Conference article

Assessing the Environmental Performance of Integrated Ethanol and Biogas Production

Michael Martin
Linköping University, Environmental Technology and Management, Linköping, Sweden

Niclas Svensson
Linköping University, Environmental Technology and Management, Linköping, Sweden

Jorge Fonseca
Linköping University, Environmental Technology and Management, Linköping, Sweden

Download articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.3384/ecp11057163

Published in: World Renewable Energy Congress - Sweden; 8-13 May; 2011; Linköping; Sweden

Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 57:22, p. 163-170

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Published: 2011-11-03

ISBN: 978-91-7393-070-3

ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)

Abstract

As the production of biofuels continues to expand worldwide; criticism about; e.g. the energy output versus input and the competition with food has been questioned. However; biofuels may be optimized to increase the environmental performance through the concepts of industrial symbiosis. This paper offers a quantification of the environmental performance of industrial symbiosis in the biofuel industry through integration of biogas and ethanol processes using a life cycle approach. Results show that although increasing integration is assumed to produce environmental benefits in industrial symbiosis; not all impact categories have achieved this and the results depend upon the allocation methods chosen.

Keywords

Ethanol; Biogas; Industrial symbiosis; Environmental impacts; Biofuel

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