options as biomass integrated gasification/combined cycle and advanced biofuel concepts, develop an international biomass market allowing for international trade and an integral policy approach for bio-energy incorporating energy, agricultural, forestry, waste and industrial policies. The Common Agricultural Policy of the (extended) EU should fully incorporate bio-energy and perennial crops in particular

Bioenergy systems sustainability assessment & management (BIOSSAM) guidance portal for policy, decision and development support of integrated bioenergy supply interventions

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Stafford, WHL

2010-08-01

Full Text Available . There are several new bioenergy interventions (policies, projects, or programmes) that are being considered and these developments must be assessed in terms of their sustainability. Both public and private sector policy makers, decision makers, and technology...

A meta-analysis of the greenhouse gas abatement of bioenergy factoring in land use changes.

Science.gov (United States)

El Akkari, M; Réchauchère, O; Bispo, A; Gabrielle, B; Makowski, D

2018-06-04

Non-food biomass production is developing rapidly to fuel the bioenergy sector and substitute dwindling fossil resources, which is likely to impact land-use patterns worldwide. Recent publications attempting to factor this effect into the climate mitigation potential of bioenergy chains have come to widely variable conclusions depending on their scope, data sources or methodology. Here, we conducted a first of its kind, systematic review of scientific literature on this topic and derived quantitative trends through a meta-analysis. We showed that second-generation biofuels and bioelectricity have a larger greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement potential than first generation biofuels, and stand the best chances (with a 80 to 90% probability range) of achieving a 50% reduction compared to fossil fuels. Conversely, directly converting forest ecosystems to produce bioenergy feedstock appeared as the worst-case scenario, systematically leading to negative GHG savings. On the other hand, converting grassland appeared to be a better option and entailed a 60% chance of halving GHG emissions compared to fossil energy sources. Since most climate mitigation scenarios assume still larger savings, it is critical to gain better insight into land-use change effects to provide a more realistic estimate of the mitigation potential associated with bioenergy.

Cob biomass supply for combined heat and power and biofuel in the north central USA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmer, Marty R.; Dose, Heather L.

2014-01-01

Corn (Zea mays L.) cobs are being evaluated as a potential bioenergy feedstock for combined heat and power generation (CHP) and conversion into a biofuel. The objective of this study was to determine corn cob availability in north central United States (Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota) using existing corn grain ethanol plants as a proxy for possible future co-located cellulosic ethanol plants. Cob production estimates averaged 6.04 Tg and 8.87 Tg using a 40 km radius area and 80 km radius area, respectively, from existing corn grain ethanol plants. The use of CHP from cobs reduces overall GHG emissions by 60%–65% from existing dry mill ethanol plants. An integrated biorefinery further reduces corn grain ethanol GHG emissions with estimated ranges from 13.9 g CO 2  equiv MJ −1 to 17.4 g CO 2  equiv MJ −1 . Significant radius area overlap (53% overlap for 40 km radius and 86% overlap for 80 km radius) exists for cob availability between current corn grain ethanol plants in this region suggesting possible cob supply constraints for a mature biofuel industry. A multi-feedstock approach will likely be required to meet multiple end user renewable energy requirements for the north central United States. Economic and feedstock logistics models need to account for possible supply constraints under a mature biofuel industry. - Highlights: • Corn cob biomass was estimated for the north central United States region. • Cobs were evaluated for combined heat and power generation and bioethanol. • Co-located ethanol plants showed a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. • Biomass supply constraints may occur under a mature cellulosic ethanol scenario

Robust and sustainable bioenergy: Biomass in the future Danish energy system; Robust og baeredygtig bioenergi: Biomasse i fremtidens danske energisystem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Skoett, T.

2012-09-15

The publication is a collection of articles about new, exciting technologies for the production of bioenergy, which received support from Danish research programmes. The green technologies must be sustainable so that future generations' opportunities for bioenergy use is not restricted, and the solutions must be robust in relation to security of supply, costs and energy economy. In this context, research plays a crucial role. Research is especially carried out within the use of residues as bio-waste, straw, wood and manure for energy purposes, but there are also projects on energy crops, as well as research into how algae from the sea can increase the production of biomass. (LN)

Developing Switchgrass as a Bioenergy Crop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bouton, J.; Bransby, D.; Conger, B.; McLaughlin, S.; Ocumpaugh, W.; Parrish, D.; Taliaferro, C.; Vogel, K.; Wullschleger, S.

1998-11-08

The utilization of energy crops produced on American farms as a source of renewable fuels is a concept with great relevance to current ecological and economic issues at both national and global scales. Development of a significant national capacity to utilize perennial forage crops, such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum, L.) as biofuels could benefit our agricultural economy by providing an important new source of income for farmers. In addition energy production from perennial cropping systems, which are compatible with conventional fining practices, would help reduce degradation of agricultural soils, lower national dependence on foreign oil supplies, and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and toxic pollutants to the atmosphere (McLaughlin 1998). Interestingly, on-farm energy production is a very old concept, extending back to 19th century America when both transpofiation and work on the farm were powered by approximately 27 million draft animals and fueled by 34 million hectares of grasslands (Vogel 1996). Today a new form of energy production is envisioned for some of this same acreage. The method of energy production is exactly the same - solar energy captured in photosynthesis, but the subsequent modes of energy conversion are vastly different, leading to the production of electricity, transportation fuels, and chemicals from the renewable feedstocks. While energy prices in the United States are among the cheapest in the world, the issues of high dependency on imported oil, the uncertainties of maintaining stable supplies of imported oil from finite reserves, and the environmental costs associated with mining, processing, and combusting fossil fuels have been important drivers in the search for cleaner burning fuels that can be produced and renewed from the landscape. At present biomass and bioenergy combine provide only about 4% of the total primary energy used in the U.S. (Overend 1997). By contrast, imported oil accounts for approximately 44% of the

Evaluating the Potential of Marginal Land for Cellulosic Feedstock Production and Carbon Sequestration in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Emery, Isaac; Mueller, Steffen; Qin, Zhangcai; Dunn, Jennifer B

2017-01-03

Land availability for growing feedstocks at scale is a crucial concern for the bioenergy industry. Feedstock production on land not well-suited to growing conventional crops, or marginal land, is often promoted as ideal, although there is a poor understanding of the qualities, quantity, and distribution of marginal lands in the United States. We examine the spatial distribution of land complying with several key marginal land definitions at the United States county, agro-ecological zone, and national scales, and compare the ability of both marginal land and land cover data sets to identify regions for feedstock production. We conclude that very few land parcels comply with multiple definitions of marginal land. Furthermore, to examine possible carbon-flow implications of feedstock production on land that could be considered marginal per multiple definitions, we model soil carbon changes upon transitions from marginal cropland, grassland, and cropland-pastureland to switchgrass production for three marginal land-rich counties. Our findings suggest that total soil organic carbon changes per county are small, and generally positive, and can influence life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of switchgrass ethanol.

Integrating sustainable biofuels and byproducts into forest industry supply chains

Science.gov (United States)

Reid Hensen; Maureen Essen; Nathaniel Anderson; Larry Peters; April Kimmerly

2016-01-01

Forest biomass is a promising feedstock for the production of bioenergy, biofuels, and bioproducts because it is renewable and widely available as a byproduct of forest management. Its harvest and use also has the potential to positively impact rural communities, especially those negatively impacted by upheaval in the forest sector.

IEA Bioenergy. Annual report 1997

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-01-01

The report describes the organization and the results of recently completed and ongoing tasks. Ongoing tasks in 1997 were: Biomass Production, Harvesting and Supply (Task XII); Biomass Utilization (Task XIII); Energy Recovery from Municipal Solid Waste (Task XIV); Greenhouse Gas Balances of Bioenergy Systems (Task XV); and Technology Assessment Studies for the Conversion of Cellulosic Materials to Ethanol in Sweden (Task XVI). Lists of publications from the different tasks are given

IEA Bioenergy. Annual report 1997

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-12-31

The report describes the organization and the results of recently completed and ongoing tasks. Ongoing tasks in 1997 were: Biomass Production, Harvesting and Supply (Task XII); Biomass Utilization (Task XIII); Energy Recovery from Municipal Solid Waste (Task XIV); Greenhouse Gas Balances of Bioenergy Systems (Task XV); and Technology Assessment Studies for the Conversion of Cellulosic Materials to Ethanol in Sweden (Task XVI). Lists of publications from the different tasks are given

IEA Bioenergy. Annual report 1997

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-12-31

The report describes the organization and the results of recently completed and ongoing tasks. Ongoing tasks in 1997 were: Biomass Production, Harvesting and Supply (Task XII); Biomass Utilization (Task XIII); Energy Recovery from Municipal Solid Waste (Task XIV); Greenhouse Gas Balances of Bioenergy Systems (Task XV); and Technology Assessment Studies for the Conversion of Cellulosic Materials to Ethanol in Sweden (Task XVI). Lists of publications from the different tasks are given

Crop residue harvest for bioenergy production and its implications on soil functioning and plant growth: A review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maurício Roberto Cherubin

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: The use of crop residues as a bioenergy feedstock is considered a potential strategy to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG emissions. However, indiscriminate harvesting of crop residues can induce deleterious effects on soil functioning, plant growth and other ecosystem services. Here, we have summarized the information available in the literature to identify and discuss the main trade-offs and synergisms involved in crop residue management for bioenergy production. The data consistently showed that crop residue harvest and the consequent lower input of organic matter into the soil led to C storage depletions over time, reducing cycling, supply and availability of soil nutrients, directly affecting the soil biota. Although the biota regulates key functions in the soil, crop residue can also cause proliferation of some important agricultural pests. In addition, crop residues act as physical barriers that protect the soil against raindrop impact and temperature variations. Therefore, intensive crop residue harvest can cause soil structure degradation, leading to soil compaction and increased risks of erosion. With regard to GHG emissions, there is no consensus about the potential impact of management of crop residue harvest. In general, residue harvest decreases CO2 and N2O emissions from the decomposition process, but it has no significant effect on CH4 emissions. Plant growth responses to soil and microclimate changes due to crop residue harvest are site and crop specific. Adoption of the best management practices can mitigate the adverse impacts of crop residue harvest. Longterm experiments within strategic production regions are essential to understand and monitor the impact of integrated agricultural systems and propose customized solutions for sustainable crop residue management in each region or landscape. Furthermore, private and public investments/cooperations are necessary for a better understanding of the potential environmental

Not carbon neutral: Assessing the net emissions impact of residues burned for bioenergy

Science.gov (United States)

Booth, Mary S.

2018-03-01

Climate mitigation requires emissions to peak then decline within two decades, but many mitigation models include 100 EJ or more of bioenergy, ignoring emissions from biomass oxidation. Treatment of bioenergy as ‘low carbon’ or carbon neutral often assumes fuels are agricultural or forestry residues that will decompose and emit CO2 if not burned for energy. However, for ‘low carbon’ assumptions about residues to be reasonable, two conditions must be met: biomass must genuinely be material left over from some other process; and cumulative net emissions, the additional CO2 emitted by burning biomass compared to its alternative fate, must be low or negligible in a timeframe meaningful for climate mitigation. This study assesses biomass use and net emissions from the US bioenergy and wood pellet manufacturing sectors. It defines the ratio of cumulative net emissions to combustion, manufacturing and transport emissions as the net emissions impact (NEI), and evaluates the NEI at year 10 and beyond for a variety of scenarios. The analysis indicates the US industrial bioenergy sector mostly burns black liquor and has an NEI of 20% at year 10, while the NEI for plants burning forest residues ranges from 41%-95%. Wood pellets have a NEI of 55%-79% at year 10, with net CO2 emissions of 14-20 tonnes for every tonne of pellets; by year 40, the NEI is 26%-54%. Net emissions may be ten times higher at year 40 if whole trees are harvested for feedstock. Projected global pellet use would generate around 1% of world bioenergy with cumulative net emissions of 2 Gt of CO2 by 2050. Using the NEI to weight biogenic CO2 for inclusion in carbon trading programs and to qualify bioenergy for renewable energy subsidies would reduce emissions more effectively than the current assumption of carbon neutrality.

The role of bioenergy in the energy transition. The ''Smart Bioenergy'' concept

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thraen, Daniela; DBFZ Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum gGmbH, Leipzig; Seitz, Stefanie B.; Wirkner, Ronny; Nelles, Michael

2016-01-01

The energy system's transformation away from fossil and therefore finite resources and ecological harmful use towards renewable energy sources and sustainable forms of usage proceeds. But even after 35 years, the German energy transition has yet not reached its ambitious goals. Moreover, in the recent years the progress has stagnated in certain areas. This is due to the fact that one of the central challenges of the energy system's changeover to an sole use renewable energy (RE) have not yet mastered: the reliable and stable delivery of RE for all energy dependent sectors starting form electricity via heat to mobility in the face of fluctuating energy sources like sun and wind. Bioenergy with its flexible use of innovative technologies and smart integration in the overall system is therefore vital to grant stability of energy supply. Furthermore, bioenergy can recourse on sustainable resources and may become therefore the backbone of the future bioeconomy. For this purpose an integrative approach is necessary that aligns the aforementioned building blocks in a cohesive whole: the Smart Bioenergy concept - that will be presented here with its elements but also open questions and challenges.

Ecological assessment of integrated bioenergy systems using the Sustainable Process Index

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krotscheck, C.; Konig, F.; Obernberger, I.

2000-01-01

Biomass utilisation for energy production presently faces an uphill battle against fossil fuels. The use of biomass must offer additional benefits to compensate for higher prices: on the basis of a life cycle assessment (using BEAM to evaluate a variety of integrated bioenergy systems in connection with the Sustainable Process Index as a highly aggregated environmental pressure index) it is shown that integrated bioenergy systems are superior to fossil fuel systems in terms of environmental compatibility. The implementation of sustainability measures provides additional valuable information that might help in constructing and optimising integrated bioenergy systems. For a set of reference processes, among them fast pyrolysis, atmospheric gasification, integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), combustion and steam cycle (CS) and conventional hydrolysis, a detailed impact assessment is shown. Sensitivity analyses of the most important ecological parameters are calculated, giving an overview of the impacts of various stages in the total life cycle and showing 'what really matters'. Much of the ecological impact of integrated bioenergy systems is induced by feedstock production. It is mainly the use of fossil fuels in cultivation, harvesting and transportation as well as the use of fertilisers in short-rotation coppice production that impose considerable ecological pressure. Concerning electricity generation the most problematic pressures are due to gaseous emissions, most notably the release of NO x . Moreover, a rather complicated process (high amount of grey energy) and the use of fossil pilot fuel (co-combustion) leads to a rather weak ecological performance in contrast to other 100% biomass-based systems. (author)

Biomass as feedstock for a bioenergy and bioproducts industry: The technical feasibility of a billion-ton annual supply

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Perlack, Robert D. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Wright, Lynn L. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Turhollow, Anthony F. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Graham, Robin L. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Stokes, Bryce J. [U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. (United States); Erbach, Donald C. [U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. (United States)

2005-04-01

The purpose of this report is to determine whether the land resources of the United States are capable of producing a sustainable supply of biomass sufficient to displace 30% or more of the country's present petroleum consumption.

Insight on Biomass Supply and Feedstock Definition for Fischer-Tropsch Based BTL Processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coignac, Julien

2013-01-01

Process chains of thermo chemical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass through gasification and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (known as BTL) represent promising alternatives for biofuels production. Since biomass is heterogeneous and not homogeneously spread over territories, one of the major technological stakes of the project is to develop a flexible industrial chain capable of co-treating the widest possible range of biomass and fossil fuel feedstock. The present study aims at characterizing biomass diversity (availability and potentials by area, cost and mineral composition) by carrying out a state of the art, as a preliminary step in order to define a series of biomass to be tested in the demonstration plant and therefore define specifications for the process. Fifty different biomass were considered for their bio-energy application potential and were finally classified into four categories: agricultural by-products, dedicated energy crops, (Very) Short Rotation Coppice ((V)SRC) and forestry biomass. Biomass availability and potentials were investigated by the mean of a literature review of past and current projects (e.g. RENEW project, Biomass Energy Europe Project, etc.) and scientific articles. Most collected data are technical potentials, meaning that they take into account biophysical limits of crops and forests, technological possibilities, competition with other land uses and ecological constraints (e.g. natural reserves). Results show various emerging markets: North and South America have considerable amounts of agricultural by-products, forest residues, and large land areas which could be dedicated to energy crops; Africa shows relevant possibilities to grow Short Rotation Forestry (SRF) and energy crops; Russia has large available quantities of agricultural by-products and forest residues, as well as little valuable land where energy crops and SRC could be grown, and Asia shows relevant amounts of forest residues and possibilities of growing SRC, as well

Seasonal energy storage using bioenergy production from abandoned croplands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elliott Campbell, J; Zumkehr, Andrew; Lobell, David B; Genova, Robert C; Field, Christopher B

2013-01-01

Bioenergy has the unique potential to provide a dispatchable and carbon-negative component to renewable energy portfolios. However, the sustainability, spatial distribution, and capacity for bioenergy are critically dependent on highly uncertain land-use impacts of biomass agriculture. Biomass cultivation on abandoned agriculture lands is thought to reduce land-use impacts relative to biomass production on currently used croplands. While coarse global estimates of abandoned agriculture lands have been used for large-scale bioenergy assessments, more practical technological and policy applications will require regional, high-resolution information on land availability. Here, we present US county-level estimates of the magnitude and distribution of abandoned cropland and potential bioenergy production on this land using remote sensing data, agriculture inventories, and land-use modeling. These abandoned land estimates are 61% larger than previous estimates for the US, mainly due to the coarse resolution of data applied in previous studies. We apply the land availability results to consider the capacity of biomass electricity to meet the seasonal energy storage requirement in a national energy system that is dominated by wind and solar electricity production. Bioenergy from abandoned croplands can supply most of the seasonal storage needs for a range of energy production scenarios, regions, and biomass yield estimates. These data provide the basis for further down-scaling using models of spatially gridded land-use areas as well as a range of applications for the exploration of bioenergy sustainability. (letter)

Biomass feedstock production systems: economic and environmental benefits

Science.gov (United States)

Mark D. Coleman; John A. Stanturf

2006-01-01

The time is ripe for expanding bioenergy production capacity and developing a bio-based economy. Modern society has created unprecedented demands for energy and chemical products that are predominately based on geologic sources. However, there is a growing consensus that constraints on the supply of petroleum and the negative environmental consequences of burning...

Cost-effective policy instruments for greenhouse gas emission reduction and fossil fuel substitution through bioenergy production in Austria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmidt, Johannes; Leduc, Sylvain; Dotzauer, Erik; Schmid, Erwin

2011-01-01

Climate change mitigation and security of energy supply are important targets of Austrian energy policy. Bioenergy production based on resources from agriculture and forestry is an important option for attaining these targets. To increase the share of bioenergy in the energy supply, supporting policy instruments are necessary. The cost-effectiveness of these instruments in attaining policy targets depends on the availability of bioenergy technologies. Advanced technologies such as second-generation biofuels, biomass gasification for power production, and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) will likely change the performance of policy instruments. This article assesses the cost-effectiveness of energy policy instruments, considering new bioenergy technologies for the year 2030, with respect to greenhouse gas emission (GHG) reduction and fossil fuel substitution. Instruments that directly subsidize bioenergy are compared with instruments that aim at reducing GHG emissions. A spatially explicit modeling approach is used to account for biomass supply and energy distribution costs in Austria. Results indicate that a carbon tax performs cost-effectively with respect to both policy targets if BECCS is not available. However, the availability of BECCS creates a trade-off between GHG emission reduction and fossil fuel substitution. Biofuel blending obligations are costly in terms of attaining the policy targets. - Highlights: → Costs of energy policies and effects on reduction of CO 2 emissions and fossil fuel consumption. → Particular focus on new bioenergy production technologies such as second generation biofuels. → Spatially explicit techno-economic optimization model. → CO 2 tax: high costs for reducing fossil fuel consumption if carbon capture and storage is available. → Biofuel policy: no significant reductions in CO 2 emissions or fossil fuel consumption.

Projecting demand and supply of forest biomass for heating in Norway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tromborg, Erik; Havskjold, Monica; Lislebo, Ole; Rorstad, Per Kristian

2011-01-01

This paper assesses the increase in demand and supply for forest biomass for heating in Norway in 2020. By then there is a political aim to double the national production of bioenergy from the level in 2008. The competitiveness of woody biomass in central and district heating is analyzed in a model selecting the least-cost heating technology and scale in municipalities given a set of constraints and under different fuels price scenarios. The supply of forest biomass from roundwood is estimated based on data of forest inventories combined with elasticities regarding price and standing volumes. The supply of biomass from harvesting residues is estimated in an engineering approach based on data from the national forest inventories and roundwood harvest. The results show how the production of bioenergy is affected by changes in energy prices and support schemes for bioenergy. One conclusion from the analyses is that the government target of 14 TWh more bioenergy by 2020 is not likely to be met by current technologies and policy incentives. The contribution of the analysis is the detailed presentation of the heat market potentials and technology choices combined with supply functions for both roundwood and harvesting residues. - Highlights: → This paper accesses the demand and supply for forest biomass for heating in Norway in 2020. → Market share for wood in central and new district heating is analyzed in a cost-minimizing model. → The supply of forest biomass includes wood chips from import, roundwood and harvesting residues. → The production of bioenergy is affected by changes in energy prices and support schemes. → The government target for bioenergy is not met by current technologies and policy incentives.

Global land use patterns and the production of bioenergy to 2050

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smeets, E.; Faaij, A.; Lewandowski, I.

2004-05-01

The results of a bottom-up analysis of the theoretical global bioenergy production potential are presented and discussed, with specific attention for the impact of underlying factors, existing studies on agriculture and forestry and gaps in the knowledge base that explain ranges in estimates. The impact of various factors is analysed by means of scenario analysis. Results indicate that the key factor for bioenergy production on surplus agricultural land is the type of agricultural management system. Theoretically, 70% of the present agricultural land use can be made available for bioenergy production, without further deforestation or endangering the future supply of food. The bioenergy potential from surplus agricultural land is estimated at 215 EJy -1 to 1471 EJy -1 in 2050. The bulk of this potential comes from the developing regions South America and the Carribean (47-221 EJy -1 ) and sub-Saharan Africa (31-317 EJy -1 ) and the transition economies of the CIS and Baltic States (45-199 EJy -1 )

From the global efforts on certification of bioenergy towards an integrated approach based on sustainable land use planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

van Dam, J.; Junginger, M.; Faaij, A.P.C.

2010-01-01

This paper presents an overview of 67 ongoing certification initiatives to safeguard the sustainability of bioenergy. Most recent initiatives are focused on the sustainability of liquid biofuels. Content-wise, most of these initiatives have mainly included environmental principles. Despite serious concerns in various parts of the world on the socio-economic impacts of bioenergy production, these are generally not included in existing bioenergy initiatives. At the same time, the overview shows a strong proliferation of standards. The overview shows that certification has the potential to influence direct, local impacts related to environmental and social effects of direct bioenergy production. Key recommendations to come to an efficient certification system include the need for further harmonization, availability of reliable data and linking indicators on a micro, meso and macro levels. Considering the multiple spatial scales, certification should be combined with additional measurements and tools on a regional, national and international level. The role of bioenergy production on indirect land use change (ILUC) is still very uncertain and current initiatives have rarely captured impacts from ILUC in their standards. Addressing unwanted LUC requires first of all sustainable land use production and good governance, regardless of the end-use of the product. It is therefore recommended to extend measures to mitigate impacts from LUC to other lands and feedstock. (author)

Bioenergy 93 conference

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

In this report the presentations given in the Bioenergy 93 Conference are published. The papers are grouped as follows: Opening addresses, biomass implementation strategies, nordic bioenergy research programs, production, handling and conversion of biofuels, combustion technology of biofuels and bioenergy visions

Investigation on the effect of blending ratio and airflow rate on syngas profile produced from co-gasification of blended feedstock

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Inayat Muddasser

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Shortages of feedstock supply due to seasonal availability, high transportation costs, and lack of biomass market are creating serious problems in continues operation of bioenergy industry. Aiming at this problem, utilization of blended feedstock is proposed. In this work blends of two different biomasses (wood and coconut shells were co-gasified using externally heated downdraft gasifier. The effects of varying biomass blending ratio and airflow rate on gaseous components of syngas and its heating value were investigated. The results obtained from the experiments revealed that W20:CS80 blend yielded higher values for H2 (20 Vol.% and HHV (18 MJ/Nm3 as compared to the other blends. The higher airflow rate has a negative effect on syngas profile and heating value. The CO and CH4 were observed higher at the start of the process, however, CO was observed decreasing afterward, and the CH4 dropped to 5.0 Vol.%. The maximum H2 and CH4 were obtained at 2.5 LPM airflow rate. The process was noticed more stable at low air flow rates. The HHV was observed higher at the start of process at low airflow rate. It is concluded that low airflow rate and a higher ratio of coconut shells can improve the syngas quality during co-gasification.

Potential of feedstock and catalysts from waste in biodiesel preparation: A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nurfitri, Irma; Maniam, Gaanty Pragas; Hindryawati, Noor; Yusoff, Mashitah M.; Ganesan, Shangeetha

2013-01-01

Highlights: • Oils/lipids from waste sources are the suitable candidates for transesterification. • Catalyst derived from waste materials proven its role in transesterification. • The use of materials from waste should be intensify for sustainability. - Abstract: For many years, the cost of production has been the main barrier in commercializing biodiesel, globally. It has been well researched and established in the literature that the cost of feedstock is the major contributor. Biodiesel producers are forced to choose between edible and non-edible feedstock. The use of edible feedstock sparks concern in terms of food security while the inedible feedstock needs additional pretreatment steps. On the other hand, the wide availability of edible feedstock guarantees the supply while the choice of non-edible results in a non-continuous or non-ready supply. With these complications in mind, this review attempts to identify possible solutions by exploring the potential of waste edible oils and waste catalysts in biodiesel preparation. Since edible oils are available and used abundantly, waste or used edible oils have the potential to provide plentiful feedstock for biodiesel. In addition, since traditional homogeneous catalysts are less competent in transesterifying waste/used oils, this review includes the possibility of heterogeneous catalysts from waste sources that are able to aid the transesterification reaction with success

Sustainability of bioenergy chains. The result is in the details

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van Dam, J.M.C.

2009-05-13

This thesis investigated how the feasibility and sustainability of large-scale bioenergy production, supply and use for local use or trade can be determined ex ante on a regional level, taking into account the complexities and variabilities of the underlying factors like food demand and land use. Recently, governments, NGOs, companies and international organizations (e.g. Dutch government, Solidaridad, Shell or FAO) have taken initiatives to guarantee the sustainable production and use of biomass. Uncertainties on the feasibility, implementation and costs of international biomass certification systems and the compliance with international laws and agreements have to be resolved. A developed software tool shows that it is possible to allow users from various regions to use one methodology and tool to calculate the GHG balances and cost-effectiveness of biomass energy systems. Core methodological issues are accommodated in the tool. One of the case studies demonstrates e.g. that the allocation procedure should be carefully defined as is shown by the variation in results, which is 35 to 50 kg CO2 eq./GJ delivered in GHG emissions. The technical potentials and cost-supply curves of bioenergy are assessed for Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) on a regional level. The more favourable scenarios to 2030 show a highest potential of 11.7 EJ. In most CEEC, bulk of the biomass potential can be produced at costs below 2 euro/GJ. The cost performance of energy carriers supplied from the CEEC is assessed for a set of bioenergy chains. Ethanol can be produced at 12 to 21 euro/GJ if the biomass conversion is performed at selected destinations in Western Europe or at 15 to 18 euro/GJ if biomass to ethanol conversion takes place where the biomass is produced. A case in Argentina shows the potential and economic feasibility of large-scale bioenergy production from soybeans and switchgrass, cultivated in La Pampa province. For the various scenarios to 2030, biodiesel from

2015 Bioenergy Market Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Warner, Ethan [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Moriarty, Kristi [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lewis, John [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Milbrandt, Anelia [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Schwab, Amy [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-02-28

This report is an update to the 2013 report and provides a status of the markets and technology development involved in growing a domestic bioenergy economy as it existed at the end of 2015. It compiles and integrates information to provide a snapshot of the current state and historical trends influencing the development of bioenergy markets. This version features details on the two major bioenergy markets: biofuels and biopower and an overview of bioproducts that enable bioenergy production. The information is intended for policy-makers as well as technology developers and investors tracking bioenergy developments. It also highlights some of the key energy and regulatory drivers of bioenergy markets.

An assessment of international trade related to bioenergy use in Austria—Methodological aspects, recent developments and the relevance of indirect trade

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kalt, Gerald; Kranzl, Lukas

2012-01-01

Increasing international biomass trade for energy and concerns about sustainability of globally traded biomass have raised interest in assessments of cross-border trade related to bioenergy. Within this paper, approaches to overcome methodological difficulties related to biomass trade are proposed and applied for the case of Austria. Biomass currently has a share of 15.5% in Austria’s primary energy consumption of 1354 PJ (2009). According to energy statistics, the rate of self-sufficiency with biomass for energy (defined as the ratio of domestic production to inland consumption, with both imports and exports taken into account) is 91%. However, feedstock imports for transport fuel production and indirect imports of wood-based fuels (wood processing residues and waste liquor of the paper industry originating from imported wood) are not taken into account in energy statistics, but prove to be of some significance. Imports of agricultural commodities to the amount of 9.7 PJ can be attributed to domestic biofuel production, and indirect imports of wood-based fuels, account for 31 PJ. With these import streams taken into account, the share of domestic fuels in bioenergy use is only 67%, rather than 84%, as official energy statistics suggest. On the other hand, Austria is exporting more than 50% of its production of sawnwood, panelboard and paper products. - Highlights: ► We investigate biomass cross-border trade related to bioenergy use in Austria. ► International biomass trade for energy has increased significantly in recent years. ► A flow wood diagram is derived to identify indirect trade streams of wood fuels. ► Biofuel feedstock imports are about as important as direct biofuel imports. ► 33% of bioenergy in Austria originate from imported biomass (2009).

Preparation of the soil for the energy policy turnaround. With bio-energy for more climate protection and sustainability. Collection of essays with contributions from science, practice and policy; Den Boden bereiten fuer die Energiewende. Mit Bioenergie fuer mehr Klimaschutz und Nachhaltigkeit. Aufsatzsammlung mit Beitraegen aus Wissenschaft, Praxis und Politik

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-02-15

In order to create acceptance by understanding and in order to support the energy policy turnaround, the Agency for Renewable Energies (Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany) supplies several contributions to the following topics: (1) Bio-energy and the energy policy turnaround; (2) Sustainability by means of bio-energy, but how?; (3) How can energy crops modify the region?; (4) Bio-Energy and the landscape of the future; (5) Isles with green energy: Bio-Energy for decentralized solutions; (6) Bio-energy and organic agriculture; (7) Forest and field in the climate protection.

Sustainable International Bioenergy Trade. Evaluating the impact of sustainability criteria and policy on past and future bioenergy supply and trade

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lamers, Patrick

2014-01-01

Within a single decade, bioenergy has shifted from a largely local energy source with marginal trade volumes to a globally traded item. The primary objective of this thesis is to evaluate the links between national renewable energy support and trade policies and market forces on past global

The bio-energies development: the role of biofuels and the CO2 price

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jouvet, Pierre-Andre; Lantz, Frederic; Le Cadre, Elodie

2012-01-01

Reduction in energy dependency and emissions of CO 2 via renewable energies targeted in the European Union energy mix and taxation system, might trigger the production of bio-energy production and competition for biomass utilization. Torrefied biomass could be used to produce second generation biofuels to replace some of the fuels used in transportation and is also suitable as feedstock to produce electricity in large quantities. This paper examines how the CO 2 price affects demand of torrefied biomass in the power sector and its consequences on the profitability of second generation biofuel units (Biomass to Liquid units). Indeed, the profitability of the BtL units which are supplied only by torrefied biomass is related to the competitive demand of the power sector driven by the CO 2 price and feed-in tariffs. We propose a linear dynamic model of supply and demand. On the supply side, a profit-maximizing torrefied biomass sector is modelled. The model aims to represent the transformation of biomass into torrefied biomass which could be sold to the refinery sector and the power sector. A two-sided (demanders and supplier) bidding process led us to arrive at the equilibrium price for torrefied biomass. The French case is used as an example. Our results suggest that the higher the CO 2 price, the more stable and important the power sector demand. It also makes the torrefied biomass production less vulnerable to uncertainty on demand coming from the refining sector. The torrefied biomass co-firing with coal can offer a near-term market for the torrefied biomass for a CO 2 emission price lower than 20 euros/tCO 2 , which can stimulate development of biomass supply systems. Beyond 2020, the demand for torrefied biomass from the power sector could be substituted by the refining sector if the oil price goes up whatever the CO 2 price. (authors)

Bioenergy Ecosystem Land-Use Modelling and Field Flux Trial

Science.gov (United States)

McNamara, Niall; Bottoms, Emily; Donnison, Iain; Dondini, Marta; Farrar, Kerrie; Finch, Jon; Harris, Zoe; Ineson, Phil; Keane, Ben; Massey, Alice; McCalmont, Jon; Morison, James; Perks, Mike; Pogson, Mark; Rowe, Rebecca; Smith, Pete; Sohi, Saran; Tallis, Mat; Taylor, Gail; Yamulki, Sirwan

2013-04-01

Climate change impacts resulting from fossil fuel combustion and concerns about the diversity of energy supply are driving interest to find low-carbon energy alternatives. As a result bioenergy is receiving widespread scientific, political and media attention for its potential role in both supplying energy and mitigating greenhouse (GHG) emissions. It is estimated that the bioenergy contribution to EU 2020 renewable energy targets could require up to 17-21 million hectares of additional land in Europe (Don et al., 2012). There are increasing concerns that some transitions into bioenergy may not be as sustainable as first thought when GHG emissions from the crop growth and management cycle are factored into any GHG life cycle assessment (LCA). Bioenergy is complex and encapsulates a wide range of crops, varying from food crop based biofuels to dedicated second generation perennial energy crops and forestry products. The decision on the choice of crop for energy production significantly influences the GHG mitigation potential. It is recognised that GHG savings or losses are in part a function of the original land-use that has undergone change and the management intensity for the energy crop. There is therefore an urgent need to better quantify both crop and site-specific effects associated with the production of conventional and dedicated energy crops on the GHG balance. Currently, there is scarcity of GHG balance data with respect to second generation crops meaning that process based models and LCAs of GHG balances are weakly underpinned. Therefore, robust, models based on real data are urgently required. In the UK we have recently embarked on a detailed program of work to address this challenge by combining a large number of field studies with state-of-the-art process models. Through six detailed experiments, we are calculating the annual GHG balances of land use transitions into energy crops across the UK. Further, we are quantifying the total soil carbon gain or

Macroalgae as a Biomass Feedstock: A Preliminary Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roesijadi, Guritno; Jones, Susanne B.; Snowden-Swan, Lesley J.; Zhu, Yunhua

2010-09-26

A thorough of macroalgae analysis as a biofuels feedstock is warranted due to the size of this biomass resource and the need to consider all potential sources of feedstock to meet current biomass production goals. Understanding how to harness this untapped biomass resource will require additional research and development. A detailed assessment of environmental resources, cultivation and harvesting technology, conversion to fuels, connectivity with existing energy supply chains, and the associated economic and life cycle analyses will facilitate evaluation of this potentially important biomass resource.

