A new sophisticated computer model to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions from biorefineries has been developed to ensure that the total carbon footprint of these biofuels is being considered when regarding environmental initiatives.
The model was developed using a crop of wheat straw. To delve deeper into the emissions it takes to produce biofuels—including bioethanol for fuel, biogas for heat and electricity and phenol for the chemical industry—the ears, stems and production of the wheat were tested against the model. This model takes several factors into consideration and calculates a figure for each: the fertilizer emissions, emissions used by the machines harvesting the wheat crop and whether the field was used for other crops. These figures are then combined into a singular total to be used against environmental standards.
Edgard Gnansounou, professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and head of the school’s Bioenergy and Energy Planning Research Group, developed this model due to the fact that current regulations, although headed in the right direction, can’t account for the entire picture without it.
Not only will the model be able to get a single figure from these production emissions, but it will also allow plant engineers to calculate the total number of emissions from harvesting to production to transport of these biofuels. The goal of this new model is to help eliminate any discrepancies in the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions coming out of biorefineries.
With a new directive from the European Union (EU), this model will help biorefineries keep track of their emissions from bioethanol-based fuels so that they can meet the 70 per cent savings of greenhouse gas emissions, starting in 2021.
The reason behind Gnansounou’s invention of this model is biorefineries have been, up until this point, unable to assess their carbon footprint accurately without access to the emissions from both the products and coproducts and what it takes to develop the two.
Further research on other crops will be conducted by Gnansounou, and a second article with findings will be published.
For more biofuel research, check out From Carbon Monoxide to Ethanol – A New Method for Producing Biofuel.