Environmental, Ecological, and Economic Benefits of Biofuel Production Using a Constructed Wetland: A Case Study in China

Dong Liu, Changxin Zou and Mengjia Xu
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Dong Liu: Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Nanjing 210042, China
Changxin Zou: Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Nanjing 210042, China
Mengjia Xu: Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Nanjing 210042, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 5, 1-12

Abstract: Here we show a constructed wetland (CW), a viable alternative wastewater treatment system, be used to produce biofuels from biomass by using nitrogen contained in domestic wastewater. We summarize the potential biomass yield evaluated as cellulosic ethanol bioenergy production, and combine the life cycle analysis with a mass balance approach to estimate the energetic, environmental, and economic performance of a CW biofuel system. The results showed that the annual aboveground biomass yield of a CW in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, China, averaged 37,813 kg ha −1 year −1 as the by-product of treating waste N, which is about one order of magnitude larger than traditional biofuel production systems. The biomass yield in the Zhoushan CW system had life cycle environment benefits of 8.8 Mg (1 Mg = 10 6 g) CO 2 equivalent ha −1 year −1 of greenhouse gas emission reduction. The CW in Zhoushan had a net energy gain of 249.9 GJ (1 GJ = 10 9 J) ha −1 year −1 while the wastewater treatment plant (WTP) consumes 7442.5 GJ ha −1 year −1 . Moreover, the CW reduced greenhouse gas emissions to 2714 times less than that of the WTP. The CW also provided various ecosystem services, such as regional climate regulation and habitat conservation. We suggest that the potential use of a CW as biofuel production and carbon sequestration via nitrogen-negative input can be explored more widely in the future.

Keywords: biomass energy; life cycle; cellulosic ethanol (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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