Effect of multiple-feedstock strategy on the economic and environmental performance of thermochemical ethanol production under extreme weather conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kou, Nannan; Zhao, Fu

2011-01-01

Current US transportation sector mainly relies on liquid hydrocarbons derived from petroleum and about 60% of the petroleum consumed is from areas where supply may be disturbed by regional instability. This has led to serious concerns on energy security and global warming. To address these issues, numerous alternative energy carriers have been proposed. Among them, second generation biofuel is one of the most promising technologies. Gasification-based thermochemical conversion will bring flexibility to both feedstock and production sides of a plant, thus presents an attractive technical route to address both the energy security and global warming concerns. In this paper, thermochemical ethanol production using multiple-feedstock (corn stover, municipal solid waste, and wood chips) is simulated using Aspen Plus and compared with the single-feedstock scenario, in terms of economic performances, life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and survivability under extreme weather conditions. For a hypothetical facility in southwest Indiana it is found that multiple-feedstock strategy improves the net present value by 18% compared to single-feedstock strategy. This margin is increased to 57% when effects of extreme weather conditions on feedstock supply are considered. Moreover, multiple-feedstock fuel plant has no potential risk of bankruptcy during the payback period, while single-feedstock fuel plant has a 75% chance of bankruptcy. Although the multiple-feedstock strategy has 26% more GHG emission per liter of ethanol produced than the single-feedstock strategy, the trend is reversed if feedstock supply disruption is taken into account. Thus the idea of multiple-feedstock strategy is proposed to the future thermo chemical biofuel plants.

Runoff, sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorus losses from agricultural land converted to sweetgum and switchgrass bioenergy feedstock production in north Alabama

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nyakatawa, E.Z.; Mays, D.A. [Alabama A and M University, Normal (United States). Department of Plant and Soil Science; Tolbert, V.R. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Bionergy Feedstock Development Project; Green, T.H.; Bingham, L. [Alabama A and M University, Normal (United States). Center for Forestry and Ecology

2006-07-15

Renewable energy sources such as bioenergy crops have significant potential as alternatives to fossil fuels. Potential environmental problems arising from soil sediment and nutrient losses in runoff water from bioenergy crops need to be evaluated in order to determine the sustainability and overall feasibility of implementing bioenergy development strategies. This paper discusses runoff, sediment, N, and total P losses from agricultural land (continuous cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)) converted to short-rotation sweetgum (Liquidamber styraciflua L.) plantations with and without fescue (Festuca elatior L.) and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) bioenergy crops, compared to corn (Zea mays L.), on a Decatur silt loam soil in north Alabama, from 1995 to 1999. Runoff volume was significantly correlated to total rainfall and sediment yield in each year, but treatment differences were not significant. Sweetgum plots produced the highest mean sediment yield of up to 800kgha{sup -1}compared to corn and switchgrass plots, which averaged less than 200kgha{sup -1}. Runoff NH{sub 4}{sup +} N losses averaged over treatments and years for spring season (3.1kgha{sup -1}) were three to five times those for summer, fall, and winter seasons. Runoff NO{sub 3}{sup -} N for no-till corn and switchgrass plots in spring and summer were five to ten times that for sweetgum plots. No-till corn and switchgrass treatments had 2.4 and 2.1kgha{sup -1} average runoff total P, respectively, which were two to three times that for sweetgum treatments. Growing sweetgum with a fescue cover crop provides significantly lower risk of water pollution from sediment, runoff NH{sub 4}{sup +} N, and NO{sub 3}{sup -} N. (author)

How can accelerated development of bioenergy contribute to the future UK energy mix? Insights from a MARKAL modelling exercise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anandarajah Gabrial

2009-07-01

accelerated technological development scenario due to a reduction in ethanol produced from wheat. Conclusion There is much potential for future deployment of bioenergy technologies to decarbonise the energy sector. However, future deployment is dependent on many different factors including investment and efforts towards research and development needs, carbon reduction targets and the ability to compete with other low carbon technologies as they become deployed. All bioenergy technologies should become increasingly more economically competitive with fossil-based technologies as feedstock costs and flexibility are reduced in line with technological advances.

Hemp: A more sustainable annual energy crop for climate and energy policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finnan, John; Styles, David

2013-01-01

The objective of this study was to compare the fuel-chain greenhouse gas balance and farm economics of hemp grown for bioenergy with two perennial bioenergy crops, Miscanthus and willow, and two more traditional annual bioenergy crops, sugar beet and oil seed rape (OSR). The GHG burden of hemp cultivation is intermediate between perennial and traditional annual energy crops, but net fuel chain GHG abatement potential of 11 t/CO 2 eq./ha/year in the mid yield estimate is comparable to perennial crops, and 140% and 540% greater than for OSR and sugar beet fuel chains, respectively. Gross margins from hemp were considerably lower than for OSR and sugar beet, but exceeded those from Miscanthus when organic fertilizers were used and in the absence of establishment grants for the latter crop. Extrapolated up to the EU scale, replacing 25% of OSR and sugar beet production with hemp production could increase net GHG abatement by up to 21 Mt CO 2 eq./year. Hemp is a considerably more efficient bioenergy feedstock than the dominant annual energy crops. Integrated into food crop rotations, hemp need not compete with food supplies, and could provide an appealing option to develop more sustainable non-transport bioenergy supply chains. - Highlights: ► The GHG burden of hemp is intermediate between perennial and annual energy crops. ► Replacing 25% of OSR/beet with hemp could increase GHG abatement by 21 Mt/CO 2 eq./year. ► Hemp is a more efficient bioenergy feedstock than the dominant annual energy crops

A novel bioenergy feedstock in Latin America? Cultivation potential of Acrocomia aculeata under current and future climate conditions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Plath, Mirco; Moser, Christine; Bailis, Rob; Brandt, Patric; Hirsch, Heidi; Klein, Alexandra Maria; Walmsley, David; Wehrden, von Henrik

2016-01-01

Plant oil is a key commodity in the global economy, particularly for food and bioenergy markets. However, current production practices often impair smallholder livelihoods, cause land use changes, and compete for food production. The neotropical palm Acrocomia aculeata is currently being promoted

To The Biorefinery: Delivered Forestland and Agricultural Resources

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2016-06-01

It can be challenging and costly to transport biomass feedstock supplies from the roadside, or farmgate, to a biorefinery. Given the geographic dispersion and lowbulk density of cellulosic feedstocks, cost effective scaling of commercial biorefinery operations requires overcoming many challenges. The Biomass Research and Development Board’s Feedstock Logistics Interagency Working Group identified four primary barriers related to biorefinery commercialization: • Capacity and efficiency of harvest and collection equipment • High-moisture content leading to degradation of biomass • Variable biomass quality upon arrival at the biorefinery • Costly transportation options.1 Further, feedstock supply systems do not currently mitigate risks such as low crop yield, fire, or competition for resource use. Delivery and preprocessing improvements will allow for the development of a commercial-scale bioenergy industry that achieves national production and cost targets.

Present and prospective role of bioenergy in regional energy system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ramachandra, T.V.; Joshi, N.V.; Subramanian, D.K. [Indian Inst. of Science, Center for Ecological Sciences, Bangalore (India)

2000-12-01

Bioenergy is the energy released from the reaction of organic carbon material with oxygen. The organic material derived from plants and animals is also referred to as biomass. Biomass is a flexible feedstock capable of conversion into solid, liquid and gaseous fuels by chemical and biological processes. These intermediate biofuels (such as methane gas, ethanol, charcoal) can be substituted for fossil based fuels. Wood and charcoal are important as household fuels and for small scale industries such as brick making, cashew processing etc. The scarcity of biofuels has far reaching implications on the environment. Hence, expansion of bioenergy systems could be influential in bettering both the socioeconomic condition and the environment of the region. This paper examines the present role of biomass in the region's (Uttara Kannada District, Karnataka State, India) energy supply and calculates the potential for future biomass provision and scope for conversion to both modern and traditional fuels. Based on the detailed investigation of biomass resource availability and demand, we can categorise the Uttara Kannada District into two zones (a) Biomass surplus zone consisting of Taluks mainly from hilly area (b) Biomass deficit zone, consisting of thickly populated coastal Taluks such as Bhatkal, Kumta, Ankola, Honnavar and Karwar. Fuel wood is mainly used for cooking and horticulture residues from coconut, arecanut trees are used for water heating purposes. Most of the households in this region still use traditional stoves where efficiency is less than 10%. The present inefficient fuel consumption could be brought down by the usage of fuel efficient stoves (a saving of the order of 27%). Availability of animal residues for biogas generation in Sirsi, Siddapur, Yellapur Taluks gives a viable alternative for cooking, lighting fuel and a useful fertiliser. However to support the present livestock population, fodder from agricultural residues is insufficient in these

Chemometric methods and near-infrared spectroscopy applied to bioenergy production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liebmann, B.

2010-01-01

The present work examines bioenergy production from different viewpoints. The three main objectives are: (1) to reveal the relation of technology, sustainability and economy in bioenergy processes; (2) to investigate spectroscopic methods as a tool for analytical monitoring of bioenergy processes; and (3) to develop new chemometric methods for advanced analysis of spectroscopic data. At the first stage, this thesis investigates the technological, ecological, and economic features of renewable-resource-based and de-centralized bioenergy production systems. In different scenarios, small-scale bioethanol production is combined with other technologies that provide renewable energy from residuals of the bioethanol process. The general aim is to substitute fossil energy conventionally used within the bioethanol process. The investigated technologies are biogas production and straw incineration. Agricultural aspects are introduced by sustainable crop rotation concepts that reconcile food, feed, and biofuel production. The sustainability of small-scale bioethanol production in the different scenarios is quantified by an ecological footprint method, the sustainable process index, SPI, and compared to conventional fuels. The main findings are: (i) small-scaled bioethanol production can be operated with 100 % renewable energy supply, (ii) the SPI of bioethanol can be reduced up to 92 % compared to conventional fuels, (iii) a complex trade-off between ecology-of-scale and economy-of-scale is necessary. At the second stage, this thesis approaches bioenergy production processes from an analytical perspective, and presents near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) as promising method for fast process monitoring of bioethanol production and biomass characterization. In addition, new analytical methods are presented for a fast determination of the heating value of solid biomass fuel, based on IR and NIR spectroscopy. The main findings are that NIR spectroscopy and appropriate chemometric

Sustainability of bioenergy chains: the result is in the details

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Dam, J.M.C.

2009-01-01

This thesis investigated how the feasibility and sustainability of large-scale bioenergy production, supply and use for local use or trade can be determined ex ante on a regional level, taking into account the complexities and variabilities of the underlying factors like food demand and land use.

Evaluating environmental consequences of producing herbaceous crops for bioenergy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McLaughlin, S.B.

1995-01-01

The environmental costs and benefits of producing bioenergy crops can be measured both in kterms of the relative effects on soil, water, and wildlife habitat quality of replacing alternate cropping systems with the designated bioenergy system, and in terms of the quality and amount of energy that is produced per unit of energy expended. While many forms of herbaceous and woody energy crops will likely contribute to future biofuels systems, The Dept. of Energy's Biofuels Feedstock Development Program (BFDP), has chosen to focus its primary herbaceous crops research emphasis on a perennial grass species, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), as a bioenergy candidate. This choice was based on its high yields, high nutrient use efficiency, and wide geographic distribution, and also on its poistive environmental attributes. The latter include its positive effects on soil quality and stabiity, its cover value for wildlife, and the lower inputs of enerty, water, and agrochemicals required per unit of energy produced. A comparison of the energy budgets for corn, which is the primary current source of bioethanol, and switchgrass reveals that the efficiency of energy production for a perennial grass system can exceed that for an energy intensive annual row crop by as much as 15 times. In additions reductions in CO 2 emission, tied to the energetic efficiency of producing transportation fuels, are very efficient with grasses. Calculated carbon sequestration rates may exceed those of annual crops by as much as 20--30 times, due in part to carbon storage in the soil. These differences have major implications for both the rate and efficiency with which fossil energy sources can be replaced with cleaner burning biofuels

Evaluating environmental consequences of producing herbaceous crops for bioenergy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McLaughlin, S.B.

1995-12-31

The environmental costs and benefits of producing bioenergy crops can be measured both in kterms of the relative effects on soil, water, and wildlife habitat quality of replacing alternate cropping systems with the designated bioenergy system, and in terms of the quality and amount of energy that is produced per unit of energy expended. While many forms of herbaceous and woody energy crops will likely contribute to future biofuels systems, The Dept. of Energy`s Biofuels Feedstock Development Program (BFDP), has chosen to focus its primary herbaceous crops research emphasis on a perennial grass species, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), as a bioenergy candidate. This choice was based on its high yields, high nutrient use efficiency, and wide geographic distribution, and also on its poistive environmental attributes. The latter include its positive effects on soil quality and stabiity, its cover value for wildlife, and the lower inputs of enerty, water, and agrochemicals required per unit of energy produced. A comparison of the energy budgets for corn, which is the primary current source of bioethanol, and switchgrass reveals that the efficiency of energy production for a perennial grass system can exceed that for an energy intensive annual row crop by as much as 15 times. In additions reductions in CO{sub 2} emission, tied to the energetic efficiency of producing transportation fuels, are very efficient with grasses. Calculated carbon sequestration rates may exceed those of annual crops by as much as 20--30 times, due in part to carbon storage in the soil. These differences have major implications for both the rate and efficiency with which fossil energy sources can be replaced with cleaner burning biofuels.

Bioenergy industries development in China. Dilemma and solution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peidong, Zhang; Yanli, Yang; Xutong, Yang; Yonghong, Zheng; Lisheng, Wang; Yongsheng, Tian; Yongkai, Zhang

2009-01-01

Having 2.8 x 10 8 -3.0 x 10 8 t/a of wood energy, 4.0 x 10 6 t/a of oil seeds, 7.7 x 10 8 t/a of crops straw, 3.97 x 10 9 t/a of poultry and livestock manure, 1.48 x 10 8 t/a of municipal waste, and 4.37 x 10 10 t/a of organic wastewater, China is in possession of good resource condition for the development of bioenergy industries. Until the end of 2007, China has popularized 2.65 x 10 7 rural household biogas, established 8318 large and middle-scale biogas projects, and produced 1.08 x 10 10 m 3 /a of biogas; the production of bioethanol, biodiesel, biomass briquettes fuel and biomass power generation reached to 1.5 x 10 6 t/a, 3.0 x 10 5 t/a, 6.0 x 10 4 t/a and 6.42 x 10 9 kWh, respectively. In recent years, bioenergy industries developed increasingly fast in China. However, the industrial base was weak with some dilemma existing in raw material supply, technological capability, industry standards, policy and regulation, and follow-up services, etc. From the viewpoint of long-term effective development system for bioenergy industries in China, a series of policy suggestions have been offered, such as strengthening strategy research, improving bioenergy industries development policies and plan, enhancing scientific research input, persisting in technology innovation, establishing product quality standard, improving industrial standard system, opening market and accelerating commercialization, etc. It is expected that the advices mentioned above could be helpful for the improvement of bioenergy industries development. (author)

Ecobalances of technical options for the supply and utilization of bioenergy; Oekobilanzen technischer Optionen zur Bioenergiebereitstellung und -nutzung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dunkelberg, Elisa; Aretz, Astrid

2013-05-15

In Germany bioenergy production and consumption are promoted and encouraged by means of the Renewable Energy Law, which has as its objectives transforming the energy system and preventing climate change. In recent years several forms of bioenergy have been criticized as leading to ecological and socioeconomic risks. This study presents life cycle assessments (LCA) for existing bioenergy processes. The LCAs were conducted as a part of the Project ''Renewable Energy Regions: Socio-Ecology of Self-Sufficiency''; the objective was to assess the ecological impact of the selected bioenergy processes in order to calculate the overall ecological impact of existing bioenergy plants. The results prove that the usage of agricultural biomass such as corn and wheat for biogas production leads to negative ecological impacts such as eutrophication and acidification. If greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change are included, the net effect in comparison to the usage of fossil energies will only be small or even negative; however, when residues such as manure or materials from landscape management are used as substrates for biogas production they lead to several positive ecological impacts. Residual forest wood or wood from short-rotation coppices used in co-generation show the highest greenhouse gas reduction potential among the investigated processes. It must, however, be assumed that the potential of residual forest wood in Germany is already largely being tapped. Regions that have made bioenergy a priority thus should limit the usage of agricultural biomass for energy production to specific crops such as short-rotation coppices and floral and herbaceous perennials. Additionally, future challenges will require strategies to improve cascade utilization and gathering and efficient usage of residues.

Problems created on delayed supply of feedstock for the HDPE plant of Jam Petrochemical Complex (JPC) in Iran : a case study[The 1. international construction specialty conference

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Etemadzadeh, S.; Mortaheb, M. [Sharif Univ. of Technology, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of). Dept. of Civil Engineering; Beigi, H. [Jam Petrochemical Co., Assaluyeh, Bushehr (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2006-07-01

The total loss incurred due to delays in supply of feedstock and utilities over the past 2 years during Iran's construction boom in petrochemical plants was evaluated. The problems associated with the delay of feedstock supply and its impact on the final stages of a petrochemical project were discussed and the factors that affect the financial viability of a project were identified. In particular, the paper reviewed issues regarding equipment warranty and their pre-mature expiration; unavoidable rework prior to pre-commissioning; preservation and maintenance cost of equipment in a humid and hot environment; changes in technology and market demands; and, additional fixed costs covering salaries and maintenance costs. Remedial action plans addressing these issues were proposed in order to reduce the costs and any further delays of a project. The importance of technical audits at the feasibility stage of a project was emphasized along with the need to verify the accuracy of initial data for proper design and completion of a project.

Feedstock Supply System Design and Economics for Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Hydrocarbon Fuels Conversion Pathway: Fast Pyrolysis and Hydrotreating Bio-Oil Pathway "The 2017 Design Case"

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kevin L. Kenney; Kara G. Cafferty; Jacob J. Jacobson; Ian J. Bonner; Garold L. Gresham; J. Richard Hess; William A. Smith; David N. Thompson; Vicki S. Thompson; Jaya Shankar Tumuluru; Neal Yancey

2014-01-01

The U.S. Department of Energy promotes the production of liquid fuels from lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks by funding fundamental and applied research that advances the state of technology in biomass sustainable supply, logistics, conversion, and overall system sustainability. As part of its involvement in this program, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) investigates the feedstock logistics economics and sustainability of these fuels. Between 2000 and 2012, INL quantified and the economics and sustainability of moving biomass from the field or stand to the throat of the conversion process using conventional equipment and processes. All previous work to 2012 was designed to improve the efficiency and decrease costs under conventional supply systems. The 2012 programmatic target was to demonstrate a biomass logistics cost of $55/dry Ton for woody biomass delivered to fast pyrolysis conversion facility. The goal was achieved by applying field and process demonstration unit-scale data from harvest, collection, storage, preprocessing, handling, and transportation operations into INL’s biomass logistics model.

Dependency of global primary bioenergy crop potentials in 2050 on food systems, yields, biodiversity conservation and political stability.

Science.gov (United States)

Erb, Karl-Heinz; Haberl, Helmut; Plutzar, Christoph

2012-08-01

The future bioenergy crop potential depends on (1) changes in the food system (food demand, agricultural technology), (2) political stability and investment security, (3) biodiversity conservation, (4) avoidance of long carbon payback times from deforestation, and (5) energy crop yields. Using a biophysical biomass-balance model, we analyze how these factors affect global primary bioenergy potentials in 2050. The model calculates biomass supply and demand balances for eleven world regions, eleven food categories, seven food crop types and two livestock categories, integrating agricultural forecasts and scenarios with a consistent global land use and NPP database. The TREND scenario results in a global primary bioenergy potential of 77 EJ/yr, alternative assumptions on food-system changes result in a range of 26-141 EJ/yr. Exclusion of areas for biodiversity conservation and inaccessible land in failed states reduces the bioenergy potential by up to 45%. Optimistic assumptions on future energy crop yields increase the potential by up to 48%, while pessimistic assumptions lower the potential by 26%. We conclude that the design of sustainable bioenergy crop production policies needs to resolve difficult trade-offs such as food vs. energy supply, renewable energy vs. biodiversity conservation or yield growth vs. reduction of environmental problems of intensive agriculture.

Analyzing and Comparing Biomass Feedstock Supply Systems in China: Corn Stover and Sweet Sorghum Case Studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lantian Ren

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes the rural Chinese biomass supply system and models supply chain operations according to U.S. concepts of logistical unit operations: harvest and collection, storage, transportation, preprocessing, and handling and queuing. In this paper, we quantify the logistics cost of corn stover and sweet sorghum in China under different scenarios. We analyze three scenarios of corn stover logistics from northeast China and three scenarios of sweet sorghum stalks logistics from Inner Mongolia in China. The case study estimates that the logistics cost of corn stover and sweet sorghum stalk to be $52.95/dry metric ton and $52.64/dry metric ton, respectively, for the current labor-based biomass logistics system. However, if the feedstock logistics operation is mechanized, the cost of corn stover and sweet sorghum stalk decreases to $36.01/dry metric ton and $35.76/dry metric ton, respectively. The study also includes a sensitivity analysis to identify the cost factors that cause logistics cost variation. Results of the sensitivity analysis show that labor price has the most influence on the logistics cost of corn stover and sweet sorghum stalk, with a variation of $6 to $12/dry metric ton.

2013 Bioenergy Market Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schwab, Amy [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Moriarty, Kristi [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Milbrandt, Anelia [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Geiger, Jesse [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lewis, John [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2016-03-28

This report provides a status of the markets and technology development involved in growing a domestic bioenergy economy as it existed at the end of 2013. It compiles and integrates information to provide a snapshot of the current state and historical trends influencing the development of bioenergy markets. This information is intended for policy-makers as well as technology developers and investors tracking bioenergy developments. It also highlights some of the key energy and regulatory drivers of bioenergy markets.

Critical factors to bioenergy implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roos, A.; Hektor, B.; Rakos, C.

1999-01-01

Barriers to bioenergy technology implementation have received increased attention in recent years. This paper contributes to the identification and analysis of barriers and drivers behind bioenergy market growth, here labelled c ritical factors . It presents a framework for the analysis of both existing and projected bioenergy market potential, using economic concepts and models from transaction cost theory and industrial organization. The framework can be used for assessments of the potential for market growth of different bioenergy systems by decision makers in administration and industry. The following critical factors are identified: Integration with other economic activity, Scale effects on bioenergy markets, Competition in bioenergy markets, Competition with other business, National policy, Local policy and local opinion. The framework is demonstrated with five cases of real bioenergy markets: Pellet residential heating in USA, bioenergy power in USA, pellet residential heating in Sweden, biomass district heating in Sweden, and biomass district heating in Austria. Different applications of the framework are discussed

How non-conventional feedstocks will affect aromatics technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koehler, E. [Clariant Produkte (Deutschland) GmbH, Muenchen (Germany)

2013-11-01

The abundance of non-conventional feedstocks such as coal and shale gas has begun to affect the availability of traditional base chemicals such as propylene and BTX aromatics. Although this trend is primarily fueled by the fast growing shale gas economy in the US and the abundance of coal in China, it will cause the global supply and demand situation to equilibrate across the regions. Lower demand for gasoline and consequently less aromatics rich reformate from refineries will further tighten the aromatics markets that are expected to grow at healthy rates, however. Refiners can benefit from this trend by abandoning their traditional fuel-oriented business model and becoming producers of petrochemical intermediates, with special focus on paraxylene (PX). Cheap gas from coal (via gasification) or shale reserves is an advantaged feedstock that offers a great platform to make aromatics in a cost-competitive manner, especially in regions where naphtha is in short supply. Gas condensates (LPG and naphtha) are good feedstocks for paraffin aromatization, and methanol from coal or (shale) gas can be directly converted to BTX aromatics (MTA) or alkylated with benzene or toluene to make paraxylene. Most of today's technologies for the production and upgrading of BTX aromatics and their derivatives make use of the unique properties of zeolites. (orig.)

Wood supply : what bioenergy resources are available as harvest residue and non-merchantable wood in New Brunswick?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Forgrave, K.

2005-01-01

This paper examines resources available for bioenergy production in New Brunswick. An estimate of New Brunswick harvest levels, based on New Brunswick Forest Products Association web site figures was presented. Private wood lots harvest levels were also provided, with all estimates based on volume per year. Market conditions were discussed, with an emphasis on the dictates of price and availability for private wood lot owners. Market conditions and unused volume statistics were discussed. Various forest management options include the use of veneer, saw log, stud wood and pulp wood. Details of bioenergy percentages and potential were presented and general silviculture issues were discussed. It was concluded that many of the trade-offs of bioenergy involve placing more demands on forests, and that purchase prices will increasingly dictate volumes obtained from private wood lots. tabs, figs

Techno-economic analysis of a biomass depot

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jacobson, Jacob Jordan [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Lamers, Patrick [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Roni, Mohammad Sadekuzzaman [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Cafferty, Kara Grace [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Kenney, Kevin Louis [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Heath, Brendi May [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Hansen, Jason K [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2014-10-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) promotes the production of an array of liquid fuels and fuel blendstocks from lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks by funding fundamental and applied research that advances the state of technology in biomass collection, conversion, and sustainability. As part of its involvement in this program, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) investigates the technical, economic, and environmental performance of different feedstock supply systems and their impacts on the downstream conversion processes.

Forestland owners’ willingness to consider multiple ways of supplying biomass simultaneously: Implications for biofuel incentive policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wolde, Bernabas; Lal, Pankaj; Burli, Pralhad

2017-01-01

Because socioeconomic based approaches account for relevant limiting and motivating factors, they provide a more realistic measurement of forestland owners’ willingness to supply biomass for bioenergy production- information useful to policy makers in setting production targets and in designing relevant incentive programs. Although forestland owners can supply biomass using different means, including supplying biomass from existing stands and changing land use to establish feedstock plantation, among others, previous studies mostly focus only on a given way of supplying biomass at a time. This produces incomplete information that adversely affects its use. By presenting survey takers in Virginia and Texas three different ways of supplying biomass at the same time, we determine forestland owners’ willingness to consider multiple ways of supplying biomass simultaneously and identify the factors that predict such behavior, assess overlap in forestland owners across the different ways of supplying biomass, and assess if and how respondents’ forest management plans and sustainability concerns correspond with their supply decision. Our results show a higher and more articulated rate of willingness to supply biomass than reported in previous studies. The results also suggest that opportunities exist for synergizing programs that incentivize disparate ways of supplying biomass. - Highlights: • Forestland owners are more willing to supply biomass than previous estimated. • Forestland owners will consider multiple ways of supplying biomass simultaneously. • Socioeconomics, sustainability concerns, and management plans predict this behavior. • Incentive programs can target multiple means of supplying biomass simultaneously. • Considerable mismatches exist between the suppliers’ preferences and existing policies.

Impact of Pretreatment Technologies on Saccharification and Isopentenol Fermentation of Mixed Lignocellulosic Feedstocks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shi, Jian; George, Kevin W.; Sun, Ning; He, Wei; Li, Chenlin; Stavila, Vitalie; Keasling, Jay D.; Simmons, Blake A.; Lee, Taek Soon; Singh, Seema

2015-02-28

In order to enable the large-scale production of biofuels or chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass, a consistent and affordable year-round supply of lignocellulosic feedstocks is essential. Feedstock blending and/or densification offers one promising solution to overcome current challenges on biomass supply, i.e., low energy and bulk densities and significant compositional variations. Therefore, it is imperative to develop conversion technologies that can process mixed pelleted biomass feedstocks with minimal negative impact in terms of overall performance of the relevant biorefinery unit operations: pretreatment, fermentable sugar production, and fuel titers. We processed the mixture of four feedstocks—corn stover, switchgrass, lodgepole pine, and eucalyptus (1:1:1:1 on dry weight basis)—in flour and pellet form using ionic liquid (IL) 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate, dilute sulfuric acid (DA), and soaking in aqueous ammonia (SAA) pretreatments. Commercial enzyme mixtures, including cellulases and hemicellulases, were then applied to these pretreated feedstocks at low to moderate enzyme loadings to determine hydrolysis efficiency. Results show significant variations on the chemical composition, crystallinity, and enzymatic digestibility of the pretreated feedstocks across the different pretreatment technologies studied. The advanced biofuel isopentenol was produced during simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of pretreated feedstocks using an engineered Escherichia coli strain. Results show that IL pretreatment liberates the most sugar during enzymatic saccharification, and in turn led to the highest isopentenol titer as compared to DA and SAA pretreatments. This study provides insights on developing biorefinery technologies that produce advanced biofuels based on mixed feedstock streams.

Investigation of thermochemical biorefinery sizing and environmental sustainability impacts for conventional supply system and distributed preprocessing supply system designs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Muth, jr., David J. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Langholtz, Matthew H. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Tan, Eric [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Jacobson, Jacob [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Schwab, Amy [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Wu, May [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Argo, Andrew [Sundrop Fuels, Golden, CO (United States); Brandt, Craig C. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Cafferty, Kara [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Chiu, Yi-Wen [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Dutta, Abhijit [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Eaton, Laurence M. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Searcy, Erin [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2014-03-31

The 2011 US Billion-Ton Update estimates that by 2030 there will be enough agricultural and forest resources to sustainably provide at least one billion dry tons of biomass annually, enough to displace approximately 30% of the country's current petroleum consumption. A portion of these resources are inaccessible at current cost targets with conventional feedstock supply systems because of their remoteness or low yields. Reliable analyses and projections of US biofuels production depend on assumptions about the supply system and biorefinery capacity, which, in turn, depend upon economic value, feedstock logistics, and sustainability. A cross-functional team has examined combinations of advances in feedstock supply systems and biorefinery capacities with rigorous design information, improved crop yield and agronomic practices, and improved estimates of sustainable biomass availability. A previous report on biochemical refinery capacity noted that under advanced feedstock logistic supply systems that include depots and pre-processing operations there are cost advantages that support larger biorefineries up to 10 000 DMT/day facilities compared to the smaller 2000 DMT/day facilities. This report focuses on analyzing conventional versus advanced depot biomass supply systems for a thermochemical conversion and refinery sizing based on woody biomass. The results of this analysis demonstrate that the economies of scale enabled by advanced logistics offsets much of the added logistics costs from additional depot processing and transportation, resulting in a small overall increase to the minimum ethanol selling price compared to the conventional logistic supply system. While the overall costs do increase slightly for the advanced logistic supply systems, the ability to mitigate moisture and ash in the system will improve the storage and conversion processes. In addition, being able to draw on feedstocks from further distances will decrease the risk of biomass supply to

Bio-energy utilizes surplusses at the agricultural commodity markets. Large potentials of the biomass; Bioenergie verwertet Ueberschuesse an den Agrarmaerkten. Grosse Potenziale der Biomasse

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-03-19

At the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere, the situation in agricultural markets relaxes visibly. After the year 2012 was characterized by periods of drought in the United States and some Eastern European countries, in recent months good harvests in major producing countries in the southern hemisphere have provided that the stocks of major agricultural commodities are grown again. Thus, enough resources are still available for the supply of food and energy. There still exists land potential in Europe and on other continents for the use of bio-energy. In addition to new power plant crops, known arable crop cultures contribute to the exploration of such a potential: An example of this is the sugar beet. The view on the global supply balance in agricultural goods inter alia the major staple food rice shows that there exist large surpluses on the food markets. However, these surpluses do not benefit the hungry persons in the world. Hunger is a problem of distribution which is not associated with the growth of bio-energy.

Investigation of thermochemical biorefinery sizing and environmental sustainability impacts for conventional supply system and distributed pre-processing supply system designs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

David J. Muth, Jr.; Matthew H. Langholtz; Eric C. D. Tan; Jacob J. Jacobson; Amy Schwab; May M. Wu; Andrew Argo; Craig C. Brandt; Kara G. Cafferty; Yi-Wen Chiu; Abhijit Dutta; Laurence M. Eaton; Erin M. Searcy

2014-08-01

The 2011 US Billion-Ton Update estimates that by 2030 there will be enough agricultural and forest resources to sustainably provide at least one billion dry tons of biomass annually, enough to displace approximately 30% of the country's current petroleum consumption. A portion of these resources are inaccessible at current cost targets with conventional feedstock supply systems because of their remoteness or low yields. Reliable analyses and projections of US biofuels production depend on assumptions about the supply system and biorefinery capacity, which, in turn, depend upon economic value, feedstock logistics, and sustainability. A cross-functional team has examined combinations of advances in feedstock supply systems and biorefinery capacities with rigorous design information, improved crop yield and agronomic practices, and improved estimates of sustainable biomass availability. A previous report on biochemical refinery capacity noted that under advanced feedstock logistic supply systems that include depots and pre-processing operations there are cost advantages that support larger biorefineries up to 10 000 DMT/day facilities compared to the smaller 2000 DMT/day facilities. This report focuses on analyzing conventional versus advanced depot biomass supply systems for a thermochemical conversion and refinery sizing based on woody biomass. The results of this analysis demonstrate that the economies of scale enabled by advanced logistics offsets much of the added logistics costs from additional depot processing and transportation, resulting in a small overall increase to the minimum ethanol selling price compared to the conventional logistic supply system. While the overall costs do increase slightly for the advanced logistic supply systems, the ability to mitigate moisture and ash in the system will improve the storage and conversion processes. In addition, being able to draw on feedstocks from further distances will decrease the risk of biomass supply to

Household anaerobic digester for bioenergy production in developing countries: opportunities and challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Surendra, K C; Takara, Devin; Jasinski, Jonas; Khanal, Samir Kumar

2013-01-01

Access to clean and affordable energy is vital for advancing development objectives, particularly in rural areas of developing countries. There are some three billion people in these regions, however, who lack consistent access to energy and rely on traditional solid fuels such as firewood, cattle manure, and crop residues for meeting cooking and heating needs. Excessive use of such highly polluting resources creates serious environmental, social and public health issues. In this context, household digesters (which convert readily available feedstocks such as cattle manure, human excreta, and crop residues into biogas) have the potential to play a significant role in supplying methane as a clean, renewable energy resource for remote geographies. In addition to bioenergy production, the slurry generated from anaerobic digestion is rich in nutrients and can improve the physical, chemical, and biological attributes of soil when applied to agricultural land. This type of approach has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously improving the quality of life. Despite a long history of research and innovation for the development and optimization of household digesters, little is known and has been reported for the application of these systems in decentralized communities. The primary purpose of this paper seeks to review the dearth of literature pertaining to small-scale anaerobic digesters in remote geographies and in regions where much of the world's population reside.

