Biofuel Consumption Research Articles

Identification of Eco-friendly Practices in the Industries of EGREE Region for Sustainable Development, Andhra Pradesh, India

This study has been conceived with the basic objective to investigate the role played by industries in the East Godavari River Estuarine Ecosystem (EGREE) region to reduce the level of industrial pollution and other eco-friendly initiatives taken for eco-friendly and sustainable development. Effluent treatment systems prevalent in the majority of the studied industries are in working conditions. 57% of industries' effluent treatment plants are working conditions, 29% of the industries are using landing filling methods for disposal of agro-based waste. There is a strong common understanding among the EGREE region industries to lower the CO2 footprint by substituting coal consumption with bio-fuel. In some companies like ITC, biofuel consumption is 80%, and the remaining 20% is Coal. Government and policymakers have to make provision for industrial waste disposal, especially for small and medium enterprises (SME). Waste transporting cost is high for SME. Effluent treatment plant (ETP) and sewage treatment plant (STP) conditions to be verified by the pollution control board periodically

Розвиток галузі біопалив як детермінанта cталого розвитку України

The purpose of the article is to form scenarios for the development of the biofuel market in Ukraine and to substantiate the ways of their implementation. Research methods. In the course of the research, dialectical methods of cognition of processes and phenomena, analysis and synthesis were used to study the modern biofuel market in Ukraine and compare it with world trends; empirical – for a comprehensive assessment of the current state of biofuel production in Ukraine; scenario analysis – to determine possible ways for the development of the biofuel market in Ukraine and the related state policy for the development of its production; SWOT analysis – to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the internal environment, as well as the opportunities and threats of the external environment in the field of biofuel production in Ukraine; scientific abstraction – to summarize the results, the formation of conclusions and the own development of the biofuel production industry in Ukraine. Research results. The assessment of biofuel production in the world has been carried out and the main types of raw materials for its production have been identified. Scenarios for the development of the biofuel production industry in Ukraine have been substantiated. The volume of areas to achieve the goals of Ukraine in the consumption of biofuel in accordance with the scenarios has been calculated. Comparison of the production and export of corn and wheat by major producers in the world have been conducted. The calculation of the volume of biofuel production from lands that are not split in Ukraine has been carried out. The yields of the main agricultural crops for biofuel production in the main producing countries or exporters of agricultural products have been analyzed, as a result of which it has been determined that Ukraine is not in the leading positions in one of the crops grown. As a result of the SWOT analysis, the key needs of Ukraine in the development of the biofuel industry have been identified. Scientific novelty. The ways of developing the biofuel industry without reducing the export potential of Ukraine are proposed. They consist in using the potential of unused agricultural land and in increasing the efficiency of agricultural production, in particular, increasing yields. Practical significance. The applied significance of the results is considered as the basis for the formation of a strategy for the development of the biofuel industry in Ukraine. Tabl.: 8. Figs.: 1. Refs.: 22.

Analyzing the Renewable Energy and CO2 Emission Levels Nexus at an EU Level: A Panel Data Regression Approach

In the past decades, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have become an important issue for many researchers and policy makers. The focus of scientists and experts in the area is mainly on lowering the CO2 emission levels. In this article, panel data is analyzed with an econometric model, to estimate the impact of renewable energy, biofuels, bioenergy efficiency, population, and urbanization level on CO2 emissions in European Union (EU) countries. Our results underline the fact that urbanization level has a negative impact on increasing CO2 emissions, while biofuels, bioenergy production, and renewable energy consumption have positive and direct impacts on reducing CO2 emissions. Moreover, population growth and urbanization level are negatively correlated with CO2 emission levels. The authors’ findings suggest that the public policies at the national level must encourage the consumption of renewable energy and biofuels in the EU, while population and urbanization level should come along with more restrictions on CO2 emissions.

The impact of economic globalization on biofuel in developing countries

• We investigate the effect of economic globalization on biofuel production in panel data of 50 developing countries for the period from 2012 to 2016. • Our results provide positive insight into the positive role of economic globalization on biofuel production which robust to the several robustness checks. • We believe that encouraging the economic aspect of globalization increase the consumption of biofuels, thereby reducing the harmful environmental impacts. Over recent years, globalization has become the most rapidly developing and most influential aspect for economic growth in developing countries. As developing countries accelerate the pace of globalization, it pops up a question whether the nature of biofuel production is growing due to ongoing globalization. Given that, this paper aim to examine the impact of globalization on biofuel in panel data of 50 developing countries for the period from 2012 to 2016. The panel estimation results showed that economic globalization has a positive effect on biofuel production, and the evidence is robust to the several robustness checks. We, therefore, suggests that encouraging the economic aspect of globalization increase the consumption of biofuels, thereby reducing the harmful environmental impacts.

