Lessons from first generation biofuels and implications for the sustainability appraisal of second generation biofuels
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an overview of key 1G sustainability challenges, assess their relevance for 2G, and highlight the challenges for policy in managing the transition, and address limitations of existing sustainability assessments by exploring where challenges might emerge across the whole system of bioenergy research and policy.
About: This article is published in Energy Policy.The article was published on 2013-12-01 and is currently open access. It has received 348 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Sustainability appraisal & Sustainability.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a review of the progress in gasification techniques and key generation pathways for biofuel production, process design and integration and socio-environmental impacts of biofuel generation are discussed, with the goal of investigating gasification-to-biofuels credentials as a sustainable and eco-friendly technology.
478 citations
TL;DR: It may take more time for the lignocellulosic biofuels to hit the market place than previously projected because of the challenges listed and lack of government policies to create the demand for biofuel.
Abstract: Biofuels that are produced from biobased materials are a good alternative to petroleum based fuels. They offer several benefits to society and the environment. Producing second generation biofuels is even more challenging than producing first generation biofuels due the complexity of the biomass and issues related to producing, harvesting, and transporting less dense biomass to centralized biorefineries. In addition to this logistic challenge, other challenges with respect to processing steps in converting biomass to liquid transportation fuel like pretreatment, hydrolysis, microbial fermentation, and fuel separation still exist and are discussed in this review. The possible coproducts that could be produced in the biorefinery and their importance to reduce the processing cost of biofuel are discussed. About $1 billion was spent in the year 2012 by the government agencies in US to meet the mandate to replace 30% existing liquid transportation fuels by 2022 which is 36 billion gallons/year. Other countries in the world have set their own targets to replace petroleum fuel by biofuels. Because of the challenges listed in this review and lack of government policies to create the demand for biofuels, it may take more time for the lignocellulosic biofuels to hit the market place than previously projected.
409 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the potential and prospects of the third generation bioethanol feedstock are highlighted in a review, and an insight into the current hydrolysis and fermentation technologies on algal conversion together with the economics and viability of the process are also accounted.
Abstract: The current issues of the depletion of fossil fuels reserve and environmental changes have increased the concern for the hunt of sustainable renewable energy for the future generations. Biofuels emerged as a promising viable alternative to replace the existing fossil fuels. Among these, bioethanol outstands due to its ability to substitute gasoline. However, the major challenge in bioethanol industry is the need to discover a suitable feedstock together with an environmentally friendly approach and an economically feasible process of production. The first generation and second generation bioethanol appeared unsustainable due to its impact on food security as well as inflated production process. These problems and concerns have directed the search for the third generation bioethanol (TGB) feedstock from marine algae. The integration of algae (microalgae and macroalgae) as a sustainable feedstock for bioethanol has gained worldwide attention in terms of food security and environmental impact. The research on algal utilization in bioethanol has increased in recent years and is expected to become the major drives in bioethanol industry. Therefore, the potential and prospects of the third generation bioethanol feedstock are being highlighted in this review. An insight into the current hydrolysis and fermentation technologies on algal conversion together with the economics and viability of the process are also accounted. This review can be crucial in providing ideas for the future studies that can be implemented in the commercialization of bioethanol from the third generation feedstock.
228 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a critical update on the possible future directions of this sector, with an emphasis on its role in the future European bioeconomy, against a background of global developments.
Abstract: The EU aims to achieve a variety of ambitious climate change mitigation and sustainable development goals by 2030. To deliver on this aim, the European Commission (EC) launched the bioeconomy strategy in 2012. At the heart of this policy is the concept of the sustainable Biorefinery, which is based centrally on a cost-effective conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into bioenergy and bioproducts. The first generation of biorefineries was based on utilization of edible food crops, which raised a “food vs. fuel” debate and questionable sustainability issues. To overcome this, lignocellulosic feedstock options currently being pursued range from non-food crops to agroforestry residues and wastes. Notwithstanding this, advanced biorefining is still an emerging sector, with unanswered questions relating to the choice of feedstocks, cost-effective lignocellulosic pretreatment, and identification of viable end products that will lead to sustainable development of this industry. Therefore, this review aims to provide a critical update on the possible future directions of this sector, with an emphasis on its role in the future European bioeconomy, against a background of global developments.
194 citations
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...soybean, oil palm, rapeseed, and sunflower) 162 [16]....
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TL;DR: The growth of ethanol production for 2020 seems to be secured with a number of 2G plants, but public/private investments are still necessary to enable 2G technology to move on ahead from its very early stages to a more mature consolidated technology.
