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Handbook of Bioenergy pp 267–278Cite as

Biofuel Lifecycle Energy and Environmental Impacts: The Challenges of Co-product Allocation

Part of the Energy Systems book series (ENERGY)

Abstract

Calculations of energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and other environmental impacts from biofuel production often allocate impacts between biofuel and its co-products by calculating that co-products substitute for other products. We illustrate the issues of co-product allocation with a case study of corn-derived ethanol, and show that the choice of allocation procedure and parameters can significantly influence the results. This is an open issue in environmental lifecycle assessment methodology; there are research opportunities to determine co-product allocation values by using data that relate co-product utilization to land use or market changes.

Keywords

  • Ethanol Production
  • Soybean Meal
  • Biofuel Production
  • International Standard Organization
  • System Expansion

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Notes

  1. 1.

    1 MJ = 106 Joules.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Valerie M. Thomas

  2. School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Valerie M. Thomas

  3. Korea Institute of Energy Research, 152, Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-343, Republic of Korea

    Dong Gu Choi

  4. Linde AG, Seitnerstr. 70, 82049, Pullach, Germany

    Dexin Luo

Authors
  1. Valerie M. Thomas
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  2. Dong Gu Choi
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  3. Dexin Luo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Valerie M. Thomas .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, USA

    Sandra D. Eksioglu

  2. Division of Economics and Business Engineering Hall, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA

    Steffen Rebennack

  3. Industrial & Systems Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA

    Panos M. Pardalos

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Thomas, V.M., Choi, D.G., Luo, D. (2015). Biofuel Lifecycle Energy and Environmental Impacts: The Challenges of Co-product Allocation. In: Eksioglu, S., Rebennack, S., Pardalos, P. (eds) Handbook of Bioenergy. Energy Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20092-7_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20092-7_11

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