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Sustainability of Biomass

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Biomass and Green Chemistry

Abstract

The bio-based economy is considered one of the options for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is pursued by many countries seeking not only emissions reductions but also greater independency and security. In this context, biofuels production has expanded in the first decade of this century, and the same increase can occur with biomaterials in the years to come. However, despite the large appeal of biofuel, various concerns regarding its sustainability have been raised, constraining production and imposing the necessity to attest compliance with some principles and criteria. As a result of interest group advocacy, a diversity of sustainability initiatives has emerged in recent years in the bioenergy context, which may soon be extended to chemicals and biomaterials as well. This chapter presents the main technical regulations and standards for bioenergy currently in place and discusses the social, economic, and environmental issues these address. Guided by the set principles and criteria, there is evidence supporting that, if implemented correctly, the bio-based economy can indeed offer significant contributions toward sustainable development.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    LUC may also influence the extent to which the land surface reflects incoming sunlight (i.e., the albedo), and thereby global warming. As pointed out by Berndes et al. (2011), in regions with seasonal snow cover or a seasonal dry period (e.g., savannahs), reduction in albedo caused by the introduction of perennial green vegetative cover can counteract the climate change mitigation benefit of bioenergy. Conversely, albedo increases associated with the conversion of forests to energy crops (e.g., annual crops and grasses) may counter the global warming effect of CO2 emissions from deforestation.

  2. 2.

    As there is no information about how the feedstock from a newly cultivated land parcel will be used, the concept of dLUC is not applicable within the models. For this reason, some authors refer to the land use changes modeled in economics models as induced land use change.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Arnaldo Walter, Joaquim E. A. Seabra, Pedro Gerber Machado, Bruna de Barros Correia & Camila Ortolan Fernandes de Oliveira

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  1. Arnaldo Walter
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  2. Joaquim E. A. Seabra
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  3. Pedro Gerber Machado
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  4. Bruna de Barros Correia
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  5. Camila Ortolan Fernandes de Oliveira
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Correspondence to Joaquim E. A. Seabra .

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  1. Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, National Research Center for Agroenergy (Embrapa Agroenergy), Embrapa Agroenergia, Parque Estação Biológica, Brasília, DF, Brazil

    Sílvio Vaz Jr.

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Walter, A., Seabra, J.E.A., Machado, P.G., de Barros Correia, B., de Oliveira, C.O.F. (2018). Sustainability of Biomass. In: Vaz Jr., S. (eds) Biomass and Green Chemistry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66736-2_8

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