Sustainability of the Biorefinery Industry for Fuel Production

Armando Caldeira-Pires, Sandra Maria Da Luz, Silvia Palma-Rojas, Thiago Oliveira Rodrigues, Vanessa Chaves Silverio, Frederico Vilela, Paulo Cesar Barbosa and Ana Maria Alves
Additional contact information
Armando Caldeira-Pires: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Brasilia—UnB, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, S/N, Asa Norte, Brasília, DF 70910-900, Brazil
Sandra Maria Da Luz: Faculty of Gama, University of Brasilia, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, S/N, Asa Norte, DF 70910-900, Brazil
Silvia Palma-Rojas: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Brasilia—UnB, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, S/N, Asa Norte, Brasília, DF 70910-900, Brazil
Thiago Oliveira Rodrigues: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Brasilia—UnB, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, S/N, Asa Norte, Brasília, DF 70910-900, Brazil
Vanessa Chaves Silverio: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Brasilia—UnB, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, S/N, Asa Norte, Brasília, DF 70910-900, Brazil
Frederico Vilela: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Brasilia—UnB, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, S/N, Asa Norte, Brasília, DF 70910-900, Brazil
Paulo Cesar Barbosa: Petrobras' Research Center—Cenpes-Petrobras, Cenpes, Brazil
Ana Maria Alves: Petrobras' Research Center—Cenpes-Petrobras, Cenpes, Brazil

Energies, 2013, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: Biofuels have been extensively explored and applied in the Brazilian market. In Brazil, ethanol and biodiesel are produced on an industrial scale. Ethanol is commercialized and used in engines in both the hydrated form (96% °GL) and the anhydrous form, mixed with gasoline at a proportion of up to 25% by volume. In turn, biodiesel is blended with diesel in a proportion of 5% by volume. Thus, the goal of the use of biofuels is to contribute to the mitigation of greenhouse gases and other pollutants emitted into the atmosphere during burning. This article describes some recent developments in the characterization of the environmental and economic impacts of the production of these biofuels from different biomass sources. On this regard, this review presents results of life-cycle assessments (LCAs), life-cycle cost assessments (LCCAs) and Structural Path Analysis (SPA), this last one depicting a sectorial perspective rather than LCA process level data approaches. The results showed that the inclusion of biofuels in transportation activities can lead to the mitigation of the environmental impacts of certain activities, such as emissions of greenhouse gases. However, greater attention must be paid to the improvement of agricultural management to decrease fuel, fertilizer and herbicide consumption.

Keywords: biorefinary; bio-oils; biodiesel; bioethanol; first- and second-generation ethanol; LCA (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: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/6/1/329/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/6/1/329/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:6:y:2013:i:1:p:329-350:d:22798

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().