IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v15y2011i1p338-351.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life-cycle studies of biodiesel in Europe: A review addressing the variability of results and modeling issues

Author

Listed:
  • Malça, João
  • Freire, Fausto

Abstract

Renewable energy sources, and particularly biofuels, are being promoted as possible solutions to address global warming and the depletion of petroleum resources. Nevertheless, significant disagreement and controversies exist regarding the actual benefits of biofuels displacing fossil fuels, as shown by a large number of life-cycle studies that have varying and sometimes contradictory conclusions. This article presents a comprehensive review of life-cycle studies of biodiesel in Europe. Studies have been compared in terms of nonrenewable primary energy requirement and GHG intensity of biodiesel. Recently published studies negate the definite and deterministic advantages for biodiesel presented in former studies. A high variability of results, particularly for biodiesel GHG intensity, with emissions ranging from 15 to 170 gCO2eq MJf-1 has been observed. A detailed assessment of relevant aspects, including major assumptions, modeling choices and results, has been performed. The main causes for this high variability have been investigated, with emphasis on modeling choices. Key issues found are treatment of co-product and land use modeling, including high uncertainty associated with N2O and carbon emissions from cultivated soil. Furthermore, a direct correlation between how soil emissions were modeled and increasing values for calculated GHG emission has been found. A robust biodiesel life-cycle modeling has been implemented and the main sources of uncertainty have been investigated to show how uncertainty can be addressed to improve the transparency and reliability of results. Recommendations for further research work concerning the improvement of biofuel life cycle modeling are also presented.

