Testing the no agricultural waste concept – an environmental comparison of biorefinery value chains in various regionsShow others and affiliations
2021 (English)In: Resources, Conservation and Recycling, ISSN 0921-3449, E-ISSN 1879-0658, Vol. 174, article id 105702Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Although there is great opportunity, the bioeconomy is not a silver bullet in the quest to solve various environmental problems. This assessment tests the no agricultural waste concept, an agricultural system where all residues are utilized within a value chain, to elucidate whether the concept does indeed improve environmental performance across various regions, and if so, explores how various biorefinery concepts might be organized into various value chains to attain environmental benefits. In order to valorize this, the study illustrates how to do a step-wise assessment in order to design biorefinery set-ups based on their feedstock compatibility and region of implementation. The results show that no agricultural waste systems do not always result in environmental benefits, especially when environmental impacts are measured via a holistic interpretation of environmental damages, namely monetizing environmental damages. Furthermore, disagreement is shown when comparing environmental impacts interpreted via a single impact category, here global warming potential (GWP) and monetized environmental damages (MED). The performance of the various biorefineries was highly affected by the degree of decarbonization present in the energy grid of each region. While energy intensive biorefineries are able to provide benefit in terms of global warming savings, tradeoffs are observed where impacts are shifted to other areas of environmental impact. Despite these tradeoffs, across multiple regions, there is great potential for large-scale implementation of biorefineries as a tool for ameliorating environmental damages.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier B.V. , 2021. Vol. 174, article id 105702
Keywords [en]
Agricultural residues, Biorefinery, Life cycle assessment, No agricultural waste
National Category
Energy Systems
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-55213DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105702Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85108876235OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-55213DiVA, id: diva2:1578323
Note
Funding details: European Research Council, ERC; Funding details: Horizon 2020, 688338; Funding text 1: The research presented in this paper was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, grant agreement n° 688338.
2021-07-062021-07-062021-07-06Bibliographically approved