Total costs and benefits of biomass in selected regions of the European Union

Biofuels represent an attractive substitute for classical, fossil fuels with some important advantages such as renewable sources and environmental friendliness. However, the physicochemical characteristics of biofuels are different from fossil fuels, therefore new technologies have to be developed. One of the most prospective fields for the use of biofuels is Combined Heat and Power (CHP) production, where new industrial gas turbines provide the needed new technologies. To justify the development of these new technologies and to assess the effects of use of different liquid and gaseous biofuels in CHP production, we have performed a preliminary socio-economic analysis. In this analysis we included liquid biofuels available in EU (rape-seed oil, biodiesel, flash pyrolysis oil) and processes such as gasification from wood, waste methanization and slow pyrolysis for gaseous biofuels. The analysis covers the whole production chain starting from crop production, oil extraction, and biodiesel production to CHP production using various liquid and gaseous biofuels. The most important, preliminary qualitative and quantitative results of the performed socio-economic analysis have been presented.

Environmental Science & Technology, 2012

The optimal use of forest energy wood, industrial wood residues, waste wood, agricultural residues, animal manure, biowaste, and sewage sludge in 2010 and 2030 was assessed for Europe. An energy system model was developed comprising 13 principal fossil technologies for the production of heat, electricity, and transport and 173 bioenergy conversion routes. The net environmental benefits of substituting fossil energy with bioenergy were calculated for all approximately 1500 combinations based on life cycle assessment (LCA) results. An optimization model determines the best use of biomass for different environmental indicators within the quantified EU-27 context of biomass availability and fossil energy utilization. Key factors determining the optimal use of biomass are the conversion efficiencies of bioenergy technologies and the kind and quantity of fossil energy technologies that can be substituted. Provided that heat can be used efficiently, optimizations for different environmental indicators almost always indicate that woody biomass is best used for combined heat and power generation, if coal, oil, or fuel oil based technologies can be substituted. The benefits of its conversion to SNG or ethanol are significantly lower. For non-woody biomass electricity generation, transportation, and heating yield almost comparable benefits as long as high conversion efficiencies and optimal substitutions are assured. The shares of fossil heat, electricity, and transportation that could be replaced with bioenergy are also provided.

Energy, 2010

In this article, diverse liquid biofuels of the first generation were compared as partial or infant substitutes for fossil diesel fuel applied in cogeneration plant of the average capacity of 340 kW. The study concentrates on agricultural and economic conditions as well as legislative basis distinctive to Lithuania. At the laboratory of the Lithuanian University of Agriculture Institute of Agro-Engineering an experimental diesel engine powered generator was fuelled with rapeseed oil methyl ester (pure and in the blend with fossil diesel and dyed diesel fuels) and rapeseed oil with excellent energy balances and emissions characteristics more favorable than fossil diesel. Detailed estimations were proposed in order to assess the economic feasibility of complementing renewable electricity and heat generated in the final output cycle. The carried out analysis showed, that good perspectives are forecasted for using diesel engines in cogeneration plants, if they run on rapeseed oil produced by farmers themselves. The operation of such a plant would realize 184960 V of annual income for sold electricity, allowing to pay annual depreciation expenses and exceed the production cost for thermal energy to be 0.033 V/kW h. This price lies under the established one by the centralized energy suppliers, accordingly 0.058 V/kW h.

Renewable Energy, 2013

Fuels based on renewable energy sources (RES) such as a variety of first and second generation biofuels as well as electricity and hydrogen from RES, are considered an important means of coping with the environmental problems of transport. The objective of this paper is to investigate the "renewable fuels" from economic, energetic and ecological perspective within a dynamic framework until 2050. The key results show that all fuels analysed have lower CO 2 emissions than gasoline, but drawbacks include the high costs of hydrogen-and electricity-driven vehicles. By 2050 however these costs could be reduced due to technological learning effects and efficient policy measures (e.g. CO 2 -based tax). We conclude that "renewable fuels" will only play a significant role if CO 2 taxes, intensified R&D and technological learning are strategically implemented.

Energy Procedia, 2014

This article deals with techno-economic analysis for production of transportation liquid fuel from biomass (biomass to liquid -BTL fuel) under Norwegian conditions, via thermal gasification followed by Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis, integrated with combined heat and electricity production. The production plant is fuelled by 150 MW (LHV basis) of biomass in the form of raw woodchips or torrefied woodchips. The plant design is based on high temperature entrained flow gasification followed by catalytic Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The plant efficiency based on FT-crude efficiency, thermal power efficiency, and electrical efficiency was predicted for two cases: with and without carbon capture and storage (CCS). In addition, it was also estimated for the production cost of FT-crude in terms of ($/GJ) in various plant operating conditions with varied feedstock quality, gasification temperature, and gasification equivalence ratio.

An exergy and environmental comparison between the fuel production routes for Brazilian transportation sector, including fossil fuels (natural gas, oil-derived products and hydrogen), biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) and electricity is performed, and the percentage distribution of exergy destruction in the different units of the processing plants is characterized. An exergoeconomy methodology is developed and applied to properly allocate the renewable and non-renewable exergy costs and CO2 emission cost among the different products of multiproduct plants. Since Brazilian electricity is consumed in the upstream processing stages of the fuels used in the generation thereof, an iterative calculation is used. The electricity mix comprises thermal (coal, natural gas and oil-fired), nuclear, wind and hydroelectric power plants, as well as bagasse-fired mills, which, besides exporting surplus electricity, also produce sugar and bioethanol. Oil and natural gas-derived fuels production and biodiesel fatty acid methyl-esters (FAME) derived from palm oil are also analyzed. It was found that in spite of the highest total unit exergy costs correspond to the production of biofuels and electricity, the ratio between the renewable to non-renewable invested exergy (cR/cNR) for those fuels is 2.69 for biodiesel, 4.39 for electricity, and 15.96 for ethanol, whereas for fossil fuels is almost negligible.

Biomass and Bioenergy, 2009

Biodiesel Biofuel policy Life Cycle Assessment Environmental benefits Greenhouse gas emissions Global warming Triticum aestivum L. Hordeum vulgare L. Elaeis guinnensis Jacq. 1897 Helianthus annuus L. Glycine max L. Brassica napus L a b s t r a c t Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) the fossil energy benefits and avoided global warming emissions have been evaluated for the EU Biofuels goals in Spain. The Biofuels considered are cereal ethanol, biodiesel from residual oils, and from palm, sunflower, soybeans and rapeseed vegetable oils. Our findings are that the source of the cereal and vegetable oil influences the efficacy of the Biofuels and that results greatly depend on whether or not electricity has been produced as co-product in bioethanol plants and that without CHP the energy balance of ethanol is negative with few greenhouse gas offsets. (Y. Lechó n). A v a i l a b l e a t w w w . s c i e n c e d i r e c t . c o m h t t p : / / w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / b i o m b i o e 0961-9534/$ -see front matter ª b i o m a s s a n d b i o e n e r g y 3 3 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 9 2 0 -9 3 2

Biomass and Bioenergy, 2003

The purpose of this work was to quantify the energy use and production of air emissions by supply systems for di erent biofuels used in a typical Swedish combined heat and power plant. In addition, the e ects of the future reductions in the total amounts of exhaust gas emissions, as a result of stricter emission regulations for transport and o -road equipment, were studied.

Energies

Upgraded biogas, also known as biomethane, is increasingly being used as a fuel for transport in several countries and is regarded as an environmentally beneficial option. There are, nevertheless, few studies documenting the environmental impacts of biogas as a transport fuel compared with the alternatives on the market. In this study, life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was applied to compare the environmental performance of biogas used as a fuel for bus transport with natural gas, electricity fueled buses, biodiesel, and fossil diesel. A sensitivity analysis was performed for the biogas alternative to assess the importance of the underlying assumptions. The results show that biogas has a relatively low contribution to the environmental impact categories assessed. Emissions of greenhouse gases are dependent on assumptions such as system boundaries, transport distances and methane leakages.

Applied Energy, 2013

h i g h l i g h t s " One large and two medium scale commercial biomass combustion plants are compared. " Techno-economic and sensitivity analyses of all three plants were made. " Without incentives these plants are marginally viable; with ROCs they are competitive.