Nationwide increase of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ultrafine particles during winter over China revealed by size-segregated measurements

Abstract. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are toxic compounds in the atmosphere and have adverse effects on public health, especially through the inhalation of particulate matter (PM). At present, there is limited understanding of the size distribution of particulate-bound PAHs and their health risks on a continental scale. In this study, we carried out a PM campaign from October 2012 to September 2013 at 12 sampling sites simultaneously, including urban, suburban and remote sites in different regions of China. Size-segregated PAHs and typical tracers of coal combustion (picene), biomass burning (levoglucosan) and vehicle exhaust (hopanes) were measured. The annual averages of the 24 total measured PAHs (∑24PAHs) and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) carcinogenic equivalent concentration (BaPeq) ranged from 7.56 to 205 ng/m3 with a mean of 53.5 ng/m3 and from 0.21 to 22.2 ng/m3 with a mean of 5.02 ng/m3, respectively. At all the sites, ∑24PAHs and BaPeq were dominant in the ultrafine particles with aerodynamic diameter < 1.1 µm, followed by those in the size ranges of 1.1–3.3 µm and > 3.3 µm. Compared with southern China, northern China witnessed much higher ∑24PAHs (87.36 vs. 17.56 ng/m3), BaPeq (8.48 vs. 1.34 ng/m3) and PAHs' inhalation cancer risk (7.4 × 10−4 vs. 1.2 × 10−4). Nationwide increases in both PAH levels and inhalation cancer risk occurred in winter. The unfavorable meteorological conditions and enhanced emissions of coal combustion and biomass burning together led to severe PAHs' pollution and high cancer risk in the atmosphere of northern China, especially during winter. Coal combustion is the major source of BaPeq in all size particles at most sampling sites. Our results suggested that the reduction of coal and biofuel consumption in the residential sector could be crucial and effective in lowering PAH concentrations and their inhalation cancer risk in China.

The critical role of advanced sustainability assessment tools in enhancing the real-world application of biofuels

Sustainability has become of paramount importance in the biofuel industry. Accordingly, various ‎sustainability assessment schemes such as emergy analysis, techno-economic analysis, life ‎cycle ‎assessment, energy accounting, and exergy analysis and its extensions (exergoeconomic, ‎exergoenvironmental, and ‎exergoeconoenvironmental analyses) are being employed increasingly for decision-‎making on biofuel production and consumption systems. In this opinion paper, after classifying ‎and describing biofuel generations, the developed sustainability assessment tools are critically ‎explained, and their pros and cons are discussed. Overall, among the various sustainability assessment approaches introduced so far, exergy-based methods appear to be ‎the most promising tools for developing ‎sustainable biofuel systems. This can be attributed to the fact that the exergy ‎concept is deeply ‎rooted in the well-defined principles of thermodynamics.‎

Development Status in EU Biofuels Market

Abstract The paper provides development status in the EU biofuel market by giving a comprehensive picture of production, consumption and production capacity of the first generation biofuels – biodiesel and bioethanol, while giving also insights into issues related to biofuel feedstocks such as crop production and harvested area. Development of crop production and harvested area for the crop products, used as a feedstock in the production of biofuels, have shown the changes in agriculture due to the growing trend of the biofuel sector. Additionally, the increasing production and consumption of biofuels may also affect the prices of agricultural commodities used as a feedstock for bioenergy production.

Biofuels policies that have encouraged their production and use: An international perspective

This study evaluated the effectiveness of technology-push and market-pull policies in encouraging the production and use of biofuels in 15 countries including major biofuels producers. Biofuels production and consumption data for the 12-year period of 2006-2017 showed that in most of the surveyed countries, biofuels policies played an important role in developing and growing regional and national biofuels markets. Blending mandates continue to be the main market-pull policy used to create and expand biofuels markets. Countries with a mixture of market-pull and technology-push policy instruments have been most successful at increasing biofuels production and use and also developing and deploying less mature advanced biofuels. Most policies have primarily promoted the production and use of biofuels for road transport with key long-distance transport sectors (aviation and shipping) drawing less policy attention despite being significant fuel consumers and carbon emitters. While many older policies were originally developed to promote energy security, more recent policies, such as low carbon fuel standard, have reduction in the carbon intensity of transportation fuels as a primary goal. While policies have been essential in promoting the on-going growth of biofuels, they have not been sufficient to drive the level of development needed to decarbonize the transport sector.

