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Life-cycle assessment of bioethanol production from sweet sorghum stalks cultivated in the state of Yucatan, Mexico

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Abstract

Bioethanol is being promoted in Mexico to be used in a blend with gasoline. On the north of the Yucatan peninsula, bioethanol could be produced from sweet sorghum, as it can grow efficiently on this land; it can be harvested 2–3 times in a year and possesses a better agronomical stability than sugarcane with low nitrogen requirements and high productivity. In this work , the potential environmental impacts and energy efficiency of bioethanol production from sweet sorghum were evaluated using life-cycle assessment. Four scenarios were evaluated: scenario PI considered only bioethanol production from the stalk juice; scenarios PII and PIII added cogeneration from the dry-stalk biomass in single and combined cycle, respectively. Scenario PIV considered bioethanol production from both stalk juice and dry-stalk biomass. Scenario PI demanded more fossil energy than what was generated as bioethanol, while scenarios PII and PIII were fossil energy independent. Scenario PIII showed the higher net energy ratio (1.89) and a better environmental performance in all CML-IA baseline impact categories. In terms of global warming potential, the scenario PIII showed a mitigation potential of 16% with respect to the fossil reference. In the categories where the sweet sorghum scenarios represented larger emissions than the fossil reference, it was due mainly to the use of fertilizers and the conventional energy consumption in the various processing steps of the biomass. Scenario PIV showed the highest energy demand and worst environmental performance due to large demands of energy and chemicals in the bagasse pretreatment step.

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Abbreviations

ADP:

Abiotic depletion potential

AP:

Acidification potential

ART:

Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon (research station)

CED:

Cumulative energy demand

CFC:

Chlorofluorocarbon

CML:

Institute of Environmental Sciences of Leiden University

EP:

Eutrophication potential

FAEP:

Freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity potential

GHG:

Greenhouse gas

GWP:

Global warming potential

HTP:

Human toxicity potential

IEE:

Intelligent Energy Europe

LCA:

Life-cycle assessment

MAEP:

Marine aquatic ecotoxicity potential

NER:

Net energy ratio

ODP:

Ozone layer depletion potential

PI:

Scenario I—bioethanol production from juice

PII:

Scenario II—bioethanol and electricity production by simple steam power plant

PIII:

Scenario III—bioethanol and electricity production with combination cycle power plant

PIV:

Scenario IV—bioethanol production from juice and bagasse

POCP:

Photochemical ozone creation potential

RSB:

Roundtable for sustainable biomaterials

SAGARPA:

Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, Fishery and Food (Mexico)

SSF:

Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation

TEP:

Terrestrial ecotoxicity potential

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Bioenergy Thematic Network (Red Temática de Bioenergía, CONACYT) for its support on this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales Agrícolas y Pecuarias, Campo experimental San Martinito km 56.5, Carretera Federal México, 72000, Puebla, Mexico

    Patricia Aguilar-Sánchez

  2. Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Periférico Norte km 33.5, Tablaje Catastral No. 13615, Chuburna de Hidalgo Inn, 97203, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico

    Freddy Segundo Navarro-Pineda & Julio César Sacramento-Rivero

  3. Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán AC, Parque Científico Tecnológico de Yucatán, km 5 Carretera Sierra Papacal - Chuburná Puerto, 97302, Sierra Papacal, Yucatán, Mexico

    Luis Felipe Barahona-Pérez

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  1. Patricia Aguilar-Sánchez
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  2. Freddy Segundo Navarro-Pineda
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  3. Julio César Sacramento-Rivero
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  4. Luis Felipe Barahona-Pérez
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Correspondence to Luis Felipe Barahona-Pérez.

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Aguilar-Sánchez, P., Navarro-Pineda, F.S., Sacramento-Rivero, J.C. et al. Life-cycle assessment of bioethanol production from sweet sorghum stalks cultivated in the state of Yucatan, Mexico. Clean Techn Environ Policy 20, 1685–1696 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1480-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1480-4

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