Biomass for energy production. Economic evaluation, efficiency comparison and optimal utilization of biomass; Biomasse zur Energiegewinnung. Oekonomische Bewertung, Effizienzvergleich und optimale Biomassenutzung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zeddies, Juergen [Hohenheim Univ., Stuttgart (Germany). Inst. fuer Landwirtschaftliche Betriebslehre; Schoenleber, Nicole

2015-07-01

An optimized and/or goal-oriented use of available biomass feedstock for energetic conversion requires a detailed analysis of bioenergy production lines according to technical and economic efficiency indicators. Accordingly, relevant parameters of selected production lines supplying heat, electricity and fuel have been studied and used as data base for an optimization model. Most favorable combination of bioenergy lines considering political and economic objectives are analyzed by applying a specifically designed linear optimization model. Modeling results shall allow evaluation of political courses of action.

Impact of an increasing supply of bioenergy sources on the sustainability of agricul-tural enterprises, evaluated with the Criteria System for Sustainable Agriculture (CSSA); Folgenabschaetzung einer zunehmenden Bereitstellung von Bioenergietraegern auf die Nachhaltigkeit landwirtschaftlicher Unternehmen, bewertet mit dem Kriteriensystem Nachhaltige Landwirtschaft (KSNL)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Breitschuh, Thorsten; Eckert, Hans; Maier, Uta; Gernand, Ulrich; Mueller, Anja [Thueringer Landesanstalt fuer Landwirtschaft (TLL), Jena (Germany); Verband fuer Agrarforschung und Bildung Thueringen e.V., Jena (Germany)

2009-07-15

The report investigates how an increasing supply of bioenergy sources affects the sustainability situation of farms at different sites and with different structures. The ''Criteria System for Sustainable Agriculture'' (CSSA) was used as analysis and assessment criteria system. The CSSA is based on 34 selected criteria in the field of economy, environment and social conditions. Each criterion indicates a defined pres-sure or state and evaluates the results on the basis of defined tolerance ranges. In the study short-term scenarios of an increasing provision of bioenergy based on real data from agricultural farms were evaluated with the CSSA system. Altogether, 30 scenarios were analysed. As a result the most sustainable scenario for the supply of bioenergy was identified for each farm considered. Using this approach, the most important adaptation reactions of agricultural enterprises were determined and evaluated. Potential applications of the explained procedure are the ex-ante simulation and ex- ante evaluation of agricultural processes and the creation and evaluation of sup-port programmes. (orig.)

Climate impacts of bioenergy: Inclusion of carbon cycle and albedo dynamics in life cycle impact assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bright, Ryan M.; Cherubini, Francesco; Strømman, Anders H.

2012-01-01

Life cycle assessment (LCA) can be an invaluable tool for the structured environmental impact assessment of bioenergy product systems. However, the methodology's static temporal and spatial scope combined with its restriction to emission-based metrics in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) inhibits its effectiveness at assessing climate change impacts that stem from dynamic land surface–atmosphere interactions inherent to all biomass-based product systems. In this paper, we focus on two dynamic issues related to anthropogenic land use that can significantly influence the climate impacts of bioenergy systems: i) temporary changes to the terrestrial carbon cycle; and ii) temporary changes in land surface albedo—and illustrate how they can be integrated within the LCA framework. In the context of active land use management for bioenergy, we discuss these dynamics and their relevancy and outline the methodological steps that would be required to derive case-specific biogenic CO 2 and albedo change characterization factors for inclusion in LCIA. We demonstrate our concepts and metrics with application to a case study of transportation biofuel sourced from managed boreal forest biomass in northern Europe. We derive GWP indices for three land management cases of varying site productivities to illustrate the importance and need to consider case- or region-specific characterization factors for bioenergy product systems. Uncertainties and limitations of the proposed metrics are discussed. - Highlights: ► A method for including temporary surface albedo and carbon cycle changes in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) is elaborated. ► Concepts are applied to a single bioenergy case whereby a range of feedstock productivities are shown to influence results. ► Results imply that case- and site-specific characterization factors can be essential for a more informed impact assessment. ► Uncertainties and limitations of the proposed methodologies are elaborated.

Pathways and pitfalls of implementing the use of woodfuels in Germany's bioenergy sector

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Plieninger, Tobias; Thiel, Andreas; Bens, Oliver

2009-01-01

The paper presents an empirical study on the use of woody biomass for energy supply in Germany and the federal state of Brandenburg. It aims to explain the role forestry enterprises have for bioenergy provision in this area. The 'Institutions of Sustainability' framework is used as an analytical...... tool to investigate the role of private and public actors in these transactions, respectively, in the governance structures they are subject to. Empirical evidence was gathered by in-depth interviews with actors from forestry and bioenergy practice. Triggered by favorable governance structures, i.......e. strong support by national and regional policies, rising prices for fossil energy sources, and co-operation of committed individuals and groups, a new bioenergy industry has been successfully established. However, the forestry sector has so far been just a marginal fuel supplier for this industry...

Bioenergy expansion in the EU: Cost-effective climate change mitigation, employment creation and reduced dependency on imported fuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berndes, Goeran; Hansson, Julia

2007-01-01

Presently, the European Union (EU) is promoting bioenergy. The aim of this paper is to study the prospects for using domestic biomass resources in Europe and specifically to investigate whether different policy objectives underlying the promotion of bioenergy (cost-effective climate change mitigation, employment creation and reduced dependency on imported fuels) agree on which bioenergy options that should be used. We model bioenergy use from a cost-effectiveness perspective with a linear regionalized energy- and transport-system model and perform supplementary analysis. It is found that the different policy objectives do not agree on the order of priority among bioenergy options. Maximizing climate benefits cost-effectively is in conflict with maximizing employment creation. The former perspective proposes the use of lignocellulosic biomass in the stationary sector, while the latter requires biofuels for transport based on traditional agricultural crops. Further, from a security-of-supply perspective, the appeal of a given bioenergy option depends on how oil and gas import dependencies are weighed relative to each other. Consequently, there are tradeoffs that need to be addressed by policymakers promoting the use of bioenergy. Also, the importance of bioenergy in relation to employment creation and fuel import dependency reduction needs to be further addressed

Effect of Bioenergy Demands and Supply Response on Markets, Carbon, and Land Use

Science.gov (United States)

Karen L. Abt; Robert C. Abt; Christopher Galik

2012-01-01

An increase in the demand for wood for energy, including liquid fuels, bioelectricity, and pellets, has the potential to affect traditional wood users, forestland uses, management intensities, and, ultimately, carbon sequestration. Recent studies have shown that increases in bioenergy harvests could lead to displacement of traditional wood-using industries in the short...

MSU-Northern Bio-Energy Center of Excellence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kegel, Greg [Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT (United States); Alcorn-Windy Boy, Jessica [Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT (United States); Abedin, Md. Joynal [Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT (United States); Maglinao, Randy [Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT (United States)

2014-09-30

MSU-Northern established the Bio-Energy Center (the Center) into a Regional Research Center of Excellence to address the obstacles concerning biofuels, feedstock, quality, conversion process, economic viability and public awareness. The Center built its laboratories and expertise in order to research and support product development and commercialization for the bio-energy industry in our region. The Center wanted to support the regional agricultural based economy by researching biofuels based on feedstock’s that can be grown in our region in an environmentally responsible manner. We were also interested in any technology that will improve the emissions and fuel economy performance of heavy duty diesel engines. The Center had a three step approach to accomplish these goals: 1. Enhance the Center’s research and testing capabilities 2. Develop advanced biofuels from locally grown agricultural crops. 3. Educate and outreach for public understanding and acceptance of new technology. The Center was very successful in completing the tasks as outlined in the project plan. Key successes include discovering and patenting a new chemical conversion process for converting camelina oil to jet fuel, as well as promise in developing a heterogeneous Grubs catalyst to support the new chemical conversion process. The Center also successfully fragmented and deoxygenated naturally occurring lignin with a Ni-NHC catalyst, showing promise for further exploration of using lignin for fuels and fuel additives. This would create another value-added product for lignin that can be sourced from beetle kill trees or waste products from cellulose ethanol fuel facilities.

IEA Bioenergy task 40. Country report for the Netherlands 2007

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sikkema, R.; Junginger, M.; Faaij, A.

2007-12-01

Short-term objectives of the IEA Bioenergy Task 40 'Sustainable International Bio-energy Trade: Securing Supply and Demand' are amongst other objectives to present an overview of development of biomass markets in various parts of the world and to identify existing barriers hampering development of a (global) commodity market (e.g. policy framework, ecology, economics). As in most countries biomass is a relatively new (though quickly growing) commodity, relatively little information is available on e.g. the traded volumes and prices of various biomass streams, policies and regulations on biomass use and trade, and existing and perceived barriers. This country report aims to provide an overview of these issues for the Netherlands and is an extended update of previous reports (2005 and 2006)

Assessment of bioenergy potential on marginal land in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhuang, Dafang; Jiang, Dong; Liu, Lei; Huang, Yaohuan [Data Center for Resources and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101 (China)

2011-02-15

Bioenergy developed from energy plants will play a more and more important role in future energy supply. Much attention has been paid to energy plants in recent years. As China has fairly limited cultivated land resources, the bioenergy development may mainly rely on the exploitation of marginal land. This study focused on the assessment of marginal land resources and bio-fuel potential in China using newly acquired data and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. A multi-factor analysis method was adopted to identify marginal lands for bioenergy development in China, with data of several main types of energy plants on the eco-environmental requirements and natural habits employed. A combined planting zonation strategy was proposed, which was targeted for five species of energy plants including Helianthus tuberous L., Pistacia chinensis, Jatropha curcas L., Cassava and Vernicia fordii. The results indicated that total area of marginal land exploitable for development of energy plants on a large scale was about 43.75 million ha. If 10% of this marginal land was fully utilized for growing the energy plants, the production of bio-fuel would be 13.39 million tons. (author)

Properties of various plants and animals feedstocks for biodiesel production.

Science.gov (United States)

Karmakar, Aninidita; Karmakar, Subrata; Mukherjee, Souti

2010-10-01

As an alternative fuel biodiesel is becoming increasingly important due to diminishing petroleum reserves and adverse environmental consequences of exhaust gases from petroleum-fuelled engines. Biodiesel, the non-toxic fuel, is mono alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from renewable feedstock like vegetable oils, animal fats and residual oils. Choice of feedstocks depends on process chemistry, physical and chemical characteristics of virgin or used oils and economy of the process. Extensive research information is available on transesterification, the production technology and process optimization for various biomaterials. Consistent supply of feedstocks is being faced as a major challenge by the biodiesel production industry. This paper reviews physico-chemical properties of the plant and animal resources that are being used as feedstocks for biodiesel production. Efforts have also been made to review the potential resources that can be transformed into biodiesel successfully for meeting the ever increasing demand of biodiesel production. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Economics of herbaceous bioenergy crops for electricity generation: Implications for greenhouse gas mitigation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khanna, M.; Onal, H.; Dhungana, B.; Wander, M. [University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Urbana, IL (United States)

2011-04-15

This paper examines the optimal land allocation for two perennial crops, switchgrass and miscanthus that can be co-fired with coal for electricity generation. Detailed spatial data at county level is used to determine the costs of producing and transporting biomass to power plants in Illinois over a 15-year period. A supply curve for bioenergy is generated at various levels of bioenergy subsidies and the implications of production for farm income and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are analyzed. GHG emissions are estimated using lifecycle analysis and include the soil carbon sequestered by perennial grasses and the carbon emissions displaced by these grasses due to both conversion of land from row crops and co-firing the grasses with coal. We find that the conversion of less than 2% of the cropland to bioenergy crops could produce 5.5% of the electricity generated by coal-fired power plants in Illinois and reduce carbon emissions by 11% over the 15-year period. However, the cost of energy from biomass in Illinois is more than twice as high as that of coal. Costly government subsidies for bioenergy or mandates in the form of Renewable Portfolio Standards would be needed to induce the production and use of bioenergy for electricity generation. Alternatively, a modest price for GHG emissions under a cap-and-trade policy could make bioenergy competitive with coal without imposing a fiscal burden on the government.

Land and water requirements of biofuel and implications for food supply and the environment in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Hong; Zhou, Yuan; Liu, Junguo

2009-01-01

The increasing thirst for energy to fuel its fast growing economy has made China keen to explore the potential of modern form of bioenergy, biofuel. This study investigates the land and water requirements of biofuel in China with reference to the government biofuel development plans for 2010 and 2020. The concept of land and water footprints of biofuel is applied for the investigation. The result shows that the current level of bioethanol production consumes 3.5-4% of total maize production of the country, reducing market availability of maize for other uses by about 6%. It is projected that depending on the types of feedstock, 5-10% of the total cultivated land in China would need to be devoted to meet the biofuel production target of 12 million metric tons for the year 2020. The associated water requirement would amount to 32-72 km 3 per year, approximately equivalent to the annual discharge of the Yellow River. The net contribution of biofuel to the national energy pool could be limited due to generally low net energy return of conventional feedstocks. The current biofuel development paths could pose significant impacts on China's food supply and trade, as well as the environment. (author)

Bioenergy and the Sustainability Transition: from Local Resource to Global Commodity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johnson, Francis X.

2007-07-01

The looming threat of climate change and the invaluable role of energy in development have complicated the global transition to sustainable energy while also increasing the urgency of the transition. Bioenergy has a key role in this transition due to its unique characteristics among renewable energy sources, the concentration of bioenergy potential in major developing country regions, and the close relationship between biomass resources and carbon management strategies. This paper offers a conceptual model for bioenergy's role in the transition, outlining its key elements and their significance with respect to environment and development. In spite of the globalising economy, the security of energy supply continues to be threatened by geo-political conflicts. Continued expansion of energy consumption is constrained by its environmental impacts. At the same time two billion persons have little or no access to modern energy services. The diversity and flexibility of bioenergy systems offers opportunities to bridge some of the key divisions-technical, political, economic, and environmental-that have complicated international efforts to address climate change and promote equitable development of global resources. The challenge is to take advantage of the heterogeneity of biomass resources to facilitate the most effective use of those resources in the emerging bio-economy. (auth)

9. Rostock bioenergy forum. Proceedings; 9. Rostocker Bioenergieforum. Tagungsband

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nelles, Michael (ed.)

2015-07-01

This volume contains the following main topics: (1) Valorisation/overall optimization by (waste) heat utilization; (2) Flexible energy supply; (3) Traditional and alternative solid bioenergy sources; (4) Conditions for biofuel supply; (5) Utilization of biofuels for engines; (6) Bio-waste as resource; (7) Optimization of biogas plants/process optimization; (8) Energy crops and their rotations. [German] Dieser Tagungsband enthaelt folgenden Themenschwerpunkte: (1) Inwertsetzung/Gesamtoptimierung durch (Ab-)Waermenutzung; (2) Flexible Energiebereitstellung; (3) Traditionelle und alternative feste Bioenergietraeger; (4) Rahmenbedingungen fuer die Biokraftstoff-Bereitstellung; (5) Motorische Nutzung von Biokraftstoffen; (6) Bioabfall als Ressourcen; (7) Optimierung von Biogasanlagen/Prozessoptimierung; (8) Energiepflanzen-Fruchtfolgen.

MSU-Northern Bio-Energy Center of Excellence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kegel, Greg [Montana State Univ. Northern, Havre, MT (United States); Windy Boy, Jessica [Montana State Univ. Northern, Havre, MT (United States). Bio-Energy Center of Excellence; Maglinao, Randy Latayan [Montana State Univ. Northern, Havre, MT (United States). Bio-Energy Center of Excellence; Abedin, Md. Joynal [Montana State Univ. Northern, Havre, MT (United States). Bio-Energy Center of Excellence

2017-03-02

The goal of this project was to establish the Bio-Energy Center (the Center) of Montana State University Northern (MSUN) as a Regional Research Center of Excellence in research, product development, and commercialization of non-food biomass for the bio-energy industry. A three-step approach, namely, (1) enhance the Center’s research and testing capabilities, (2) develop advanced biofuels from locally grown agricultural crops, and (3) educate the community through outreach programs for public understanding and acceptance of new technologies was identified to achieve this goal. The research activities aimed to address the obstacles concerning the production of biofuels and other bio-based fuel additives considering feedstock quality, conversion process, economic viability, and public awareness. First and foremost in enhancing the capabilities of the Center is the improvement of its laboratories and other physical facilities for investigating new biomass conversion technologies and the development of its manpower complement with expertise in chemistry, engineering, biology, and energy. MSUN renovated its Auto Diagnostics building and updated its mechanical and electrical systems necessary to house the state-of-the-art 525kW (704 hp) A/C Dynamometer. The newly renovated building was designated as the Advanced Fuels Building. Two laboratories, namely Biomass Conversion lab and Wet Chemistry lab were also added to the Center’s facilities. The Biomass Conversion lab was for research on the production of advanced biofuels including bio-jet fuel and bio-based fuel additives while the Wet Chemistry lab was used to conduct catalyst research. Necessary equipment and machines, such as gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry, were purchased and installed to help in research and testing. With the enhanced capabilities of the Center, research and testing activities were very much facilitated and more precise. New biofuels derived from Camelina sativa (camelina), a locally

Finnish Bioenergy Association - Finbio

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sopo, R.

1999-01-01

The Finnish Bioenergy Association, was founded in November 1991 in the city of Jyvaeskylae. In November 1996, the membership of FINBIO consisted of 17 contributing collective members and 75 individual members. Members of the organization include e.g. the Association of Finnish Peat Industries, Wood Energy Association and Finnish Biogas Centre, all of which represent specific bioenergy fields in Finland. The Finnish Bioenergy Association is a private, non-profit organization the objectives of which are to promote and develop harvesting, transportation and processing of biofuels and other biomass (wood-based biofuels, non-food crops, peat, biowaste); to promote the use of biomass in energy production and in other applications, in accordance with environmentally sound and sustainable development. The objectives of FINBIO is to promote the production and application of all forms of bioenergy in Finland. FINBIO acts as a coordinator for AEBIOM (the European Biomass Association) and its member associations, as well as for other international bioenergy-related organizations

Bioenergy '97: Nordic Bioenergy Conference, market, environment and technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-01-01

(Leading abstract). The conference ''Bioenergy '97: Nordic Bioenergy Conference, market, environment and technology'' took place in Oslo, Norway, 7-8 Oct 1997. The conference papers are grouped under three headings: (1) The nordic energy market. 12 papers. (2) Production and sale of biofuels. 8 papers. (3) Conversion and utilization of biofuels. With subsections New technologies, 4 papers, and Power/heat production from biofuels, 4 papers

Synaptic activity and bioenergy homeostasis: implications in brain trauma and neurodegenerative diseases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natasha eKhatri

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Powered by glucose metabolism, the brain is the most energy-demanding organ in our body, accounting for a quarter of total oxygen consumption. Adequate ATP production and regulation of the metabolic processes are essential for the maintenance of synaptic transmission and neuronal function. Glutamatergic synaptic activity utilizes the largest portion of bioenergy for synaptic events including neurotransmitter synthesis, vesicle recycling, and most importantly the postsynaptic activities leading to channel activation and rebalancing of ionic gradients. Bioenergy homeostasis is coupled with synaptic function via activities of the sodium pumps, glutamate transporters, glucose transport and mitochondria translocation. Energy insufficiency will be sensed by the AMP-activated dependent protein kinase (AMPK, a master metabolic regulator that stimulates the catalytic process to enhance energy production. A decline in energy supply and a disruption in bioenergy homeostasis play a critical role in multiple neuropathological conditions including ischemia, stroke and neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injuries.

New Geospatial Approaches for Efficiently Mapping Forest Biomass Logistics at High Resolution over Large Areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Hogland

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Adequate biomass feedstock supply is an important factor in evaluating the financial feasibility of alternative site locations for bioenergy facilities and for maintaining profitability once a facility is built. We used newly developed spatial analysis and logistics software to model the variables influencing feedstock supply and to estimate and map two components of the supply chain for a bioenergy facility: (1 the total biomass stocks available within an economically efficient transportation distance; (2 the cost of logistics to move the required stocks from the forest to the facility. Both biomass stocks and flows have important spatiotemporal dynamics that affect procurement costs and project viability. Though seemingly straightforward, these two components can be difficult to quantify and map accurately in a useful and spatially explicit manner. For an 8 million hectare study area, we used raster-based methods and tools to quantify and visualize these supply metrics at 10 m2 spatial resolution. The methodology and software leverage a novel raster-based least-cost path modeling algorithm that quantifies off-road and on-road transportation and other logistics costs. The results of the case study highlight the efficiency, flexibility, fine resolution, and spatial complexity of model outputs developed for facility siting and procurement planning.

Forest operations and woody biomass logistics to improve efficiency, value, and sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Nathaniel Anderson; Dana Mitchell

2016-01-01

This paper reviews the most recent work conducted by scientists and engineers of the Forest Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the areas of forest operations and woody biomass logistics, with an emphasis on feedstock supply for emerging bioenergy, biofuels, and bioproducts applications. This work is presented in the context of previous...

Stump torrefaction for bioenergy application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tran, Khanh-Quang; Luo, Xun; Seisenbaeva, Gulaim; Jirjis, Raida

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► First study on torrefaction of stump for bioenergy application. ► Stump can achieve higher energy densification factors. ► Torrefied stump requires longer grinding time than torrefied wood. - Abstract: A fixed bed reactor has been developed for study of biomass torrefaction, followed by thermogravimetric (TG) analyses. Norway spruce stump was used as feedstock. Two other types of biomass, poplar and fuel chips were also included in the study for comparison. Effects of feedstock types and process parameters such as torrefaction temperature and reaction time on fuel properties of torrefied solid product were investigated. The study has demonstrated that fuel properties, including heating values and grindability of the investigated biomasses were improved by torrefaction. Both torrefaction temperature and reaction time had strong effects on the torrefaction process, but temperature effects are stronger than effects of reaction time. At the same torrefaction temperature, the longer reaction time, the better fuel qualities for the solid product were obtained. However, too long reaction times and/or too higher torrefaction temperatures would decrease the solid product yield. The torrefaction conditions of 300 °C for 35 min resulted in the energy densification factor of 1.219 for the stump, which is higher than that of 1.162 for the poplar wood samples and 1.145 for the fuel chips. It appears that torrefied stump requires much longer time for grinding, while its particle size distribution is only slightly better than the others. In addition, the TG analyses have shown that untreated biomass was more reactive than its torrefaction products. The stump has less hemicelluloses than the two other biomass types. SEM analyses indicated that the wood surface structure was broken and destroyed by torrefaction process

Bioenergy overview for Portugal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferreira, Sergio; Moreira, Nuno Afonso; Monteiro, Eliseu

2009-01-01

Bioenergy is seen as one of the key options to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and substitute fossil fuels. Bioenergy is also an atypical energy source due to its diversity and inter-linkages with many other technological and policy areas. The goal of this paper is to analyze the Portuguese possibilities for bioenergy provision from biomass. The potentials of biomass, conversion technologies and legal framework are analysed and discussed. The result of this analysis shows that there are still unused potentials especially from forestry, which can contribute significantly to cover the bioenergy targets. However, the Portuguese experience with conversion technologies is limited to combustion, which is a drawback that must be solved so as to the bioenergy potential can be used. Research and Development projects, as well as demonstration projects are needed in order to improve the efficiency of the technological processes. At political level, Portuguese governments have been following the policies and strategies of the European Commission in the energy sector. However, energy crops market, due to the inter-linkage with agricultural policy, seems to need some additional political push. (author)

Bioenergy overview for Portugal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferreira, Sergio [Tecaprod S.A., 5000 Vila Real (Portugal); Moreira, Nuno Afonso; Monteiro, Eliseu [CITAB, University of Tras-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5000 Vila Real (Portugal)

2009-11-15

Bioenergy is seen as one of the key options to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and substitute fossil fuels. Bioenergy is also an atypical energy source due to its diversity and inter-linkages with many other technological and policy areas. The goal of this paper is to analyze the Portuguese possibilities for bioenergy provision from biomass. The potentials of biomass, conversion technologies and legal framework are analysed and discussed. The result of this analysis shows that there are still unused potentials especially from forestry, which can contribute significantly to cover the bioenergy targets. However, the Portuguese experience with conversion technologies is limited to combustion, which is a drawback that must be solved so as to the bioenergy potential can be used. Research and Development projects, as well as demonstration projects are needed in order to improve the efficiency of the technological processes. At political level, Portuguese governments have been following the policies and strategies of the European Commission in the energy sector. However, energy crops market, due to the inter-linkage with agricultural policy, seems to need some additional political push. (author)

More valuable as petrochemical feedstock

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramachandran, R.

2005-01-01

The problems facing the North American petrochemical industry were discussed with particular reference to the fact that high North American prices present a challenge to competitiveness in a globally traded market. A background of Dow Canada was provided, including details of its upgrading of natural gas liquids that would otherwise be combusted for electrical power generation. The value of the petrochemical industry was outlined, with details of employment, manufacturing output and exports. Alberta's relationship to the natural gas industry was reviewed. The role of petrochemicals as a nexus for bridging the resource sector with manufacturing, retail and transportation was discussed. The historic correlation between world Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and ethylene demand was presented. It was noted that the petrochemical industry currently competes with power generators for smaller volumes of natural gas liquids. As a highly energy intensive industry, inequities in gas pipeline haul charges and even small increases in gas prices has compromised the success of the petrochemical industry. It was noted that while crude oil is a globally traded commodity, natural gas liquids are generally traded at a more localized level, and factors that helped build the petrochemical industry and are now inhibiting growth. Ethane is the primary feedstock in the petrochemical industry. High natural gas prices affected the industry on two levels: volatility in a weakening industry and higher prices on primary feedstocks. It was estimated that changes in current trends were likely to take place in 5 to 10 years, following Northern gas developments. It was estimated that more than 50 per cent of new capacity investment in ethylene plants would take place in the Middle East in the next 5 years. No new plants are planned in Canada. It was concluded that low-cost feedstock advantages, as well as alternative feedstocks and the sustainment of a healthy industry are necessary for the

The potential demand for bioenergy in residential heating applications (bio-heat) in the UK based on a market segment analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jablonski, S.; Pantaleo, A.; Bauen, A.; Pearson, P.; Panoutsou, C.; Slade, R.

2008-01-01

How large is the potential demand for bio-heat in the UK? Whilst most research has focused on the supply of biomass for energy production, an understanding of the potential demand is crucial to the uptake of heat from bioenergy. We have designed a systematic framework utilising market segmentation techniques to assess the potential demand for biomass heat in the UK. First, the heat market is divided into relevant segments, characterised in terms of their final energy consumption, technological and fuel supply options. Second, the key technical, economic and organisational factors that affect the uptake of bioenergy in each heat segment are identified, classified and then analysed to reveal which could be strong barriers, which could be surmounted easily, and for which bioenergy heat represents an improvement compared to alternatives. The defined framework is applied to the UK residential sector. We identify provisionally the most promising market segments for bioenergy heat, and their current levels of energy demand. We find that, depending on the assumptions, the present potential demand for bio-heat in the UK residential sector ranges between 3% (conservative estimate) and 31% (optimistic estimate) of the total energy consumed in the heat market. (author)

Challenges and models in supporting logistics system design for dedicated-biomass-based bioenergy industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Xiaoyan; Li, Xueping; Yao, Qingzhu; Chen, Yuerong

2011-01-01

This paper analyzed the uniqueness and challenges in designing the logistics system for dedicated biomass-to-bioenergy industry, which differs from the other industries, due to the unique features of dedicated biomass (e.g., switchgrass) including its low bulk density, restrictions on harvesting season and frequency, content variation with time and circumambient conditions, weather effects, scattered distribution over a wide geographical area, and so on. To design it, this paper proposed a mixed integer linear programming model. It covered from planting and harvesting switchgrass to delivering to a biorefinery and included the residue handling, concentrating on integrating strategic decisions on the supply chain design and tactical decisions on the annual operation schedules. The present numerical examples verified the model and demonstrated its use in practice. This paper showed that the operations of the logistics system were significantly different for harvesting and non-harvesting seasons, and that under the well-designed biomass logistics system, the mass production with a steady and sufficient supply of biomass can increase the unit profit of bioenergy. The analytical model and practical methodology proposed in this paper will help realize the commercial production in biomass-to-bioenergy industry. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The bio-energies development: the role of biofuels and the CO{sub 2} price

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jouvet, Pierre-Andre [Universite Paris Ouest Nanterre La Defense, Climate Economics Chair (France); Lantz, Frederic [IFP Energies nouvelles, 1-4, avenue de Bois-Preau, 92852 Rueil-Malmaison Cedex (France); Le Cadre, Elodie [IFPEN, INRA, Universite Paris Ouest Nanterre La Defense (France)

2012-07-01

Reduction in energy dependency and emissions of CO{sub 2} via renewable energies targeted in the European Union energy mix and taxation system, might trigger the production of bio-energy production and competition for biomass utilization. Torrefied biomass could be used to produce second generation biofuels to replace some of the fuels used in transportation and is also suitable as feedstock to produce electricity in large quantities. This paper examines how the CO{sub 2} price affects demand of torrefied biomass in the power sector and its consequences on the profitability of second generation biofuel units (Biomass to Liquid units). Indeed, the profitability of the BtL units which are supplied only by torrefied biomass is related to the competitive demand of the power sector driven by the CO{sub 2} price and feed-in tariffs. We propose a linear dynamic model of supply and demand. On the supply side, a profit-maximizing torrefied biomass sector is modelled. The model aims to represent the transformation of biomass into torrefied biomass which could be sold to the refinery sector and the power sector. A two-sided (demanders and supplier) bidding process led us to arrive at the equilibrium price for torrefied biomass. The French case is used as an example. Our results suggest that the higher the CO{sub 2} price, the more stable and important the power sector demand. It also makes the torrefied biomass production less vulnerable to uncertainty on demand coming from the refining sector. The torrefied biomass co-firing with coal can offer a near-term market for the torrefied biomass for a CO{sub 2} emission price lower than 20 euros/tCO{sub 2}, which can stimulate development of biomass supply systems. Beyond 2020, the demand for torrefied biomass from the power sector could be substituted by the refining sector if the oil price goes up whatever the CO{sub 2} price. (authors)

The basis for a Platform Bio-Energy. Combining forces for the Dutch bio-energy business

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Halen, C.J.G.

1998-02-01

It appears that there is a need for a community of interests in the field of bio-energy to solve numerous problems and to answer many questions with respect to the development of businesses that are active in the field of bio-energy. The title study was carried out in the third and fourth quarter of 1997 by means of surveys and depth interviews among representatives of bio-energy businesses, interest groups and research institutes. The majority of the respondents supports the foundation of the Platform Bio-Energy and suggests many different activities

Sustainable Forest Bioenergy Development Strategies in Indochina: Collaborative Effort to Establish Regional Policies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viktor J. Bruckman

2018-04-01

Full Text Available We conducted a feasibility study in Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam with the aim of promoting biomass and bioenergy markets, technology transfer, rural development, and income generation. Policy development is guided by the International Union of Forest Research Institutions (IUFRO Task Force “Sustainable Forest Bioenergy Network”. In this paper, we highlight the achievements up to now and present results of a multi-stakeholder questionnaire in combination with a quantitative analysis of the National Bioenergy Development Plans (NBDPs. We found a gap between official documents and working group assessments. NBDPs are focused on the market development, technology transfer, and funding possibilities of a regional bioenergy strategy, while the respondents of a questionnaire (working groups favored more altruistic goals, i.e., sustainable resource management, environmental protection and climate change mitigation, generation of rural income, and community involvement, etc. We therefore suggest the following measures to ensure regulations that support the original aims of the network (climate change mitigation, poverty alleviation, sustainable resource use, and diversification of energy generation: (i Consideration of science-based evidence for drafting bioenergy policies, particularly in the field of biomass production and harvesting; (ii invitation of stakeholders representing rural communities to participate in this process; (iii development of sustainability criteria; (iv feedback cycles ensuring more intensive discussion of policy drafts; (v association of an international board of experts to provide scientifically sound feedback and input; and (vi establishment of a local demonstration region, containing various steps in the biomass/bioenergy supply chain including transboundary collaboration in the ACMECS region.

The bioenergy village. Prerequisites and consequences of an independent heat supply and power supply by biomass for the agriculture, ecology and lifestyle culture in the rural area; Das Bioenergiedorf. Voraussetzungen und Folgen einer eigenstaendigen Waerme- und Stromversorgung durch Biomasse fuer Landwirtschaft, Oekologie und Lebenskultur im laendlichen Raum

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ruppert, Hans [Goettingen Univ. (Germany). Geowissenschaftliches Zentrum; Goettingen Univ. (Germany). Interdisziplinaeres Zentrum fuer Nachhaltige Entwicklung; Schmuck, Peter (eds.) [Goettingen Univ. (Germany). Interdisziplinaeres Zentrum fuer Nachhaltige Entwicklung; UMC Potsdam (Germany). Inst. fuer Nachhaltigkeit und Umweltpolitik

2010-07-01

The transformation of the power supply and heat supply in the bioenergy village Juende (Federal Republic of Germany) on the basis of the energy source biomass was completed in the autumn 2005. Within this flagship project it could be shown that new ways are passable if the persons concerned design the new concepts. The contribution under consideration reports on the results of the final phase of this project describing the socio-economic and ecologic impacts of the implementation of the energy supply on the biomass in Juende. Within this part of project the disciplines crop science, soil science, geosciences, economy, psychology and sociology interact. The most important results of the single disciplines are presented in this final report.

Socio-economic drivers in implementing bioenergy projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Domac, J.; Richards, K.; Risovic, S.