Suggested Citation

  • Malça, João & Freire, Fausto, 2011. "Life-cycle studies of biodiesel in Europe: A review addressing the variability of results and modeling issues," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 338-351, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:15:y:2011:i:1:p:338-351
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364-0321(10)00300-X
    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. Frondel, Manuel & Peters, Jorg, 2007. "Biodiesel: A new Oildorado?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 1675-1684, March.
    2. Thamsiriroj, T. & Murphy, J.D., 2009. "Is it better to import palm oil from Thailand to produce biodiesel in Ireland than to produce biodiesel from indigenous Irish rape seed?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(5), pages 595-604, May.
    3. Hoefnagels, Ric & Smeets, Edward & Faaij, André, 2010. "Greenhouse gas footprints of different biofuel production systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(7), pages 1661-1694, September.
    4. Yan, Xiaoyu & Crookes, Roy J., 2009. "Life cycle analysis of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions for road transportation fuels in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(9), pages 2505-2514, December.
    5. Basha, Syed Ameer & Gopal, K. Raja & Jebaraj, S., 2009. "A review on biodiesel production, combustion, emissions and performance," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(6-7), pages 1628-1634, August.
    6. Janulis, P., 2004. "Reduction of energy consumption in biodiesel fuel life cycle," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 861-871.
    7. Hekkert, Marko P. & Hendriks, Franka H. J. F. & Faaij, Andre P. C. & Neelis, Maarten L., 2005. "Natural gas as an alternative to crude oil in automotive fuel chains well-to-wheel analysis and transition strategy development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 579-594, March.
    8. 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.
    9. Escobar, José C. & Lora, Electo S. & Venturini, Osvaldo J. & Yáñez, Edgar E. & Castillo, Edgar F. & Almazan, Oscar, 2009. "Biofuels: Environment, technology and food security," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(6-7), pages 1275-1287, August.
    10. Wagner, U. & Eckl, R. & Tzscheutschler, P., 2006. "Energetic life cycle assessment of fuel cell powertrain systems and alternative fuels in Germany," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(14), pages 3062-3075.
    11. João Malça & Fausto Freire, 2010. "Uncertainty Analysis in Biofuel Systems," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 14(2), pages 322-334, March.
    12. Demirbas, Ayhan, 2009. "Political, economic and environmental impacts of biofuels: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(Supplemen), pages 108-117, November.
    13. Tomas Ekvall, 2020. "Attributional and Consequential Life Cycle Assessment," Chapters, in: Maria Jose Bastante-Ceca & Jose Luis Fuentes-Bargues & Levente Hufnagel & Florin-Constantin Mihai & (ed.), Sustainability Assessment at the 21st century, IntechOpen.
    14. Bernard, F. & Prieur, A., 2007. "Biofuel market and carbon modeling to analyse French biofuel policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 5991-6002, December.
    15. Shahid, Ejaz M. & Jamal, Younis, 2008. "A review of biodiesel as vehicular fuel," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(9), pages 2484-2494, December.
    16. Robert Anex & Reid Lifset, 2009. "Assessing Corn Ethanol," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 13(4), pages 479-482, August.
    17. Hansson, P.-A. & Baky, A. & Ahlgren, S. & Bernesson, S. & Nordberg, A. & Noren, O. & Pettersson, O., 2007. "Self-sufficiency of motor fuels on organic farms - Evaluation of systems based on fuels produced in industrial-scale plants," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 94(3), pages 704-714, June.
    18. Wiesenthal, Tobias & Leduc, Guillaume & Christidis, Panayotis & Schade, Burkhard & Pelkmans, Luc & Govaerts, Leen & Georgopoulos, Panagiotis, 2009. "Biofuel support policies in Europe: Lessons learnt for the long way ahead," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 789-800, May.
    19. Soimakallio, S. & Mäkinen, T. & Ekholm, T. & Pahkala, K. & Mikkola, H. & Paappanen, T., 2009. "Greenhouse gas balances of transportation biofuels, electricity and heat generation in Finland--Dealing with the uncertainties," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 80-90, January.
    20. Malça, João & Freire, Fausto, 2006. "Renewability and life-cycle energy efficiency of bioethanol and bio-ethyl tertiary butyl ether (bioETBE): Assessing the implications of allocation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(15), pages 3362-3380.
    21. Murugesan, A. & Umarani, C. & Subramanian, R. & Nedunchezhian, N., 2009. "Bio-diesel as an alternative fuel for diesel engines--A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 653-662, April.
    22. Fredriksson, H. & Baky, A. & Bernesson, S. & Nordberg, A. & Noren, O. & Hansson, P.-A., 2006. "Use of on-farm produced biofuels on organic farms - Evaluation of energy balances and environmental loads for three possible fuels," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 184-203, July.
    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. Koponen, Kati & Soimakallio, Sampo & Kline, Keith L. & Cowie, Annette & Brandão, Miguel, 2018. "Quantifying the climate effects of bioenergy – Choice of reference system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2271-2280.
    2. Liu, Huacai & Huang, Yanqin & Yuan, Hongyou & Yin, Xiuli & Wu, Chuangzhi, 2018. "Life cycle assessment of biofuels in China: Status and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 301-322.
    3. Seber, Gonca & Escobar, Neus & Valin, Hugo & Malina, Robert, 2022. "Uncertainty in life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of sustainable aviation fuels from vegetable oils," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    4. Carneiro, Maria Luisa N.M. & Pradelle, Florian & Braga, Sergio L. & Gomes, Marcos Sebastião P. & Martins, Ana Rosa F.A. & Turkovics, Franck & Pradelle, Renata N.C., 2017. "Potential of biofuels from algae: Comparison with fossil fuels, ethanol and biodiesel in Europe and Brazil through life cycle assessment (LCA)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 632-653.
    5. Caldeira, Carla & Queirós, João & Noshadravan, Arash & Freire, Fausto, 2016. "Incorporating uncertainty in the life cycle assessment of biodiesel from waste cooking oil addressing different collection systems," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 83-92.
    6. Malça, João & Coelho, António & Freire, Fausto, 2014. "Environmental life-cycle assessment of rapeseed-based biodiesel: Alternative cultivation systems and locations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 837-844.
    7. Puricelli, S. & Cardellini, G. & Casadei, S. & Faedo, D. & van den Oever, A.E.M. & Grosso, M., 2021. "A review on biofuels for light-duty vehicles in Europe," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    8. Anda Fridrihsone & Francesco Romagnoli & Ugis Cabulis, 2020. "Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Rapeseed and Rapeseed Oil Produced in Northern Europe: A Latvian Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-21, July.
    9. Makena Coffman & Paul Bernstein & Sherilyn Wee, 2014. "Cost Implications of GHG Regulation in Hawai�i," Working Papers 2014-5, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
    10. Francesco Asdrubali & Franco Cotana & Federico Rossi & Andrea Presciutti & Antonella Rotili & Claudia Guattari, 2015. "Life Cycle Assessment of New Oxy-Fuels from Biodiesel-Derived Glycerol," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-16, February.
    11. Markus Millinger & Kathleen Meisel & Maik Budzinski & Daniela Thrän, 2018. "Relative Greenhouse Gas Abatement Cost Competitiveness of Biofuels in Germany," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-23, March.
    12. Gülşen, Ece & Olivetti, Elsa & Freire, Fausto & Dias, Luis & Kirchain, Randolph, 2014. "Impact of feedstock diversification on the cost-effectiveness of biodiesel," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 281-296.
    13. Archer, Sophie A. & Murphy, Richard J. & Steinberger-Wilckens, Robert, 2018. "Methodological analysis of palm oil biodiesel life cycle studies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 694-704.
    14. O'Keeffe, S. & Majer, S. & Drache, C. & Franko, U. & Thrän, D., 2017. "Modelling biodiesel production within a regional context – A comparison with RED Benchmark," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 355-370.
    15. Batista, T. & Freire, F. & Silva, C.M., 2015. "Vehicle environmental rating methodologies: Overview and application to light-duty vehicles," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 192-206.
    16. Malça, João & Freire, Fausto, 2012. "Addressing land use change and uncertainty in the life-cycle assessment of wheat-based bioethanol," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 519-527.
    17. Su, Meirong & Pauleit, Stephan & Yin, Xuemei & Zheng, Ying & Chen, Shaoqing & Xu, Chao, 2016. "Greenhouse gas emission accounting for EU member states from 1991 to 2012," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 759-768.
    18. Russo, D. & Dassisti, M. & Lawlor, V. & Olabi, A.G., 2012. "State of the art of biofuels from pure plant oil," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 4056-4070.
    19. Sastre, C.M. & González-Arechavala, Y. & Santos, A.M., 2015. "Global warming and energy yield evaluation of Spanish wheat straw electricity generation – A LCA that takes into account parameter uncertainty and variability," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 900-911.
    20. Soares, N. & Martins, A.G. & Carvalho, A.L. & Caldeira, C. & Du, C. & Castanheira, É. & Rodrigues, E. & Oliveira, G. & Pereira, G.I. & Bastos, J. & Ferreira, J.P. & Ribeiro, L.A. & Figueiredo, N.C. & , 2018. "The challenging paradigm of interrelated energy systems towards a more sustainable future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 171-193.
    21. Sastre, C.M. & Maletta, E. & González-Arechavala, Y. & Ciria, P. & Santos, A.M. & del Val, A. & Pérez, P. & Carrasco, J., 2014. "Centralised electricity production from winter cereals biomass grown under central-northern Spain conditions: Global warming and energy yield assessments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 737-748.
    22. 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.
    23. Martín-Gamboa, Mario & Marques, Pedro & Freire, Fausto & Arroja, Luís & Dias, Ana Cláudia, 2020. "Life cycle assessment of biomass pellets: A review of methodological choices and results," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    24. Milazzo, M.F. & Spina, F. & Vinci, A. & Espro, C. & Bart, J.C.J., 2013. "Brassica biodiesels: Past, present and future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 350-389.

