Biogas and Ethanol from Wheat Grain or Straw: Is There a Trade-Off between Climate Impact, Avoidance of iLUC and Production Cost?

Mikael Lantz, Thomas Prade, Serina Ahlgren and Lovisa Björnsson
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Mikael Lantz: Environmental and Energy Systems Studies, Lund University, Lund 22100, Sweden
Thomas Prade: Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp 23053, Sweden
Serina Ahlgren: Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala 75007, Sweden
Lovisa Björnsson: Environmental and Energy Systems Studies, Lund University, Lund 22100, Sweden

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-31

Abstract: Current EU policy calls for decreased emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by i.e., replacing fossil fuel in the transportation sector with sustainable biofuels. To avoid indirect land use change (iLUC), the EU at the same time strives to limit the use of crops and to increase the use of residues. In this study we compare climate impact and production cost for biogas and ethanol based on wheat grain and straw, respectively, in a Swedish context. The economic competitiveness for ethanol from straw vs. grain is evaluated based on the mandatory emission reduction for fossil vehicle fuels implemented since July 2018 in Sweden. The result of this study clearly shows that biogas and ethanol from straw have the lowest GHG emissions regardless of the calculation method used, although biofuels from grain also fulfill EU GHG reduction criteria even when suggested iLUC factors are included. It was also shown that the cost of producing straw-based biofuels was higher, thus there is a trade-off between climate impact and costs. The GHG reduction mandate adopted in Sweden partly compensates for this, but is not enough to make ethanol from straw competitive from an economic perspective.

Keywords: biofuel; biogas; ethanol; wheat grain; wheat straw; climate impact; iLUC; economy; policy instruments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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