2005-01-01

Within the international community there is considerable interest in the socio-economic implications of moving society towards the more widespread use of renewable energy resources. Such change is seen to be very necessary but is often poorly communicated to people and communities who need to accept such changes. There are pockets of activity across the world looking at various approaches to understand this fundamental matter. Typically, socio-economic implications are measured in terms of economic indices, such as employment and monetary gains, but in effect the analysis relates to a number of aspects which include social, cultural, institutional, and environmental issues. The extremely complex nature of bioenergy, many different technologies involved and a number of different, associated aspects (socio-economics, greenhouse gas mitigation potential, environment, ?) make this whole topic a complex subject. This paper is primarily a descriptive research and review of literature on employment and other socio-economic aspects of bioenergy systems as drivers for implementing bioenergy projects. Due to the limited information, this paper does not provide absolute quantification on the multiplier effects of local and or national incomes of any particular country or region. The paper intends to trigger a more in-depth discussion of data gaps, potentials, opportunities and challenges. An encouraging trend is that in many countries policy makers are beginning to perceive the potential economic benefits of commercial biomass e.g. employment/earnings, regional economic gain, contribution to security of energy supply and all others

Bioenergy `97: Nordic Bioenergy Conference, market, environment and technology; Bioenergi `97: nordisk bioenergikonferanse, marked, miljoe og teknikk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-12-31

(Leading abstract). The conference ``Bioenergy `97: Nordic Bioenergy Conference, market, environment and technology`` took place in Oslo, Norway, 7-8 Oct 1997. The conference papers are grouped under three headings: (1) The nordic energy market. 12 papers. (2) Production and sale of biofuels. 8 papers. (3) Conversion and utilization of biofuels. With subsections New technologies, 4 papers, and Power/heat production from biofuels, 4 papers

Bioenergy `97: Nordic Bioenergy Conference, market, environment and technology; Bioenergi `97: nordisk bioenergikonferanse, marked, miljoe og teknikk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-12-31

(Leading abstract). The conference ``Bioenergy `97: Nordic Bioenergy Conference, market, environment and technology`` took place in Oslo, Norway, 7-8 Oct 1997. The conference papers are grouped under three headings: (1) The nordic energy market. 12 papers. (2) Production and sale of biofuels. 8 papers. (3) Conversion and utilization of biofuels. With subsections New technologies, 4 papers, and Power/heat production from biofuels, 4 papers

Impact of Mixed Feedstocks and Feedstock Densification on Ionic Liquid Pretreatment Efficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jian Shi; Vicki S. Thompson; Neal A. Yancey; Vitalie Stavila; Blake A. Simmons; Seema Singh

2013-01-01

Background: Lignocellulosic biorefineries must be able to efficiently process the regional feedstocks that are available at cost-competitive prices year round. These feedstocks typically have low energy densities and vary significantly in composition. One potential solution to these issues is blending and/or densifying the feedstocks in order to create a uniform feedstock. Results/discussion: We have mixed four feedstocks - switchgrass, lodgepole pine, corn stover, and eucalyptus - in flour and pellet form and processed them using the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate. Sugar yields from both the mixed flour and pelletized feedstocks reach 90% within 24 hours of saccharification. Conclusions: Mixed feedstocks, in either flour or pellet form, are efficiently processed using this pretreatment process, and demonstrate that this approach has significant potential.

Assessment of by-products of bioenergy systems (anaerobic digestion and gasification) as potential crop nutrient.

Science.gov (United States)

Kataki, Sampriti; Hazarika, Samarendra; Baruah, D C

2017-01-01

Alternative fertilizer resources have drawn attention in recent times in order to cope up with ever increasing demand for fertilizer. By-products of bioenergy system are considered favourable as organic fertilizer due to their ability to recycle plant nutrients. Present study evaluates fertilizer suitability of by-products of two bioenergy systems viz. 3 types of anaerobic digestion by-products (digestate) from local surplus biomass such as cowdung, Ipomoea carnea:cowdung (60:40) and ricestraw:green gram stover:cowdung (30:30:40) and one gasification by-product (biochar) from rice husk. Digestates were assessed considering 4 different application options of each viz. whole, solid, liquid and ash from solid digestates. Digestate characteristics (organic matter, macronutrients, micronutrients and heavy metal content) were found to be a function of feedstock and processing (solid liquid separation and ashing). Ipomoea carnea based digestates in all application options showed comparatively higher N, P, K, NH 4 + -N, Ca, Mg, S and micro nutrient content than other digestates. Separation concentrated plant nutrients and organic matter in solid digestates, making these suitable both as organic amendments and fertilizer. Separated liquid digestate shared larger fraction of ammonium nitrogen (61-91% of total content), indicating their suitability as readily available N source. However, fertilizer application of liquid digestate may not match crop requirements due to lower total nutrient concentration. Higher electrical conductivity of the liquid digestates (3.4-9.3mScm -1 ) than solid digestates (1.5-2mScm -1 ) may impart phyto-toxic effect upon fertilization due to salinity. In case of by-products with unstable organic fraction i.e. whole and solid digestates of rice straw:green gram stover:cowdung digestates (Humification index 0.7), further processing (stabilization, composting) may be required to maximize their fertilizer benefit. Heavy metal contents of the by

Market survey Czech Republic. Bio-energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

Basic characteristics of the market for bioenergy (biomass, biogas and biofuels) in the Czech Republic and consequences for business environment are summarized, based on a SWOT analysis. The Czech biomass market is still developing and is segmented and disintegrated to many regional or sector markets where also prices of biomass differ significantly and could be affected by dominant players. There were several attempts to establish a kind of biomass exchange, but were unsuccessful. The biomass trade is done usually on bilateral basis but without clear long-term agreements on contracts which would secure stable supply and prices

Bio-energy. Innovators talking; Bio-energie. Innovators aan het woord

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-02-15

Qualitative studies have been conducted of the results of completed projects focused on energy innovation, spread over the seven themes of the top sector Energy: Energy saving in industry, Energy conservation in the built environment, Gas, Bio-energy, Smart grids, Offshore Wind, Solar PV. This provides insight into the follow-up activities and lessons of some EOS (Energy Research Subsidy) completed projects with the aim to inspire, connect and strengthen the TKIs (Topconsortia for Knowledge and Innovation) and individual companies and researchers working on energy innovation. This report concerns the research on bio-energy [Dutch] Er is een kwalitatief onderzoek uitgevoerd naar de resultaten van afgeronde projecten gericht op energie-innovatie, verdeeld over de zeven thema's van de topsector Energie: Energiebesparing in de industrie; Energiebesparing in de gebouwde omgeving; Gas; Bio-energie; Smart grids; Wind op zee; Zon-pv. Daarmee wordt inzicht gegeven in de vervolgactiviteiten en lessen van een aantal afgesloten EOS-projecten (Energie Onderzoek Subsidie) met het oog op het inspireren, verbinden en versterken van de TKI's (Topconsortia voor Kennis en Innovatie) en individuele bedrijven en onderzoekers die werken aan energie-innovatie. Dit rapport betreft het onderzoek naar bio-energie.

Bio-energy. Innovators talking; Bio-energie. Innovators aan het woord

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-02-15

Qualitative studies have been conducted of the results of completed projects focused on energy innovation, spread over the seven themes of the top sector Energy: Energy saving in industry, Energy conservation in the built environment, Gas, Bio-energy, Smart grids, Offshore Wind, Solar PV. This provides insight into the follow-up activities and lessons of some EOS (Energy Research Subsidy) completed projects with the aim to inspire, connect and strengthen the TKIs (Topconsortia for Knowledge and Innovation) and individual companies and researchers working on energy innovation. This report concerns the research on bio-energy [Dutch] Er is een kwalitatief onderzoek uitgevoerd naar de resultaten van afgeronde projecten gericht op energie-innovatie, verdeeld over de zeven thema's van de topsector Energie: Energiebesparing in de industrie; Energiebesparing in de gebouwde omgeving; Gas; Bio-energie; Smart grids; Wind op zee; Zon-pv. Daarmee wordt inzicht gegeven in de vervolgactiviteiten en lessen van een aantal afgesloten EOS-projecten (Energie Onderzoek Subsidie) met het oog op het inspireren, verbinden en versterken van de TKI's (Topconsortia voor Kennis en Innovatie) en individuele bedrijven en onderzoekers die werken aan energie-innovatie. Dit rapport betreft het onderzoek naar bio-energie.

Biomass, Bioenergy and the Sustainability of Soils and Climate: What Role for Biochar?

Science.gov (United States)

Sohi, Saran

2013-04-01

Biochar is the solid, carbon rich product of heating biomass with the exclusion of air (pyrolysis). Whereas charcoal is derived from wood, biochar is a co-product of energy capture and can derive from waste or non-waste, virgin or non-virgin biomass resources. But also, biochar is not a fuel - rather it is intended for the beneficial amendment of soil in agriculture, forestry and horticulture. This results in long-term storage of plant-derived carbon that could improve yield or efficiency of crop production, and/or mitigate trace gas emissions from the land. Life cycle analysis (LCA) shows that pyrolysis bioenergy with biochar production should offer considerably more carbon abatement than combustion, or gasification of the same feedstock. This has potential to link climate change mitigation to bioenergy and sustainable use of soil. But, in economic terms, the opportunity cost of producing biochar (reflecting the calorific value of its stored carbon) is inflated by bioenergy subsidies. This, combined with a lack of clear regulatory position and no mature pyrolysis technologies at large scale, means that pyrolysis-biochar systems (PBS) remain largely conceptual at the current time. Precise understanding of its function and an ability to predict its impact on different soils and crops with certainty, biochar should acquire a monetary value. Combining such knowledge with a system that monetizes climate change mitigation potential (such as carbon markets), could see schemes for producing and using biochar escalate - including a context for its deployment in biomass crops, or through pyrolysis of residues from other bioenergy processes. This talk explores the opportunity, challenges and risks in pursuing biochar production in various bioenergy contexts including enhanced sustainability of soil use in biomass crop production, improving the carbon balance and value chain in biofuel production, and using organic waste streams more effectively (including the processing of

Dependency of global primary bioenergy crop potentials in 2050 on food systems, yields, biodiversity conservation and political stability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erb, Karl-Heinz; Haberl, Helmut; Plutzar, Christoph

2012-01-01

The future bioenergy crop potential depends on (1) changes in the food system (food demand, agricultural technology), (2) political stability and investment security, (3) biodiversity conservation, (4) avoidance of long carbon payback times from deforestation, and (5) energy crop yields. Using a biophysical biomass-balance model, we analyze how these factors affect global primary bioenergy potentials in 2050. The model calculates biomass supply and demand balances for eleven world regions, eleven food categories, seven food crop types and two livestock categories, integrating agricultural forecasts and scenarios with a consistent global land use and NPP database. The TREND scenario results in a global primary bioenergy potential of 77 EJ/yr, alternative assumptions on food-system changes result in a range of 26–141 EJ/yr. Exclusion of areas for biodiversity conservation and inaccessible land in failed states reduces the bioenergy potential by up to 45%. Optimistic assumptions on future energy crop yields increase the potential by up to 48%, while pessimistic assumptions lower the potential by 26%. We conclude that the design of sustainable bioenergy crop production policies needs to resolve difficult trade-offs such as food vs. energy supply, renewable energy vs. biodiversity conservation or yield growth vs. reduction of environmental problems of intensive agriculture. - Highlights: ► Global energy crop potentials in 2050 are calculated with a biophysical biomass-balance model. ► The study is focused on dedicated energy crops, forestry and residues are excluded. ► Depending on food-system change, global energy crop potentials range from 26–141 EJ/yr. ► Exclusion of protected areas and failed states may reduce the potential up to 45%. ► The bioenergy potential may be 26% lower or 45% higher, depending on energy crop yields.

The future of bioenergy; Die Zukunft der Bioenergie

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2015-07-01

This volume contains the following five contributions: 1. The impact of the governmental biogas production on agricultural rents in Germany. An econometric study (Hendrik Garvert); 2. Biogas as price drivers on the land and rental market? An Empirical Analysis (Uwe Latacz-Lohmann); 3. Analysis of comparative advantage of bioenergy in electricity and heat production. Greenhouse gas abatement and mitigation costs in Brandenburg (Lukas Scholz); 4. Flexibility potential of biogas and biomethane CHP in the investment portfolio (Matthias Edel); 5. Legal possibilities and limitations of a reform of the system for the promotion of bioenergy (Jose Martinez). [German] Dieser Band enthaelt folgende fuenf Themenbeitraege: 1. Die Auswirkungen der staatlichen Biogasfoerderung auf landwirtschaftliche Pachtpreise in Deutschland. Eine oekonometrische Untersuchung (Hendrik Garvert); 2. Biogas als Preistreiber am Bodenmarkt und Pachtmarkt? Eine empirische Analyse (Uwe Latacz-Lohmann); 3. Analyse komparativer Kostenvorteile von Bioenergielinien in der Strom- und Waermeproduktion Treibhausgasvermeidung und Vermeidungskosten in Brandenburg (Lukas Scholz); 4. Flexibilisierungspotenzial von Biogas- und Biomethan-BHKWs im Anlagenbestand (Matthias Edel); 5. Rechtliche Moeglichkeiten und Grenzen einer Reform des Systems zur Foerderung der Bioenergie (Jose Martinez).

Changes in N-transforming archaea and bacteria in soil during the establishment of bioenergy crops.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuejian Mao

Full Text Available Widespread adaptation of biomass production for bioenergy may influence important biogeochemical functions in the landscape, which are mainly carried out by soil microbes. Here we explore the impact of four potential bioenergy feedstock crops (maize, switchgrass, Miscanthus X giganteus, and mixed tallgrass prairie on nitrogen cycling microorganisms in the soil by monitoring the changes in the quantity (real-time PCR and diversity (barcoded pyrosequencing of key functional genes (nifH, bacterial/archaeal amoA and nosZ and 16S rRNA genes over two years after bioenergy crop establishment. The quantities of these N-cycling genes were relatively stable in all four crops, except maize (the only fertilized crop, in which the population size of AOB doubled in less than 3 months. The nitrification rate was significantly correlated with the quantity of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA not bacteria (AOB, indicating that archaea were the major ammonia oxidizers. Deep sequencing revealed high diversity of nifH, archaeal amoA, bacterial amoA, nosZ and 16S rRNA genes, with 229, 309, 330, 331 and 8989 OTUs observed, respectively. Rarefaction analysis revealed the diversity of archaeal amoA in maize markedly decreased in the second year. Ordination analysis of T-RFLP and pyrosequencing results showed that the N-transforming microbial community structures in the soil under these crops gradually differentiated. Thus far, our two-year study has shown that specific N-transforming microbial communities develop in the soil in response to planting different bioenergy crops, and each functional group responded in a different way. Our results also suggest that cultivation of maize with N-fertilization increases the abundance of AOB and denitrifiers, reduces the diversity of AOA, and results in significant changes in the structure of denitrification community.

Bioenergy Status Document 2011; Statusdocument Bio-energie 2011

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bles, M.; Schepers, B.; Van Grinsven, A.; Bergsma, G.

2011-03-15

The Dutch status document on bio-energy has been updated with data for the year 2011. This document provides an overview of the amount of energy derived from biomass, a description of the current bio-energy policy framework and a discussion of the extent to which the Netherlands is on track for securing European renewable energy targets. The status document shows there has been a slight increase in the share of bio-energy in overall energy consumption as well as in the total amount of renewable energy generated (which now stands at a little over 4% of gross final consumption). The question, however, is whether this growth is sufficient to meet the European target of 14% renewables in 2020. The limited growth is due partly to the decrease in the amount of energy generated in the category 'other incineration'. In addition, there was a decline in the physical delivery of transport biofuels because certain types of fuel can be 'double-counted' in the records, although they do not contribute to the 14% target. This document provides an overview of the amount of energy derived from biomass, a description of the current bio-energy policy framework and a discussion of the extent to which the Netherlands is on track for securing European renewable energy targets [Dutch] Het statusdocument bio-energie 2011 geeft de huidige status weer van bioenergie in Nederland, inclusief trends en verwachtingen voor de toekomst. Het doel van dit document is inzicht verstrekken aan overheden en marktpartijen in de ontwikkelingen van bio-energie. De kabinetsdoelstellingen voor hernieuwbare energie zijn conform de doelstellingen uit de richtlijn voor hernieuwbare energie (2009/28/EG), die is vastgesteld door de EC. In 2020 moet 14% van het nationale bruto finaal eindgebruik afkomstig zijn van hernieuwbare bronnen, de Nederlandse overheid schat dat dat overeenkomt met 300 PJ. Naar schatting is in 2011 ongeveer 88 PJ aan hernieuwbare energie geproduceerd, ongeveer evenveel

Efficient Methods of Estimating Switchgrass Biomass Supplies

Science.gov (United States)

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is being developed as a biofuel feedstock for the United States. Efficient and accurate methods to estimate switchgrass biomass feedstock supply within a production area will be required by biorefineries. Our main objective was to determine the effectiveness of in...

Assessing the comparative productivity advantage of bioenergy feedstocks at different latitudes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Runge, Carlisle Ford; Sheehan, John J; Senauer, Benjamin; Foley, Jonathan; Gerber, James; Johnson, Justin Andrew; Polasky, Stephen; Runge, Carlisle Piehl

2012-01-01

We evaluate the comparative productivity of maize and sugarcane biofuel feedstocks as a function of latitude. Solar radiation for photosynthesis varies by latitude and contributes to differential productivity of tropical and temperate zones. We calculate comparative productivity in two ways—the amount of net sugar energy produced per unit area, and the amount produced per unit of net primary productivity (NPP). NPP measures the accumulation of energy in an ecosystem and can be used as a proxy for the capacity of an ecosystem to support biodiversity and a broader array of ecosystem services. On average sugarcane produces three times more energy per unit area than does maize. The comparative productivity advantage of sugarcane decreases with increases in latitude. Latitudes closer to the equator have higher NPP, so there is a greater trade-off between biofuel production and ecosystem productivity in the equatorial zones. The comparative productivity of sugarcane relative to maize is reduced when comparing biofuel energy per unit of NPP. Sugarcane is still twice as productive on average compared to maize in the amount of biofuel energy produced per unit of NPP. Regions near the equator have lower biofuel energy per unit NPP, making them less attractive for biofuels production. (letter)

2015 Peer Review Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

2016-03-01

In the spring and summer of 2015, the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO or the Office) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) implemented an external peer review of the projects in its research, development and demonstration (RD&D) portfolio. The Office manages a diverse portfolio of technologies across the spectrum of applied RD&D within the dynamic context of changing budgets and Administration priorities. The Office portfolio is organized according to the biomass-to-bioenergy supply chain—from the feedstock source to the end user (see Figure 1)—with major focus on feedstock supply and biomass conversion. The 2015 Project Peer Review took place March 23-27, 2015, outside of Washington, D.C., in Alexandria, Virginia, and evaluated most of the publicly funded projects in BETO’s portfolio. The subsequent Program Management Review took place on June 25, 2015, in Washington, D.C., and provided an Office- level assessment of strategic planning and programmatic initiatives. The peer review process enables external stakeholders to provide feedback on the responsible use of taxpayer funding and develop recommendations for the most efficient and effective ways to accelerate the development of an advanced bioenergy industry. The planning and execution of these reviews was completed over the course of 10 months, and this report includes the results of both events.

Paths to bioenergy villages. A guideline for a independent supply of heat and electricity based on biomass in rural area. 3. ed.; Wege zum Bioenergiedorf. Leitfaden fuer eine eigenstaendige Waerme- und Stromversrogung auf Basis von Biomasse im laendlichen Raum

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ruppert, Hans; Eigner-Thiel, Swantje; Girschner, Walter; Karpenstein-Machan, Marianne; Roland, Folker; Ruwisch, Volker; Sauer, Benedikt; Schmuck, Peter

2010-12-15

Bioenergy villages are one component for the sustainable energy supply in rural areas. The guideline under consideration is intended to encourage people in villages to switch their heat supply and electricity supply on the bases of biomass. The focus of this process-oriented guideline is on: (1) A presentation of the social feasibility, especially the involvement, motivation and encouragement of the population; (2) The presentation of concepts for a nature-friendly cultivation of the required biomass; (3) The treatment of economic and legal issues from the perspective of the people involved.

Bioethanol - Status report on bioethanol production from wood and other lignocellulosic feedstocks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scott-Kerr, Chris; Johnson, Tony; Johnson, Barbara; Kiviaho, Jukka

2010-09-15

Lignocellulosic biomass is seen as an attractive feedstock for future supplies of renewable fuels, reducing the dependence on imported petroleum. However, there are technical and economic impediments to the development of commercial processes that utilise biomass feedstocks for the production of liquid fuels such as ethanol. Significant investment into research, pilot and demonstration plants is on-going to develop commercially viable processes utilising the biochemical and thermochemical conversion technologies for ethanol. This paper reviews the current status of commercial lignocellulosic ethanol production and identifies global production facilities.

Increasing biomass resource availability through supply chain analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Welfle, Andrew; Gilbert, Paul; Thornley, Patricia

2014-01-01

Increased inclusion of biomass in energy strategies all over the world means that greater mobilisation of biomass resources will be required to meet demand. Strategies of many EU countries assume the future use of non-EU sourced biomass. An increasing number of studies call for the UK to consider alternative options, principally to better utilise indigenous resources. This research identifies the indigenous biomass resources that demonstrate the greatest promise for the UK bioenergy sector and evaluates the extent that different supply chain drivers influence resource availability. The analysis finds that the UK's resources with greatest primary bioenergy potential are household wastes (>115 TWh by 2050), energy crops (>100 TWh by 2050) and agricultural residues (>80 TWh by 2050). The availability of biomass waste resources was found to demonstrate great promise for the bioenergy sector, although are highly susceptible to influences, most notably by the focus of adopted waste management strategies. Biomass residue resources were found to be the resource category least susceptible to influence, with relatively high near-term availability that is forecast to increase – therefore representing a potentially robust resource for the bioenergy sector. The near-term availability of UK energy crops was found to be much less significant compared to other resource categories. Energy crops represent long-term potential for the bioenergy sector, although achieving higher limits of availability will be dependent on the successful management of key influencing drivers. The research highlights that the availability of indigenous resources is largely influenced by a few key drivers, this contradicting areas of consensus of current UK bioenergy policy. - Highlights: • As global biomass demand increases, focus is placed indigenous resources. • A Biomass Resource Model is applied to analyse UK biomass supply chain dynamics. • Biomass availability is best increased

Development of a tool to model European biomass trade : Report for IEA Bioenergy Task 40

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoefnagels, E.T.A.; Junginger, H.M.; Resch, G.; Matzenberger, J.; Panzer, C.; Pelkmans, L.

2011-01-01

This report investigated the potential of future intra- and inter-European trade of solid biomass for bioenergy purposes taking country to country specific intermodal transport routes into account and matching supply and demand for energy crops, forestry products and residues and agricultural

2016 Bioenergy Industry Status Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moriarty, Kristen L. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Milbrandt, Anelia R. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Warner, Ethan [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lewis, John E. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Schwab, Amy A. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2018-03-03

This report provides a snapshot of the bioenergy industry status at the end of 2016. The report compliments other annual market reports from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy offices and is supported by DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO). The 2016 Bioenergy Industry Status Report focuses on past year data covering multiple dimensions of the bioenergy industry and does not attempt to make future market projections. The report provides a balanced and unbiased assessment of the industry and associated markets. It is openly available to the public and is intended to compliment International Energy Agency and industry reports with a focus on DOE stakeholder needs.

Securing a bioenergy future without imports

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Welfle, Andrew; Gilbert, Paul; Thornley, Patricia

2014-01-01

The UK has legally binding renewable energy and greenhouse gas targets. Energy from biomass is anticipated to make major contributions to these. However there are concerns about the availability and sustainability of biomass for the bioenergy sector. A Biomass Resource Model has been developed that reflects the key biomass supply-chain dynamics and interactions determining resource availability, taking into account climate, food, land and other constraints. The model has been applied to the UK, developing four biomass resource scenarios to analyse resource availability and energy generation potential within different contexts. The model shows that indigenous biomass resources and energy crops could service up to 44% of UK energy demand by 2050 without impacting food systems. The scenarios show, residues from agriculture, forestry and industry provide the most robust resource, potentially providing up to 6.5% of primary energy demand by 2050. Waste resources are found to potentially provide up to 15.4% and specifically grown biomass and energy crops up to 22% of demand. The UK is therefore projected to have significant indigenous biomass resources to meet its targets. However the dominant biomass resource opportunities identified in the paper are not consistent with current UK bioenergy strategies, risking biomass deficit despite resource abundance. - Highlights: • Biomass Resource Model and Scenarios reflect biomass supply-chain dynamics to 2050. • High potential availability of biomass and energy crops without food systems impacts. • UK Indigenous biomass resource could service up to 44% of UK energy demand by 2050. • Robust residue resource from ongoing activities and large potential waste resource. • Indigenous resource abundance and the UK’s path towards increased resource deficit

Research Staff | Bioenergy | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Research Staff Research Staff Photo of Adam Bratis, Ph.D. Adam Bratis Associate Lab Director-Bio research to accomplish the objectives of the Department of Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office, and to serve as a spokesperson for the bioenergy research effort at NREL, both internally and externally. This

The role of bioenergy in the UK's energy future formulation and modelling of long-term UK bioenergy scenarios

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jablonski, Sophie; Bauen, Ausilio; Strachan, Neil; Brand, Christian

2010-01-01

This paper explores the prospects and policy implications for bioenergy to contribute to a long-term sustainable UK energy system. The UK MARKAL technology-focused energy systems dynamic cost optimisation model - which has been used to quantify the costs and benefits of alternative energy strategies in UK policy making - is enhanced with detailed representation of bio-energy chains and end-uses. This provides an important advance in linking bioenergy expert-knowledge with a whole system modelling approach, in order to better understand the potential role of bioenergy in an evolving energy system. The new BIOSYS-MARKAL model is used to run four scenarios constructed along the pillars of UK energy policy objectives (low carbon and energy security). The results are analysed in terms of bioenergy resources use and bioenergy pathways penetration in different end use sectors. The main findings suggest that the complexity of different bioenergy pathways may have been overlooked in previous modelling exercises. A range of bioenergy pathways - notably bio-heat and biofuels for transport - may have a much wider potential role to play. The extent to which this potential is fulfilled will be further determined by resources availability, and market segment constraints, as well as policy measures to improve deployment. (author)

Perspectives for RandD in Bioenergy in the Baltic States

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Holmberg, Rurik (Technopolis Group, Stockholm (Sweden) )

2009-11-15

developing bioenergy RandD is almost insignificant. The Baltic States have created an industry which has become successful in exporting wood chips, pellet and briquettes. Although this often is a local success story for many a small municipality, the added value is highly limited and this contributes to a situation where the Baltic economies remain dependent on inexpensive labour instead of high value added through technological development. Promoting the understanding of the potential role of bioenergy would be important in the Baltic States. As long as bioenergy is almost solely seen as a question of security of supply (and perhaps justifiably so) and not as a major technology under development, RandD funding will not be directed to it. There are a few fields in which RandD conducted in the Baltic States might contribute to the broader development of bioenergy. Among the most promising is the straw research in Lithuania and the reed experiments in Estonia. In Latvia RandD has been conducted on the integration of bioenergy in the energy system. If successful, micro- and small-scale CHPs could have profound impacts on the construction of the future energy systems in the Baltic States, where, as has been mentioned, population density is low, self-sufficiency high on the agenda, and most CHPs currently available too big. The main risk to the Baltic States in the bioenergy sector appears to be left out from global RandD-trends. The reasons for this are mainly domestic, such as lack of funding through insufficient political support. So far, the Baltic States have more or less successfully implemented technology developed elsewhere, but the domestic contributions remain modest. Against the background that the Baltic States need more industry with high productivity and thus value added, bioenergy- related technology would in many respects make a good match with the needs of the Baltic societies. For the Nordic countries, the skills already developed in the Baltic States could be a

Carbon Abatement and Emissions Associated with the Gasification of Walnut Shells for Bioenergy and Biochar Production.

Science.gov (United States)

Pujol Pereira, Engil Isadora; Suddick, Emma C; Six, Johan

2016-01-01

By converting biomass residue to biochar, we could generate power cleanly and sequester carbon resulting in overall greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) savings when compared to typical fossil fuel usage and waste disposal. We estimated the carbon dioxide (CO2) abatements and emissions associated to the concurrent production of bioenergy and biochar through biomass gasification in an organic walnut farm and processing facility in California, USA. We accounted for (i) avoided-CO2 emissions from displaced grid electricity by bioenergy; (ii) CO2 emissions from farm machinery used for soil amendment of biochar; (iii) CO2 sequestered in the soil through stable biochar-C; and (iv) direct CO2 and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from soil. The objective of these assessments was to pinpoint where the largest C offsets can be expected in the bioenergy-biochar chain. We found that energy production from gasification resulted in 91.8% of total C offsets, followed by stable biochar-C (8.2% of total C sinks), offsetting a total of 107.7 kg CO2-C eq Mg-1 feedstock. At the field scale, we monitored gas fluxes from soils for 29 months (180 individual observations) following field management and precipitation events in addition to weekly measurements within three growing seasons and two tree dormancy periods. We compared four treatments: control, biochar, compost, and biochar combined with compost. Biochar alone or in combination with compost did not alter total N2O and CO2 emissions from soils, indicating that under the conditions of this study, biochar-prompted C offsets may not be expected from the mitigation of direct soil GHG emissions. However, this study revealed a case where a large environmental benefit was given by the waste-to-bioenergy treatment, addressing farm level challenges such as waste management, renewable energy generation, and C sequestration.

Carbon Abatement and Emissions Associated with the Gasification of Walnut Shells for Bioenergy and Biochar Production.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Engil Isadora Pujol Pereira

Full Text Available By converting biomass residue to biochar, we could generate power cleanly and sequester carbon resulting in overall greenhouse gas emissions (GHG savings when compared to typical fossil fuel usage and waste disposal. We estimated the carbon dioxide (CO2 abatements and emissions associated to the concurrent production of bioenergy and biochar through biomass gasification in an organic walnut farm and processing facility in California, USA. We accounted for (i avoided-CO2 emissions from displaced grid electricity by bioenergy; (ii CO2 emissions from farm machinery used for soil amendment of biochar; (iii CO2 sequestered in the soil through stable biochar-C; and (iv direct CO2 and nitrous oxide (N2O emissions from soil. The objective of these assessments was to pinpoint where the largest C offsets can be expected in the bioenergy-biochar chain. We found that energy production from gasification resulted in 91.8% of total C offsets, followed by stable biochar-C (8.2% of total C sinks, offsetting a total of 107.7 kg CO2-C eq Mg-1 feedstock. At the field scale, we monitored gas fluxes from soils for 29 months (180 individual observations following field management and precipitation events in addition to weekly measurements within three growing seasons and two tree dormancy periods. We compared four treatments: control, biochar, compost, and biochar combined with compost. Biochar alone or in combination with compost did not alter total N2O and CO2 emissions from soils, indicating that under the conditions of this study, biochar-prompted C offsets may not be expected from the mitigation of direct soil GHG emissions. However, this study revealed a case where a large environmental benefit was given by the waste-to-bioenergy treatment, addressing farm level challenges such as waste management, renewable energy generation, and C sequestration.

Our Commitment to Bioenergy Sustainability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2015-06-18

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) is committed to developing the resources, technologies, and systems needed to support a thriving bioenergy industry that protects natural resources and ad- vances environmental, economic, and social benefits. BETO’s Sustainability Technology Area proactively identifies and addresses issues that affect the scale-up potential, public acceptance, and long-term viability of advanced bioenergy systems; as a result, the area is critical to achieving BETO’s overall goals.

Strategies for 2nd generation biofuels in EU - Co-firing to stimulate feedstock supply development and process integration to improve energy efficiency and economic competitiveness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berndes, Goeran; Hansson, Julia; Egeskog, Andrea; Johnsson, Filip

2010-01-01

The present biofuel policies in the European Union primarily stimulate 1st generation biofuels that are produced based on conventional food crops. They may be a distraction from lignocellulose based 2nd generation biofuels - and also from biomass use for heat and electricity - by keeping farmers' attention and significant investments focusing on first generation biofuels and the cultivation of conventional food crops as feedstocks. This article presents two strategies that can contribute to the development of 2nd generation biofuels based on lignocellulosic feedstocks. The integration of gasification-based biofuel plants in district heating systems is one option for increasing the energy efficiency and improving the economic competitiveness of such biofuels. Another option, biomass co-firing with coal, generates high-efficiency biomass electricity and reduces CO 2 emissions by replacing coal. It also offers a near-term market for lignocellulosic biomass, which can stimulate development of supply systems for biomass also suitable as feedstock for 2nd generation biofuels. Regardless of the long-term priorities of biomass use for energy, the stimulation of lignocellulosic biomass production by development of near term and cost-effective markets is judged to be a no-regrets strategy for Europe. Strategies that induce a relevant development and exploit existing energy infrastructures in order to reduce risk and reach lower costs, are proposed an attractive complement the present and prospective biofuel policies. (author)

National Geo-Database for Biofuel Simulations and Regional Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Izaurralde, Roberto C.; Zhang, Xuesong; Sahajpal, Ritvik; Manowitz, David H.

2012-04-01

The goal of this project undertaken by GLBRC (Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center) Area 4 (Sustainability) modelers is to develop a national capability to model feedstock supply, ethanol production, and biogeochemical impacts of cellulosic biofuels. The results of this project contribute to sustainability goals of the GLBRC; i.e. to contribute to developing a sustainable bioenergy economy: one that is profitable to farmers and refiners, acceptable to society, and environmentally sound. A sustainable bioenergy economy will also contribute, in a fundamental way, to meeting national objectives on energy security and climate mitigation. The specific objectives of this study are to: (1) develop a spatially explicit national geodatabase for conducting biofuel simulation studies; (2) model biomass productivity and associated environmental impacts of annual cellulosic feedstocks; (3) simulate production of perennial biomass feedstocks grown on marginal lands; and (4) locate possible sites for the establishment of cellulosic ethanol biorefineries. To address the first objective, we developed SENGBEM (Spatially Explicit National Geodatabase for Biofuel and Environmental Modeling), a 60-m resolution geodatabase of the conterminous USA containing data on: (1) climate, (2) soils, (3) topography, (4) hydrography, (5) land cover/ land use (LCLU), and (6) ancillary data (e.g., road networks, federal and state lands, national and state parks, etc.). A unique feature of SENGBEM is its 2008-2010 crop rotation data, a crucially important component for simulating productivity and biogeochemical cycles as well as land-use changes associated with biofuel cropping. We used the EPIC (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate) model to simulate biomass productivity and environmental impacts of annual and perennial cellulosic feedstocks across much of the USA on both croplands and marginal lands. We used data from LTER and eddy-covariance experiments within the study region to test the

Supply Chain Sustainability Analysis of Three Biofuel Pathways

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jacob J. Jacobson; Erin Searcy; Kara Cafferty; Jennifer B. Dunn; Michael Johnson; Zhichao Wang; Michael Wang; Mary Biddy; Abhijit Dutta; Daniel Inman; Eric Tan; Sue Jones; Lesley Snowden-Swan

2013-11-01

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) collaborates with industrial, agricultural, and non-profit partners to develop and deploy biofuels and other biologically-derived products. As part of this effort, BETO and its national laboratory teams conduct in-depth techno-economic assessments (TEA) of technologies to produce biofuels as part state of technology (SOT) analyses. An SOT assesses progress within and across relevant technology areas based on actual experimental results relative to technical targets and cost goals from design cases and includes technical, economic, and environmental criteria as available. Overall assessments of biofuel pathways begin with feedstock production and the logistics of transporting the feedstock from the farm or plantation to the conversion facility or biorefinery. The conversion process itself is modeled in detail as part of the SOT analysis. The teams then develop an estimate of the biofuel minimum selling price (MSP) and assess the cost competitiveness of the biofuel with conventional fuels such as gasoline.

