IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2017-87.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Biofuels technology: A look forward

Author

Listed:
  • William Stafford
  • Adrian Lotter
  • Alan Brent
  • Graham von Maltitz

Abstract

This paper assesses biofuels technology readiness and provides foresight to biofuels development in Southern Africa. Efficient conversion pathways, coupled with biomass from waste or high-yielding energy crops, reduces both the costs of biofuels production and the environmental impacts. Currently, most biofuels are more expensive than petroleum fuels and market uptake will be influenced by mandates and subsidies. Advanced biofuels promise greater efficiencies and carbon emission reductions at reduced cost, but will require further R&D to reach commercialization.

Suggested Citation

  • William Stafford & Adrian Lotter & Alan Brent & Graham von Maltitz, 2017. "Biofuels technology: A look forward," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-87, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2017-87
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2017-87.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hermann, Weston A., 2006. "Quantifying global exergy resources," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 1685-1702.
    2. 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.
    3. Perlack, R.D. & Turhollow, A.F., 2003. "Feedstock cost analysis of corn stover residues for further processing," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 28(14), pages 1395-1403.
    4. Itf, 2008. "Biofuels: Linking Support to Performance," OECD/ITF Joint Transport Research Centre Discussion Papers 2008/7, OECD Publishing.
    5. Gerbens-Leenes, P.W. & Hoekstra, A.Y. & van der Meer, Th., 2009. "The water footprint of energy from biomass: A quantitative assessment and consequences of an increasing share of bio-energy in energy supply," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 1052-1060, February.
    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. Mukhtar, Ahmad & Saqib, Sidra & Mubashir, Muhammad & Ullah, Sami & Inayat, Abrar & Mahmood, Abid & Ibrahim, Muhammad & Show, Pau Loke, 2021. "Mitigation of CO2 emissions by transforming to biofuels: Optimization of biofuels production processes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    2. Abigail Gonzalez-Diaz & Juan Carlos Sánchez Ladrón de Guevara & Long Jiang & Maria Ortencia Gonzalez-Diaz & Pablo Díaz-Herrera & Carolina Font-Palma, 2021. "Techno-Environmental Analysis of the Use of Green Hydrogen for Cogeneration from the Gasification of Wood and Fuel Cell," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Montoya, Jorge & Valdés, Carlos & Chaquea, Hernando & Pecha, M. Brennan & Chejne, Farid, 2020. "Surplus electricity production and LCOE estimation in Colombian palm oil mills using empty fresh bunches (EFB) as fuel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).

    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. William Stafford & Adrian Lotter & Alan Brent & Graham von Maltitz, 2017. "Biofuels technology: A look forward," WIDER Working Paper Series 087, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Mahtta, Richa & Joshi, P.K. & Jindal, Alok Kumar, 2014. "Solar power potential mapping in India using remote sensing inputs and environmental parameters," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 255-262.
    3. Danilo Arcentales-Bastidas & Carla Silva & Angel D. Ramirez, 2022. "The Environmental Profile of Ethanol Derived from Sugarcane in Ecuador: A Life Cycle Assessment Including the Effect of Cogeneration of Electricity in a Sugar Industrial Complex," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-24, July.
    4. Giorgia Giovannetti & Elisa Ticci, 2013. "Biofuel Development and Large-Scale Land Deals in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers - Economics wp2013_27.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    5. Silva Junior, Daniel, 2013. "Impacts of biodiesel on the Brazilian fuel market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 666-675.
    6. White, David J. & Hubacek, Klaus & Feng, Kuishuang & Sun, Laixiang & Meng, Bo, 2018. "The Water-Energy-Food Nexus in East Asia: A tele-connected value chain analysis using inter-regional input-output analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 550-567.
    7. Diep, Nhu Quynh & Fujimoto, Shinji & Minowa, Tomoaki & Sakanishi, Kinya & Nakagoshi, Nobukazu, 2012. "Estimation of the potential of rice straw for ethanol production and the optimum facility size for different regions in Vietnam," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 205-211.
    8. Holmatov, B. & Hoekstra, A.Y. & Krol, M.S., 2019. "Land, water and carbon footprints of circular bioenergy production systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 224-235.
    9. Tan, Raymond R. & Aviso, Kathleen B. & Barilea, Ivan U. & Culaba, Alvin B. & Cruz, Jose B., 2012. "A fuzzy multi-regional input–output optimization model for biomass production and trade under resource and footprint constraints," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 154-160.
    10. Xie, Xiaomin & Jiang, Xiaoyun & Zhang, Tingting & Huang, Zhen, 2019. "Regional water footprints assessment for hydroelectricity generation in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 316-325.
    11. 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.
    12. Banse, M. & Sorda, G., 2010. "Impact of Different Biofuel Policy Options on Agricultural Production and Land Use in Germany," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 45, March.
    13. Puca, Antonio & Carrano, Marco & Liu, Gengyuan & Musella, Dimitri & Ripa, Maddalena & Viglia, Silvio & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2017. "Energy and eMergy assessment of the production and operation of a personal computer," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 124-136.
    14. Miranowski, John & Rosburg, Alicia, 2010. "An Economic Breakeven Model of Cellulosic Feedstock Production and Ethanol Conversion with Implied Carbon Pricing," Staff General Research Papers Archive 13166, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    15. Zhang, Ping & Zhuo, La & Li, Meng & Liu, Yilin & Wu, Pute, 2023. "Assessment of advanced bioethanol potential under water and land resource constraints in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 359-371.
    16. María Jesús Beltrán & Esther Velázquez, 2011. "Del metabolismo social al metabolismo hídrico," Documentos de Trabajo de la Asociación de Economía Ecológica en España 01_2011, Asociación de Economía Ecológica en España.
    17. Hepbasli, Arif & Alsuhaibani, Zeyad, 2011. "Exergetic and exergoeconomic aspects of wind energy systems in achieving sustainable development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 2810-2825, August.
    18. Castanheira, Érica Geraldes & Acevedo, Helmer & Freire, Fausto, 2014. "Greenhouse gas intensity of palm oil produced in Colombia addressing alternative land use change and fertilization scenarios," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 958-967.
    19. van der Hilst, F. & Lesschen, J.P. & van Dam, J.M.C. & Riksen, M. & Verweij, P.A. & Sanders, J.P.M. & Faaij, A.P.C., 2012. "Spatial variation of environmental impacts of regional biomass chains," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 2053-2069.
    20. Golberg, Alexander, 2015. "Environmental exergonomics for sustainable design and analysis of energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 314-321.

    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:unu:wpaper:wp-2017-87. 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: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.html .

    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.