Abstract
BackgroundThe European Union has made it a strategic objective to develop its biofuels market in order to minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, to help mitigate climate change and to address energy insecurity within the transport sector. Despite targets set at national and supranational levels, lignocellulosic bioethanol production has yet to be widely commercialized in the European Union. Here, we use techno-economic modeling to compare the price of bioethanol produced from short rotation coppice (SRC) poplar feedstocks under two leading processing technologies in five European countries.ResultsOur evaluation shows that the type of processing technology and varying national costs between countries results in a wide range of bioethanol production prices (€0.275 to 0.727/l). The lowest production prices for bioethanol were found in countries that had cheap feedstock costs and high prices for renewable electricity. Taxes and other costs had a significant influence on fuel prices at the petrol station, and therefore the presence and amount of government support for bioethanol was a major factor determining the competitiveness of bioethanol with conventional fuel. In a forward-looking scenario, genetically engineering poplar with a reduced lignin content showed potential to enhance the competitiveness of bioethanol with conventional fuel by reducing overall costs by approximately 41% in four out of the five countries modeled. However, the possible wider phenotypic traits of advanced poplars needs to be fully investigated to ensure that these do not unintentionally negate the cost savings indicated.ConclusionsThrough these evaluations, we highlight the key bottlenecks within the bioethanol supply chain from the standpoint of various stakeholders. For producers, technologies that are best suited to the specific feedstock composition and national policies should be optimized. For policymakers, support schemes that benefit emerging bioethanol producers and allow renewable fuel to be economically competitive with petrol should be established. Finally, for researchers, better control over plant genetic engineering and advanced breeding and its consequential economic impact would bring valuable contributions towards developing an economically sustainable bioethanol market within the European Union.
Highlights
The European Union has made it a strategic objective to develop its biofuels market in order to minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, to help mitigate climate change and to address energy insecurity within the transport sector
The total capital investment of the dilute acid (DA) pretreatment process was lower than the liquid hot water (LHW) pretreatment process at €337 million compared with €345 million for a plant operating at 2,000 dry metric tonnes per day
The minimum ethanol selling price (MESP) cost breakdown presented as an average of the five European Union (EU) countries (Figure 1b) reveals that the highest cost stages are feedstock and handling, and saccharification and fermentation, with raw materials serving as the single greatest contributor
Summary
The European Union has made it a strategic objective to develop its biofuels market in order to minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, to help mitigate climate change and to address energy insecurity within the transport sector. The transport sector is perceived to lie at the intersection of energy security and climate change policymaking, the development of a biofuels market is currently recognized by EU governments as an Concerns regarding GHG savings, land-use change and rising food prices associated with first-generation biofuels derived from food crops, have resulted in research and policy support favoring production of lignocellulosic (second-generation) biofuels. Environmental assessments of the potential GHG savings achieved from biofuels vary ( in relation to the controversial issue of land-use change) the majority indicate that second-generation biofuel production from sustainably sourced lignocellulosic resources would lead to lower overall GHG emissions when compared with first-generation biofuels and fossil alternatives [5]. This interest has been supported by a number of European Commission and nationally-funded projects on poplars for biofuel, with the present work being undertaken within the Commission of the European Committee’s (CEC) Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) Project EnergyPoplar (FP7-211917)
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