Energy cost of rapeseed-based biodiesel as alternative energy in China

H. Chen and G.Q. Chen

Renewable Energy, 2011, vol. 36, issue 5, 1374-1378

Abstract: As a substitute for diesel and considered a renewable energy, rapeseed-based biodiesel has attracted increasing attention in China. The present work to estimate energy cost of rapeseed-based biodiesel in China is based on embodied energy intensities for various inputs out of a recent extended input–output analysis for Chinese economy, and the accounted life-cycle process of biodiesel production includes four main stages as agricultural crop production, transportation, industrial conversion characterized by alkali-catalyzed transesterification and wastewater treatment. Due to the low rapeseed yield and intensive chemical fertilizer use in China, the overall energy cost of rapeseed-based biodiesel is estimated at 1.1 times of its biodiesel energy output, corresponding to a negative energy return, with essential policy-making implications, in contrast to the positive ones usually reported in previous researches.

Keywords: Biodiesel; Biofuel; Alternative energy; Renewable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:36:y:2011:i:5:p:1374-1378

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2010.11.026

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