Bioenergy Sustainability Analysis | Bioenergy | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

large scale since bioenergy coupled with carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) could provide negative technologies followed by CCS is illustrated below. Coal and natural gas can reduce emissions with CCS but transport and power generation technologies both with and without CCS. Values are uncertain and depend on

Landscape management for sustainable supplies of bio energy feedstock and enhanced soil quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Douglas, K.; Muth, D.

2013-01-01

Agriculture can simultaneously address global food, feed, fiber, and energy challenges provided our soil, water, and air resources are not compromised in doing so. Our objective is to present a landscape management concept as an approach for integrating multiple bio energy feedstock sources into current crop production systems. This is done to show how multiple, increasing global challenges can be met in a sustainable manner. We discuss how collaborative research among Usda-Agricultural Research Service (ARS), US Department of Energy (DOE) Idaho National Laboratory (INL), several university extension and research partners, and industry representatives [known as the Renewable Energy Assessment Project (Reap) team] has led to the development of computer-based decision aids for guiding sustainable bio energy feedstock production. The decision aids, known initially as the Corn Stover Tool and more recently as the Landscape Environmental Assessment Framework (Leaf) are tools designed to recognize the importance of nature s diversity and can therefore be used to guide sustainable feedstock production without having negative impacts on critical ecosystem services. Using a 57 ha farm site in central Iowa, USA, we show how producer decisions regarding corn (Zea mays L.) stover harvest within the US Corn Belt can be made in a more sustainable manner. This example also supports Reap team conclusions that stover should not be harvested if average grain yields are less than 11 Mg ha-1 unless more balanced landscape management practices are implemented. The tools also illustrate the importance of sub-field management and site-specific stover harvest strategies

Opportunities and Challenges in the Design and Analysis of Biomass Supply Chains

Science.gov (United States)

Lautala, Pasi T.; Hilliard, Michael R.; Webb, Erin; Busch, Ingrid; Richard Hess, J.; Roni, Mohammad S.; Hilbert, Jorge; Handler, Robert M.; Bittencourt, Roger; Valente, Amir; Laitinen, Tuuli

2015-12-01

The biomass supply chain is one of the most critical elements of large-scale bioenergy production and in many cases a key barrier for procuring initial funding for new developments on specific energy crops. Most productions rely on complex transforming chains linked to feed and food markets. The term `supply chain' covers various aspects from cultivation and harvesting of the biomass, to treatment, transportation, and storage. After energy conversion, the product must be delivered to final consumption, whether it is in the form of electricity, heat, or more tangible products, such as pellets and biofuels. Effective supply chains are of utmost importance for bioenergy production, as biomass tends to possess challenging seasonal production cycles and low mass, energy and bulk densities. Additionally, the demand for final products is often also dispersed, further complicating the supply chain. The goal of this paper is to introduce key components of biomass supply chains, examples of related modeling applications, and if/how they address aspects related to environmental metrics and management. The paper will introduce a concept of integrated supply systems for sustainable biomass trade and the factors influencing the bioenergy supply chain landscape, including models that can be used to investigate the factors. The paper will also cover various aspects of transportation logistics, ranging from alternative modal and multi-modal alternatives to introduction of support tools for transportation analysis. Finally gaps and challenges in supply chain research are identified and used to outline research recommendations for the future direction in this area of study.

Opportunities and Challenges in the Design and Analysis of Biomass Supply Chains.

Science.gov (United States)

Lautala, Pasi T; Hilliard, Michael R; Webb, Erin; Busch, Ingrid; Richard Hess, J; Roni, Mohammad S; Hilbert, Jorge; Handler, Robert M; Bittencourt, Roger; Valente, Amir; Laitinen, Tuuli

2015-12-01

The biomass supply chain is one of the most critical elements of large-scale bioenergy production and in many cases a key barrier for procuring initial funding for new developments on specific energy crops. Most productions rely on complex transforming chains linked to feed and food markets. The term 'supply chain' covers various aspects from cultivation and harvesting of the biomass, to treatment, transportation, and storage. After energy conversion, the product must be delivered to final consumption, whether it is in the form of electricity, heat, or more tangible products, such as pellets and biofuels. Effective supply chains are of utmost importance for bioenergy production, as biomass tends to possess challenging seasonal production cycles and low mass, energy and bulk densities. Additionally, the demand for final products is often also dispersed, further complicating the supply chain. The goal of this paper is to introduce key components of biomass supply chains, examples of related modeling applications, and if/how they address aspects related to environmental metrics and management. The paper will introduce a concept of integrated supply systems for sustainable biomass trade and the factors influencing the bioenergy supply chain landscape, including models that can be used to investigate the factors. The paper will also cover various aspects of transportation logistics, ranging from alternative modal and multi-modal alternatives to introduction of support tools for transportation analysis. Finally gaps and challenges in supply chain research are identified and used to outline research recommendations for the future direction in this area of study.

Role of biomass in global energy supply

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Best, G.; Christensen, R.; Christensen, J.

2003-01-01

Bioenergy is energy of biological and renewable origin, normally in the form of purpose-grown energy crops or by-products from agriculture, forestry or fisheries. Biomass provides approximately 11-14% of the world's energy, but there are significant differences between industrialised and developing countries. In many developing countries biomass is the most important energy source. As a global average, biomass provides approximately 35% of developing countries' energy, but there are large regional differences. Many sub-Saharan African countries depend on biomass for up to 90% of their energy indicating that they have little in the way of industry or other modern activities. In the last decade interest in bioenergy has increased in industrialised countries partly due to growing concern about climate change, technological advances in biomass conversion, increasing focus on security of energy supply, and increasing interest in renewable energy generally. Two trends emerge: The developing countries will in general aim to reduce their dependence on traditional bioenergy. The relative share of bioenergy in the energy balance will therefore go down, though the number of people depending on traditional bioenergy probably will remain constant, with corresponding consequences for health and resources. Industrialised countries, plus a number of developing countries, will aim to increase their use of modern bioenergy technologies. With the traditional association of bioenergy as old fashioned and for the poor, the recent interest in biomass resources has invented a new term 'modern bioenergy' which covers a number of technological areas from combustion at domestic, industrial or power plant scale, gasification, hydrolysis, pyrolysis, extraction, digestion etc. There are some barriers to the increased use of bioenergy, but they can be overcome through dedicated interventions by public and private sector entities. (BA)

8. Rostock bioenergy forum. Proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelles, Michael

2014-01-01

This conference volume contains lectures and poster contributions with the following main topics: integrated biomass utilisation concepts; Solid bioenergy carrier; Bioenergy in the transport sector; Biogas. Seven papers are separately analyzed for this database. [de

Lignocellulosic feedstock resource assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rooney, T.

1998-09-01

This report provides overall state and national information on the quantity, availability, and costs of current and potential feedstocks for ethanol production in the United States. It characterizes end uses and physical characteristics of feedstocks, and presents relevant information that affects the economic and technical feasibility of ethanol production from these feedstocks. The data can help researchers focus ethanol conversion research efforts on feedstocks that are compatible with the resource base.

Syngas. The flexible solution in a volatile feed-stock market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wurzel, T. [Air Liquide Global E und C Solutions c/o Lurgi GmbH, Frankfurt a.M. (Germany)

2013-11-01

The paper presents the versatility of syngas allowing the extended application of new feedstock sources such as shale gas or coal to deliver fuels and chemicals traditionally derived from crude oil. In order to provide a holistic view on this topic of current interest, the syngas market, the pre-dominant production technologies and main economic consideration for selected applications are presented and analyzed. It can be concluded that a broad portfolio of well-mastered and referenced syngas production technologies which are continuously improved to meet actual market requirements (e.g. ability to valorize biomass) will remain key to enable economic solutions in a world characterized by growing dynamics with regards to the supply of (carbonaceous) feedstock. (orig.)

Leading global energy and environmental transformation: Unified ASEAN biomass-based bio-energy system incorporating the clean development mechanism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lim, Steven; Lee, Keat Teong

2011-01-01

In recent years, the ten member countries in the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) have experienced high economic growth and, in tandem, a substantial increment in energy usage and demand. Consequently, they are now under intense pressure to secure reliable energy supplies to keep up with their growth rate. Fossil fuels remain the primary source of energy for the ASEAN countries, due to economic and physical considerations. This situation has led to unrestrained emissions of greenhouse gases to the environment and thus effectively contributes to global climate change. The abundant supply of biomass from their tropical environmental conditions offers great potential for ASEAN countries to achieve self-reliance in energy supplies. This fact can simultaneously transform into the main driving force behind combating global climate change, which is associated with the usage of fossil fuels. This research article explores the potential and advantages for ASEAN investment in biomass-based bio-energy supply, processing and distribution network with an emphasis on regional collaborations. It also investigates the implementation and operational challenges in terms of political, economic and technical factors for the cross-border energy scheme. Reliance of ASEAN countries on the clean development mechanism (CDM) to address most of the impediments in developing the project is also under scrutiny. Unified co-operation among ASEAN countries in integrating biomass-based bio-energy systems and utilising the clean development mechanism (CDM) as the common effort could serve as the prime example for regional partnerships in achieving sustainable development for the energy and environmental sector in the future. -- Highlights: →A study that explores feasibility for ASEAN investment in biomass-based bio-energy. →Focus is given on regional supply, processing and distribution network. →Cross-border implementation and operational challenges are discussed thoroughly.

Global land-use and market interactions between climate and bioenergy policies

Science.gov (United States)

Golub, A.; Hertel, T. W.; Rose, S. K.

2011-12-01

mitigation potential in non-US forests (8.9 GtCO2yr-1 at $27/tCO2eq). Furthermore, a carbon tax could lead to input substitution in agricultural production away from land and fertilizer (e.g., in China, an approximate 20% reduction in paddy rice acreage and 10% reduction in crop production fertilizer use at the same GHG price). Both results run counter to the changes in land-use induced by biofuels. However, given the energy security benefits for bioenergy, this study also evaluate whether a land GHG policy could manage international indirect land-use leakage concerns for bioenergy. In addition to a global perspective, a US perspective is taken to evaluate the implications of joint and separate bioenergy and climate policies on domestic offset and bioenergy supplies. Preliminary results indicate that US biofuels mandate reduces the global abatement potential for agriculture and forestry and thereby imposes an additional cost on society. There are regional comparative advantages in biofuels production (as well as non-biofuels crops and timber production). There are also regional comparative advantages in land-based GHG mitigation. By modeling bioenergy and climate policies separately and simultaneously, this study assess the net comparative advantage regions have in meeting these two sets of goals.

Bioenergy Knowledge Discovery Framework Fact Sheet

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2017-07-01

The Bioenergy Knowledge Discovery Framework (KDF) supports the development of a sustainable bioenergy industry by providing access to a variety of data sets, publications, and collaboration and mapping tools that support bioenergy research, analysis, and decision making. In the KDF, users can search for information, contribute data, and use the tools and map interface to synthesize, analyze, and visualize information in a spatially integrated manner.

Bioenergy sector needs professionals - how to do it?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Savolainen, V.; Aeaenismaa, P. (JAMK Univ. of Applied Sciences, Jyvaeskylae (Finland)), Email: varpu.savolainen@jamk.fi, Email: pekka.aanismaa@jamk.fi; Wihersaari, M. (Jyvaeskylae Univ. (Finland). Dept. of Bio-and Environmantal Sciences), Email: margareta.wihersaari@jyu.fi; Lehtonen, M. (Vocational Education Institute of Northern Central Finland (POKE), Tarvaala (Finland)), Email: maija.lehtonen@poke.fi

2009-07-01

A model of networking and cooperation in different levels of bio energy education is being developed jointly by Jam University of Applied Sciences (Jam), University of Jyvaeskylae (JYU) and the Vocational Education Institute of Northern Central Finland (POKE). In this three-year project scientific approach will be combined with a pragmatic perspective to ensure the sustainable future of the bioenergy sector in Central Finland. The idea of the project is to identify the educational needs and bottlenecks and to develop new education packages to promote the whole bioenergy sector, to increase the competitiveness of the bioenergy business in the region, to ensure life-long learning and to make round-the-year employment possible. For example, new models of bioenergy entrepreneurship will be determined and tested. The objective is also to increase bioenergy know-how among manufactures of machinery and equipment and, on the other hand, to increase the number of 'bioenergy masters' and 'bioenergy doctors' in Central Finland. The project is a part of the bioenergy cluster programme of Central Finland. (orig.)

Bioenergy costs and potentials with special attention to implications for the land system

Science.gov (United States)

Popp, A.; Lotze-Campen, H.; Dietrich, J.; Klein, D.; Bauer, N.; Krause, M.; Beringer, T.; Gerten, D.

2011-12-01

In the coming decades, an increasing competition for global land and water resources can be expected, due to rising demand for agricultural products, goals of nature conservation, and changing production conditions due to climate change. Especially biomass from cellulosic bioenergy crops, such as Miscanthus or poplar, is being proposed to play a substantial role in future energy systems if climate policy aims at stabilizing greenhouse gas (GHG) concentration at low levels. However, the potential of bioenergy for climate change mitigation remains unclear due to large uncertainties about future agricultural yield improvements, land availability for biomass plantations, and implications for the land system. In order to explore the cost-effective contribution of bioenergy to a low carbon transition with special attention to implications for the land system, we present a modeling framework with detailed biophysical and economic representation of the land and energy sector: We have linked the global dynamic vegetation and water balance model LPJmL (Bondeau et al. 2007, Rost et al. 2008), the global land and water use model MAgPIE (Lotze-Campen et al. 2008, Popp et al. 2010), and the global energy-economy-climate model ReMIND (Leimbach et al. 2009). In this modeling framework LPJmL supplies spatially explicit (0.5° resolution) agricultural yields as well as carbon and water stocks and fluxes. Based on this biophysical input MAgPIE delivers cost-optimized land use patterns (0.5° resolution), associated GHG emissions and rates of future yield increases in agricultural production. Moreover, shadow prices are calculated for irrigation water (as an indicator for water scarcity), food commodities, and bioenergy (as an indicator for changes in production costs) under different land use constraints such as forest conservation for climate change mitigation and as a contribution to biodiversity conservation. The energy-economy-climate model ReMIND generates the demand for

Feedstock Supply System Design and Economics for Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Hydrocarbon Fuels: Conversion Pathway: Biological Conversion of Sugars to Hydrocarbons The 2017 Design Case

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kevin Kenney; Kara G. Cafferty; Jacob J. Jacobson; Ian J Bonner; Garold L. Gresham; William A. Smith; David N. Thompson; Vicki S. Thompson; Jaya Shankar Tumuluru; Neal Yancey

2013-09-01

The U.S. Department of Energy promotes the production of a range of liquid fuels and fuel blendstocks from lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks by funding fundamental and applied research that advances the state of technology in biomass collection, conversion, and sustainability. As part of its involvement in this program, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) investigates the feedstock logistics economics and sustainability of these fuels. Between 2000 and 2012, INL conducted a campaign to quantify the economics and sustainability of moving biomass from standing in the field or stand to the throat of the biomass conversion process. The goal of this program was to establish the current costs based on conventional equipment and processes, design improvements to the current system, and to mark annual improvements based on higher efficiencies or better designs. The 2012 programmatic target was to demonstrate a delivered biomass logistics cost of $35/dry ton. This goal was successfully achieved in 2012 by implementing field and process demonstration unit-scale data from harvest, collection, storage, preprocessing, handling, and transportation operations into INL’s biomass logistics model. Looking forward to 2017, the programmatic target is to supply biomass to the conversion facilities at a total cost of $80/dry ton and on specification with in-feed requirements. The goal of the 2017 Design Case is to enable expansion of biofuels production beyond highly productive resource areas by breaking the reliance of cost-competitive biofuel production on a single, abundant, low-cost feedstock. If this goal is not achieved, biofuel plants are destined to be small and/or clustered in select regions of the country that have a lock on low-cost feedstock. To put the 2017 cost target into perspective of past accomplishments of the cellulosic ethanol pathway, the $80 target encompasses total delivered feedstock cost, including both grower payment and logistics costs, while meeting all

Supply Chain Sustainability Analysis of Fast Pyrolysis and Hydrotreating Bio-Oil to Produce Hydrocarbon Fuels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adom, Felix K. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Cai, Hao [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Dunn, Jennifer B. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Hartley, Damon [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Searcy, Erin [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Tan, Eric [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Jones, Sue [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Snowden-Swan, Lesley [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2016-03-01

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technology Office (BETO) aims at developing and deploying technologies to transform renewable biomass resources into commercially viable, high-performance biofuels, bioproducts and biopower through public and private partnerships (DOE, 2015). BETO and its national laboratory teams conduct in-depth techno-economic assessments (TEA) of technologies to produce biofuels. These assessments evaluate feedstock production, logistics of transporting the feedstock, and conversion of the feedstock to biofuel. There are two general types of TEAs. A design case is a TEA that outlines a target case for a particular biofuel pathway. It enables identification of data gaps and research and development needs, and provides goals and targets against which technology progress is assessed. On the other hand, a state of technology (SOT) analysis assesses progress within and across relevant technology areas based on actual experimental results relative to technical targets and cost goals from design cases, and includes technical, economic, and environmental criteria as available.

Evaluation of the biological methane potential of various feedstock for the production of biogas to supply agricultural tractors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matuszewska, Anna; Owczuk, Marlena; Zamojska-Jaroszewicz, Anna; Jakubiak-Lasocka, Joanna; Lasocki, Jakub; Orliński, Piotr

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Biochemical methane potential for mixtures of whey, manures and silages was tested. • High impact of feedstock type on composition and yield of biogas was observed. • Simple mathematical model of methanogenic fermentation was proposed. • Exhaust emissions from dual fuel (biogas and diesel oil) engine were investigated. • Using biogas in engine reduces particulate matter and nitrogen oxides emissions. - Abstract: This work is divided into three parts. The first one presents results of biological methane potential of agriculture raw materials available in Poland. In the second part the simple mathematical model of methanogenic fermentation is proposed. The data for this model were obtained from experimental digestion process of chosen mixtures. Last part includes the results of research of exhaust emissions generated by dual dual-fuel engine of agricultural tractor powered by mixture of model biogas (60% and 70% of methane) and diesel oil. The obtained results revealed that there was a significant difference in chemical composition and yield of biogas between considered feedstock types. The highest biogas and methane production was obtained for mixtures in ratio of 6:4 for swine manure/maize silage and whey/grass silage. Due to agriculture conditions in Poland and obtain results, the maize silage and swine manure were chosen to development of mathematical model of fermentation process. It showed a satisfactory match to the experimental results. Results of emission tests on dual-fuel tractor engine supplied with biogas and diesel oil showed the higher concentrations of hydrocarbons and carbon oxide and lower concentrations of particulate matter in exhaust gases. Level of emission of particular components depends on the biogas composition.

Global spatially explicit CO2 emission metrics at 0.25° horizontal resolution for forest bioenergy

Science.gov (United States)

Cherubini, F.

2015-12-01

equations are derived to infer metric values from the turnover time of the biomass feedstock and the fraction of forest residues left on site after harvest. Our results provide a basis for assessing CO2 emissions from forest bioenergy under different indicators and across various spatial and temporal scales.

2010 World bio-energy conference

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-01-01

After having evoked the bio-energy price awarded to a Brazilian for his works on the use of eucalyptus as energy source, this report proposes a synthesis of the highlights of the conference: discussions about sustainability, bio-energies as an opportunity for developing countries, the success of bio-energies in Sweden, and more particularly some technological advances in the field of biofuels: a bio-LPG by Biofuel-solution AB, catalysis, bio-diesel from different products in a Swedish farm, a second generation ethanol by the Danish company Inbicon, a large scale methanization in Goteborg, a bio-refinery concept in Sweden, bio-gases

The market for bioenergy in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kopetz, H.

1997-01-01

Conference paper. The demand for energy in Europe at present amounts to 16 PWh. Of this, 50% is needed for heating, 27% for transportation, 23% for light, communication and power. The European Commission in 1996 proposed that the share of renewables should be doubled to 12% by 2010. It is calculated that 3/4 of the supply of renewables must be supplied by biomass. A comprehensive energy crop programme is needed to guarantee the supply. According to calculations, 77% of the bioenergy supply will be used to deliver heat. For small heating installations financial support is necessary to overcome the investment costs. It is recommended that biomass based district heating grids should be subsidized by a joint programme of the Commission and the national governments. For industrial users little or no subsidies are required. It is suggested that the members of the EU should submit to the commission regional heat concepts, ''heat from biomass'', of a certain specified content. The necessary investment should come from private investors, from public money and from the EU. Green electricity is a way to promote renewable energy resources. As a realistic target for electricity from biomass within 12 years, 80 TWh is proposed. The production of raw materials for the energy sector on set-aside land is unsuccessful because of the changing set-aside rate. Some remedial actions are proposed

Field-Based Estimates of Global Warming Potential in Bioenergy Systems of Hawaii: Crop Choice and Deficit Irrigation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meghan N Pawlowski

Full Text Available Replacing fossil fuel with biofuel is environmentally viable from a climate change perspective only if the net greenhouse gas (GHG footprint of the system is reduced. The effects of replacing annual arable crops with perennial bioenergy feedstocks on net GHG production and soil carbon (C stock are critical to the system-level balance. Here, we compared GHG flux, crop yield, root biomass, and soil C stock under two potential tropical, perennial grass biofuel feedstocks: conventional sugarcane and ratoon-harvested, zero-tillage napiergrass. Evaluations were conducted at two irrigation levels, 100% of plantation application and at a 50% deficit. Peaks and troughs of GHG emission followed agronomic events such as ratoon harvest of napiergrass and fertilization. Yet, net GHG flux was dominated by carbon dioxide (CO2, as methane was oxidized and nitrous oxide (N2O emission was very low even following fertilization. High N2O fluxes that frequently negate other greenhouse gas benefits that come from replacing fossil fuels with agronomic forms of bioenergy were mitigated by efficient water and fertilizer management, including direct injection of fertilizer into buried irrigation lines. From soil intensively cultivated for a century in sugarcane, soil C stock and root biomass increased rapidly following cultivation in grasses selected for robust root systems and drought tolerance. The net soil C increase over the two-year crop cycle was three-fold greater than the annualized soil surface CO2 flux. Deficit irrigation reduced yield, but increased soil C accumulation as proportionately more photosynthetic resources were allocated belowground. In the first two years of cultivation napiergrass did not increase net greenhouse warming potential (GWP compared to sugarcane, and has the advantage of multiple ratoon harvests per year and less negative effects of deficit irrigation to yield.

Field-Based Estimates of Global Warming Potential in Bioenergy Systems of Hawaii: Crop Choice and Deficit Irrigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Pawlowski, Meghan N; Crow, Susan E; Meki, Manyowa N; Kiniry, James R; Taylor, Andrew D; Ogoshi, Richard; Youkhana, Adel; Nakahata, Mae

2017-01-01

Replacing fossil fuel with biofuel is environmentally viable from a climate change perspective only if the net greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of the system is reduced. The effects of replacing annual arable crops with perennial bioenergy feedstocks on net GHG production and soil carbon (C) stock are critical to the system-level balance. Here, we compared GHG flux, crop yield, root biomass, and soil C stock under two potential tropical, perennial grass biofuel feedstocks: conventional sugarcane and ratoon-harvested, zero-tillage napiergrass. Evaluations were conducted at two irrigation levels, 100% of plantation application and at a 50% deficit. Peaks and troughs of GHG emission followed agronomic events such as ratoon harvest of napiergrass and fertilization. Yet, net GHG flux was dominated by carbon dioxide (CO2), as methane was oxidized and nitrous oxide (N2O) emission was very low even following fertilization. High N2O fluxes that frequently negate other greenhouse gas benefits that come from replacing fossil fuels with agronomic forms of bioenergy were mitigated by efficient water and fertilizer management, including direct injection of fertilizer into buried irrigation lines. From soil intensively cultivated for a century in sugarcane, soil C stock and root biomass increased rapidly following cultivation in grasses selected for robust root systems and drought tolerance. The net soil C increase over the two-year crop cycle was three-fold greater than the annualized soil surface CO2 flux. Deficit irrigation reduced yield, but increased soil C accumulation as proportionately more photosynthetic resources were allocated belowground. In the first two years of cultivation napiergrass did not increase net greenhouse warming potential (GWP) compared to sugarcane, and has the advantage of multiple ratoon harvests per year and less negative effects of deficit irrigation to yield.

Feedstock specific environmental risk levels related to biomass extraction for energy from boreal and temperate forests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lamers, Patrick; Thiffault, Evelyne; Paré, David; Junginger, Martin

2013-01-01

Past research on identifying potentially negative impacts of forest management activities has primarily focused on traditional forest operations. The increased use of forest biomass for energy in recent years, spurred predominantly by policy incentives for the reduction of fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions, and by efforts from the forestry sector to diversify products and increase value from the forests, has again brought much attention to this issue. The implications of such practices continue to be controversially debated; predominantly the adverse impacts on soil productivity and biodiversity, and the climate change mitigation potential of forest bioenergy. Current decision making processes require comprehensive, differentiated assessments of the known and unknown factors and risk levels of potentially adverse environmental effects. This paper provides such an analysis and differentiates between the feedstock of harvesting residues, roundwood, and salvage wood. It concludes that the risks related to biomass for energy outtake are feedstock specific and vary in terms of scientific certainty. Short-term soil productivity risks are higher for residue removal. There is however little field evidence of negative long-term impacts of biomass removal on productivity in the scale predicted by modeling. Risks regarding an alteration of biodiversity are relatively equally distributed across the feedstocks. The risk of limited or absent short-term carbon benefits is highest for roundwood, but negligible for residues and salvage wood. Salvage operation impacts on soil productivity and biodiversity are a key knowledge gap. Future research should also focus on deriving regionally specific, quantitative thresholds for sustainable biomass removal. -- Highlights: ► Synthesis of the scientific uncertainties regarding biomass for energy outtake. ► With specific focus on soil productivity, biodiversity, and carbon balance. ► Balanced determination of the risk levels

Cadmium in the bioenergy system - a synthesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahlfont, K.

1997-12-01

Cadmium is a toxic metal without any known positive biological effects. Both emissions and atmospheric deposition of cadmium have decreased radically in Sweden during recent years. In Sweden, about 150 tonnes of cadmium was supplied to the technosphere in 1990, mostly originating from NiCd batteries. More than 100 tonnes of cadmium accumulated in the technosphere. Mankind takes up cadmium from water, food and particulate atmospheric pollution. Even small amounts may be injurious in the long-term since the half-life in the kidneys is 30 years. Cadmium in biofuel and ashes are generally a cause of discussion. Ashes from biofuel constitute a nutrient resource that should be returned to the soil. A possible risk with spreading ashes is the spreading of heavy metals, and then foremost cadmium, which is among the heavy metals that forest soils are considered to tolerate the least. Several studies on cadmium in the bioenergy system have been made, both within the Research Programme for Recycling of Wood-ash, and within Vattenfall's Bioenergy Project. The present report is intended to provide a picture of the current state of knowledge and to review plans for the future With a 3 page summary in English. 51 refs, 1 fig, 3 tabs

Modeling pollinator community response to contrasting bioenergy scenarios.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ashley B Bennett

Full Text Available In the United States, policy initiatives aimed at increasing sources of renewable energy are advancing bioenergy production, especially in the Midwest region, where agricultural landscapes dominate. While policy directives are focused on renewable fuel production, biodiversity and ecosystem services will be impacted by the land-use changes required to meet production targets. Using data from field observations, we developed empirical models for predicting abundance, diversity, and community composition of flower-visiting bees based on land cover. We used these models to explore how bees might respond under two contrasting bioenergy scenarios: annual bioenergy crop production and perennial grassland bioenergy production. In the two scenarios, 600,000 ha of marginal annual crop land or marginal grassland were converted to perennial grassland or annual row crop bioenergy production, respectively. Model projections indicate that expansion of annual bioenergy crop production at this scale will reduce bee abundance by 0 to 71%, and bee diversity by 0 to 28%, depending on location. In contrast, converting annual crops on marginal soil to perennial grasslands could increase bee abundance from 0 to 600% and increase bee diversity between 0 and 53%. Our analysis of bee community composition suggested a similar pattern, with bee communities becoming less diverse under annual bioenergy crop production, whereas bee composition transitioned towards a more diverse community dominated by wild bees under perennial bioenergy crop production. Models, like those employed here, suggest that bioenergy policies have important consequences for pollinator conservation.

Modeling state-level soil carbon emission factors under various scenarios for direct land use change associated with United States biofuel feedstock production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwon, Ho-Young; Mueller, Steffen; Dunn, Jennifer B.; Wander, Michelle M.

2013-01-01

Current estimates of life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of biofuels produced in the US can be improved by refining soil C emission factors (EF; C emissions per land area per year) for direct land use change associated with different biofuel feedstock scenarios. We developed a modeling framework to estimate these EFs at the state-level by utilizing remote sensing data, national statistics databases, and a surrogate model for CENTURY's soil organic C dynamics submodel (SCSOC). We estimated the forward change in soil C concentration within the 0–30 cm depth and computed the associated EFs for the 2011 to 2040 period for croplands, grasslands or pasture/hay, croplands/conservation reserve, and forests that were suited to produce any of four possible biofuel feedstock systems [corn (Zea Mays L)-corn, corn–corn with stover harvest, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L), and miscanthus (Miscanthus × giganteus Greef et Deuter)]. Our results predict smaller losses or even modest gains in sequestration for corn based systems, particularly on existing croplands, than previous efforts and support assertions that production of perennial grasses will lead to negative emissions in most situations and that conversion of forest or established grasslands to biofuel production would likely produce net emissions. The proposed framework and use of the SCSOC provide transparency and relative simplicity that permit users to easily modify model inputs to inform biofuel feedstock production targets set forth by policy. -- Highlights: ► We model regionalized feedstock-specific United States soil C emission factors. ► We simulate soil C changes from direct land use change associated with biofuel feedstock production. ► Corn, corn-stover, and perennial grass biofuel feedstocks grown in croplands maintain soil C levels. ► Converting grasslands to bioenergy crops risks soil C loss. ► This modeling framework yields more refined soil C emissions than national-level emissions

Land-Use Change and Bioenergy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2011-07-01

This publication describes the Biomass Program’s efforts to examine the intersection of land-use change and bioenergy production. It describes legislation requiring land-use change assessments, key data and modeling challenges, and the research needs to better assess and understand the impact of bioenergy policy on land-use decisions.

An exploration of common reed (Phragmites australis bioenergy potential in North America

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Vaičekonytė

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In North America, reed (Phragmites australis is typically considered to be a weed although it provides important ecosystem services. Small, sparse, patchy or mixed reedbeds are more suitable as habitat for many species than extensive dense reedbeds, whose habitat functions can be enhanced by the selective removal of biomass. We propose that above-ground reed biomass could be harvested for bioenergy, at the same time improving habitat for biodiversity by thinning or fragmenting the more extensive reedbeds. Biofuel pellets manufactured from reeds harvested at Montréal (Canada had moisture content 6.4 %, energy content 16.9 kJ g-1 (dry mass, ash content 3.44 %, and chloride content 1962 ppm. Thus, reed as a material for fuel pellet manufacture is similar to switchgrass (Panicum virgatum, which is commonly cultivated for that purpose and requires higher inputs than harvested wild reed. We discuss these findings in the context of environmental considerations and conclude that the bioenergy potential of reed could most expediently be realised in North America by combining material harvested from the widespread spontaneously occurring reedbeds with organic waste from other sources to create mixed biofuels. However, reeds with high levels of chlorine, sulphur or metals should not be burned to avoid air pollution or equipment damage unless these problems are mitigated by means of appropriate season of harvest, equipment, combustion regime, or use of a mixed feedstock.

Characterisation of Arabica Coffee Pulp - Hay from Kintamani - Bali as Prospective Biogas Feedstocks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hendroko Setyobudi Roy

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The huge amount of coffee pulp waste is an environmental problem. Anaerobic fermentation is one of the alternative solutions. However, availability of coffee pulp does not appear for year-round, whereas biogas needs continuous feedstocks for digester stability. This research uses coffee pulp from Arabica Coffee Factory at Mengani, Kintamani, Bali–Indonesia. The coffee pulp was transformed into coffee pulp-hay product by sun drying for preservations to extend the raw materials through the year. Characterization of coffee pulp-hay was conducted after to keep for 15 mo for review the prospect as biogas feedstocks. Several parameters were analyzed such as C/N ratio, volatile solids, carbohydrate, protein, fat, lignocellulose content, macro-micro nutrients, and density. The review results indicated that coffee pulp-hay is prospective raw material for biogas feedstock. This well-proven preservation technology was able to fulfill the continuous supply. Furthermore, some problems were found in the recent preliminary experiment related to the density and fungi growth in the conventional laboratory digester. Further investigation was needed to implement the coffee pulp – hay as biogas feedstocks.

High-Resolution Biogeochemical Simulation Identifies Practical Opportunities for Bioenergy Landscape Intensification Across Diverse US Agricultural Regions

Science.gov (United States)

Field, J.; Adler, P. R.; Evans, S.; Paustian, K.; Marx, E.; Easter, M.

