Biofuels production: A sustainable solution to combat climate change

S PRASAD; AMIT KUMAR; K S MURALIKRISHNA

doi:10.56093/ijas.v84i12.45210

Authors

S PRASAD Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012
AMIT KUMAR Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012
K S MURALIKRISHNA Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012

https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v84i12.45210

Keywords:

Biofuel, Biomass, Climate change

Abstract

This paper reviews the situation of biofuels production with regard to climate change and sustainability. The biomass energy or biofuels combustion is carbon neutral or even carbon negative as the carbon, which is stored during its growth, is released and does not add new carbon to the active carbon cycle, whereas fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas remove carbon from geologic storage and contribute to climate change by emission of GHGs. Biofuel also controls the carbon emissions from biomass facilities which would have been released back into the atmosphere through natural decay or disposal through open-burning. Inspite of these GHG benefits, the progress in biofuels expansion is at crossroads as it is influenced by various factors like land use changes and food security related issues. However biofuels from degraded land and from non-food crops are promising and will help in climate change mitigation. Proper planning in land use and identifying most appropriate policies for promoting this will help in tackling the global issue and in achieving the goal. The technology utilizing carbon sequestered in various sources, for ethanol, biodiesel and other biofuels production is a sustainable solution to climate change rather than biofuels from food crops.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Argonne National Laboratory, “Greenhouse gases, regulated emissions, and energy use in transportation (GREET) computer model” 2007. www.transportation.anl.gov/software/GREET/publications.html.

Arvidsson R, Persson S, Fröling M and Svanström M. 2010. Life cycle assessment of hydrotreated vegetable oil from rape, oil palm and jatropha. Journal of Cleaner Production doi:10.1016/jclepro. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2010.02.008

Bessou C, Ferchaud F, Gabrielle B and Mary B. 2011. Biofuels, greenhouse gases and climate change. Sustainable Agriculture 2: 365–468. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0394-0_20

Bessou C, Lehuger S, Gabrielle B and Mary B. 2012. Using a crop model to account for the effects of local factors on the LCA of sugar beet ethanol in Picardy region, France. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 18(1): 24–36. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0457-0

Borders M. 2008. Environment, killing me softly, 10 ways mainstream environmentalism hurts the developing world. www.aWorldConnected.org.

Chhabra A, Manjunath K R, Panigrahy S and Parihar J S. 2009. Spatial pattern of methane emissions from Indian livestock. Current Science 96(5): 683–9.

Chisti Y. 2007. Biodiesel from microalgae. Biotechnology Advances 25: 294–306. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biotechadv.2007.02.001

Chisti Y. 2008. Biodiesel from microalgae beats bioethanol. Trends in Biotechnology 26: 126–31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2007.12.002

Choo Y M, Muhamad H, Hashim Z, Subramaniam V and Puah C W. 2011. Determination of GHG contributions by subsystems in the oil palm supply chain using the LCA approach. International Journal of Lifecycle Assessement 16: 669–81. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-011-0303-9

Climate change. 2007. The physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK:

CONCAWE (Oil Companies’ European Association for Environment, Health and Safety in Refining and Distribution, but the acronym is derived from “Conservation of Clean Air and Water in Europe”). 2004. Joint Research Centre of the EU Commission, and European Council for Automotive R&D, 2004. “Well-to-Wheels Analysis of Future Automotive Fuels and Power trains in the European Context,” Version 1b, January, 60 (http://ies.jrc.cec.eu.int/ Download/eh.)

Curran L M, Trigg S N, McDonald A K, Astiani D, Hardiono Y M, Siregar P, Caniago I and Kasischke E. 2004. Lowland forest loss in protected areas of Indonesian Borneo. Science 303: 1 000–3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1091714

de Oliveira D, Vaughan B E and Rykiel E J. 2005. Ethanol as fuel: Energy, carbon dioxide balances, and ecological footprint. BioSciences 55: 593–602. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2005)055[0593:EAFECD]2.0.CO;2

Dry M E. 2004. Present and future applications of the Fischer– Tropsch process. Applied Catalysis 276: 1–3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcata.2004.08.014

Dyson F. 2008. The Question of Global Warming. New York Review of Books. (30 June 2010; www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2008/jun/12/the-question-of-global-warming/)

Energy Information Administration Voluntary Reporting of Green House Gases Program. 2009. Available. http://205.254.135.7/oiaf/1605/coefficients.html.