Abstract: The production of liquid biofuels to blend with gasoline is of worldwide importance to secure the energy supply while reducing the use of fossil fuels, supporting the development of rural technology with knowledge-based jobs and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Today, engineering for plant construction is accessible and new processes using agricultural residues and municipal solid wastes have reached a good degree of maturity and high conversion yields (almost 90% of polysaccharides are converted into monosaccharides ready for fermentation). For the complete success of the 2G technology, it is still necessary to overcome a number of limitations that prevent a first-of-a-kind plant from operating at nominal capacity. We also claim that the triumph of 2G technology requires the development of favourable logistics to guarantee biomass supply and make all actors (farmers, investors, industrial entrepreneurs, government, others) aware that success relies on agreement advances. The growth of ethanol production for 2020 seems to be secured with a number of 2G plants, but public/private investments are still necessary to enable 2G technology to move on ahead from its very early stages to a more mature consolidated technology.
189 citations
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01 Jan 2001
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed the literature on qualitative and quantitative research in social research and discussed the nature and process of social research, the nature of qualitative research, and the role of focus groups in qualitative research.
Abstract: PART ONE ; 1. The nature and process of social research ; 2. Social research strategies: quantitative research and qualitative research ; 3. Research designs ; 4. Planning a research project and formulating research questions ; Getting started: reviewing the literature ; 6. Ethics and politics in social research ; PART TWO ; 7. The nature of quantitative research ; 8. Sampling in quantitative research ; 9. Structured interviewing ; 10. Self-administered questionnaires ; 11. Asking questions ; 12. Structured observation ; 13. Content analysis ; 14. Using existing data ; 15. Quantitative data analysis ; 16. Using IBM SPSS for Windows ; PART THREE ; 17. The nature of qualitative research ; 18. Sampling in qualitative research ; 19. Ethnography and participant observation ; 20. Interviewing in qualitative research ; 21. Focus groups ; 22. Language in qualitative research ; 23. Documents as sources of data ; 24. Qualitative data analysis ; 25. Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis: using NVivo ; PART FOUR ; 26. Breaking down the quantitative/qualitative divide ; 27. Mixed methods research: combining quantitative and qualitative research ; 28. Writing up social research
17,352 citations
TL;DR: Converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food crop–based biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a “biofuel carbon debt” by releasing 17 to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas reductions that these biofuel reductions would provide by displacing fossil fuels.
Abstract: Increasing energy use, climate change, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels make switching to lowcarbon fuels a high priority. Biofuels are a potential lowcarbon energy source, but whether biofuels offer carbon savings depends on how they are produced. Converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food-based biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a ‘biofuel carbon debt’ by releasing 17 to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions these biofuels provide by displacing fossil fuels. In contrast, biofuels made from waste biomass or from biomass grown on abandoned agricultural lands planted with perennials incur little or no carbon debt and offer immediate and sustained GHG advantages. Demand for alternatives to petroleum is increasing the production of biofuels from food crops such as corn, sugarcane, soybeans and palms. As a result, land in
3,856 citations
TL;DR: The biochemical route, being less mature, probably has a greater cost reduction potential than the thermo-chemical route, but here a wider range of synthetic fuels can be produced to better suit heavy truck, aviation and marine applications.
1,379 citations
"Lessons from first generation biofu..." refers background in this paper
...To avoid land conflicts with food crops, marginal and degraded land could in theory be used for dedicated energy crops to be converted into 2G biofuels, however maintaining high yields over time is dependent upon continuous access to adequate water resources (Sims et al., 2010)....
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...(Sims et al., 2010) or land formerly under the EU...
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...Thus Stirling (2003) argues for the need to examine the assumptions made and boundaries drawn in quantitative environmental assessments....
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TL;DR: The present study found that SPORL is the most efficient process and produced highest sugar yield, and a post-chemical pretreatment size-reduction approach is proposed to significantly reduce mechanical energy consumption.
771 citations
"Lessons from first generation biofu..." refers background in this paper
...The processing of co-products such as wheat straw also poses significant sustainability challenges in that considerable energy is required to overcome the recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass through pre-treatment for enzymatic saccharification (Zhu and Pan, 2009)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, an economic partial equilibrium model of the global forest, agriculture, and biomass sectors with a bottom-up representation of agricultural and forestry management practices was used to analyze the indirect land use change (iLUC) of expanding agricultural areas dedicated to biofuel production.
755 citations