2015-12-01

The sustainability of biofuel expansion is strongly dependent on the environmental footprint of feedstock production, including both direct impacts within feedstock-producing areas and potential leakage effects due to disruption of existing food, feed, or fiber production. Assessing and minimizing these impacts requires novel methods compared to traditional supply chain lifecycle assessment. When properly validated and applied at appropriate spatial resolutions, biogeochemical process models are useful for simulating how the productivity and soil greenhouse gas fluxes of cultivating both conventional crops and advanced feedstock crops respond across gradients of land quality and management intensity. In this work we use the DayCent model to assess the biogeochemical impacts of agricultural residue collection, establishment of perennial grasses on marginal cropland or conservation easements, and intensification of existing cropping at high spatial resolution across several real-world case study landscapes in diverse US agricultural regions. We integrate the resulting estimates of productivity, soil carbon changes, and nitrous oxide emissions with crop production budgets and lifecycle inventories, and perform a basic optimization to generate landscape cost/GHG frontiers and determine the most practical opportunities for low-impact feedstock provisioning. The optimization is constrained to assess the minimum combined impacts of residue collection, land use change, and intensification of existing agriculture necessary for the landscape to supply a commercial-scale biorefinery while maintaining exiting food, feed, and fiber production levels. These techniques can be used to assess how different feedstock provisioning strategies perform on both economic and environmental criteria, and sensitivity of performance to environmental and land use factors. The included figure shows an example feedstock cost-GHG mitigation tradeoff frontier for a commercial-scale cellulosic

Biotechnology and synthetic biology approaches for metabolic engineering of bioenergy crops.

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Shih, Patrick M; Liang, Yan; Loqué, Dominique

2016-07-01

The Green Revolution has fuelled an exponential growth in human population since the mid-20th century. Due to population growth, food and energy demands will soon surpass supply capabilities. To overcome these impending problems, significant improvements in genetic engineering will be needed to complement breeding efforts in order to accelerate the improvement of agronomical traits. The new field of plant synthetic biology has emerged in recent years and is expected to support rapid, precise, and robust engineering of plants. In this review, we present recent advances made in the field of plant synthetic biology, specifically in genome editing, transgene expression regulation, and bioenergy crop engineering, with a focus on traits related to lignocellulose, oil, and soluble sugars. Ultimately, progress and innovation in these fields may facilitate the development of beneficial traits in crop plants to meet society's bioenergy needs. © 2016 The Authors. The Plant Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Protecting innovation: genomics-based intellectual property for the development of feedstock for second-generation biofuels.

Science.gov (United States)

Harfouche, Antoine; Grant, Kannan; Selig, Marcus; Tsai, Daniel; Meilan, Richard

2010-06-01

One of the many controversies surrounding large-scale biofuel production is the diversion of land and other resources that might otherwise be used for food crops. Recent innovations will lead to a second generation of biofuel crops that can co-exist with food crops with little or no competition. Feedstocks from these bio-energy crops will be used to produce liquid fuel from cellulose, the most abundant polymer on the planet. Cell walls of higher plants are mainly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin polymers. Cellulose and hemicellulose are polysaccharides with obvious value for biofuel production. However, lignin, while vital for plant growth and development, is widely known to negatively impact conversion efficiencies. Biomass pre-treatment, which is aimed at lignin removal, is not straightforward, and presents one of the major scientific and technical challenges and expenses associated with secondgeneration biofuel production. Scientific breakthroughs associated with altering the expression of key genes in the lignin biosynthetic pathway of biomass crops is a promising path toward solving this problem, and will likely impact the feedstock patent landscape in the near future. This review summarizes some of the recent and most important issued patents and patent applications associated with lignin-modification genes and methods of developing transgenic plants with altered lignin content and composition.

Biogeochemical Research Priorities for Sustainable Biofuel and Bioenergy Feedstock Production in the Americas.

Science.gov (United States)

Gollany, Hero T; Titus, Brian D; Scott, D Andrew; Asbjornsen, Heidi; Resh, Sigrid C; Chimner, Rodney A; Kaczmarek, Donald J; Leite, Luiz F C; Ferreira, Ana C C; Rod, Kenton A; Hilbert, Jorge; Galdos, Marcelo V; Cisz, Michelle E

2015-12-01

Rapid expansion in biomass production for biofuels and bioenergy in the Americas is increasing demand on the ecosystem resources required to sustain soil and site productivity. We review the current state of knowledge and highlight gaps in research on biogeochemical processes and ecosystem sustainability related to biomass production. Biomass production systems incrementally remove greater quantities of organic matter, which in turn affects soil organic matter and associated carbon and nutrient storage (and hence long-term soil productivity) and off-site impacts. While these consequences have been extensively studied for some crops and sites, the ongoing and impending impacts of biomass removal require management strategies for ensuring that soil properties and functions are sustained for all combinations of crops, soils, sites, climates, and management systems, and that impacts of biomass management (including off-site impacts) are environmentally acceptable. In a changing global environment, knowledge of cumulative impacts will also become increasingly important. Long-term experiments are essential for key crops, soils, and management systems because short-term results do not necessarily reflect long-term impacts, although improved modeling capability may help to predict these impacts. Identification and validation of soil sustainability indicators for both site prescriptions and spatial applications would better inform commercial and policy decisions. In an increasingly inter-related but constrained global context, researchers should engage across inter-disciplinary, inter-agency, and international lines to better ensure the long-term soil productivity across a range of scales, from site to landscape.

The position of bioenergy and development possibilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Asplund, D.

1997-01-01

This report is a review of bioenergy in energy economy of Finland and generally a review of bioenergy markets in the world. This review concentrates on wood and peat fuels. Municipal wastes, agro biomass and use of biogas in energy production are also considered in this review but in minor aspect. The significant part of this work is an estimation of bioenergy development prospects. The schedule is strategic to the year 2010, partly to the year 2025. The use of bioenergy in Finland has increased 64 % from the year 1980 and was in 1996 almost 7 million toe. The use of peat was 2,1 million toe and the rest consisted mainly of wood and wood based fuels. The share of bioenergy in the primary energy consumption is over 20 %. As far as the resources are concerned the possibilities to increase the use are very good. The main problem is the competitiveness. The competitiveness of forest biomass has improved as a result of technological research and development but it is still potential to maintain more by systematical R and D. A large target setting of increasing the bioenergy use in Finland is included in this review. The target is to increase the bioenergy use 25 % by the year 2005. This equals to 1,5 million toe. The target for the year 2010 is suggested to increase of 3,5 million toe from the 1995 level. Also the possibilities to develop new bioenergy technology for export markets are considered. A large number of concrete actions and long term activities to achieve these targets are presented. (orig.) 24 refs

Cover crop root, shoot, and rhizodeposit contributions to soil carbon in a no- till corn bioenergy cropping system

Science.gov (United States)

Austin, E.; Grandy, S.; Wickings, K.; McDaniel, M. D.; Robertson, P.

2016-12-01

Crop residues are potential biofuel feedstocks, but residue removal may result in reduced soil carbon (C). The inclusion of a cover crop in a corn bioenergy system could provide additional biomass and as well as help to mitigate the negative effects of residue removal by adding belowground C to stable soil C pools. In a no-till continuous corn bioenergy system in the northern portion of the US corn belt, we used 13CO2 pulse labeling to trace C in a winter rye (secale cereale) cover crop into different soil C pools for two years following rye termination. Corn stover contributed 66 (another 163 was in harvested corn stover), corn roots 57, rye shoot 61, rye roots 59, and rye rhizodeposits 27 g C m-2 to soil C. Five months following cover crop termination, belowground cover crop inputs were three times more likely to remain in soil C pools and much of the root-derived C was in mineral- associated soil fractions. Our results underscore the importance of cover crop roots vs. shoots as a source of soil C. Belowground C inputs from winter cover crops could substantially offset short term stover removal in this system.

Potential bioethanol feedstock availability around nine locations in the Republic of Ireland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deverell, R.; McDonnell, K.; Devlin, G.

2009-01-01

The Republic of Ireland, like many other countries is trying to diversify energy sources to counteract environmental, political and social concerns. Bioethanol from domestically grown agricultural crops is an indigenously produced alternative fuel that can potentially go towards meeting the goal of diversified energy supply. The Republic of Ireland's distribution of existing soils and agricultural land-uses limit arable crop land to around 10% of total agricultural area. Demand for land to produce arable crops is expected to decrease, which could open the opportunity for bioethanol production. Bioethanol production plants are required to be of a sufficient scale in order to compete economically with other fuel sources, it is important therefore to determine if enough land exists around potential ethanol plant locations to meet the potential demands for feedstock. This study determines, through the use of a developed GIS based model, the potential quantities of feedstock that is available in the hinterlands of nine locations in the Republic of Ireland. The results indicate that three locations can meet all its feedstock demands using indigenously grown sugarbeet, while only one location can meet its demands using a combination of indigenous wheat and straw as the two locally sourced feedstocks. (author)

Articulating feedstock delivery device

Science.gov (United States)

Jordan, Kevin

2013-11-05

A fully articulable feedstock delivery device that is designed to operate at pressure and temperature extremes. The device incorporates an articulating ball assembly which allows for more accurate delivery of the feedstock to a target location. The device is suitable for a variety of applications including, but not limited to, delivery of feedstock to a high-pressure reaction chamber or process zone.

A mixed biomass-based energy supply chain for enhancing economic and environmental sustainability benefits: A multi-criteria decision making framework

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mirkouei, Amin; Haapala, Karl R.; Sessions, John; Murthy, Ganti S.

2017-01-01

Highlights: •A mixed supply chain is developed to enhance sustainability benefits of bioenergy. •A decision-making framework is constructed to balance sustainability dimensions. •A stochastic optimization model is developed to explore the effects of uncertainty. •This study provides insights on bio-oil production processes and system structure. -- Abstract: Bioenergy sources have been introduced as a means to address challenges of conventional energy sources. The uncertainties of supply-side (upstream) externalities (e.g., collection and logistics) represent the key challenges in bioenergy supply chains and lead to reduce cross-cutting sustainability benefits. We propose a mixed biomass-based energy supply chain (consisting of mixed-mode bio-refineries and mixed-pathway transportation) and a multi-criteria decision making framework to address the upstream challenges. Our developed framework supports decisions influencing the economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability. Economic analysis employs a support vector machine technique, to predict the pattern of uncertainty parameters, and a stochastic optimization model, to incorporate uncertainties into the model. The stochastic model minimizes the total annual cost of the proposed mixed supply chain network by using a genetic algorithm. Environmental impact analysis employs life cycle assessment to evaluate the global warming potential of the cost-effective supply chain network. Our presented approach is capable of enhancing sustainability benefits of bioenergy industry infrastructure. A case study for the Pacific Northwest is used to demonstrate the application of the methodology and to verify the models. The results indicate that mixed supply chains can improve sustainability performance over traditional supply infrastructures by reducing costs (up to 24%) and environmental impacts (up to 5%).

Public–private partnerships value in bioenergy projects: Economic feasibility analysis based on two case studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fantozzi, Francesco; Bartocci, Pietro; D'Alessandro, Bruno; Arampatzis, Stratos; Manos, Basil

2014-01-01

Greece and Italy are facing serious energy challenges concerning sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions as well as security of supply and the competitiveness of the internal energy market. These challenges require investments by the public sector, while the countries have seen in the last years their debts rising. A solution to promote bioenergy business, without rising public debt, could be the use of PPP (Public–Private Partnership). This paper presents a methodology to develop agro-energy business using PPP in two rural areas: the municipality of Evropos (in Greece) and the municipality of Montefalco (in Italy). At first biomass availability is studied, then the optimal technology is selected. Once technological issues have been analyzed PPP value for money has to be assessed. Conventional methods to evaluate economic viability of a project are not enough and a Public-Sector Comparator (PSC) has to be calculated. Typical risks of bioenergy projects are identified, estimating their probabilities and consequences. This will lead to associate a monetary value to each risk. Then the identified risks are allocated among private and public partners, establishing synergies. The allocation of risks will have consequences on the preparation of PPP contract and on partner selection procedure. - Highlights: • PPPs can control or reduce risks in bioenergy business. • Development of a methodology for risk allocation in bioenergy projects. • Development of a methodology for risk valuing in bioenergy projects. • A Public-Sector Comparator has been realized for an agro-energy PPP. • Risk allocation has to be clearly indicated in PPP contract

The bioenergy potential of conservation areas and roadsides for biogas in an urbanized region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Meerbeek, Koenraad; Ottoy, Sam; De Meyer, Annelies; Van Schaeybroeck, Tom; Van Orshoven, Jos; Muys, Bart; Hermy, Martin

2015-01-01

Highlights: • We assessed the bioenergy potential of conservation areas and roadsides in Flanders. • An area of 31,055 ha produces 203 kton DM of herbaceous biomass annually. • The associated biomass supply chain was optimized with OPTIMASS in four scenarios. • The net energy balance of the studied systems was 7 GJ ha −1 in the 2020 scenarios. • We show that this biomass can play a role to meet the increased biomass demand in 2020. - Abstract: In many urbanized areas the roadside and nature conservation management offers a biomass-for-bioenergy resource potential which is barely valorized, because of the fragmented biomass production sites and the scarcity of accurate data on the spatial availability of the biomass. In this study, a GIS based assessment was performed to determine the regional non-woody biomass-for-bioenergy potential for biogas from conservation areas and roadsides in Flanders, Belgium. These systems, with an area of 31,055 ha, have an annual herbaceous biomass production of 203 kton dry matter. The full associated biomass-to-bioenergy supply chain was optimized in four scenarios to maximize the net energy output and the profit. The scenario analysis was performed with OPTIMASS, a recently developed GIS based strategic decision support system. The analysis showed that the energetic valorization of conservation and roadside biomass through anaerobic digestion had a positive net energy balance, although there is still much room for improvements. Economically, however, it is a less interesting biomass resource. Most likely, the economic picture would change when other ecosystem services delivered by the protected biodiversity would be taken into account. Future technical advances and governmental incentives, like green energy certificates, will be necessary to incorporate the biomass into the energy chain. By tackling the existing barriers and providing a detailed methodology for biomass potential assessments, this study tries to

A study of industrial hydrogen and syngas supply systems

Science.gov (United States)

Amos, W. J.; Solomon, J.; Eliezer, K. F.

1979-01-01

The potential and incentives required for supplying hydrogen and syngas feedstocks to the U.S. chemical industry from coal gasification systems were evaluated. Future hydrogen and syngas demand for chemical manufacture was estimated by geographic area and projected economics for hydrogen and syngas manufacture was estimated with geographic area of manufacture and plant size as parameters. Natural gas, oil and coal feedstocks were considered. Problem areas presently affecting the commercial feasibility of coal gasification discussed include the impact of potential process improvements, factors involved in financing coal gasification plants, regulatory barriers affecting coal gasification, coal mining/transportation, air quality regulations, and competitive feedstock pricing barriers. The potential for making coal gasification the least costly H2 and syngas supply option. Options to stimulate coal gasification system development are discussed.

Role of community acceptance in sustainable bioenergy projects in India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eswarlal, Vimal Kumar; Vasudevan, Geoffrey; Dey, Prasanta Kumar; Vasudevan, Padma

2014-01-01

Community acceptance has been identified as one of the key requirements for a sustainable bioenergy project. However less attention has been paid to this aspect from developing nations and small projects perspective. Therefore this research examines the role of community acceptance for sustainable small scale bioenergy projects in India. While addressing the aim, this work identifies influence of community over bioenergy projects, major concerns of communities regarding bioenergy projects and factors influencing perceptions of communities about bioenergy projects. The empirical research was carried out on four bioenergy companies in India as case studies. It has been identified that communities have significant influence over bioenergy projects in India. Local air pollution, inappropriate storage of by-products and credibility of developer are identified as some of the important concerns. Local energy needs, benefits to community from bioenergy companies, level of trust on company and relationship between company and the community are some of the prime factors which influence community's perception on bioenergy projects. This research sheds light on important aspects related to community acceptance of bioenergy projects, and this information would help practitioners in understanding the community perceptions and take appropriate actions to satisfy them

Identification and overexpression of a Knotted1-like transcription factor in switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L. for lignocellulosic feedstock improvement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wegi eWuddineh

2016-04-01

Full Text Available High biomass production and wide adaptation has made switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L. an important candidate lignocellulosic bioenergy crop. One major limitation of this and other lignocellulosic feedstocks is the recalcitrance of complex carbohydrates to hydrolysis for conversion to biofuels. Lignin is the major contributor to recalcitrance as it limits the accessibility of cell wall carbohydrates to enzymatic breakdown into fermentable sugars. Therefore, genetic manipulation of the lignin biosynthesis pathway is one strategy to reduce recalcitrance. Here, we identified a switchgrass Knotted1 transcription factor, PvKN1, with the aim of genetically engineering switchgrass for reduced biomass recalcitrance for biofuel production. Gene expression of the endogenous PvKN1 gene was observed to be highest in young inflorescences and stems. Ectopic overexpression of PvKN1 in switchgrass altered growth, especially in early developmental stages. Transgenic lines had reduced expression of most lignin biosynthetic genes accompanied by a reduction in lignin content suggesting the involvement of PvKN1 in the broad regulation of the lignin biosynthesis pathway. Moreover, the reduced expression of the Gibberellin 20-oxidase (GA20ox gene in tandem with the increased expression of Gibberellin 2-oxidase (GA2ox genes in transgenic PvKN1 lines suggest that PvKN1 may exert regulatory effects via modulation of GA signalling. Furthermore, overexpression of PvKN1 altered the expression of cellulose and hemicellulose biosynthetic genes and increased sugar release efficiency in transgenic lines. Our results demonstrated that switchgrass PvKN1 is a putative ortholog of maize KN1 that is linked to plant lignification and cell wall and development traits as a major regulatory gene. Therefore, targeted overexpression of PvKN1 in bioenergy feedstocks may provide one feasible strategy for reducing biomass recalcitrance and simultaneously improving plant growth characteristics.

Future bio-energy potential under various natural constraints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vuuren, Detlef P. van; Vliet, Jasper van; Stehfest, Elke

2009-01-01

Potentials for bio-energy have been estimated earlier on the basis of estimates of potentially available land, excluding certain types of land use or land cover (land required for food production and forests). In this paper, we explore how such estimates may be influenced by other factors such as land degradation, water scarcity and biodiversity concerns. Our analysis indicates that of the original bio-energy potential estimate of 150, 80 EJ occurs in areas classified as from mild to severe land degradation, water stress, or with high biodiversity value. Yield estimates were also found to have a significant impact on potential estimates. A further 12.5% increase in global yields would lead to an increase in bio-energy potential of about 50%. Changes in bio-energy potential are shown to have a direct impact on bio-energy use in the energy model TIMER, although the relevant factor is the bio-energy potential at different cost levels and not the overall potential.

Environmental assessment of farm-scaled anaerobic co-digestion for bioenergy production

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lijó, Lucía, E-mail: lucia.lijo@usc.es [Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Technology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); González-García, Sara [Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Technology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Bacenetti, Jacopo; Negri, Marco; Fiala, Marco [Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Production, Landscape, Agroenergy, University of Milan, Milan (Italy); Feijoo, Gumersindo; Moreira, María Teresa [Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Technology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain)

2015-07-15

Highlights: • Anaerobic monodigestion and codigestion were compared. • The environmental advantages of suitable waste management were proved. • The use of cereal crops as feedstock improves biogas yield. • Cultivation step implies the most important environmental hotspot. • Digestate management options were evaluated. - Abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the environmental profile of a bioenergy system based on a co-digestion plant using maize silage and pig slurry as substrates. All the processes involved in the production of bioenergy as well as the avoided processes accrued from the biogas production system were evaluated. The results evidenced the environmental importance of the cultivation step and the environmental credits associated to the avoided processes. In addition, this plant was compared with two different plants that digest both substrates separately. The results revealed the environmental benefits of the utilisation of pig slurry due to the absence of environmental burdens associated with its production as well as credits provided when avoiding its conventional management. The results also presented the environmental drawbacks of the utilisation of maize silage due to the environmental burdens related with its production. Accordingly, the anaerobic mono-digestion of maize silage achieved the worst results. The co-digestion of both substrates was ranked in an intermediate position. Additionally, three possible digestate management options were assessed. The results showed the beneficial effect of digestate application as an organic fertiliser, principally on account of environmental credits due to avoided mineral fertilisation. However, digestate application involves important acidifying and eutrophicating emissions.

Environmental assessment of farm-scaled anaerobic co-digestion for bioenergy production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lijó, Lucía; González-García, Sara; Bacenetti, Jacopo; Negri, Marco; Fiala, Marco; Feijoo, Gumersindo; Moreira, María Teresa

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Anaerobic monodigestion and codigestion were compared. • The environmental advantages of suitable waste management were proved. • The use of cereal crops as feedstock improves biogas yield. • Cultivation step implies the most important environmental hotspot. • Digestate management options were evaluated. - Abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the environmental profile of a bioenergy system based on a co-digestion plant using maize silage and pig slurry as substrates. All the processes involved in the production of bioenergy as well as the avoided processes accrued from the biogas production system were evaluated. The results evidenced the environmental importance of the cultivation step and the environmental credits associated to the avoided processes. In addition, this plant was compared with two different plants that digest both substrates separately. The results revealed the environmental benefits of the utilisation of pig slurry due to the absence of environmental burdens associated with its production as well as credits provided when avoiding its conventional management. The results also presented the environmental drawbacks of the utilisation of maize silage due to the environmental burdens related with its production. Accordingly, the anaerobic mono-digestion of maize silage achieved the worst results. The co-digestion of both substrates was ranked in an intermediate position. Additionally, three possible digestate management options were assessed. The results showed the beneficial effect of digestate application as an organic fertiliser, principally on account of environmental credits due to avoided mineral fertilisation. However, digestate application involves important acidifying and eutrophicating emissions

An integrated policy framework for the sustainable exploitation of biomass for bioenergy from marginal lands

Science.gov (United States)

Panoutsou, Calliope

2017-04-01

Currently, there are not sufficiently tailored policies focusing on biomass and bioenergy from marginal lands. This paper will provide an integrated policy framework and recommendations to facilitate understanding for the market sectors involved and the key principles which can be used to form future sustainable policies for this issue. The work will focus at EU level policy recommendations and discuss how these can interrelate with national and regional level policies to promote the usage of marginal lands for biomass and bioenergy. Recommended policy measures will be based on the findings of the Biomass Policies (www.biomasspolicies.eu) and S2Biom (www.s2biom.eu) projects and will be prepared taking into account the key influencing factors (technical, environmental, social and economic) on biomass and bioenergy from marginal lands: • across different types of marginality (biophysical such as: low temperature, dryness, excess soil moisture, poor chemical properties, steep slope, etc., and socio-economic resulting from lack of economic competitiveness in certain regions and crops, abandonment or rural areas, etc.) • across the different stages of the biomass value chain (supply, logistics, conversion, distribution and end-use). The aim of recommendations will be to inform policy makers on how to distinguish key policy related attributes across biomass and bioenergy from marginal lands, measure them and prioritise actions with a 'system' based approach.

3. forum bioenergy. Politics, market, finances, marketing and distribution, export. Proceedings 2007; 3. Forum Bioenergie. Politik, Markt, Finanzierung, Marketing and Vertrieb, Export. Tagungsband 2007

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-07-01

); Financing possibility of the KfW within the range bio energy (Cornelia Winter); Formation of the public opinion by the press (Heiko Schwarzburger); Chances and possibilities with the press work (Stefan Gurda); Expectations of a journalist to a good press conference (Alexander Morhart); Crisis communication (Helma Ohlendorf); Export market biogas - chances and risks for the entrance into European markets (Frank Hofmann); Non-technical measures for the promotion of fermentation gas in Eastern Europe: BIG>East Project (Dominik Rutz); Processing and feeding of biogas (Markus Meyr); Feeding of biogas into regional networks (Claus Bonsen); Influence of the marketability of sources of bioenergy by holistic view of the energy efficiency (Horst Ludley); Aspects of sustainability during the supply of biomass (Bernd Wollwerth); Biomass strategy NRW (Klaus Doeerr); Biogas and NawaRos: entrance for the genetic engineering or nature-compatible and environmentally compatible production (Steffi Ober).

Legal framework for a sustainable biomass production for bioenergy on Marginal Lands

Science.gov (United States)

Baumgarten, Wibke; Pelikan, Vincent

2017-04-01

authorities and principal laws in the field of bioenergy is given, supplemented by national biomass potentials and bioenergy use as well as by the German, Greek, Italian and Ukrainian NREAP. The overall target of all EU-28 countries - and Ukraine - is to create a more efficient bioeconomy, to increase the amount of biomass produced for bioenergy purposes, to avoid an increased competition between food/feed production on arable land and energy plant production, and decrease imports of fossil energy sources, i.e. [crude] oil, aiming at an independent, domestically based (bio)energy supply. Whereas in Germany the national policy framework regarding bioenergy is well-defined, there are only few specific national and/or regional policies in Greece, Italy or Ukraine. Moreover, the German legislation offers a higher potential for designing and modifying already existing regulations and laws, e.g. soil protection, EEG, etc. with respect to the use of MagL for bioenergy production, than in other SEEMLA partner countries. Although the biomass potential of each SEEMLA partner country varies a lot and the 2020 targets remain ambitious, the exploitation of sustainable biomass production on MagL may offer a suitable approach to fill the gaps of future biomass demands and accelerate the growth of an independent bioenergy based society.

Biomass supply chain optimisation for Organosolv-based biorefineries.

Science.gov (United States)

Giarola, Sara; Patel, Mayank; Shah, Nilay

2014-05-01

This work aims at providing a Mixed Integer Linear Programming modelling framework to help define planning strategies for the development of sustainable biorefineries. The up-scaling of an Organosolv biorefinery was addressed via optimisation of the whole system economics. Three real world case studies were addressed to show the high-level flexibility and wide applicability of the tool to model different biomass typologies (i.e. forest fellings, cereal residues and energy crops) and supply strategies. Model outcomes have revealed how supply chain optimisation techniques could help shed light on the development of sustainable biorefineries. Feedstock quality, quantity, temporal and geographical availability are crucial to determine biorefinery location and the cost-efficient way to supply the feedstock to the plant. Storage costs are relevant for biorefineries based on cereal stubble, while wood supply chains present dominant pretreatment operations costs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ethane supply and demand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jamerson, J.B.

1993-01-01

Estimates are given for ethane production, chiefly from the Gulf Coast area. Increase in interregional transfers are predicted. Comparisons from 1992 through 1995 are made. The author concludes the following: ethane will be supply limited over the decade of the 90's; values will be over competing feedstocks; minimum practical demands will be close to available supply; regional relationships will reflect pipeline tariffs; purity ethane/EP spreads may narrow with new Mt. Belvieu fractionation capacity; new domestic supplies will back out imports; and Ethane's share of ethylene production may drop over the period

Barriers to and drivers for UK bioenergy development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adams, P.W.; Mezzullo, W.G. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Design, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY (United Kingdom); Hammond, G.P.; McManus, M.C. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Design, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY (United Kingdom); Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environment (I.SEE), University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY (United Kingdom)

2011-02-15

Barriers to UK bioenergy development arise from a number of technical, financial, social and other constraints. Likewise, the drivers for using bioenergy are numerous and diverse. A range of these barriers and drivers have been identified through a comprehensive literature and case study review, and then assessed through an online questionnaire, completed by stakeholders from across the UK bioenergy industry: farmers/suppliers, developers/owners of bioenergy projects, primary end-users, and government/policy stakeholders. The results are presented in the form of 'spider web' diagrams. The most critical barriers and drivers relate to economic factors of bioenergy projects. Farmers/suppliers and developers are influenced by production costs and benefits, whilst primary end-users of bioenergy are concerned mainly with the cost of purchasing energy resources. Common drivers for all stakeholders were found to be reducing carbon emissions and the dependency on fossil fuels. In order to satisfy the needs of stakeholders schemes must be both economically attractive and environmentally sustainable for projects to be successful. (author)

Integrating bioenergy into a green economy: identifying opportunities and constraints

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Von Maltitz, Graham P

2012-10-01

Full Text Available .kashan.co.za] BACKGROUND Bioenergy is a renewable energy option that has the potential to contribute to a low-carbon development path and stimulate a green economy. However, since bioenergy uses land and natural resources, it is in competition with the valuable bio... an analytical framework and decision-support tools to assist in assessing, managing and monitoring the sustainability of bioenergy. IMPROVING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF BIOENERGY THROUGH INTEGRATION WITH OTHER BIO-BASED PRODUCTS Since bioenergy production...

Bioenergy Research Programme, Yearbook 1995. Utilization of bioenergy and biomass conversion; Bioenergian tutkimusohjelma, vuosikirja 1995. Bioenergian kaeyttoe ja biomassan jalostus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alakangas, E. [ed.

1996-12-31

Bioenergy Research Programme is one of the energy technology research programmes of the Technology Development Centre TEKES. The aim of the bioenergy Research Programme is to increase, by using technical research and development, the economically profitable and environmentally sound utilisation of bioenergy, to improve the competitiveness of present peat and wood fuels, and to develop new competitive fuels and equipment related to bioenergy. The funding for 1995 was nearly 52 million FIM and the number of projects 66. The research area of biomass conversion consisted of 8 projects in 1995, and the research area of bioenergy utilization of 14 projects. The results of these projects carried out in 1995 are presented in this publication. The aim of the biomass conversion is to produce more bio-oils and electric power as well as wood processing industry as at power plants than it is possible at present appliances. The conversion research was pointed at refining of the waste liquors of pulping industry and the extracts of them into fuel-oil and liquid engine fuels, on production of wood oil via flash pyrolysis, and on combustion tests. Other conversion studies dealt with production of fuel-grade ethanol. For utilization of agrobiomass in various forms of energy, a system study is introduced where special attention is how to use rapeseed oil unprocessed in heating boilers and diesel engines. The main aim of the research in bioenergy utilization is to create the technological potential for increasing the bioenergy use. The aim is further defined as to get into commercial phase 3-4 new techniques or methods and to start several demonstrations, which will have 0.2-0.3 million toe bioenergy utilization potential

Proceedings of the CANBIO conference : realizing the bioenergy opportunity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-01-01

This conference explored domestic bioenergy options in Canada, including potential for bioenergy trade. As biomass cogeneration proceeds, investments are now being made for exportable biofuels such as wood pellets and BioOil, driven by demand for biomass in Europe. Mill residue surpluses are rapidly diminishing, causing industry and government to look at forest residues. The conference also addressed obstacles to developing bioenergy options in Canada compared to countries with comprehensive bioenergy strategies. An entire session was devoted to Finnish expertise in residue harvesting and bioenergy equipment. Various national and international development opportunities for wood residue and bioenergy products were also explored along with new technologies in bioenergy practices and development in syngas production techniques. The conference sessions were entitled: volumes of economic biomass; costs and logistics of forest biomass; development opportunities; Finnish solutions for biomass; progress in Ontario; policies in Canada and Europe; and, towards a biofuels transportation infrastructure. The conference featured 34 presentations, of which 13 have been catalogued separately for inclusion in this database. refs., tabs., figs

BIOENERGIA - Focus on wood in bioenergy research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Asplund, D. [Jyvaeskylae Science Park, Jyvaeskylae (Finland)

1996-12-31

The most important area of research on wood fuel production is the development of various methods, machines and systems connected to this area, in order to produce economically competitive fuels. The integrated harvesting methods, which supply both raw material to wood products industry and wood fuel for energy production, have been chosen the main research area because they seem to be most promising. The growing amount of small-sized trees ant the need of their first thinnings have created a demand for new harvesting methods. At the moment the economical aspects restrict the harvesting of the first thinning trees either for industrial use or energy production. Research on peat production focuses on the complete use of a bog and on the development of peat production methods and machines. Development work in this area aims at decreasing production costs and also at reducing the drainage water and other elements in environmental load around the peat production sites. The use of bioenergy research will be focused on the small-scale (<20 MW{sub th},) applications. In the long term, the increase of bioenergy in heating of small houses and farms and buildings, as well as in the production of heat and power has been estimated. Research into the conversion of biomass is concentrated on the production of biomass-based liquid fuels

Bioenergy in Brazil and Europe: a comparative analysis; Bioenergia no Brasil e na Europa: uma analise comparativa

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Castro, Nivalde Jose de [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IE/UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Inst. de Economia], e-mail: nivalde@ie.ufrj.br; Dantas, Guilherme de Azevedo [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (GESEL/UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Grupo de Estudos do Setor Eletrico], e-mail: guilhermecrvg@yahoo.com.br

2008-07-01

A higher application of bioenergy is one of the existing ways to adequate the necessity of an expansion in the energy supply with the mitigation of global warming. The consumption of biofuel in the transport sector is the most usual and important use of biomass, however, bioenergy may also have a relevant contribution to the world electrical matrix. A comparative analysis shows that Brazil has consolidate the usage of biofuel while Europe is having problems to accomplish the biofuels levels established in the European Union guidelines. However, some european countries are developing their bioelectrical generation potential in a much more efficient way than Brazil. Therefore , brazilian policies to support bioelectricity should observe the successful instruments applied in Europe. (author)

Adaptation of C4 Bioenergy Crop Species to Various Environments within the Southern Great Plains of USA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sumin Kim

2017-01-01

Full Text Available As highly productive perennial grasses are evaluated as bioenergy feedstocks, a major consideration is biomass yield stability. Two experiments were conducted to examine some aspects of yield stability for two biofuel species: switchgrass (Panicum vigratum L. and Miscanthus x giganteus (Mxg. Biomass yields of these species were evaluated under various environmental conditions across the Southern Great Plains (SGP, including some sites with low soil fertility. In the first experiment, measured yields of four switchgrass ecotypes and Mxg varied among locations. Overall, plants showed optimal growth performance in study sites close to their geographical origins. Lowland switchgrass ecotypes and Mxg yields simulated by the ALMANAC model showed reasonable agreement with the measured yields across all study locations, while the simulated yields of upland switchgrass ecotypes were overestimated in northern locations. In the second experiment, examination of different N fertilizer rates revealed switchgrass yield increases over the range of 0, 80, or 160 kg N ha−1 year−1, while Mxg only showed yield increases between the low and medium N rates. This provides useful insights to crop management of two biofuel species and to enhance the predictive accuracy of process-based models, which are critical for developing bioenergy market systems in the SGP.

The National Biofuels Strategy - Importance of sustainable feedstock production systems in regional-based supply chains

Science.gov (United States)

Region-based production systems are needed to produce the feedstocks that will be turned into the biofuels required to meet Federal mandated targets. Executive and Legislative actions have put into motion significant government responses designed to advance the development and production of domestic...