EPA Finalizes Regulations for the National Renewable Fuel Standard Program for 2010 and Beyond. Office of Transportation and Air Quality, EPA-420-F-10-007, http://www.epa.gov/otaq/renewablefuels/420f10007.pdf

Fargione J, Hill J, Tilman D, Polasky S, Hawthorne P and Jason. 2008. Land clearing and the biofuel carbon debt. Science 319: 1 235. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1152747

Farrell A E, Plevin R J, Turner B T, Jones A D, O’Hare M and Kammen D M. 2006. Ethanol can contribute to energy and environment goals. Science 311: 506–8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1121416

Gibbs H K, Johnston M, Foley J, Holloway T, Monfreda C, Ramankutty N and Zaks D. 2008. Carbon payback times for crop-based biofuel expansion in the tropics: The effects of changing yield and technology. Environment Research Letter 3: DOI: 034001 (10pp). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/3/3/034001

Goodale C L, Michael J A, Richard A B, Christopher B F, Linda S H, Richard A H, Jennifer C J, Gundolf H K, Werner K, Shirong L, Gert-jan N, Sten N and Anatoly Z S. 2002. Forest carbon sinks in the Northern Hemisphere. Ecological Applications 12: 891–9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(2002)012[0891:FCSITN]2.0.CO;2

Graham R L, Nelson R, Sheehan J, Perlack R D and Wright L L. 2007. Current and potential U.S. corn stover supplies. Agronomy Journal 99: 1–11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj2005.0222

Greenhouse gas bulletin. 2006. WMO World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases, Shea KM and the Committee on Environmental Health, 2007.

Hao W M and Ward D E. 1993. Methane production from global biomass burning. Journal of Geophysics Research 98(D11): 657–61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/93JD01908

Hu Q, Sommerfeld M, Jarvis E, Ghirardi M, Posewitz M, Seibert M and Darzins A. 2008. Micro-algal triacylglycerols as feed- stocks for biofuel production: perspectives and advances. Plant Journal 54: 621–39. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-313X.2008.03492.x

International Energy Agency (IEA). 2001. Answers to ten frequently asked questions about bioenergy, carbon sinks and their role in global climate change: available at http:// www.joanneum.ac.at/iea-bioenergy-task38/pub

IEA World Energy Outlook. 2009. International Energy Agency. OECD/IEA. Paris.

IEA. World Energy Outlook. OECD/IEA, 2006.

IPCC. 1996. Climate Change 1995: Impacts, adaptations and mitigation of climate change: Scientific-technical analysis, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group II report, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996.

IPCC. 2001. Third Assessment Report, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Volume III, Mitigation. Chapter 3, Technological and economic potential of greenhouse gas reduction. Cambridge Press, UK.

IPCC. 2007. Fourth Assessment Report. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Secretariat. Geneva, Switzerland.

IPCC. 2007. Summary for policymakers Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment, Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Metz B, Davidson O R, Bosch P R, Dave R and Meyer L A (Eds). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge:

Kritana P and Shabbir H G. 2006. Energy and greenhouse gas implications of biodiesel production from Jatropha curcas L. (In) The 2nd Joint International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Environment (SEE 2006), 21-23 November 2006, Bangkok, Thailand.

Lal R. 2004. Soil carbon sequestration impacts on global climate change and food security. Science 304: 1 623–7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1097396

Lal R. 2008. Carbon sequestration. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 363: 815–30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2007.2185

Leemans R, van Amstel A, Battjes C, Kreilman E and Toet S. 1996. The land cover and carbon cycle consequences of large- scale utilizations of biomass as an energy source. Global Environment Change 6: 335. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0959-3780(96)00028-3

Levine J S. 1991. Global Biomass Burning: Atmospheric, Climatic, and Biospheric Implications, p 25–30. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/3286.001.0001

Lovelock J. 2009. The Vanishing Face of Gaia. Basic Books, New York.