Optimizing the Cooperated “Multi-Countries” Biodiesel Production and Consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan African countries present chronic energy shortages and heavy reliance on oil imports for diesel. The small demand and high production costs in some countries have compromised the economic feasibility of the biodiesel industry in the region. Therefore, to overcome these limitations a model of “multi-countries” cooperated production and consumption of biodiesel was proposed for a group of seven neighboring countries. The model explored linear programming and simulations to the problem of minimizing biodiesel production costs considering different types of production and demand restrictions. The data processing was realized using the Solver and Linear Interactive Discrete Optimizer software (LINDO). The simulations and scenarios revealed that palm oil is the crop that minimize the production costs (US$0.82/L) and that, although jatropha was classified in the second place (US$1.05/L), it is the crop with the biggest job creation potential (5.0 times that of the palm oil seeds). These results reveal the presence of a trade-off in the strategy and the choice between different oilseeds: (a) to produce biodiesel from the crop with minimal costs (palm oil) or (b) to choose the one that has the biggest potential for job creation (jatropha). Considering the diesel price between US$0.60 and US$1.14/L at service stations in the region in 2016, both the biodiesel from palm oil and jatropha will need subsidies and fiscal incentives (tax reductions) to be competitive in the fuel market (diesel). The volume of biodiesel to supply the B10 demand in 2031 has the potential to reduce US$ 1.98 billion/year of the expenses on oil imports. It is worth observing that this decision-support model adds the “multi-countries” cooperation perspective as a contribution to the methodological and political approaches about biofuels production and consumption and can be exploited as a starting point for the formulation of policies, strategies, and investment decisions for the establishment of biodiesel production programs.

Forecast of biofuel production and consumption in top CO2 emitting countries using a novel grey model

Mounting environmental concerns have given rise to an increasing focus on renewable energies like biofuels. In 2018, three countries – China, the United States, and India – together emitted almost half (50.3%) of the world’s CO2 emissions (billion metric tons). The current study aims to forecast biofuels’ production, consumption, and self-sufficiency in these top CO2 emitting countries using a novel grey forecasting model. The study improves on an existing grey forecasting model by optimizing the model architecture (data accumulation operation and background value generation). The proposed forecasting model, EGM (1,1,α,θ), is a generalized form of the even form of the grey forecasting model, and its relative performance turned out to be generally superior to that of the original model. The comparative analyses of the proposed model with two forecasting models revealed that the new model’s forecast accuracy is generally better than those of others. The study finds, achieving self-sufficiency in both biofuels (fuel ethanol and biodiesel) would remain a challenge for China, while the United States and India would maintain their self-sufficiency in ethanol and biodiesel, respectively, at least till 2028. The study also argues that biofuel is more likely to be a complementary fuel rather than an alternative fuel. The study helps us understand how, in the next decade, the landscapes of biofuel production and consumption are changing, and concludes with significant policy implications.

Environmental performance of biofuel engine

One of the major challenges facing the scientists throughout the globe is searching for alternative kinds of fuels. Investigating new fuels it is necessary to assess power and economic characteristics of an engine as well as its environmental performance. It must be done to improve both - the structural design of the internal combustion engine and alternative fuels themselves not to endamage the ecosphere. The paper below presents the data on the bench tests performed on a diesel engine D-21 operated on biofuel and its effects on exhaust emissions of such substances as nitrogen oxides, soot, total hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Methyl ether of rapeseed oil was used as the igniter fuel, and the major fuel was methyl alcohol. Simultaneous supply of alternative fuels was carried out by a dual fuel supply system. The obtained data revealed a significant ecological advantage of using alternative fuels over traditional petroleum fuels. At the same time, the power characteristics did not change, but there was an increase in biofuel consumption.

How do the research and public communities view biofuel development?

Understanding how public and research view biofuel development, especially the unsynchronized views, can explain the gaps between the actual biofuel production and consumption and the government mandates in the US. Applying a comparative text mining technique, these views are explored using 9924 news articles and 57,849 research abstracts. It is found both the public and research communities respond actively to major policy and incentive programs and market conditions and the public has been closely following important research advances. However, research and practice should be coordinated to achieve economies of scale for regular and alternative biofuels. Priority is particularly needed for policy research to support legislation and enforcement and remove technical barriers to commercialization; meanwhile, greater attention is needed to prompt the commercialization of mature technologies. In addition, sentiment analysis shows positive public perceptions in general and negative perceptions primarily stemming from fraud in biofuel tax-credit programs with minor concerns on unintended negative impacts of biofuel development and policy implementation issues. This study contributes to methodology by using cutting-edge text-mining techniques to the largest and most up-to-date datasets of public news articles and research publication abstracts so as to compare public and academic views on biofuel development. This study also contributes to knowledge discovery by providing new perspectives on biofuel development, which will support policy design and identify future research directions.