Potential bioethanol feedstock availability around nine locations in the Republic of Ireland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deverell, R.; McDonnell, K.; Devlin, G. [Department of Biosystems Engineering, Agriculture and Food Science Building, University College Dublin, Belfield (Ireland)

2009-07-01

The Republic of Ireland, like many other countries is trying to diversify energy sources to counteract environmental, political and social concerns. Bioethanol from domestically grown agricultural crops is an indigenously produced alternative fuel that can potentially go towards meeting the goal of diversified energy supply. The Republic of Ireland's distribution of existing soils and agricultural land-uses limit arable crop land to around 10% of total agricultural area. Demand for land to produce arable crops is expected to decrease, which could open the opportunity for bioethanol production. Bioethanol production plants are required to be of a sufficient scale in order to compete economically with other fuel sources, it is important therefore to determine if enough land exists around potential ethanol plant locations to meet the potential demands for feedstock. This study determines, through the use of a developed GIS based model, the potential quantities of feedstock that is available in the hinterlands of nine locations in the Republic of Ireland. The results indicate that three locations can meet all its feedstock demands using indigenously grown sugarbeet, while only one location can meet its demands using a combination of indigenous wheat and straw as the two locally sourced feedstocks. (author)

Potential Bioethanol Feedstock Availability Around Nine Locations in the Republic of Ireland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rory Deverell

2009-03-01

Full Text Available The Republic of Ireland, like many other countries is trying to diversify energy sources to counteract environmental, political and social concerns. Bioethanol from domestically grown agricultural crops is an indigenously produced alternative fuel that can potentially go towards meeting the goal of diversified energy supply. The Republic of Ireland’s distribution of existing soils and agricultural land-uses limit arable crop land to around 10% of total agricultural area. Demand for land to produce arable crops is expected to decrease, which could open the opportunity for bioethanol production. Bioethanol production plants are required to be of a sufficient scale in order to compete economically with other fuel sources, it is important therefore to determine if enough land exists around potential ethanol plant locations to meet the potential demands for feedstock. This study determines, through the use of a developed GIS based model, the potential quantities of feedstock that is available in the hinterlands of nine locations in the Republic of Ireland. The results indicate that three locations can meet all its feedstock demands using indigenously grown sugarbeet, while only one location can meet its demands using a combination of indigenous wheat and straw as the two locally sourced feedstocks.

Evaluating fuel ethanol feedstocks from energy policy perspectives: A comparative energy assessment of corn and corn stover

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lavigne, Amanda; Powers, Susan E.

2007-01-01

Concerns surrounding the continued, un-checked use of petroleum-based fuels in the transportation sector, the search for more sustainable, renewable alternatives, and the constraints of the existing supply infrastructure in the United States have placed a spotlight on biomass-derived fuels. The central question of the ethanol debate has changed from 'Should we make ethanol?' to 'From what should we make ethanol?' emphasizing the importance of understanding the differences between specific biomass supply systems for fuel ethanol. When presented with numerous options, the priorities of an individual decision maker will define which feedstock alternative is the most appropriate choice for development from their perspective. This paper demonstrates how energy data can be successfully used to quantify assessment metrics beyond a standard net energy value calculation, thus quantifying the relative 'value' of ethanol supply systems. This value is defined based on decision-maker priorities that were adopted from national energy policy priorities: increased national energy security and increased conservation of energy resources. Nine energy assessment metrics that quantify detailed system energy data are calculated and a straightforward comparative assessment is performed between corn and corn stover feedstocks produced under the same farm scenario. Corn stover is shown to be more compatible with the national energy policy priorities and it is recommended that additional research be performed on utilizing this feedstock from the corn farm

Pre-genomic, genomic and post-genomic study of microbial communities involved in bioenergy.

Science.gov (United States)

Rittmann, Bruce E; Krajmalnik-Brown, Rosa; Halden, Rolf U

2008-08-01

Microorganisms can produce renewable energy in large quantities and without damaging the environment or disrupting food supply. The microbial communities must be robust and self-stabilizing, and their essential syntrophies must be managed. Pre-genomic, genomic and post-genomic tools can provide crucial information about the structure and function of these microbial communities. Applying these tools will help accelerate the rate at which microbial bioenergy processes move from intriguing science to real-world practice.

Towards a Carbon-Neutral Energy Sector: Opportunities and Challenges of Coordinated Bioenergy Supply Chains-A PSE Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis Puigjaner

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The electricity generation sector needs to reduce its environmental impact and dependence on fossil fuel, mainly from coal. Biomass is one of the most promising future options to produce electricity, given its potential contribution to climate change mitigation. Even though biomass is an old source of energy, it is not yet a well-established commodity. The use of biomass in large centralised systems requires the establishment of delivery channels to provide the desired feedstock with the necessary attributes, at the right time and place. In terms of time to deployment and cost of the solution, co-combustion/co-gasification of biomass and coal are presented as transition and short-medium term alternatives towards a carbon-neutral energy sector. Hence, there is a need to assess an effective introduction of co-combustion/co-gasification projects in the current electricity production share. The purpose of this work is to review recent steps in Process Systems Engineering towards bringing into reality individualised and ad-hoc solutions, by building a common but adjustable design platform to tailored approaches of biomass-based supply chains. Current solutions and the latest developments are presented and future needs under study are also identified.

Assessing Regional-Scale Impacts of Short Rotation Coppices on Ecosystem Services by Modeling Land-Use Decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Schulze, Jule; Frank, Karin; Priess, Joerg A; Meyer, Markus A

2016-01-01

Meeting the world's growing energy demand through bioenergy production involves extensive land-use change which could have severe environmental and social impacts. Second generation bioenergy feedstocks offer a possible solution to this problem. They have the potential to reduce land-use conflicts between food and bioenergy production as they can be grown on low quality land not suitable for food production. However, a comprehensive impact assessment that considers multiple ecosystem services (ESS) and biodiversity is needed to identify the environmentally best feedstock option, as trade-offs are inherent. In this study, we simulate the spatial distribution of short rotation coppices (SRCs) in the landscape of the Mulde watershed in Central Germany by modeling profit-maximizing farmers under different economic and policy-driven scenarios using a spatially explicit economic simulation model. This allows to derive general insights and a mechanistic understanding of regional-scale impacts on multiple ESS in the absence of large-scale implementation. The modeled distribution of SRCs, required to meet the regional demand of combined heat and power (CHP) plants for solid biomass, had little or no effect on the provided ESS. In the policy-driven scenario, placing SRCs on low or high quality soils to provide ecological focus areas, as required within the Common Agricultural Policy in the EU, had little effect on ESS. Only a substantial increase in the SRC production area, beyond the regional demand of CHP plants, had a relevant effect, namely a negative impact on food production as well as a positive impact on biodiversity and regulating ESS. Beneficial impacts occurred for single ESS. However, the number of sites with balanced ESS supply hardly increased due to larger shares of SRCs in the landscape. Regression analyses showed that the occurrence of sites with balanced ESS supply was more strongly driven by biophysical factors than by the SRC share in the landscape. This

10. Rostock bioenergy forum. Proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelles, Michael

2016-01-01

Biomass energy not only contributes to the energy transition, but also for climate and resource protection. The main topics of the conference are: Alternative solid bioenergy sources; Optimizing the use of heat; Prospects for biofuels; Emission reduction through use of biofuels; Alternative biomass for biogas; Optimization and adjustment in the biogas sector; Flexibility of biogas plants; New uses of bioenergy. 12 contributions were recorded separately for the INIS database. [de

Effects of bioenergy production on European nature conservation options

Science.gov (United States)

Schleupner, C.; Schneider, U. A.

2009-04-01

To increase security of energy supply and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions the European Commission set out a long-term strategy for renewable energy in the European Union (EU). Bioenergy from forestry and agriculture plays a key role for both. Since the last decade a significant increase of biomass energy plantations has been observed in Europe. Concurrently, the EU agreed to halt the loss of biodiversity within its member states. One measure is the Natura2000 network of important nature sites that actually covers about 20% of the EU land surface. However, to fulfil the biodiversity target more nature conservation and restoration sites need to be designated. There are arising concerns that an increased cultivation of bioenergy crops will decrease the land available for nature reserves and for "traditional" agriculture and forestry. In the following the economic and ecological impacts of structural land use changes are demonstrated by two examples. First, a case study of land use changes on the Eiderstedt peninsula in Schleswig-Holstein/Germany evaluates the impacts of grassland conversion into bioenergy plantations under consideration of selected meadow birds. Scenarios indicate not only a quantitative loss of habitats but also a reduction of habitat quality. The second study assesses the role of bioenergy production in light of possible negative impacts on potential wetland conservation sites in Europe. By coupling the spatial wetland distribution model "SWEDI" (cf. SCHLEUPNER 2007) to the European Forest and Agricultural Sector Optimization Model (EUFASOM; cf. SCHNEIDER ET AL. 2008) economic and environmental aspects of land use are evaluated simultaneously. This way the costs and benefits of the appropriate measures and its consequences for agriculture and forestry are investigated. One aim is to find the socially optimal balance between alternative wetland uses by integrating biological benefits - in this case wetlands - and economic opportunities - here

Large or small? Rethinking China’s forest bioenergy policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kahrl, Fredrich; Su, Yufang; Tennigkeit, Timm; Yang, Yongping; Xu, Jianchu

2013-01-01

China’s forest bioenergy policies are evolving against the backdrop of pressing national energy challenges similar to those faced by OECD countries, and chronic rural energy challenges more characteristic of developing countries. Modern forest bioenergy could contribute to solutions to both of these challenges. However, because of limitations in current technologies and institutions, significant policy and resource commitments would be required to make breakthroughs in either commercializing forest bioenergy or modernizing rural energy systems in China. Given the potential attention, funding, and resource trade-offs between these two goals, we provide an argument for why the focus of China’s forest bioenergy policy should initially be on addressing rural energy challenges. The paper concludes with a discussion on strategies for laying the groundwork for a modern, biomass-based energy infrastructure in rural China. -- Highlights: ► China’s bioenergy policy is at a crossroads. ► Trade-offs exist between forest bioenergy policy for urban and rural users in China. ► There are strong arguments for focusing forest bioenergy policy on rural areas. ► China’s rural energy policy should increasingly support modern energy carriers

Critical factors for bioenergy technology implementation. Five case studies of bioenergy markets in the United States, Sweden and Austria

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roos, Anders [Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala (Sweden). Dept. of Forest-Industry-Market Studies

1998-07-01

This report analyses the driving forces of, and barriers to, biomass energy technology implementation with the objective of defining the most important factors behind the growth of bioenergy markets and suggesting strategies for policy makers and investors. The approach is to describe the important factors for the development of real bioenergy markets at two levels: (1) Institutional, primarily policy, and (2) market structure. Concepts from economic theory, primarily transaction cost theory and industrial organisation, are used in a qualitative way. The report is based on literature studies and field studies of bioenergy markets in three countries: the United States of America, Austria, and Sweden. It is divided into five sections. After the introduction in section one, literature with relevance for this study is reviewed in section two. In section three the energy policy and energy sectors of each country are described. The descriptions include an overview of the biomass energy sectors. Five cases of developed bioenergy markets in the three countries are presented in section four. The cases are residential heating with wood pellets in New Hampshire, United States, biomass power production in Maine, residential heating with pellets in Sweden, biomass district heating in Sweden, and biomass district heating in Austria. All markets are described in terms of the historical development, technical issues, economics, market structure and local policy influences. In the discussion in section five a number of key factors behind the success or failure of bioenergy are presented. Six factors are most important: (1) Complementaries between the bioenergy operations and another activity (for instance when the bioenergy production uses biomass waste products from another industry); (2) economics of scale within the bioenergy business through larger production series, standards, specialization etc.; (3) a competitive bioenergy market (Many sellers and buyers operate in the

Critical factors for bioenergy technology implementation. Five case studies of bioenergy markets in the United States, Sweden and Austria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roos, Anders

1998-01-01

This report analyses the driving forces of, and barriers to, biomass energy technology implementation with the objective of defining the most important factors behind the growth of bioenergy markets and suggesting strategies for policy makers and investors. The approach is to describe the important factors for the development of real bioenergy markets at two levels: (1) Institutional, primarily policy, and (2) market structure. Concepts from economic theory, primarily transaction cost theory and industrial organisation, are used in a qualitative way. The report is based on literature studies and field studies of bioenergy markets in three countries: the United States of America, Austria, and Sweden. It is divided into five sections. After the introduction in section one, literature with relevance for this study is reviewed in section two. In section three the energy policy and energy sectors of each country are described. The descriptions include an overview of the biomass energy sectors. Five cases of developed bioenergy markets in the three countries are presented in section four. The cases are residential heating with wood pellets in New Hampshire, United States, biomass power production in Maine, residential heating with pellets in Sweden, biomass district heating in Sweden, and biomass district heating in Austria. All markets are described in terms of the historical development, technical issues, economics, market structure and local policy influences. In the discussion in section five a number of key factors behind the success or failure of bioenergy are presented. Six factors are most important: (1) Complementaries between the bioenergy operations and another activity (for instance when the bioenergy production uses biomass waste products from another industry); (2) economics of scale within the bioenergy business through larger production series, standards, specialization etc.; (3) a competitive bioenergy market (Many sellers and buyers operate in the

Critical factors for bioenergy technology implementation. Five case studies of bioenergy markets in the United States, Sweden and Austria

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roos, Anders [Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala (Sweden). Dept. of Forest-Industry-Market Studies

1998-07-01

This report analyses the driving forces of, and barriers to, biomass energy technology implementation with the objective of defining the most important factors behind the growth of bioenergy markets and suggesting strategies for policy makers and investors. The approach is to describe the important factors for the development of real bioenergy markets at two levels: (1) Institutional, primarily policy, and (2) market structure. Concepts from economic theory, primarily transaction cost theory and industrial organisation, are used in a qualitative way. The report is based on literature studies and field studies of bioenergy markets in three countries: the United States of America, Austria, and Sweden. It is divided into five sections. After the introduction in section one, literature with relevance for this study is reviewed in section two. In section three the energy policy and energy sectors of each country are described. The descriptions include an overview of the biomass energy sectors. Five cases of developed bioenergy markets in the three countries are presented in section four. The cases are residential heating with wood pellets in New Hampshire, United States, biomass power production in Maine, residential heating with pellets in Sweden, biomass district heating in Sweden, and biomass district heating in Austria. All markets are described in terms of the historical development, technical issues, economics, market structure and local policy influences. In the discussion in section five a number of key factors behind the success or failure of bioenergy are presented. Six factors are most important: (1) Complementaries between the bioenergy operations and another activity (for instance when the bioenergy production uses biomass waste products from another industry); (2) economics of scale within the bioenergy business through larger production series, standards, specialization etc.; (3) a competitive bioenergy market (Many sellers and buyers operate in the

Young citizens' knowledge and perceptions of bioenergy and future policy implications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Halder, Pradipta; Pietarinen, Janne; Havu-Nuutinen, Sari; Pelkonen, Paavo

2010-01-01

In the past few years extensive discussions on bioenergy has been both positive and negative. In Europe, the image of bioenergy appears to be low with lack of broad public support. Previous studies show that younger people are unsure about many issues surrounding renewable energy. The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge and perceptions of bioenergy among pupils in North Karelia, Finland. Data drawn from 495 ninth grade students indicate that the majority of them lack in-depth knowledge about different renewable energy sources, including bioenergy. Only a small percentage has a 'high' level of knowledge about bioenergy and the majority indicates critical perceptions of it. Statistically significant gender differences are not apparent. Girls appear to be more knowledgeable than boys. Results also show a clear 'urban' and 'rural' difference in perceptions of bioenergy. Perceptions of urban respondents being more positive than that of their rural counterparts. Developing collaboration between future bioenergy policies and bioenergy education for younger citizens is necessary for their engagement in critical debates on bioenergy.

Sustainability standards for bioenergy-A means to reduce climate change risks?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schubert, Renate; Blasch, Julia

2010-01-01

The paper discusses the importance of standards for sustainable bioenergy production. Sustainability of bioenergy production is crucial if bioenergy is supposed to contribute effectively to climate change mitigation. First, a brief overview of current bioenergy policies and of initiatives and legislation for bioenergy sustainability are given. Then, the authors show that under free market conditions undersupply of sustainable bioenergy will prevail. Two types of market failures are identified: information asymmetry and externalities in bioenergy production. Due to these market failures bioenergy is less sustainable than it could be. It is shown that mandatory certification and subsequent labeling can help to overcome the information asymmetry and lead to a more efficient market outcome since consumers can choose products according to their preferences. The authors conclude, however, that the existence of production externalities asks for stronger market intervention, for example in the form of binding minimum standards or taxes. The paper discusses the efficiency and feasibility of such policy measures and shows that mandatory certification combined with binding minimum standards can be an adequate policy choice to regulate the bioenergy market.

Meeting renewable energy and land use objectives through public–private biomass supply partnerships

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galik, Christopher S.; Abt, Robert C.; Latta, Gregory; Méley, Andréanne; Henderson, Jesse D.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Reducing encroachment and increased use of renewable energy are U.S. military goals. • Strong forest markets and high forest land rent can affect land use change patterns. • Military bioenergy demand may stimulate forest markets and expand forest area. • GHG benefits of increased bioenergy demand accrue regionally but not nationally. • Targeted bioenergy market development may be preferable to region-wide deployment. - Abstract: Bioenergy is a significant source of renewable energy in the U.S. and internationally. We explore whether creation of localized bioenergy markets near existing military installations in the southeastern U.S. could simultaneously address military renewable energy generation objectives while reducing urban encroachment. We model the use of public–private partnerships to stimulate the creation of these markets, in which stable installation demand is paired with stable supply from surrounding landowners. We employ two economic models – the SubRegional Timber Supply (SRTS) model and the Forest and Agricultural Sector Model with Greenhouse Gases (FASOMGHG) – to assess how markets influence forest and agriculture land use, renewable energy production, and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation at the regional and national levels. When all selected installations increase bioenergy capacity simultaneously, we find increased preservation of forest land area, increased forest carbon storage in the region, and increased renewable energy generation at military installations. Nationally, however, carbon stocks are depleted as harvests increase, increasing GHG emissions even after accounting for potential displaced emissions from coal- or natural gas-fired generation. Increasing bioenergy generation on a single installation within the southeast has very different effects on forest area and composition, yielding greater standing timber volume and higher forest carbon stock. In addition to demonstrating the benefits of linking two

Engineering of plants with improved properties as biofuels feedstocks by vessel-specific complementation of xylan biosynthesis mutants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Pia; Lau, Jane; Ebert, Berit

2012-01-01

Background: Cost-efficient generation of second-generation biofuels requires plant biomass that can easily be degraded into sugars and further fermented into fuels. However, lignocellulosic biomass is inherently recalcitrant toward deconstruction technologies due to the abundant lignin and cross......-linked hemicelluloses. Furthermore, lignocellulosic biomass has a high content of pentoses, which are more difficult to ferment into fuels than hexoses. Engineered plants with decreased amounts of xylan in their secondary walls have the potential to render plant biomass a more desirable feedstock for biofuel production...... in the xylem vessels is sufficient to complement the irx phenotype of xylan deficient mutants, while maintaining low overall amounts of xylan and lignin in the cell wall. This engineering approach has the potential to yield bioenergy crop plants that are more easily deconstructed and fermented into biofuels....

Pre-feasibility workbook for bioenergy projects in eastern Ontario : executive summary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rees, C.; Bradley, D.; DeYoe, D.

2007-03-01

This summary provided details of a pre-feasibility workbook designed to assist communities and developers in better understanding bioenergy challenges and opportunities in Ontario. The workbook examined issues related to the conversion of biomass through thermal conversion technologies and focused on combined heat and power projects that used forest and agricultural biomass in order to produce up to 10 MW of electricity under the Ontario Renewable Standard Offer Program. As part of the program, new generators of no more than 10 MW are paid a base rate of 11 cents per kWh and an additional 3.52 cents per kWh for on-peak production. The workbook was comprised of a review of biomass supply in the eastern Ontario region and included both forested and abandoned farm lands. A base-line financial analysis was included to assess the feasibility of projects using combustion, pyrolysis, and gasification technologies. Biomass sources in the region included mill residue, harvest waste, biomass mortality from natural events, stand management, and standing timber. Key elements required for parties interested in considering a bioenergy business initiative were also included

Possibilities and limitations for sustainable bioenergy production systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smeets, Edward Martinus Wilhelmus Utrecht University

2008-05-01

The main objective of this thesis is to investigate the possibilities and limitations of sustainable bioenergy production. To this end, the following research questions have been formulated: (1). What is the potential of different world regions to produce biomass for energy generation in the year 2050, taking account of biological and climatological limitations, the use of biomass to produce food, materials and traditional bioenergy, as well as the need to maintain existing forests and thus protect biodiversity?; (2) What are the main bottlenecks to formulating and implementing sustainability criteria for bioenergy production?; (3) To what extent does complying with sustainability criteria have impacts on the costs and potential of bioenergy production?; (4) To what extent do fertilizer- and manure-induced nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions due to energy crop production have an impact on the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions when conventional transportation fuels are replaced by first-generation biofuels?; (5) In terms of economic and environmental performance, how does Europe's production, storage and transport of miscanthus and switchgrass in 2004 compare to that in 2030? Throughout this thesis, specific attention is paid to knowledge gaps and their potential impact on results, the aim being to identify priorities for future research and development. Another key element of our research is that we evaluate the possibilities and limitations of strategies that are designed to improve the performance of bioenergy production systems and that may be incorporated in bioenergy certification schemes and bioenergy promoting policies

Nonindustrial private forest owners' opinions to and awareness of energy wood market and forest-based bioenergy certification. Results of a case study from Finnish Karelia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Halder, Pradipta; Mei, Qu; Pelkonen, Paavo [Eastern Finland Univ., Joensuu (Finland). School of Forest Sciences; Weckroth, Timo

2012-12-01

Nonindustrial private forest owners (NIPFs) in Finland are important stakeholders of forest management and roundwood supply decisions. Their role will also be significant to supply energy wood to meet Finland's target for renewable energy in the future. The main objectives of this study were to explore the opinions and awareness of the Finnish NIPFs related to the energy wood market and forest-based bioenergy certification issues in Finland and their relevance for future bioenergy policies. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted among NIPFs in Finnish Karelia (N = 79). NIPFs considered price as the main deciding factor in harvesting and selling of energy wood. The present low price of energy wood compared to pulpwood did not motivate them to increase harvesting and selling of energy wood. The NIPFs appeared to be unaware of the forest-based bioenergy certification. However, they expected that such certification schemes would be easy to follow, develop energy wood market, and promote environmentally sound forest management practices in Finland. Private forest owners' associations and personal information letters emerged as the most favored means to disseminate information on forest-based bioenergy certification to the Finnish NIPFs. The study explored the opinions and awareness of the Finnish NIPFs related to energy wood market and forest based bioenergy certification from Finnish Karelia. The conclusions derived from the study might be highly policy-relevant concerning the development of energy wood market and related certification schemes. Future studies should include larger sample size for increasing the representativeness of the findings. (orig.)

Bioenergy research advances and applications

CERN Document Server

Gupta, Vijai G; Kubicek, Christian P; Saddler, Jack; Xu, Feng

2014-01-01

Bioenergy Research: Advances and Applications brings biology and engineering together to address the challenges of future energy needs. The book consolidates the most recent research on current technologies, concepts, and commercial developments in various types of widely used biofuels and integrated biorefineries, across the disciplines of biochemistry, biotechnology, phytology, and microbiology. All the chapters in the book are derived from international scientific experts in their respective research areas. They provide you with clear and concise information on both standard and more recent bioenergy production methods, including hydrolysis and microbial fermentation. Chapters are also designed to facilitate early stage researchers, and enables you to easily grasp the concepts, methodologies and application of bioenergy technologies. Each chapter in the book describes the merits and drawbacks of each technology as well as its usefulness. The book provides information on recent approaches to graduates, post...

Handling uncertainty in bioenergy policy design – A case study analysis of UK and German bioelectricity policy instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Purkus, Alexandra; Röder, Mirjam; Gawel, Erik; Thrän, Daniela; Thornley, Patricia

2015-01-01

In designing policies to promote bioenergy, policy makers face challenges concerning uncertainties about the sustainability of bioenergy pathways (including greenhouse gas balances), technology and resource costs, or future energy market framework conditions. New information becomes available with time, but policy adjustments can involve high levels of adaptation costs. To enable an effective steering of technology choices and innovation, policies have to strike a balance between creating a consistent institutional framework, which establishes planning security for investors, and sufficient flexibility to adapt to new information. This paper examines implications of economic theory for handling cost and benefit uncertainty in bioelectricity policy design, focussing on choices between price and quantity instruments, technology differentiation, and policy adjustment. Findings are applied to two case studies, the UK's Renewables Obligation and the German feed-in tariff/feed-in premium scheme. Case study results show the trade-offs that are involved in instrument choice and design – depending on political priorities and a country's specific context, different options can prove more adequate. Combining market-based remuneration with sustainability criteria results in strong incentives for bioenergy producers to search for low-cost solutions; whereas cost-based price instruments with centrally steered technology and feedstock choices offer higher planning security for investors and more direct control for policy makers over what pathways are implemented. Independent of the choice of instrument type and technology differentiation mechanism, findings emphasise the importance of a careful policy design, which determines the exact balance between performance criteria such as cost control, incentive intensity, planning security and adaptive efficiency. - Highlights: • Bioelectricity policy design must deal with simultaneous cost and benefit uncertainty. �

BioenergyKDF: Enabling Spatiotemporal Data Synthesis and Research Collaboration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Myers, Aaron T [ORNL; Movva, Sunil [ORNL; Karthik, Rajasekar [ORNL; Bhaduri, Budhendra L [ORNL; White, Devin A [ORNL; Thomas, Neil [ORNL; Chase, Adrian S Z [ORNL

2014-01-01

The Bioenergy Knowledge Discovery Framework (BioenergyKDF) is a scalable, web-based collaborative environment for scientists working on bioenergy related research in which the connections between data, literature, and models can be explored and more clearly understood. The fully-operational and deployed system, built on multiple open source libraries and architectures, stores contributions from the community of practice and makes them easy to find, but that is just its base functionality. The BioenergyKDF provides a national spatiotemporal decision support capability that enables data sharing, analysis, modeling, and visualization as well as fosters the development and management of the U.S. bioenergy infrastructure, which is an essential component of the national energy infrastructure. The BioenergyKDF is built on a flexible, customizable platform that can be extended to support the requirements of any user community especially those that work with spatiotemporal data. While there are several community data-sharing software platforms available, some developed and distributed by national governments, none of them have the full suite of capabilities available in BioenergyKDF. For example, this component-based platform and database independent architecture allows it to be quickly deployed to existing infrastructure and to connect to existing data repositories (spatial or otherwise). As new data, analysis, and features are added; the BioenergyKDF will help lead research and support decisions concerning bioenergy into the future, but will also enable the development and growth of additional communities of practice both inside and outside of the Department of Energy. These communities will be able to leverage the substantial investment the agency has made in the KDF platform to quickly stand up systems that are customized to their data and research needs.

The development of bioenergy technology in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, C.Z.; Yin, X.L.; Yuan, Z.H.; Zhou, Z.Q.; Zhuang, X.S. [The Renewable Energy and Gas Hydrate Key Laboratory of CAS, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2 Nengyuan Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510640 (China)

2010-11-15

Among renewable energy resources, bioenergy is one of the fastest growth energy alternatives with tremendous potential in China. The thermal, physical, and biological processes of conversion of biomass yield a number of products and can be obtained as gases, liquids, solid fuels, and electricity as well as a variety of chemicals. Various bioenergy technologies that have been developed are at the fundamental research, demonstration, and commercialization stages. This review concentrates on the processes that are attracting the most attention in China. This paper presents the important roles bioenergy plays in China. Firstly, the application status of bioenergy technologies are introduced, including biogas, fuel ethanol, biodiesel, and power generation at the commercialization stage. Then, the current research progresses are analyzed of ethanol derived from lignocellulose, sweet sorghum and cassava, biodiesel from jatropha, biomass briquetting, synthesized fuels and pyrolysis technologies at the fundamental research and demonstration stages. Finally, it is concluded that the key areas for developing bioenergy for the future are the exploitation of new biomass resources and R and D in biofuels from non-food biomass resources, as well as the development of commercialization methods suitable for developing countries. (author)

Bioenergy. The Impact of Indirect Land Use Change. Summary and Conclusions from the IEA Bioenergy ExCo63 Workshop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, A.; Tustin, J.

2009-09-01

This publication provides the summary and conclusions from the title workshop, held in conjunction with he meeting of the Executive Committee of IEA Bioenergy in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on 12 May 2009. The purpose of the workshop was to inform the Executive Committee on the rapidly evolving international debate on bioenergy and land use - particularly the thorny issue of indirect land use change. The aim was to stimulate discussion between the Executive Committee and invited experts and thereby enhance the new policy-oriented work within IEA Bioenergy.

Ethical and legal challenges in bioenergy governance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gamborg, Christian; Anker, Helle Tegner; Sandøe, Peter

2014-01-01

of regulatory measures and options). We present ethical and legal analyses of the current stalemate on bioenergy governance in the EU using two illustrative cases: liquid biofuels for transport and solid biomass-based bioenergy. The two cases disclose some similarities between these two factors......, but the remaining differences may partly explain, or justify, contrasting forms of governance. While there seems to be no easy way in which the EU and national governments can deal with the multiple sustainability issues raised by bioenergy, it is argued that failure to deal explicitly with the underlying value...... disagreements, or to make apparent the regulatory complexity, clouds the issue of how to move forward with governance of bioenergy. We suggest that governance should be shaped with greater focus on the role of value disagreements and regulatory complexity. There is a need for more openness and transparency...

Sun Grant Initiative Regional Biomass Feedstock Partnership Competitive Grants Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Owens, Vance [South Dakota State Univ., Brookings, SD (United States). North Central Regional Sun Grant Center

2016-12-30

The Sun Grant Initiative partnered with the US Department of Energy (DOE) in 2008 to create the Regional Biomass Feedstock Partnership Competitive Grants Program. The overall goal of this project was to utilize congressionally directed funds to leverage the North Central Regional Sun Grant’s Competitive Grant program at South Dakota State University (SDSU) to address key issues and research gaps related to development of the bioeconomy. Specific objectives of this program were to: 1. Identify research projects through a Regional Competitive Grants program that were relevant to the sustainable production, harvest, transport, delivery, and processing/conversion of cost-competitive, domestically grown biomass. 2. Build local expertise and capacity at the North Central Regional Sun Grant Center at SDSU through an internal selection of key bioenergy research projects. To achieve these, three nationwide Request for Applications (RFA) were developed: one each in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Internal, capacity building projects at SDSU were also selected during each one of these RFAs. In 2013 and 2015, two additional Proof of Concept RFAs were developed for internal SDSU projects. Priority areas for each RFA were 1) Biomass feedstock logistics including biomass harvesting, handling, transportation, storage, and densification; 2) Sustainable biomass feedstock production systems including biomass crop development, production, and life-cycle analysis; 3) Biomass production systems that optimize biomass feedstock yield and economic return across a diverse landscape while minimizing negative effects on the environment and food/feed production; and 4) Promotion of knowledge-based economic development in science and technology and to advance commercialization of inventions that meet the mission of the Sun Grant Initiative. A total of 33 projects were selected for funding through this program. Final reports for each of these diverse projects are included in this summary report

Nonconformity of policy ambitions with biomass potentials in regional bioenergy transition: A Dutch example

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Özcan, Evren; Arentsen, Maarten

2014-01-01

Numerous regional authorities within the European Union are committed to meet renewable energy targets in line with the EU-20-20-20 strategy. Energy from biomass occupies a pivotal position in the renewable energy strategy of many regions. Effective bioenergy policy often depends on an assessment of the regional resource potential for energy from biomass. Using the Dutch province of Overijssel as a case study, this study presents a biomass resource potential assessment, based on existing statistics and a resource-focused methodology, to determine the region's theoretical and technical potential. Additionally, a methodological framework is provided to translate the outcome of this biomass resource potential assessment into the policy domain, to allow the region's bioenergy policy ambition to be evaluated. The results indicate that Overijssel's potential bioenergy target is a share of 8.3%, which does not match with the desired policy target of 14%. It is therefore clear that it is unlikely that the province's bioenergy ambition will be met with the current supply of biomass, in the absence of additional policy measures. The outcome of the biomass resource potential assessment has therefore been used to deduce and recommend multiple policy measures. - Highlights: • Biomass resource potential assessment performed with Dutch province as case study. • Methodology presented to translate technical biomass potential into policy domain. • Nonconformity found between the province's policy ambition and biomass potential. • Five policy measures identified to cope with this nonconformity

Small Landowner Production of Pellets from Green, Beetle-Killed, and Burned Lodgepole Pine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xuexian Qin

2018-03-01

Full Text Available To meet the growing need for raw materials to produce pellets and wood-based biofuels, trees killed by natural disturbances have increasingly been considered as potential feedstock in bioenergy development scenarios in the Western U.S. and Canada. While much research has focused on utilization of beetle-killed and fire-salvaged timber from federal lands in this region, small private landowners make up a large portion of land holdings in the Rocky Mountain Region and may also provide an important potential supply of uniform feedstock pellets in decentralized energy supply systems in the future. In this paper, we evaluated the quality of pellets produced from green, beetle-killed, and burned lodgepole pine with and without bark using a chipper, hammer mill, and pellet mill intended for use by small landowners. Results show that green, beetle-killed, and fire-salvaged lodgepole pine produced by small landowners, including material with bark, are suitable as feedstock for pellet production. Further, pellet quality can be varied through the blending of source lodgepole pine products when needed to meet pellet quality standards.

