GHG emission factors for bioelectricity, biomethane, and bioethanol quantified for 24 biomass substrates with consequential life-cycle assessment
Open accessAbstract
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings from biofuels dramatically depend upon the source of energy displaced and the effects induced outside the energy sector, for instance land-use changes (LUC). Using consequential life-cycle assessment and including LUC effects, this study provides GHG emission factors (EFs) for bioelectricity, biomethane, and bioethanol produced from twenty-four biomasses (from dedicated crops to residues of different origin) under a fossil and a non-fossil energy system. Accounting for numerous variations in the pathways, a total of 554 GHG EFs were quantified. The results showed that, important GHG savings were obtained with residues and seaweed, both under fossil and non-fossil energy systems. For high-yield perennial crops (e.g. willow and Miscanthus), GHG savings were achieved only under fossil energy systems. Biofuels from annual crops and residues that are today used in the feed sector should be discouraged, as LUC GHG emissions exceeded any GHG savings from displacing conventional energy sources.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The text we found for this paper looks like another document, so the self-check wasn’t run.
Cites
2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Paustian, K. H., Ravindranath, N. H., & van Amstel, A. R. (2006) · Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling · Cited by 6,706 · see citing works
Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change
Searchinger, T., Heimlich, R., Houghton, R. A., Dong, F., Elobeid, A., Fabiosa, J., Tokgoz, S., Hayes, D., & Yu, T.-H. (2008) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1151861 · Cited by 4,888 · cited 1× · see citing works
“…in the feed sector) would trigger an increased demand for land, ultimately fulfilled through arable land expansion and intensification of current production (Searchinger et al., 2008; Marelli et al., 2011; Edwards, et al., 2010; Fargione et al., 2008; Tonini et al., 2012; Hamelin et al., 2014).”
Changes in Atmospheric Constituents and in Radiative Forcing
Forster, P. M. D. F., Ramaswamy, V., Artaxo, P. E., Berntsen, T. K., Betts, R., Fahey, D. W., Haywood, J., Lean, J. L., Lowe, D. C., Myhre, G., et al. (2007) · elib (German Aerospace Center) · Cited by 4,638 · see citing works
Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt
Fargione, J., Hill, J., Tilman, D., Polasky, S., & Hawthorne, P. (2008) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1152747 · Cited by 3,902 · see citing works
Recent developments in life cycle assessment
Finnveden, G., Hauschild, M. Z., Ekvall, T., Guinée, J., Heijungs, R., Hellweg, S., Koehler, A., Pennington, D., & Suh, S. (2009) · Journal of Environmental Management · doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.06.018 · Cited by 3,444 · see citing works
Environmental management. Life cycle assessment. Requirements and guidelines
(2015) · doi:10.3403/30152732u · Cited by 1,742 · see citing works
Environmental management. Life cycle assessment. Principles and framework
(2006) · BSI Standards · doi:10.3403/30151316 · Cited by 1,427 · see citing works
Well-to-Wheels Analysis of Future Automotive Fuels and Powertrains in the European Context
Edwards, R., Mahieu, V., Griesemann, J. C., Jean-Francois, L., & Rickeard, D. J. (2004) · SAE technical papers on CD-ROM/SAE technical paper series · doi:10.4271/2004-01-1924 · Cited by 1,042 · see citing works
Life cycle assessment of bioenergy systems: State of the art and future challenges
Cherubini, F., & Strømman, A. H. (2011) · Bioresource Technology · doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2010.08.010 · Cited by 832 · see citing works
N2O emissions from managed soils, and CO2 emissions from lime and urea application
Hergoualc'h, K. A., Akiyama, H., Bernoux, M., Chirinda, N., del Prado, A., Kasimir, Å., MacDonald, J. D., Ogle, S. M., Regina, K., & van der Weerden, T. J. (2019) · CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) · Cited by 508 · see citing works
Dalgaard, R., Schmidt, J. H., Niels Halberg, A., Christensen, P., Thrane, M., & Pengue, W. (2007) · The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment · doi:10.1065/lca2007.06.342 · Cited by 367 · see citing works
Quantifying uncertainty in LCA-modelling of waste management systems
Clavreul, J., Guyonnet, D., & Christensen, T. H. (2012) · Waste Management · doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2012.07.008 · Cited by 358 · see citing works
The Methane Fermentation of Carbohydrates1,2
Symons, G. E., & Buswell, A. M. (1933) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/ja01332a039 · Cited by 329 · see citing works
Robert, E., Mulligan, D., & Luisa, M. (2010) · Joint Research Centre (European Commission) · doi:10.2788/54137 · Cited by 178 · see citing works
