Ethanol from sugar beet in The Netherlands: energy production and efficiency

J.W.A. Langeveld, Gerrie Van de Ven, Sander C. De Vries, Lubbert Van den Brink and Chris De Visser

International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2014, vol. 17, issue 1, 78-88

Abstract: Prospects for ethanol production from sugar beet in The Netherlands have been analysed using measured production data from two experimental farms and literature on beet to ethanol conversion. The analyses include beet cultivation and harvesting, transport to the factory, conversion into ethanol and delivery of the ethanol to distribution points. Under the prevailing conditions, ethanol production from sugar beet shows to be reasonably energy efficient. A net energy production has been calculated of 32 and 37 GJ/ha. Crop and ethanol yields are above those reported elsewhere, as is the energy use per hectare which is related to crop yield. Applying alternative energy generating technology at the ethanol factory suggests that considerable energy gains can be realised. Another source of variation is the allocation ratio of energy to ethanol and by-products. The calculations suggest that the prospects for ethanol production from sugar beet in Europe can be considerable, if energy inputs can be reduced, by using crop residues.

Keywords: sugar beet; ethanol; bioenergy; energy efficiency; allocation ratio; by-products; residues; clay soil; peat soil; The Netherlands; energy production; biofuels; beet cultivation; beet harvesting; beet transport; beet conversion; ethanol distribution. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=58434 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:ids:ijsusd:v:17:y:2014:i:1:p:78-88

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Sustainable Development from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().