Conference article

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.

Bioethanol; Analytical Hierarchy Process; Life Cycle Impact Assessment