Biowaste to bioenergy options for sustainable economic growth opportunities in developing countries: Product space model analysis and policy map development

Abstract

The sustainable and eco-friendly economic growth of a country is associated with its economic progress and the advancement of its bioenergy sector. Biowaste can be used to produce bioenergy and is increasingly being recognized as a promising resource for filling the energy gap. However, in developing countries, biowaste-to-energy techniques are relatively immature owing to economic and technological challenges, forcing these countries to export cheap biowaste and obtain expensive energy imports. In this study, country-wise export data of potential biowaste materials were gathered, assessed, and filtered according to the feasibility of bioenergy generation. Five developing countries (Argentina, Brazil, India, Thailand, and Ukraine) were selected for the economic assessment based on the export value and revealed comparative advantage (RCA). Argentina has the most exports (9.59 billion USD), with seven biowaste products having RCA >1. The product space model (PSM) was employed to evaluate the income potential of biowaste and to appraise the studied countries overall level of sophistication, and then a suitable industrial policy was proposed according to PSM indicators. All the considered biowaste products have low-income potential, so it is better to produce bioenergy from these products. Thailand has the highest country-level sophistication, followed by India, Brazil, Ukraine, and Argentina. However, according to the PSM, the EXPY values exhibit significant growth for India (52.3%) and Thailand (31.9%), while the remaining countries experience moderate EXPY growth. Furthermore, Thailand and Ukraine can generate more revenues by opting to bio-energy production. On the PSM industrial policy map, India, Thailand, Brazil and Ukraine lie in “let it be quadrant”, while Argentina is in a “parsimonious industrial policy” region. The implementation of the suggested industrial policies can enhance the productive structure of the studied countries and help them achieve their projected growth targets.