Abstract
On the longer term, the production of second generation biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass is expected to become economically competitive with gasoline and diesel. A pre-requisite is that several technological hurdles will be overcome and that a large, stable supply of lignocellulosic biomass will be guaranteed. Studies have shown that Sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to contribute significantly to the global supply of biomass energy derived from lignocellulosic resources. Due to the high investment costs of establishing large-scale second generation biofuel processing plants, the production and export of pre-treated biomass (e.g. pellets) to industrialised countries is a potentially interesting short-term option. An illustrated example is the production of lignocellulosic biomass in Mozambique which has the capacity to annually contribute up to 2% of global energy supply in the form of bioenergy under a strict sustainability framework. However, rationalisation in agriculture will be essential for realising this potential and efficient logistics are needed to ensure competitive biomass supply.
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Notes
- 1.
The four IPCC SRES storylines (A1, A2, B1 and B2) describe different probable global social, economic, technological, environmental, and policy development pathways. They are constructed along two dimensions, i.e. the degree of orientation on material versus social and ecological values (A – B), and the degree of globalisation versus regionalisation (1–2), i.e. A1 is so-called “Global Economy” scenario, A2 is “Continental Markets”, B1 “Global Co-operation”, and B2 “Regional Communities” scenarios (see Nakicenovic (2000) for further details).
- 2.
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Batidzirai, B., Smeets, E.M.W., Faaij, A.P.C. (2012). New Conversion Technologies for Liquid Biofuels Production in Africa. In: Janssen, R., Rutz, D. (eds) Bioenergy for Sustainable Development in Africa. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2181-4_11
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