Environmental consequences of different carbon alternatives for increased manure-based biogas
Hamelin, L., Narožnova, I., & Wenzel, H. (2013) · Applied Energy · doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.09.033 · Cited by 166 · see citing works
Self-citationTonini, D., Hamelin, L., & Astrup, T. F. (2015) · GCB Bioenergy · doi:10.1111/gcbb.12290 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Self-citationEnvironmental Consequences of Future Biogas Technologies Based on Separated Slurry
Hamelin, L., Wesnæs, M., Wenzel, H., et al. (2011) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es200273j · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Self-citationTonini, D., Hamelin, L., Wenzel, H., & Astrup, T. F. (2012) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es3024435 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Self-citationArena, U., Gregorio, F. D., & Santonastasi, M. (2010) · Chemical Engineering Journal · doi:10.1016/j.cej.2010.05.067 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Fruergaard, T., Hykš, J., & Astrup, T. F. (2010) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.05.029 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Self-citationHamelin, L., Jørgensen, U., Petersen, B. M., Olesen, J. E., & Wenzel, H. (2012) · GCB Bioenergy · doi:10.1111/j.1757-1707.2012.01174.x · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Self-citationCimpan, C., Rothmann, M., Hamelin, L., et al. (2015) · Journal of Environmental Management · doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.04.008 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Self-citationProspects for Agricultural Markets and Income in the EU 2012-2022
Hélaine, S., Antonio, A. O. M., Ciaian, P., et al. (2012) · Joint Research Centre (European Commission) · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Environmental assessment of garden waste management
Boldrin, A. (2009) · Technical University of Denmark, DTU Orbit (Technical University of Denmark, DTU) · Cited by 21 · see citing works
LCA screening of biofuels: iLUC, biomass manipulation and soil carbon
Schmidt, J. H., & Brandão, M. (2013) · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Carbon footprint of bioenergy pathways for the future Danish energy system
Wenzel, H., Høibye, L., Grandal, R. D., et al. (2014) · University of Southern Denmark Research Portal (University of Southern Denmark) · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Bioenergy production and environmental impacts
Wu, Y., Zhao, F., Liu, S., Wang, L., Qiu, L., Alexandrov, G., & Jothiprakash, V. (2018) · Geoscience Letters · doi:10.1186/s40562-018-0114-y · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Techno-economic and life cycle analysis of a farm-scale anaerobic digestion plant in Iowa
Aui, A., Li, W., & Wright, M. M. (2019) · Waste Management · doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2019.04.013 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of renewable gas technologies: A comparative review
Kolb, S., Plankenbühler, T., Hofmann, K., Bergerson, J., & Karl, J. (2021) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.rser.2021.111147 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Microbial biotechnology for bioenergy: general overviews
Aransiola, S. A., Adeniyi, O. S., Omoregie, I. P., Akinhanmi, F. O., Oniha, M. I., & Maddela, N. R. (2024) · Microbial Biotechnology for Bioenergy · doi:10.1016/b978-0-443-14112-6.00001-8 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
- Authors
- Tonini, D., Hamelin, L., Alvarado-Morales, M., & Astrup, T. F.
- Affiliations
- Technical University of Denmark (DK)
- University of Southern Denmark (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Tonini, Davide
- Venue
- Bioresource Technology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-05
- Volume
- 208
- Pages
- 123-133
- ISSN
- 0960-8524 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2284254942
- Cited by
- 118
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 10
- FWCI
- 6.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- orbit.dtu.dk
- Licence
- Locations
- Bioresource Technology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Southern Denmark Research Portal (University of Southern Denmark) (publishedVersion)
- Technical University of Denmark, DTU Orbit (Technical University of Denmark, DTU) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Danish Council for Strategic Research
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Bioenergy crop production and management
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Biofuel production and bioconversion
- Keywords
- greenhouse gas emission factors, bioelectricity, biomethane, bioethanol, biomass substrates, land use change, consequential life cycle assessment, biofuels, agricultural residues, seaweed, willow, Miscanthus, perennial crops, annual crops, feedstock selection
- MeSH terms
- Ethanol, Energy-Generating Resources, Poaceae, Methane, Greenhouse Effect, Biomass, Crops, