IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v86y2009i2p194-201.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using biomass: A system perturbation analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Bram, S.
  • De Ruyck, J.
  • Lavric, D.

Abstract

As a consequence of current energy and climate policies, several regional and federal measures are being implemented in Belgium to encourage the utilization of biofuels for automotive applications. The use of biomass for power and/or heat production also gets growing support through CHP and/or CO2 certificates and most probably through new upcoming European directives. As a result, many investors, policy makers and energy companies are investigating these so-called biomass routes and there is definitely a need to gain more insight in this complex matter. This paper presents an analysis and comparison of the most promising options for utilizing the limited biomass resources in Belgium. To allow for a systematic comparison, a new method called System Perturbation Analysis (SPA) was developed. SPA differs from a classical Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) mainly because it looks to geographical system balances of resources and the resulting effects, rather than comparing well-to-wheel trajectories. Therefore SPA is able to identify the best usage of limited resources such as hectares, wood waste or imports, in terms of fossil energy savings or GHG emissions within a given system (in casu: Belgium). Comparative results of such a SPA assessment are presented and discussed in this paper, including the use of wood for transport, heat and power applications. All the considered biofuel scenarios have positive energy and CO2eq balances. The use of wood appears as a good choice in terms of efficiency, CO2 abatement and surface requirements.

Suggested Citation

  • Bram, S. & De Ruyck, J. & Lavric, D., 2009. "Using biomass: A system perturbation analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 194-201, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:86:y:2009:i:2:p:194-201
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306-2619(08)00012-3
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andre Faaij, 2006. "Modern Biomass Conversion Technologies," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 335-367, March.
    2. Hamelinck, Carlo N & Faaij, Andre P.C., 2006. "Outlook for advanced biofuels," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(17), pages 3268-3283, November.
    3. Rosenberger, A. & Kaul, H. -P. & Senn, T. & Aufhammer, W., 2001. "Improving the energy balance of bioethanol production from winter cereals: the effect of crop production intensity," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 51-67, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paiano, A. & Camaggio, G. & Lagioia, G., 2011. "Territorial level for biofuel production--Case study of an Italian region," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 2222-2231, June.
    2. van Vliet, Oscar & van den Broek, Machteld & Turkenburg, Wim & Faaij, André, 2011. "Combining hybrid cars and synthetic fuels with electricity generation and carbon capture and storage," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 248-268, January.
    3. Saidur, R. & Abdelaziz, E.A. & Demirbas, A. & Hossain, M.S. & Mekhilef, S., 2011. "A review on biomass as a fuel for boilers," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 2262-2289, June.
    4. Navas-Anguita, Zaira & García-Gusano, Diego & Iribarren, Diego, 2019. "A review of techno-economic data for road transportation fuels," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 11-26.
    5. Kovacevic, Vujadin & Wesseler, Justus, 2010. "Cost-effectiveness analysis of algae energy production in the EU," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 5749-5757, October.
    6. Ji, Li-Qun & Zhang, Chuang & Fang, Jing-Qi, 2017. "Economic analysis of converting of waste agricultural biomass into liquid fuel: A case study on a biofuel plant in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 224-229.
    7. Paiano, Annarita & Lagioia, Giovanni, 2016. "Energy potential from residual biomass towards meeting the EU renewable energy and climate targets. The Italian case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 161-173.
    8. Motasemi, F. & Afzal, Muhammad T., 2013. "A review on the microwave-assisted pyrolysis technique," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 317-330.
    9. Truong, Nguyen Le & Gustavsson, Leif, 2013. "Integrated biomass-based production of district heat, electricity, motor fuels and pellets of different scales," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 623-632.
    10. Haro, Pedro & Trippe, Frederik & Stahl, Ralph & Henrich, Edmund, 2013. "Bio-syngas to gasoline and olefins via DME – A comprehensive techno-economic assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 54-65.
    11. Schmidt, Johannes & Leduc, Sylvain & Dotzauer, Erik & Kindermann, Georg & Schmid, Erwin, 2010. "Cost-effective CO2 emission reduction through heat, power and biofuel production from woody biomass: A spatially explicit comparison of conversion technologies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(7), pages 2128-2141, July.
    12. Vorotnikova, Ekaterina & Seale, James L, 2014. "U.S. Ethanol Mandate Is a Hidden Subsidy to Corn Producers," 2014 Annual Meeting, February 1-4, 2014, Dallas, Texas 162551, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    13. Bright, Ryan M. & H. Strømman, Anders, 2010. "Incentivizing wood-based Fischer-Tropsch diesel through financial policy instruments: An economic assessment for Norway," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 6849-6859, November.
    14. Hend Dakhel Alhassany & Safaa Malik Abbas & Marcos Tostado-Véliz & David Vera & Salah Kamel & Francisco Jurado, 2022. "Review of Bioenergy Potential from the Agriculture Sector in Iraq," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, April.
    15. Brynolf, Selma & Taljegard, Maria & Grahn, Maria & Hansson, Julia, 2018. "Electrofuels for the transport sector: A review of production costs," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 1887-1905.
    16. Åhman, Max, 2010. "Biomethane in the transport sector--An appraisal of the forgotten option," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 208-217, January.
    17. Gojiya, Anil & Deb, Dipankar & Iyer, Kannan K.R., 2019. "Feasibility study of power generation from agricultural residue in comparison with soil incorporation of residue," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 416-425.
    18. Ujjayant Chakravorty & Marie-Hélène Hubert & Linda Nøstbakken, 2009. "Fuel Versus Food," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 645-663, September.
      • Ujjayant Chakravorty & Marie-Hélène Hubert & Linda Nøstbakken, 2009. "Fuel Versus Food," Post-Print halshs-01117673, HAL.
      • Chakravorty, Ujjayant & Hubert, Marie-Helene & Nostbakken, Linda, 2009. "Fuel versus Food," Working Papers 2009-20, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    19. Nguyen, Truong & Gustavsson, Leif, 2020. "Production of district heat, electricity and/or biomotor fuels in renewable-based energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    20. Chakravorty, Ujjayant & Hubert, Marie-Hélène & Moreaux, Michel & Nøstbakken, Linda, 2010. "Will Biofuel Mandates Raise Food Prices?," TSE Working Papers 10-212, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:86:y:2009:i:2:p:194-201. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.