Martinot E. 2005 Renewables 2005: Global Status Report. Worldwatch Institute, Washington DC.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 2006 Agricultural market impacts of future growth in the production of biofuels. OECD Papers.6: 1–57. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1787/oecd_papers-v6-art1-en

Parrish D J and Fike J H. 2005. The biology and agronomy of switchgrass for biofuels. Critical Review in Plant Science 24: 423–59. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07352680500316433

Prueksakorn K and Gheewala S H. 2006. Energy and Greenhouse Gas Implications of Biodiesel Production from Jatropha curcas.

L. (In) The 2nd Joint International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Environment (SEE 2006), 21-23 November 2006, Bangkok, Thailand, pp 1–6.

Rajagopal D, Sexton S E, Roland-Holst D and Zilberman D. 2007. Challenge of biofuel: filling the tank without emptying the stomach?. Environmental Research Letters 2: doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/2/4/044004 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/2/4/044004

REN 21. 2010. “Renewables 2010 Global Status Report.” Paris: REN21 Secretariat. http://www.ren21.net/globalstatusreport/REN21_GSR_2010_full.pdf. Accessed October 2010.

Schlamadinger B, Grubb M, Azar C, Bauen A and Berndes G. 2001. Carbon sinks and biomass energy production: A study of linkages, options and implications. Climate Strategies: International Network for Climate Policy Analysis.

Searchinger T, Heimlich R, Houghton R A, Dong F, Elobeid A, Fabiosa J, Tokgoz S, Hayes D and Yu T. 2008. Use of U.S. croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land-use change. Science 319: 1 238–40. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1151861

Shah M and Bencrif R. 2009. Biofuels and Food Security. Outreach Issues, pp7, http://www.stakeholderforum.org/fileadmin/files/Outreach_issues_2009/090512-oi-color.pdf

Sheehan J, Aden A, Paustian K, Killian K, Brenner J, Walsh M and Nelson R. 2003. Energy and environmental aspects of using corn stover for fuel ethanol. Journal of Industrial Ecology 7: 117–46. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/108819803323059433

Sridhar K R and Ambarish C N. 2013. Pill millipede compost: a viable alternative to utilize urban organic solid waste. Current Science 104(11): 1 543–7.

Steinfeld H, Gerber P, Wassenaar T, Castel V, Rosales M and De Haan C. 2006. Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Stickler C, Coe M, Nepstad D, Fiske G and Lefebvre P. 2007. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD): Readiness for REDD - A Preliminary Global Assessment of Tropical Forested Land Suitability for Agriculture. A Report for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP), Thirteenth Session, 3-14 December 2007, Bali, Indonesia. Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, MA.

Strassburg B, Turner R K, Fisher B, Schaeffer R and Lovett A. 2009. Reducing emissions from deforestation-the “combined incentives” mechanism and empirical simulations; Global Environment Change 19: 265–78. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2008.11.004

Thow A and Warhurst A. 2007. Biofuels and sustainable development. Maplecroft Report.

Tilche A and Galatola M. 2008. The potential of bio-methane as bio-fuel/bio-energy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions: a qualitative assessment for Europe in a life cycle perspective. Water Science Technology 57(11):1 683–92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2008.039

Tilman D, Hill J and Lehman C. 2006. Carbon-negative biofuels from low-input high-diversity grassland biomass. Science 314: 1 598. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1133306

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHSP). 2011. Cities and climate change: global report on human settlements. USDoE. 2007. US department of energy on greenhouse gases. 09.09.2007, Available http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggccebro/chapter1.html.

Wu M, Wang M and Huo H. 2006. Fuel-cycle assessment of selected bioethanol production pathways in the United States. Reference No. ANL/ESD/06-7 Argonne, IL: Argonne National Laboratory.

Zabihian F and Fung A. 2010. Advanced Power Generation Technologies: Fuel Cells, Paths to Sustainable Energy, Dr Artie Ng (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-307-401-6, InTech, Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/paths-to-sustainable-energy/advanced-power-generation-technologies-fuelcells. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5772/13373