IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v39y2011i9p4932-4938.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A conceptual lignocellulosic 'feed+fuel' biorefinery and its application to the linked biofuel and cattle raising industries in Brazil

Author

Listed:
  • Mathews, John A.
  • Tan, Hao
  • Moore, Michael J.B.
  • Bell, Geoff

Abstract

It has been argued by some that the substitution of biofuels for gasoline could increase greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, rather than reduce them. The increase is attributed to the indirect land use change effects of planting new grain and corn crops around the world to replace those progressively being devoted to ethanol production. In this paper, indirect effects are minimised by allowing land to be used for both food and fuel, rather than for one or the other. We present a sugarcane 'feed+fuel' biorefinery, which produces bioethanol and yeast biomass, a source of single-cell protein (SCP), that can be used as a high-protein animal feed supplement. The yeast SCP can partially substitute for grass in the feed of cattle grazing on pasture and thereby potentially release land for increased sugarcane production, with minimal land use change effects. Applying the concept conservatively to the Brazilian ethanol and livestock industry our model demonstrates that it would be technically feasible to raise ethanol production threefold from the current level of 27Â GL to over 92Â GL. The extra ethanol would meet biofuel market mandates in the US without bringing any extra land into agricultural or pastoral use. The analysis demonstrates a viable way to increase biofuel and food production by linking two value chains as called for by industrial ecology studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Mathews, John A. & Tan, Hao & Moore, Michael J.B. & Bell, Geoff, 2011. "A conceptual lignocellulosic 'feed+fuel' biorefinery and its application to the linked biofuel and cattle raising industries in Brazil," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 4932-4938, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:39:y:2011:i:9:p:4932-4938
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421511004782
    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. Searchinger, Timothy & Heimlich, Ralph & Houghton, R. A. & Dong, Fengxia & Elobeid, Amani & Fabiosa, Jacinto F. & Tokgoz, Simla & Hayes, Dermot J. & Yu, Hun-Hsiang, 2008. "Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12881, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    2. Özdemir, Enver Doruk & Härdtlein, Marlies & Eltrop, Ludger, 2009. "Land substitution effects of biofuel side products and implications on the land area requirement for EU 2020 biofuel targets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 2986-2996, August.
    3. Goldemberg, José & Coelho, Suani Teixeira & Guardabassi, Patricia, 2008. "The sustainability of ethanol production from sugarcane," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 2086-2097, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Santos, V.E.N. & Ely, R.N. & Szklo, A.S. & Magrini, A., 2016. "Chemicals, electricity and fuels from biorefineries processing Brazil׳s sugarcane bagasse: Production recipes and minimum selling prices," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1443-1458.
    2. S.J. Ramos & F.W. Ávila & P.F. Boldrin & F.J. Pereira & E.M. Castro & V. Faquin & A.R. Reis & L.R.G. Guilherme, 2012. "Response of brachiaria grass to selenium forms applied in a tropical soil," Plant, Soil and Environment, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 58(11), pages 521-527.
    3. Mayer, Flávio Dias & Feris, Liliana Amaral & Marcilio, Nilson Romeu & Hoffmann, Ronaldo, 2015. "Why small-scale fuel ethanol production in Brazil does not take off?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 687-701.

    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. Schmitt, William F. & Szklo, Alexandre & Schaeffer, Roberto, 2011. "Policies for improving the efficiency of the Brazilian light-duty vehicle fleet and their implications for fuel use, greenhouse gas emissions and land use," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3163-3176, June.
    2. Shortall, O.K., 2013. "“Marginal land” for energy crops: Exploring definitions and embedded assumptions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 19-27.
    3. Rathmann, Régis & Szklo, Alexandre & Schaeffer, Roberto, 2010. "Land use competition for production of food and liquid biofuels: An analysis of the arguments in the current debate," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 14-22.
    4. Crago, Christine L. & Khanna, Madhu & Barton, Jason & Giuliani, Eduardo & Amaral, Weber, 2010. "Competitiveness of Brazilian sugarcane ethanol compared to US corn ethanol," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 7404-7415, November.
    5. Geraldes Castanheira, Érica & Grisoli, Renata & Freire, Fausto & Pecora, Vanessa & Coelho, Suani Teixeira, 2014. "Environmental sustainability of biodiesel in Brazil," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 680-691.
    6. García, Carlos A. & Fuentes, Alfredo & Hennecke, Anna & Riegelhaupt, Enrique & Manzini, Fabio & Masera, Omar, 2011. "Life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions and energy balances of sugarcane ethanol production in Mexico," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(6), pages 2088-2097, June.
    7. Brinkman, Marnix L.J. & da Cunha, Marcelo P. & Heijnen, Sanne & Wicke, Birka & Guilhoto, Joaquim J.M. & Walter, Arnaldo & Faaij, André P.C. & van der Hilst, Floor, 2018. "Interregional assessment of socio-economic effects of sugarcane ethanol production in Brazil," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 347-362.
    8. Krissana Treesilvattanakul & Farzad Taheripour & Wallace E. Tyner, 2014. "Application of US and EU Sustainability Criteria to Analysis of Biofuels-Induced Land Use Change," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-10, August.
    9. Govinda Timilsina & Simon Mevel, 2013. "Biofuels and Climate Change Mitigation: A CGE Analysis Incorporating Land-Use Change," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 55(1), pages 1-19, May.
    10. Brinkman, Marnix L.J. & Wicke, Birka & Faaij, André P.C. & van der Hilst, Floor, 2019. "Projecting socio-economic impacts of bioenergy: Current status and limitations of ex-ante quantification methods," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    11. García, Carlos A. & Manzini, Fabio & Islas, Jorge M., 2017. "Sustainability assessment of ethanol production from two crops in Mexico," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 1199-1207.
    12. Monteiro, Nathalia & Altman, Ira & Lahiri, Sajal, 2012. "The impact of ethanol production on food prices: The role of interplay between the U.S. and Brazil," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 193-199.
    13. Schaffartzik, Anke & Plank, Christina & Brad, Alina, 2014. "Ukraine and the great biofuel potential? A political material flow analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 12-21.
    14. Harvey, Mark & Pilgrim, Sarah, 2011. "The new competition for land: Food, energy, and climate change," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(S1), pages 40-51.
    15. Suopajärvi, Hannu & Umeki, Kentaro & Mousa, Elsayed & Hedayati, Ali & Romar, Henrik & Kemppainen, Antti & Wang, Chuan & Phounglamcheik, Aekjuthon & Tuomikoski, Sari & Norberg, Nicklas & Andefors, Alf , 2018. "Use of biomass in integrated steelmaking – Status quo, future needs and comparison to other low-CO2 steel production technologies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 384-407.
    16. Tonini, Davide & Vadenbo, Carl & Astrup, Thomas Fruergaard, 2017. "Priority of domestic biomass resources for energy: Importance of national environmental targets in a climate perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 295-309.
    17. Lotze-Campen, Hermann & von Witzke, Harald & Noleppa, Steffen & Schwarz, Gerald, 2015. "Science for food, climate protection and welfare: An economic analysis of plant breeding research in Germany," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 79-84.
    18. Iriarte, Alfredo & Rieradevall, Joan & Gabarrell, Xavier, 2012. "Transition towards a more environmentally sustainable biodiesel in South America: The case of Chile," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 263-273.
    19. Knut Einar Rosendahl & Jon Strand, 2011. "Carbon Leakage from the Clean Development Mechanism," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 27-50.
    20. Kriegler, Elmar, 2011. "Comment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 594-596, July.

    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:enepol:v:39:y:2011:i:9:p:4932-4938. 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/locate/enpol .

    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.