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Environmental Issues in the Liquid Biofuels Industry

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Liquid Biofuels: Emergence, Development and Prospects

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Energy ((LNEN,volume 27))

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Abstract

Although biofuels have the potential to supplement conventional petroleum fuels in a variety of energy applications, and as transport fuels in particular, their use also poses some problems from an environmental perspective. Concerns exist relating to whether positive net energy (and therefore effective greenhouse gas mitigation) can be derived from biofuels, whether the cultivation of biofuel feedstocks leads to significant environmental degradation and whether their use could hamper the implementation of a more long-term transport energy paradigm. Yet a clear understanding of these issues, together with the more important technical aspects relating to biomass cultivation and biofuel production, has the potential to ensure that biofuels can play a successful role in weaning the planet off its current carbon dependency. In particular, the ability to assess the total life cycle of biofuels from cradle to grave emerges as a particularly important consideration in ensuring that cultivation and production processes are optimized.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The top three GHG-emitting sectors are energy (26 %), industry (19 %) and agriculture (14 %).

  2. 2.

    These assertions are based on the findings of EPA (2002) and Sze et al. (2007).

  3. 3.

    Refer to Dwivedi and Sharma (2013) for further details on emissions from the various varieties of biofuels, together with engine specifications.

  4. 4.

    Carbon debt is the time required to counterbalance the CO2 emissions resulting from the conversion of a native ecosystem to biomass production.

  5. 5.

    These include low-till or no-till cultivation, crop rotations and other cultivation practices that need minimal inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.

  6. 6.

    Negative values indicate a net reduction in GHGs.

  7. 7.

    Bioethanol cannot, however, be shipped by existing crude oil or petroleum pipelines as it absorbs water and other impurities, all of which affects fuel purity and degrades the infrastructure (Eggert et al. 2011).

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  1. Southern Cross University, Gold Coast, Australia

    Michael B. Charles & Suman Sen

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  1. Michael B. Charles
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Correspondence to Michael B. Charles .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Agribusiness Center (CEPAN/UFRGS), School of Management, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Antonio Domingos Padula

  2. Department of Business Management, State University of Western Paraná, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil

    Manoela Silveira dos Santos

  3. Agribusiness Center (CEPAN/UFRGS), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Omar Inácio Benedetti Santos

  4. School of Management, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Denis Borenstein

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Charles, M.B., Sen, S. (2014). Environmental Issues in the Liquid Biofuels Industry. In: Domingos Padula, A., Silveira dos Santos, M., Benedetti Santos, O., Borenstein, D. (eds) Liquid Biofuels: Emergence, Development and Prospects. Lecture Notes in Energy, vol 27. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-6482-1_8

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