ROADMAP FOR BIOENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN UKRAINE UNTIL 2050

The purpose of the work is to elaborate a concept of Roadmap for bioenergy development of Ukraine, which outlines the goals and prospects of the bioenergy sector until 2050. The proposed Roadmap is an essential document for the country for several factors. First, it determines the contribution of bioenergy to meeting Ukraine’s international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015. Second, the Roadmap shows ways to achieve existing bioenergy development goals until 2035. Third, the Roadmap can be used to elaborate the National Renewable Energy Action Plan until 2030 and the Concept of state policy on energy and environment, as well as to revise the Ukraine’s current Energy Strategy with an extension until 2050. The baseline approaches of Roadmap for bioenergy development of Ukraine until 2050 are in line with the basic principles of the Ukrainian Green Deal until 2050 and additionally take into account two promising segments of the bioenergy sector such as the development of production and consumption of first- and second-generation biofuels and biomethane. The structure of consumption of biofuels by their types and by types of produced energy carriers is proposed. It is estimated that in 2050, about half of the total biofuels consumption will come from solid biofuels used for heat production. The rest in comparable proportions will be split between solid biofuels for power production, biogas, biomethane, and liquid biofuels. Further, the Roadmap needs to be detailed, refined and expanded to the level of the Strategy for bioenergy development in Ukraine until 2050.

A comprehensive review on the framework to valorise lignocellulosic biomass as biorefinery feedstocks

An effective pretreatment is the first step to enhance the digestibility of lignocellulosic biomass – a source of renewable, eco-friendly and energy-dense materials – for biofuel and biochemical productions. This review aims to provide a comprehensive assessment on the advantages and disadvantages of lignocellulosic pretreatment techniques, which have been studied at the lab-, pilot- and full-scale levels. Biological pretreatment is environmentally friendly but time consuming (i.e. 15–40 days). Chemical pretreatment is effective in breaking down lignocellulose and increasing sugar yield (e.g. 4 to 10-fold improvement) but entails chemical cost and expensive reactors. Whereas the combination of physical and chemical (i.e. physicochemical) pretreatment is energy intensive (e.g. energy production can only compensate 80% of the input energy) despite offering good process efficiency (i.e. > 100% increase in product yield). Demonstrations of pretreatment techniques (e.g. acid, alkaline, and hydrothermal) in pilot-scale have reported 50–80% hemicellulose solubilisation and enhanced sugar yields. The feasibility of these pilot and full-scale plants has been supported by government subsidies to encourage biofuel consumption (e.g. tax credits and mandates). Due to the variability in their mechanisms and characteristics, no superior pretreatment has been identified. The main challenge lies in the capability to achieve a positive energy balance and great economic viability with minimal environmental impacts i.e. the energy or product output significantly surpasses the energy and monetary input. Enhancement of the current pretreatment techno-economic efficiency (e.g. higher product yield, chemical recycling, and by-products conversion to increase environmental sustainability) and the integration of pretreatment methods to effectively treat a range of biomass will be the steppingstone for commercial lignocellulosic biorefineries.

Assessing the benefits of sustainability certification of biofuels: how much are consumers willing to pay?

The European Union (EU) considers biofuels as an option to reduce GHG emissions. However, biofuels mandates are controversial because of the concerns regarding unintended environmental, social and economic consequences. EU renewable energy directives introduced some requirements that biofuels should meet to be certified as sustainable. Today almost all the EU’s biofuel consumption intended for transport complies with the EU’s sustainability requirements. This paper investigates social preferences in Spain for sustainable biofuels and, in particular, the willingness to pay (WTP) for sustainable biodiesel. To do that, a choice experiment approach was used with data from a survey conducted in Zaragoza. Results indicate that consumers are willing to pay, a premium of 5% for biodiesel. This premium is slightly lower than the extra-price they are willing to pay for the convenience of finding biodiesel in their usual petrol station (6%). We identified two segments of consumers according to their WTP for the different biodiesel characteristics. One segment was more willing to pay for biodiesel while the other one attached more importance to fuelling convenience and biodiesel availability. , ,

Quantifying the Environmental Impacts of Cookstove Transitions: A Societal Exergy Analysis Based Model of Energy Consumption and Forest Stocks in Honduras

