Capacity Building Workshop on GHG LCA and Policy Applications
Tokyo, Japan
Brazilian work on GHG LCA of bioenergy in
Brazil
Joaquim E. A. Seabra
Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica
Departamento de Energia
Example for sugarcane products
•
Reference: Seabra et al. (2011).
•
The main objective of the work was the assessment of life cycle energy use
and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to cane sugar and ethanol,
considering bagasse and electricity surpluses as coproducts.
•
GREET 1.8c.0 model was used to evaluate energy use and GHG emissions
in the ethanol life cycle, with recent production parameters of the Brazilian
Center-South Region.
– Some default parameters were changed to better reflect Brazilian conditions.
•
Parameters based on the CTC database (2008/2009 season).
– For some parameters, the sample consisted of 168 mills.
Example for sugarcane products
Example for sugarcane products
ATR mix
Chemicals
By-products
Sugar
production
ATR eq
SUGAR
Agr. chemicals
Fuels
Sugarcane production
- Farming
- Harvesting
- Transport
Chemicals
By-products
Hydrous etOH
production
Chemicals
By-products
Anhydrous etOH
production
Seabra et al. (2011)
ATR eq
Fuel
HYDROUS
ETHANOL
Ethanol
T&D
ATR eq
Fuel
ANHYDROUS
ETHANOL
Ethanol
T&D
Fuel use
Fuel use
Example for sugarcane products
Seabra et al. (2011)
Example for sugarcane products
Sugar
Sugarcane farming
Trash burning
Field emissionsa
Agr. inputs production
Sugarcane transportation
Sugarcane processing
Ethanol T&D
Tailpipe emissions
Credits
Electricityb
Bagassec
Total
Seabra et al. (2011)
Ethanol
Fossil energy use
GHG emissions
Fossil energy use
GHG emissions
(kJ/kg)
(g CO2eq/kg)
(kJ/MJ)
(g CO2eq/MJ)
1,109
88
508
237
37
85
48
85
48
18
31
6.8
3.8
6.7
3.8
1.4
2.6
1.8
0.8
-754
-416
-46
-35
-60
-33
-3.7
-2.7
721
234
80
21.3
40
19
4
22
Example for sugarcane products
Seabra et al. (2011)
Example for sugarcane products
Different methods to allocate
sugarcane emissions between sugar
and ethanol.
Seabra et al. (2011)
Different methods to deal with sugar
and ethanol coproducts allocation
(electricity and bagasse surplus).
Example for sugarcane products
Seabra et al. (2011)
Direct effects of land use change
Macedo and Seabra (2008)
Indirect land use change
•
ICONE developed an allocation methodology to assess the GHG emissions
associated with land use change.
•
The study estimated a LUC+ILUC factor of 7.63 g CO2 for each additional
MJ of ethanol produced, for an ethanol production expansion of 248 million
GJ.
Nassar et al. (2010)
LCA (GHG/Energy) studies for sugarcane ethanol
1978
Silva, J.G.; Serra, G.E.; Moreira, J.R.; Gonçalves, J.C.; Goldemberg, J. Energy balance for
ethyl alcohol production from crops. Science, v. 201, No. 4359, pp. 903-906, 8 September
1978.
1985
Macedo, I.C.; Nogueira, L.A.H. Balanço de Energia na produção de açúcar e álcool nas
usinas cooperadas. Boletim técnico Copersucar, 31/85; pp. 22-27, 1985.
1992
Macedo, I.C. The sugar cane agro-industry and its contribution to reducing CO2 emissions in
Brazil. Biomass and Bioenergy, 3(2), pp. 77-80, 1992.
1998
Macedo, I.C. Greenhouse gas emissions and energy balances in bio-ethanol production and
utilization in Brazil (1996). Biomass and Bioenergy, 14 (1), pp. 77-81, 1998.
2004
Macedo, I.C.; Leal, M.R.L.V.; da SILVA, J.E.A.R. Balanço das emissões de gases do efeito
estufa na produção e no uso do etanol no Brasil. Secretaria do Meio Ambiente, Governo de
São Paulo. 19 pp + anexos. Abril de 2004.
2008
Macedo, I.C.; Seabra, J.E.A.; Silva, J.E.A.R. Green house gases emissions
in the production and use of ethanol from sugarcane in Brazil:
the 2005/2006 averages and a prediction for 2020. Biomass and Bioenergy,
32, pp. 582-595, 2008.
