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Cumulative Energy and Global Warming Impact from the Production of Biomass for Biobased Products
Author(s) -
Kim Seungdo,
Dale Bruce E.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of industrial ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.377
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1530-9290
pISSN - 1088-1980
DOI - 10.1162/108819803323059442
Subject(s) - biorefinery , environmental science , biomass (ecology) , biofuel , bioenergy , life cycle assessment , global warming , energy crop , crop , global warming potential , agronomy , energy balance , agriculture , agricultural science , production (economics) , agroforestry , toxicology , agricultural economics , climate change , greenhouse gas , waste management , engineering , economics , biology , ecology , macroeconomics
Summary The cumulative energy and global warming impacts associated with producing corn, soybeans, alfalfa, and switchgrass and transporting these crops to a central crop processing facility (called a “biorefinery”) are estimated. The agricultural inputs for each crop are collected from seven states in the United States: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The cumulative energy requirement for producing and transporting these crops is 1.99 to 2.66 megajoules/kilo‐gram (MJ/kg) for corn, 1.98 to 2.04 MJ/kg for soybeans, 1.24 MJ/kg for alfalfa, and 0.97 to 1.34 MJ/kg for switchgrass. The global warming impact associated with producing biomass is 246 to 286 grams (g) CO 2 equivalent/kg for corn, 159 to 163gCO 2 equivalent/kg for soybeans, 89 g CO 2 equivalent/ kg for alfalfa, and 124 to 147 g CO 2 equivalent/kg for switch‐grass. The detailed agricultural data are used to assess previous controversies over the energy balance of bioethanol and, in light of the ongoing debates on this topic, provide a needed foundation for future life‐cycle assessments.