Unsustainable consumption of biofuels contributes to deforestation and climate change, while household air pollution from burning solid biofuels in homes results in millions of premature deaths globally every year. Honduras, like many low and medium Human Development Index countries, depends on primary solid biofuels for more than 30% of its primary energy supply (as of 2013). We conducted a societal exergy analysis and developed a forest stock model for Honduras for 1971–2013 and used the results to model an energy transition from traditional wood stoves to either improved efficiency wood cookstoves or modern fuel cookstoves (using Electricity or Liquefied petroleum gas) over the period 2013–2050. The exergy analysis and forest model enabled quantification of the environmental tradeoffs between the improved efficiency and fuel switching scenarios. We find that the continued reliance on wood within both the existing and improved wood cookstove scenarios would exhaust forest stocks by 2050, though improved efficiency could reduce national greenhouse gas emissions. Modern fuel cookstoves would reduce household air pollution, emissions, and deforestation. However, the best alternative to successfully reduce household air pollution, GHG emissions, and deforestation is a rapid switch to electric stoves with significant investment in renewable-based electricity.

Biofuels, environmental sustainability, and food security: A review of 51 countries

Biofuels will not only be a solution for a good environmental quality, but may also bring an increase in food production. This scenario, which refers to sufficiently huge supply of biofuels, capable to bring better environmental quality vis-à-vis food security. Biofuels have the potential to offer a win-win opportunity to improve environmental quality, whereby better environmental quality may promote a sizeable increase in food production. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of biofuels on food security, given the level of environmental quality in 51 developing countries. The results of dynamic generalized method of moments indicate that the interaction term between biofuels and environmental quality has a positive and significant impact on food security. This implies that biofuels will initially bring about a competition to food security but in a later stage it can lead to a favorable condition for agriculture. Therefore, significant expansion and consumption of biofuels could contribute to increment in food security and sustain the environmental quality.

MAIN TRENDS AND PROSPECTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORT BIOFUELS MARKET IN THE EU AND UKRAINE

Purpose of the work is to analyze the perspective directions for the development of transport biofuels sector in Ukraine. Current state and prospects for the production and utilization of transport biofuels in the EU are presented. It is shown that the consumption of transport biofuels in the European Union increased quite dynamically during 2004-2012, experienced a stagnation period for the next four years and started to rise again from 2017. Directive (EU) 2018/2001 (RED II) sets the mandatory target of achieving 14% of renewable energy in the EU transport sector by 2030, with a mandatory share of second generation biofuels. Analysis of the situation in Ukraine shows that the production of bioethanol and biodiesel, unfortunately, has not reached wide development. Over the past twenty years, several relevant programs were developed and approved in the country, but their implementation was not successful in terms of achieving the goals. Today, there are about 20 bioethanol producers in Ukraine with a total capacity of more than 300 kt/yr, but only 8 enterprises with a total capacity of 128 kt/yr are operating. It is known that 14 biodiesel plants with a total capacity of 300 kt/yr have been built in Ukraine, but at present they are actually idle. In addition, there are about 50 smaller enterprises capable of producing up to 25 kt of biodiesel per year, but no reliable information on the actual activity of these enterprises is available. It is obvious that the sector of transport biofuels is currently in a state of stagnation in Ukraine. To improve the situation, it is necessary to implement the consistent state policy and appropriate incentive instruments.

The impact of biofuel consumption on CO2 emissions: A panel data analysis for seven selected G20 countries

Internationally, biofuel energy as a renewable energy source has been increasingly appreciated by various industries. The benefits of biofuel energy for environmental protection and global climate change cannot be denied. Hence, this paper examines the nexus among economic growth, biofuel consumption, urbanization rate, and CO2 emissions in seven selected Group of Twenty countries (G20) over 2001–2017. The results of fully modified ordinary least squares suggest that the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) exists between economic growth and CO2 emissions, and the impact of biofuel consumption and the urbanization rate on CO2 emissions is negative and positive, respectively. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nexus among economic growth, biofuel consumption, urbanization rate, and CO2 emissions. The significance of this paper is to add biofuel consumption as a new variable for a panel of seven selected Group of Twenty (G20) countries covering 2001–2017. In addition, this study put urbanization into the current environmental Kuznets curve model to validate that urbanization can increase CO2 emissions. Developing the biofuel industry can not only diminish fossil fuel energy consumption but also offer huge potential to reduce CO2 emissions.

Biofuel Certification Performance: A Review & Analysis

The biofuel performance certification’s scope is reviewed. An operational definition of biofuel performance certification has been developed. The certification of biofuel performance has been recognized as an effective assessment methodology and tool to manage biofuel consumption and improve biofuel performance systematically. It is found that a biofuel performance certification method is required in biofuel industry and biofuel research to authenticate the biodiesel and its blends for use in diesel engine.