LCA (GHG/Energy) studies for sugarcane ethanol
2008
Macedo, I.C.; Seabra, J.E. Mitigation of GHG emissions using sugarcane
Bioethanol, in Zuurbier, P.; van de Vooren, J. (editors) Sugarcane Ethanol:
Contributions to Climate Change Mitigation and the Environment.
Wageningen Academic Publishers, the Netherlands, 2008.
2009
Soares, L.H.B.; Alves, B.J.R.; Urquiaga, S.; Boddey, R.M. Mitigação das
Emissões de Gases Efeito Estufa pelo Uso de Etanol da Cana-de-Açúcar
Produzido no Brasil. Circular Técnica 27, Embrapa, Seropédica, RJ, 2009.
2010
Galdos, M.V.; Cerri, C.C.; Lal, R.; Bernoux, M.; Feigl, B.; Cerri, C.E.P. Net greenhouse gas
fluxes in Brazilian ethanol production systems. GCB Bioenergy, 2, pp. 37-44, 2010.
2010
Nassar, A.M.; Antoniazzi, L.B.; Moreira, M.R.; Chiodi, L.; Harfuch, L. An allocation
methodology to assess GHG emissions associated with land use change. Final report,
Institute for International Trade Negotiations (ICONE).
2011
Figueiredo, E.B.; La Scala Jr, N. Greenhouse gas balance due to the conversion of sugarcane
areas from burned to green harvest in Brazil. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment,
141(1-2), pp. 77-85, 2011.
2011
Seabra, J.E.A.; Macedo, I.C., Chum, H.L., Faroni, C.E., Sarto, C.A. Life cycle assessment of
Brazilian sugarcane products: GHG emissions and energy use. Biofuels, Bioproducts and
Biorefining, 5, pp. 519-532, 2011.
Example for biodiesel
Nogueira (2011)
Examples of institutions working with LCA-bioenergy
U.S. – Brazil MOU to Advance Cooperation on Biofuels
•
Bilateral Sustainability Project
Part 1. Harmonization of GHG Measurements
– Brazil sugarcane ethanol and bagasse power/ethanol
– U.S. corn ethanol and future improvements
– Comparison between the two countries – share best practices
•
Pos-doc at NREL
•
Joint publication – Unicamp/CTBE/NREL/CTC
Seabra, J.E.A.; Macedo, I.C., Chum, H.L., Faroni, C.E., Sarto, C.A. Life cycle
assessment of Brazilian sugarcane products: GHG emissions and energy use.
Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining, 5, pp. 519-532, 2011.
Collaboration KTH-CTBE
•
PhD student (Dilip Khatiwada, from Nepal) at the ECS and visiting
researcher at the Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory
(CTBE).
The research project evaluates sugarcane bioenergy system in the least
developing countries with the case study of Nepal.
Publications:
– Power generation from sugarcane biomass – a complementary option to
hydroelectricity in Nepal and Brazil.
– Accounting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the lifecycle of Brazilian
sugarcane bioethanol: Methodological references in European and American
regulations
Unicamp/CTBE (Brazil) – SASRI/SMRI (South Africa)
•
Publication:
Seabra JEA, Macedo I, Eustice T, van Antwerpen R. Sugarcane energy
production and climate change mitigation: a case study for South Africa
(Chapter 13). In: Johnson FX, Seebaluck, V. Bioenergy for Sustainable
Development and International Competitiveness: The Role of Sugar Cane in
Africa. Earthscan, 2012 (forthcoming).
Unicamp/CTBE (Brazil) – SASRI/SMRI (South Africa)
Unicamp/CTBE (Brazil) – SASRI/SMRI (South Africa)
•
The GHG emissions were estimated for rain-fed and irrigated conditions
considering two hypothetical industrial configurations: an adjacent distillery
and an autonomous distillery.
•
Three alternative scenarios were proposed for an autonomous distillery in
order to investigate impacts on ethanol environmental performance: without
coal, electricity surplus, unburnt cane.
•
Estimations suggest that ethanol could mitigate emissions in comparison to
gasoline in South Africa.
•
High mitigation potential exists when combined with the export of excess
electricity generated from bagasse, which would contribute in diversifying
the national electricity mix thereby favouring exploitation of renewable
energy sources in the country.
Thank you
Joaquim E. A. Seabra
[email protected]
Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica
Departamento de Energia