Costas P. Pappis
University of Piraeus, Department of Industrial Management and Technology, Greece
Evangelos C. Petrou
University of Piraeus, Department of Industrial Management and Technology, Greece
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3384/ecp11057156Published in: World Renewable Energy Congress - Sweden; 8-13 May; 2011; Linköping; Sweden
Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 57:21, p. 156-162
Published: 2011-11-03
ISBN: 978-91-7393-070-3
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
The production of second generation biofuels (ones produced from lignocellulosic materials) has not yet been developed in a full commercial scale. However; a considerable number of pilot and demonstration plants have been announced or set up in recent years; with research activities taking place mainly in North America; Europe and a few other countries (e.g. Brazil; China; India etc). At the same time their environmental and economic performance are under examination. These performance issues are very sensitive on a variety of parameters such as feedstock material; production technology; logistics involved etc. In this study the sustainability performance of two alternative bioethanol’s production systems; namely; one using cotton stalks and a second one using corn stover feedstock; are examined and compared using the Analytic Hierarchy Process method. Life Cycle Impact Assessment is used in order to evaluate each alternative’s environmental performance. For this purpose; a modern powerful and state of the art software (SimaPro) is used. The systems’ economic performance is based on cost/ benefit calculations.
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