The potential of freshwater macroalgae as a biofuels feedstock and the influence of nutrient availability on freshwater macroalgal biomass production

Science.gov (United States)

Yun, Jin-Ho

Extensive efforts have been made to evaluate the potential of microalgae as a biofuel feedstock during the past 4-5 decades. However, filamentous freshwater macroalgae have numerous characteristics that favor their potential use as an alternative algal feedstock for biofuels production. Freshwater macroalgae exhibit high rates of areal productivity, and their tendency to form dense floating mats on the water surface imply significant reductions in harvesting and dewater costs compared to microalgae. In Chapter 1, I reviewed the published literature on the elemental composition and energy content of five genera of freshwater macroalgae. This review suggested that freshwater macroalgae compare favorably with traditional bio-based energy sources, including terrestrial residues, wood, and coal. In addition, I performed a semi-continuous culture experiment using the common Chlorophyte genus Oedogonium to investigate whether nutrient availability can influence its higher heating value (HHV), productivity, and proximate analysis. The experimental study suggested that the most nutrient-limited growth conditions resulted in a significant increase in the HHV of the Oedogonium biomass (14.4 MJ/kg to 16.1 MJ/kg). Although there was no significant difference in productivity between the treatments, the average dry weight productivity of Oedogonium (3.37 g/m2/day) was found to be much higher than is achievable with common terrestrial plant crops. Although filamentous freshwater macroalgae, therefore, have significant potential as a renewable source of bioenergy, the ultimate success of freshwater macroalgae as a biofuel feedstock will depend upon the ability to produce biomass at the commercial-scale in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. Aquatic ecology can play an important role to achieve the scale-up of algal crop production by informing the supply rates of nutrients to the cultivation systems, and by helping to create adaptive production systems that are resilient to

Production conditions of bioenergy in Swedish agriculture; Produktionsfoerutsaettningar foer biobraenslen inom svenskt jordbruk

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boerjesson, Paal

2007-05-15

The overall aim of this report is to analyse and describe the production conditions of bioenergy in Swedish agriculture and how these conditions can vary due to different factors. The conclusion is that the potential for producing bioenergy in Swedish agriculture will vary significantly depending on which energy crops are cultivated, which type of agricultural land is utilised and the geographical location of the production. Furthermore, different crop residues and other by-products from agriculture, utilised for energy purposes, will affect the bioenergy potential. To which extent this physical/biological potential will be utilised in the future depends mainly on economic conditions and financial considerations. These aspects are not included in this study. The report starts with a description of current crop production in Sweden, expressed in energy terms, the energy needed for this production and the regional variation in crop yields. The local variations in cultivation conditions are also analysed, as well as variations over the area of a single farm. Another aspect discussed is the production conditions of energy crops on previous farm land not currently utilised. The report includes an analysis of the potential supply of crop residues and other by-products for energy purposes, such as straw, tops and leaves of sugar beets, manure etc, as well as the regional variation of these residues and by-products. A similar analysis is made of the regional production conditions and potential biomass yields of traditional crops and new energy crops. These analyses also include energy balance calculations showing the energy input needed for different production systems in relation to the harvested biomass yield, and the potential for increased biomass yields in the future. Based on the findings of these various analyses, calculations are made showing some examples of how much bioenergy Swedish agriculture can deliver, depending on how much agricultural land is utilised for

Markets for Canadian bitumen-based feedstock

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marshall, R.; Lauerman, V.; Yamaguchi, N.

2001-02-01

This study was undertaken in an effort to determine the market potential for crude bitumen and derivative products from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in 2007. As part of the study, CERI assessed the economic viability of a wide range of bitumen-based feedstock based on their refining values, investigated the sensitivity of refinery demand to the prices of these feedstocks, and examined the competitiveness of bitumen-based feedstocks and conventional crudes. A US$18.00 per barrel price for West Texas Intermediate at Cushing, Oklahoma, was assumed in all calculations, including other crude prices, as well as for Western Canadian and US crude oil production forecasts. Four different scenarios have been considered, but only the 'most plausible' scenario is discussed in the report. Consequently, Hydrocracked/Aromatics Saturated Synthetic Crude Oil, which is currently only a hypothetical product, is excluded from consideration. The availability of historical price differentials for the various competing crudes was another assumption used in developing the scenario. Proxy prices for the bitumen-based feedstock were based on their respective supply costs. The study concludes that the principal dilemma facing bitumen producers in Western Canada is to determine the amount of upgrading necessary to ensure an economic market for their product in the future. In general, the greater the degree of upgrading, the higher is the demand for bitumen-based feedstock. However, it must be kept in mind that the upgrading decisions of other bitumen producers, along with many other factors, will have a decisive impact on the economics of any individual project. The combination of coking capacity and asphalt demand limits the market for heavy and extra-heavy crudes. As a result, the researchers concluded that major expansion of heavy crude conversion capacity may have to wait until the end of the current decade. The economic market for bitumen-based blends in 2007 is estimated at

Life Cycle Energy and CO2 Emission Optimization for Biofuel Supply Chain Planning under Uncertainties

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ren, Jingzheng; An, Da; Liang, Hanwei

2016-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model for the decision-makers/stakeholders to design biofuel supply chain under uncertainties. Life cycle energy and CO2 emission of biofuel supply chain are employed as the objective functions, multiple feedstocks, multiple transportation modes, multiple...... sites for building biofuel plants, multiple technologies for biofuel production, and multiple markets for biofuel distribution are considered, and the amount of feedstocks in agricultural system, transportation capacities, yields of crops, and market demands are considered as uncertainty variables...... in this study. A bi-objective interval mix integer programming model has been developed for biofuel supply chain design under uncertainties, and the bio-objective interval programming method has been developed to solve this model. An illustrative case of a multiple-feedstock-bioethanol system has been studied...

Economic and environmental optimization of a large scale sustainable dual feedstock lignocellulosic-based bioethanol supply chain in a stochastic environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Osmani, Atif; Zhang, Jun

2014-01-01

Highlights: • 2-Stage stochastic MILP model for optimizing the performance of a sustainable lignocellulosic-based biofuel supply chain. • Multiple uncertainties in biomass supply, purchase price of biomass, bioethanol demand, and sale price of bioethanol. • Stochastic parameters significantly impact the allocation of biomass processing capacities of biorefineries. • Location of biorefineries and choice of conversion technology is found to be insensitive to the stochastic environment. • Use of Sample Average Approximation (SAA) algorithm as a decomposition technique. - Abstract: This work proposes a two-stage stochastic optimization model to maximize the expected profit and simultaneously minimize carbon emissions of a dual-feedstock lignocellulosic-based bioethanol supply chain (LBSC) under uncertainties in supply, demand and prices. The model decides the optimal first-stage decisions and the expected values of the second-stage decisions. A case study based on a 4-state Midwestern region in the US demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed stochastic model over a deterministic model under uncertainties. Two regional modes are considered for the geographic scale of the LBSC. Under co-operation mode the 4 states are considered as a combined region while under stand-alone mode each of the 4 states is considered as an individual region. Each state under co-operation mode gives better financial and environmental outcomes when compared to stand-alone mode. Uncertainty has a significant impact on the biomass processing capacity of biorefineries. While the location and the choice of conversion technology for biorefineries i.e. biochemical vs. thermochemical, are insensitive to the stochastic environment. As variability of the stochastic parameters increases, the financial and environmental performance is degraded. Sensitivity analysis shows that levels of tax credit and carbon price have a major impact on the choice of conversion technology for a selected

A global conversation about energy from biomass: the continental conventions of the global sustainable bioenergy project

Science.gov (United States)

Lynd, Lee Rybeck; Aziz, Ramlan Abdul; de Brito Cruz, Carlos Henrique; Chimphango, Annie Fabian Abel; Cortez, Luis Augusto Barbosa; Faaij, Andre; Greene, Nathanael; Keller, Martin; Osseweijer, Patricia; Richard, Tom L.; Sheehan, John; Chugh, Archana; van der Wielen, Luuk; Woods, Jeremy; van Zyl, Willem Heber

2011-01-01

The global sustainable bioenergy (GSB) project was formed in 2009 with the goal of providing guidance with respect to the feasibility and desirability of sustainable, bioenergy-intensive futures. Stage 1 of this project held conventions with a largely common format on each of the world's continents, was completed in 2010, and is described in this paper. Attended by over 400 persons, the five continental conventions featured presentations, breakout sessions, and drafting of resolutions that were unanimously passed by attendees. The resolutions highlight the potential of bioenergy to make a large energy supply contribution while honouring other priorities, acknowledge the breadth and complexity of bioenergy applications as well as the need to take a systemic approach, and attest to substantial intra- and inter-continental diversity with respect to needs, opportunities, constraints and current practice relevant to bioenergy. The following interim recommendations based on stage 1 GSB activities are offered: — Realize that it may be more productive, and also more correct, to view the seemingly divergent assessments of bioenergy as answers to two different questions rather than the same question. Viewed in this light, there is considerably more scope for reconciliation than might first be apparent, and it is possible to be informed rather than paralysed by divergent assessments.— Develop established and advanced bioenergy technologies such that each contributes to the other's success. That is, support and deploy in the near-term meritorious, established technologies in ways that enhance rather than impede deployment of advanced technologies, and support and deploy advanced technologies in ways that expand rather than contract opportunities for early adopters and investors.— Be clear in formulating policies what mix of objectives are being targeted, measure the results of these policies against these objectives and beware of unintended consequences

Optimal policy for mitigating emissions in the European transport sector

Science.gov (United States)

Leduc, Sylvain; Piera, Patrizio; Sennai, Mesfun; Igor, Staritsky; Berien, Elbersen; Tijs, Lammens; Florian, Kraxner

2017-04-01

A geographic explicit techno-economic model, BeWhere (www.iiasa.ac.at/bewhere), has been developed at the European scale (Europe 28, the Balkans countries, Turkey, Moldavia and Ukraine) at a 40km grid size, to assess the potential of bioenergy from non-food feedstock. Based on the minimization of the supply chain from feedstock collection to the final energy product distribution, the model identifies the optimal bioenergy production plants in terms of spatial location, technology and capacity. The feedstock of interests are woody biomass (divided into eight types from conifers and non-conifers) and five different crop residuals. For each type of feedstock, one or multiple technologies can be applied for either heat, electricity or biofuel production. The model is run for different policy tools such as carbon cost, biofuel support, or subsidies, and the optimal mix of technologies and biomass needed is optimized to reach a production cost competitive against the actual reference system which is fossil fuel based. From this approach, the optimal mix of policy tools that can be applied country wide in Europe will be identified. The preliminary results show that high carbon tax and biofuel support contribute to the development of large scale biofuel production based on woody biomass plants mainly located in the northern part of Europe. Finally the highest emission reduction is reached with low biofuel support and high carbon tax evenly distributed in Europe.

Finnish bioenergy research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Malinen, H. [Technical Research Centre of Finland, Jyvaeskylae (Finland)

1993-12-31

Finland is one of the leading countries in the use of biofuels. The share of wood derived fuels of the total primary energy requirement was about 14% (ca. 4 million toe) and peat about 5% (1.4 million toe). The possibilities for increasing the use of biofuels in Finland are significant. There is theoretically about 10 million m{sup 3}/a (about 2 million toe/a) of harvestable wood. Areas suitable for fuel peat production (0.5 million ha) could produce ca. 420 million toe of peat. At present rates of use, the peat reserves are adequate for centuries. During the next few years 0.5--1 million hectares of fields withdrawn from farming could be used for biofuel production. The production potential of this field area is estimated to be about 0.2--0.5 million toe. In addition, the use of wastes in energy production could be increased. The aim of the new Bioenergy Research Programme is to increase the use of economically profitable and environmentally sound bioenergy by improving the competitiveness of present peat and wood fuels. New economically competitive biofuels, new equipment and methods for production, handling and use of biofuels will also be developed. The main research areas are production of wood fuels, peat production, use of bioenergy and conversion of biomass.

Genetic Modification of Short Rotation Poplar Biomass Feedstock for Efficient Conversion to Ethanol

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dinus, R.J.

2000-08-30

The Bioenergy Feedstock Development Program, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is developing poplars (Populus species and hybrids) as sources of renewable energy, i.e., ethanol. Notable increases in adaptability, volume productivity, and pest/stress resistance have been achieved via classical selection and breeding and intensified cultural practices. Significant advances have also been made in the efficiencies of harvesting and handling systems. Given these and anticipated accomplishments, program leaders are considering shifting some attention to genetically modifying feedstock physical and chemical properties, so as to improve the efficiency with which feedstocks can be converted to ethanol. This report provides an in-depth review and synthesis of opportunities for and feasibilities of genetically modifying feedstock qualities via classical selection and breeding, marker-aided selection and breeding, and genetic transformation. Information was collected by analysis of the literature, with emphasis on that published since 1995, and interviews with prominent scientists, breeders, and growers. Poplar research is well advanced, and literature is abundant. The report therefore primarily reflects advances in poplars, but data from other species, particularly other shortrotation hardwoods, are incorporated to fill gaps. An executive summary and recommendations for research, development, and technology transfer are provided immediately after the table of contents. The first major section of the report describes processes most likely to be used for conversion of poplar biomass to ethanol, the various physical and chemical properties of poplar feedstocks, and how such properties are expected to affect process efficiency. The need is stressed for improved understanding of the impact of change on both overall process and individual process step efficiencies. The second part documents advances in trait measurement instrumentation and methodology

Governance of the emerging bio-energy markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verdonk, M.; Dieperink, C.; Faaij, A.P.C.

2007-01-01

Despite its promising prospects, a growing global bio-energy market may have sustainability risks as well. Governing this market with respect to installing safeguards to ensure sustainable biomass production might reduce these risks. Therefore, proposals for governance systems for bio-energy are discussed in this article. The proposals are based on comparative case study research on the governance of comparable commodities. By assessing the governance system of global coffee trade, fair trade coffee, the global and the EU sugar market and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) wood, strong and weak points of governance systems for commodities are discerned. FSC is selected as the best performing case study and serves as the proposal's basis. FSC's weaknesses are minimized by, among others, using the lessons learned from the other case studies. This results in a system consisting of two pillars, a bio-energy labelling organization (BLO) and a United Nations Agreement on Bio-energy (UNAB). Although consulted experts in the research process are critical about this system they do suggest several conditions a governance system for bio-energy should meet in order to be effective, such as a facilitative government, professional monitoring and using progressive certification combined with price premiums. These conditions have been taken into account in the final proposal. (author)

Governance of the emerging bio-energy markets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Verdonk, M. [Department of Water and Energy, Grontmij Nederland BV, P.O. Box 203, 3730 AE, De Bilt (Netherlands); Dieperink, C. [Department of Innovation and Environmental Studies, Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development and Innovation, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.115, 3508 TC, Utrecht (Netherlands); Faaij, A.P.C. [Department of Science, Technology and Society, Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development and Innovation, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.115, 3508 TC, Utrecht (Netherlands)

2007-07-15

Despite its promising prospects, a growing global bio-energy market may have sustainability risks as well. Governing this market with respect to installing safeguards to ensure sustainable biomass production might reduce these risks. Therefore, proposals for governance systems for bio-energy are discussed in this article. The proposals are based on comparative case study research on the governance of comparable commodities. By assessing the governance system of global coffee trade, fair trade coffee, the global and the EU sugar market and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) wood, strong and weak points of governance systems for commodities are discerned. FSC is selected as the best performing case study and serves as the proposal's basis. FSC's weaknesses are minimized by, among others, using the lessons learned from the other case studies. This results in a system consisting of two pillars, a bio-energy labelling organization (BLO) and a United Nations Agreement on Bio-energy (UNAB). Although consulted experts in the research process are critical about this system they do suggest several conditions a governance system for bio-energy should meet in order to be effective, such as a facilitative government, professional monitoring and using progressive certification combined with price premiums. These conditions have been taken into account in the final proposal. (author)

Optimization of the green gas supply chain. Identification of critical choices in designing an efficient (from an energetic and economic perspective) green gas supply chain.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Grond, Lukas

2010-01-01

Summary Global climate change and the need for security of energy supply drive the development of bio-energy production and utilization. Green gas is defined as bio-based gas that has been upgraded to natural gas quality. Amongst other energy carriers, g

Single and multiple objective biomass-to-biofuel supply chain optimization considering environmental impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Valles Sosa, Claudia Evangelina

Bioenergy has become an important alternative source of energy to alleviate the reliance on petroleum energy. Bioenergy offers diminishing climate change by reducing Green House Gas Emissions, as well as providing energy security and enhancing rural development. The Energy Independence and Security Act mandate the use of 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels including 16 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuels by the year 2022. It is clear that Biomass can make a substantial contribution to supply future energy demand in a sustainable way. However, the supply of sustainable energy is one of the main challenges that mankind will face over the coming decades. For instance, many logistical challenges will be faced in order to provide an efficient and reliable supply of quality feedstock to biorefineries. 700 million tons of biomass will be required to be sustainably delivered to biorefineries annually to meet the projected use of biofuels by the year of 2022. Approaching this complex logistic problem as a multi-commodity network flow structure, the present work proposes the use of a genetic algorithm as a single objective optimization problem that considers the maximization of profit and the present work also proposes the use of a Multiple Objective Evolutionary Algorithm to simultaneously maximize profit while minimizing global warming potential. Most transportation optimization problems available in the literature have mostly considered the maximization of profit or the minimization of total travel time as potential objectives to be optimized. However, on this research work, we take a more conscious and sustainable approach for this logistic problem. Planners are increasingly expected to adopt a multi-disciplinary approach, especially due to the rising importance of environmental stewardship. The role of a transportation planner and designer is shifting from simple economic analysis to promoting sustainability through the integration of environmental objectives. To

The commercial performance of cellulosic ethanol supply-chains in Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shah Nilay

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The production of fuel-grade ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass resources has the potential to increase biofuel production capacity whilst minimising the negative environmental impacts. These benefits will only be realised if lignocellulosic ethanol production can compete on price with conventional fossil fuels and if it can be produced commercially at scale. This paper focuses on lignocellulosic ethanol production in Europe. The hypothesis is that the eventual cost of production will be determined not only by the performance of the conversion process but by the performance of the entire supply-chain from feedstock production to consumption. To test this, a model for supply-chain cost comparison is developed, the components of representative ethanol supply-chains are described, the factors that are most important in determining the cost and profitability of ethanol production are identified, and a detailed sensitivity analysis is conducted. Results The most important cost determinants are the cost of feedstocks, primarily determined by location and existing markets, and the value obtained for ethanol, primarily determined by the oil price and policy incentives. Both of these factors are highly uncertain. The best performing chains (ethanol produced from softwood and sold as a low percentage blend with gasoline could ultimately be cost competitive with gasoline without requiring subsidy, but production from straw would generally be less competitive. Conclusion Supply-chain design will play a critical role in determining commercial viability. The importance of feedstock supply highlights the need for location-specific assessments of feedstock availability and price. Similarly, the role of subsidies and policy incentives in creating and sustaining the ethanol market highlights the importance of political engagement and the need to include political risks in investment appraisal. For the supply-chains described here, and with

Bioenergy, its present and future competitiveness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ling, Erik

1999-01-01

The thesis deals with aspects of the competitiveness of bioenergy. The central aim is to develop a number of concepts that enables an extended analysis. The thesis is composed of four studies. In study 1 and 2 the emphasis is put on two institutional frameworks within the forest company, i.e. the framework around the forest fuel operations and the framework around the industrial timber operations. Depending on which of the two institutional frameworks that makes up the basis for the understanding of forest fuel operations, the forest fuel operations will be given different roles and different priorities. Different goals and the process of integrating the forest fuel operations into the forest company will therefore be carried out with different means, different feelings and different resources. Study 3 examines the conceptions that the actors of the energy system uphold. The study presents the concept of logic, which is an institutionalised conception of the competitiveness of bioenergy. Logics can be seen as the dominating conceptions within the energy system and are decisive in determining the factors and parameters that state the competitiveness of different forms of energy. Study 4 argues that the strategical work concerning the competitiveness of bioenergy in the long-run to a great extent is about understanding, shaping and utilising the conceptions that affect the bioenergy system. The study problematises strategies that are used to develop bioenergy by introducing the uncertainty of the future into the analysis. The uncertainty of the future is captured in different scenarios

Example of feedstock optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boustros, E.

1991-01-01

An example of feedstock optimization at an olefins plant which has the flexibility to process different kinds of raw materials while maintaining the same product slate, is presented. Product demand and prices, and the number of units in service as well as the required resources to operate these units are considered to be fixed. The plant profitability is a function of feedstock choice, plus constant costs which are the non-volume related costs. The objective is to find a set or combination of feedstocks that could match the client product demands and fall within the unit's design and capacity, while maximizing the financial operating results

Bioenergy in Greece: Policies, diffusion framework and stakeholder interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Panoutsou, Calliope

2008-01-01

The paper provides a high-level scene setting analysis to understand the policy context in which the diffusion of bioenergy takes place in Greece and analysis of the perceptions of the key stakeholders at local and national levels. It is divided into six sections. Firstly the framework conditions for biomass heat and electricity generation in Greece are presented. In the second section, the policy context is set in order to identify the key support mechanisms for bioenergy in the country. The third section presents an outline of the diffusion of bioenergy in terms of key groups involved as well as key factors affecting the planning and implementation of a bioenergy scheme at local/regional and national levels. The fourth section reviews the perception of key stakeholders towards bioenergy/biofuels schemes at national level based on national networks. The fifth section focuses on a case study region (Rodopi, northern Greece) and provides an in-depth analysis for the perception of the main local actors (farmers and end users) based on structured questionnaire interviews. The final section provides the main conclusions from the surveys and draws a set of recommendations for the integration of bioenergy schemes into the Greek energy system

IEA Bioenergy Task 42 - Countries report. IEA Bioenergy Task 42 on biorefineries: Co-production of fuels, chemicals, power and materials from biomass. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cherubini, F.; Jungmeier, G.; Mandl, M. (Joanneum Research, Graz (Austria)) (and others)

2010-07-01

This report has been developed by the members of IEA Bioenergy Task 42 on Biorefinery: Co-production of Fuels, Chemicals, Power and Materials from Biomass (www.biorefinery.nl/ieabioenergy-task42). IEA Bioenergy is a collaborative network under the auspices of the International Energy Agency (IEA) to improve international cooperation and information exchange between national bioenergy RD and D programs. IEA Bioenergy Task 42 on Biorefinery covers a new and very broad biomass-related field, with a very large application potential, and deals with a variety of market sectors with many interested stakeholders, a large number of biomass conversion technologies, and integrated concepts of both biochemical and thermochemical processes. This report contains an overview of the biomass, bioenergy and biorefinery situation, and activities, in the Task 42 member countries: Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands. The overview includes: national bioenergy production, non-energetic biomass use, bioenergy related policy goals, national oil refineries, biofuels capacity for transport purposes, existing biorefinery industries, pilot and demo plants, and other activities of research and development (such as main national projects and stakeholders). Data are provided by National Task Leaders (NTLs), whose contact details are listed at the end of the report. (author)

Novel storage technologies for raw and clarified syrup biomass feedstocks from sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench)

Science.gov (United States)

Attention is currently focused on developing sustainable supply chains of sugar feedstocks for new, flexible biorefineries. Fundamental processing needs identified by industry for the large-scale manufacture of biofuels and bioproducts from sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) include stabiliz...

Biodiesel production with microalgae as feedstock: from strains to biodiesel.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Yangmin; Jiang, Mulan

2011-07-01

Due to negative environmental influence and limited availability, petroleum-derived fuels need to be replaced by renewable biofuels. Biodiesel has attracted intensive attention as an important biofuel. Microalgae have numerous advantages for biodiesel production over many terrestrial plants. There are a series of consecutive processes for biodiesel production with microalgae as feedstock, including selection of adequate microalgal strains, mass culture, cell harvesting, oil extraction and transesterification. To reduce the overall production cost, technology development and process optimization are necessary. Genetic engineering also plays an important role in manipulating lipid biosynthesis in microalgae. Many approaches, such as sequestering carbon dioxide from industrial plants for the carbon source, using wastewater for the nutrient supply, and maximizing the values of by-products, have shown a potential for cost reduction. This review provides a brief overview of the process of biodiesel production with microalgae as feedstock. The methods associated with this process (e.g. lipid determination, mass culture, oil extraction) are also compared and discussed.

Bioenergy and biodiversity: Key lessons from the Pan American region

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kline, Keith L. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Martinelli, Fernanda Silva [UFRRJ/Conservation International Brazil, Seropedica (Brazil); Mayer, Audrey L. [Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States); Medeiros, Rodrigo [Federal Rural Univ. of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Oliveira, Camila Ortolan F. [Univ. of Campinas, Campinas (Brazil); Sparovek, Gerd [Univ. of Sao Paulo, Piracicaba (Brazil); Walter, Arnaldo [Univ. of Campinas, Campinas (Brazil); Venier, Lisa A. [Canadian Forest Service, Sault Ste. Marie (Canada). Great Lakes Forestry Centre

2015-06-24

Understanding how large-scale bioenergy production can affect biodiversity and ecosystems is important if society is to meet current and future sustainable development goals. A variety of bioenergy production systems have been established within different contexts throughout the Pan American region, with wide-ranging results in terms of documented and projected effects on biodiversity and ecosystems. The Pan American region is home to the majority of commercial bioenergy production and therefore the region offers a broad set of experiences and insights on both conflicts and opportunities for biodiversity and bioenergy. This paper synthesizes lessons learned focusing on experiences in Canada, the United States, and Brazil, regarding the conflicts that can arise between bioenergy production and ecological conservation, and benefits that can be derived when bioenergy policies promote planning and more sustainable land management systems. Lastly, we propose a research agenda to address priority information gaps that are relevant to biodiversity concerns and related policy challenges in the Pan American region.

Bioenergy and Biodiversity: Key Lessons from the Pan American Region

Science.gov (United States)

Kline, Keith L.; Martinelli, Fernanda Silva; Mayer, Audrey L.; Medeiros, Rodrigo; Oliveira, Camila Ortolan F.; Sparovek, Gerd; Walter, Arnaldo; Venier, Lisa A.

2015-12-01

Understanding how large-scale bioenergy production can affect biodiversity and ecosystems is important if society is to meet current and future sustainable development goals. A variety of bioenergy production systems have been established within different contexts throughout the Pan American region, with wide-ranging results in terms of documented and projected effects on biodiversity and ecosystems. The Pan American region is home to the majority of commercial bioenergy production and therefore the region offers a broad set of experiences and insights on both conflicts and opportunities for biodiversity and bioenergy. This paper synthesizes lessons learned focusing on experiences in Canada, the United States, and Brazil regarding the conflicts that can arise between bioenergy production and ecological conservation, and benefits that can be derived when bioenergy policies promote planning and more sustainable land-management systems. We propose a research agenda to address priority information gaps that are relevant to biodiversity concerns and related policy challenges in the Pan American region.

Shorea robusta: A sustainable biomass feedstock

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vishal Kumar Singh

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The biomass feedstock needs to be available in a manner that is sustainable as well as renewable. However, obtaining reliable and cost effective supplies of biomass feedstock produced in a sustainable manner can prove to be difficult. Traditional biomass, mainly in the form of fallen leaves, fuel wood or dried dung, has long been the renewable and sustainable energy source for cooking and heating. Present study accounts for the biomass of fallen leaves of Shorea robusta, also known as sal, sakhua or shala tree, in the campus of BIT Mesra (Ranchi. These leaves are being gathered and burnt rather than being sold commercially. They contain water to varying degrees which affects their energy content. Hence, measurement of moisture content is critical for its biomass assessment. The leaves were collected, weighed, oven dried at 100oC until constant weight, then dry sample was reweighed to calculate the moisture content that has been driven off. By subtraction of moisture content from the initial weight of leaves, biomass was calculated. Using Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC the heat content of the leaves was calculated and the elemental analysis of leaf was done by CHNSO elemental analyser. Further, total biomass and carbon content of Sal tree was calculated using allometric equations so as to make a comparison to the biomass stored in dried fallen leaves

Developing a sustainability framework for assessing bioenergy projects

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Harrison, JA

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Focusing on the situation relating to bioenergy in India, this paper provides analyses of the currently available methodologies for assessing the varied impacts, both positive and negative, of bioenergy production. This contextual information...

Rostock bioenergy forum. Future technologies for bioenergy. Proceedings; 4. Rostocker Bioenergieforum. Zukunftstechnologien fuer Bioenergie. Tagungsband

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-07-01

Within the 4th Rostock bioenergy forum 'future technologies for bioenergy' at 27th and 28th October, 2010, in Rostock (Federal Republic of Germany) the following lectures were held: (1) Sustainable supply of biomass from the agriculture (Christian Gienapp); (2) Biogas plants in conflict of different legal regulation systems (Michael Kern); (3) Logistics of biomass - Do you know the real costs? (Nadine Doden); (4) Potentials of wooden biomass from the landscape conservation using the Lower Saale valley (Sachsen-Anhalt) as an example (Karen Runge); (5) Value creation with energy wood in rural area - Results of a potential study (Marco Hahs); (6) Soil ecological evaluation of short rotational plantations on farmland (Christel Baum); (7) Development of moulds and dry weight losses in bulk wood chips (Christine Idler); (8) Logistics of pellets during the harvest of short-term rotation areas with a field chopper (Franz Handler); (9) Concepts of combustion of biomass within the scope of the BMU funding program 'Energetic utilization of biomass' (Diana Pfeiffer); (10) Thermoelectric transformer for biogenic heat (Karl-Ernst Schnorr); (11) Emissions of benzene in the combustion f gases from wood in cogeneration plants (Christian Hirschmeier); (12) Utilization of additives in the combustion of miscanthus pellets in a small-scale furnace < 100 kW{sub N}WL (Thomas Zeng); (13) Practical experiences with dust separators for small-scale furnaces (Peter Turowski); (14) Analysis for gaining the minimum goal of 10 % renewable energy in traffic sector (Karin Naumann); (15) New diesel components from glycerine (E. Paetzold); (16) Challenges and possibilities in the utilization of biofuels in customary auxiliary heatings (Hajo Hoffmann); (17) Demands on biofuels for the use in combustion engines (Volker Wichmann); (18) Alternative fuel dimethyl ether (Martin Werner); (19) Long-term investigation of the stability of rapeseed fuel and field study of modern Common Rail

Managing Bioenergy Production on Arable Field Margins for Multiple Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrarini, Andrea; Serra, Paolo; Amaducci, Stefano; Trevisan, Marco; Puglisi, Edoardo

2013-04-01

Growing crops for bioenergy is increasingly viewed as conflicting with food production. However, energy use continues to rise and food production requires fuel inputs, which have increased with intensification. The debate should shift from "food or fuel" to the more challenging target: how the increasing demand for food and energy can be met in the future, particularly when water and land availability will be limited. As for food crops, also for bioenergy crops it is questioned whether it is preferable to manage cultivation to enhance ecosystem services ("land sharing" strategy) or to grow crops with lower ecosystem services but higher yield, thereby requiring less land to meet bioenergy demand ("land sparing" strategy). Energy crop production systems differ greatly in the supply of ecosystem services. The use of perennial biomass (e.g. Switchgrass, Mischantus, Giant reed) for energy production is considered a promising way to reduce net carbon emissions and mitigate climate change. In addition, regulating and supporting ecosystem services could be provided when specific management of bioenergy crops is implemented. The idea of HEDGE-BIOMASS* project is to convert the arable field margins to bioenergy crop production fostering a win-win strategy at landscape level. Main objective of the project is to improve land management to generate environmental benefits and increase farmer income. The various options available in literature for an improved field boundary management are presented. The positive/unknown/negative effects of growing perennial bioenergy crops on field margins will be discussed relatively to the following soil-related ecosystem services: (I) biodiversity conservation and enhancement, (II) soil nutrient cycling, (III) climate regulation (reduction of GHG emissions and soil carbon sequestration/stabilization, (IV) water regulation (filtering and buffering), (V) erosion regulation, (VI) pollination and pest regulation. From the analysis of available

Propane supply picture: North American perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horner, N.

1992-01-01

An overview is presented of the North American propane supply and demand situation. Propane has a distribution network in place and a well established market. North America is virtually self-sufficient in propane with a market of over 1,000,000 bbl/d. Approximately 80% of Canada's propane supply is produced at gas plants in western Canada as a byproduct of natural gas production. The expansion in natural gas markets will mean that propane supply will rise further, unlike crude oil. Canada's daily supply of nearly 160,000 bbl is used for heating (30%), transport (12%), petrochemicals (7.8%), and enhanced oil recovery (4.7%), with the remainder being exported. Propane surpluses are expected to grow, between 70,000 and 100,000 bbl/d in the next 5 years. Nearly 30% of North America's demand for propane is in the petrochemical industry, for which various other feedstocks can be substituted. An availability of over 400,000 bbl/d could fuel ca 5 million vehicles. Only natural gas has a comparable infrastructure and this suffers from high utilization pressure and poor energy density. Wholesale propane is now available at under 9 cents/liter, significantly below the projected ethanol price of 18 cents/liter, which excludes grain feedstock or capital cost. 8 refs., 6 figs

Comparing centralized and decentralized bio-energy systems in rural China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He, Guizhen; Bluemling, Bettina; Mol, Arthur P.J.; Zhang, Lei; Lu, Yonglong

2013-01-01

Under the dual pressures of an energy crisis and rising greenhouse gas emissions, biomass energy development and utilisation has become part of the national energy strategy in China. The last decade has witnessed a strong promotion of both centralised and decentralised bio-energy systems in rural China. The government seems to have a strong preference for centralised (village-based) bio-energy systems in recent years. However, these government-driven systems have not worked without difficulties, particularly regarding economic and technological viability and maintenance. Studies on the advantages and disadvantages of decentralised and centralised bio-energy systems are rare. This study aims to shed light on the performances of these two systems in terms of social, economic and environmental effects. Through interviewing local officials and village leaders and surveying farmers in 12 villages in Shandong Province, it was found that bio-energy systems should be selected based on the local circumstances. The diversity of the local natural, economic and social situations determines the size, place, technology and organisational model of the bio-energy system. - Highlights: • Biomass energy development has become part of the national energy strategy in China. • The dis-/advantages of decentralized and centralized bio-energy systems are evaluated. • Bio-energy systems should be selected based on the local circumstances

Large-scale bioenergy production: how to resolve sustainability trade-offs?

Science.gov (United States)

Humpenöder, Florian; Popp, Alexander; Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon; Weindl, Isabelle; Biewald, Anne; Lotze-Campen, Hermann; Dietrich, Jan Philipp; Klein, David; Kreidenweis, Ulrich; Müller, Christoph; Rolinski, Susanne; Stevanovic, Miodrag

2018-02-01

Large-scale 2nd generation bioenergy deployment is a key element of 1.5 °C and 2 °C transformation pathways. However, large-scale bioenergy production might have negative sustainability implications and thus may conflict with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) agenda. Here, we carry out a multi-criteria sustainability assessment of large-scale bioenergy crop production throughout the 21st century (300 EJ in 2100) using a global land-use model. Our analysis indicates that large-scale bioenergy production without complementary measures results in negative effects on the following sustainability indicators: deforestation, CO2 emissions from land-use change, nitrogen losses, unsustainable water withdrawals and food prices. One of our main findings is that single-sector environmental protection measures next to large-scale bioenergy production are prone to involve trade-offs among these sustainability indicators—at least in the absence of more efficient land or water resource use. For instance, if bioenergy production is accompanied by forest protection, deforestation and associated emissions (SDGs 13 and 15) decline substantially whereas food prices (SDG 2) increase. However, our study also shows that this trade-off strongly depends on the development of future food demand. In contrast to environmental protection measures, we find that agricultural intensification lowers some side-effects of bioenergy production substantially (SDGs 13 and 15) without generating new trade-offs—at least among the sustainability indicators considered here. Moreover, our results indicate that a combination of forest and water protection schemes, improved fertilization efficiency, and agricultural intensification would reduce the side-effects of bioenergy production most comprehensively. However, although our study includes more sustainability indicators than previous studies on bioenergy side-effects, our study represents only a small subset of all indicators relevant for the