    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. Milazzo, M.F. & Spina, F. & Cavallaro, S. & Bart, J.C.J., 2013. "Sustainable soy biodiesel," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 806-852.
    2. Yan, Xiaoyu & Crookes, Roy J., 2009. "Life cycle analysis of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions for road transportation fuels in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(9), pages 2505-2514, December.
    3. Krohn, Brian J. & Fripp, Matthias, 2012. "A life cycle assessment of biodiesel derived from the “niche filling” energy crop camelina in the USA," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 92-98.
    4. Koponen, Kati & Soimakallio, Sampo & Tsupari, Eemeli & Thun, Rabbe & Antikainen, Riina, 2013. "GHG emission performance of various liquid transportation biofuels in Finland in accordance with the EU sustainability criteria," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 440-448.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Zhang, Yong & Bao, Xiangtai & Ren, Gang & Cai, Xiaohua & Li, Jian, 2012. "Analysing the status, obstacles and recommendations for WCOs of restaurants as biodiesel feedstocks in China from supply chain’ perspectives," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 20-37.
    8. Russo, D. & Dassisti, M. & Lawlor, V. & Olabi, A.G., 2012. "State of the art of biofuels from pure plant oil," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 4056-4070.
    9. Baudry, Gino & Delrue, Florian & Legrand, Jack & Pruvost, Jérémy & Vallée, Thomas, 2017. "The challenge of measuring biofuel sustainability: A stakeholder-driven approach applied to the French case," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 933-947.
    10. Malça, João & Coelho, António & Freire, Fausto, 2014. "Environmental life-cycle assessment of rapeseed-based biodiesel: Alternative cultivation systems and locations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 837-844.
    11. Charlotte Stead & Zia Wadud & Chris Nash & Hu Li, 2019. "Introduction of Biodiesel to Rail Transport: Lessons from the Road Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, February.
    12. Dijkman, T.J. & Benders, R.M.J., 2010. "Comparison of renewable fuels based on their land use using energy densities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(9), pages 3148-3155, December.
    13. Milazzo, M.F. & Spina, F. & Vinci, A. & Espro, C. & Bart, J.C.J., 2013. "Brassica biodiesels: Past, present and future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 350-389.
    14. Fabio G. Santeramo & Monica Delsignore & Enrica Imbert & Mariarosaria Lombardi, 2023. "The Future of the EU Bioenergy Sector: Economic, Environmental, Social, and Legislative Challenges," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 17(1), pages 1-1–52, April.
    15. Balat, Mustafa & Balat, Havva, 2009. "Recent trends in global production and utilization of bio-ethanol fuel," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(11), pages 2273-2282, November.
    16. Zhang, Bo & Sarathy, S. Mani, 2016. "Lifecycle optimized ethanol-gasoline blends for turbocharged engines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 38-53.
    17. 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.
    18. Sanjid, A. & Masjuki, H.H. & Kalam, M.A. & Rahman, S.M. Ashrafur & Abedin, M.J. & Palash, S.M., 2013. "Impact of palm, mustard, waste cooking oil and Calophyllum inophyllum biofuels on performance and emission of CI engine," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 664-682.
    19. Balogh, P. & Bai, A. & Popp, J. & Huzsvai, L. & Jobbágy, P., 2015. "Internet-orientated Hungarian car drivers’ knowledge and attitudes towards biofuels," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 17-26.
    20. Perdiguero, Jordi & Jiménez, Juan Luis, 2011. "Sell or not sell biodiesel: Local competition and government measures," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 1525-1532, April.

    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:rensus:v:15:y:2011:i:1:p:338-351. 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/600126/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.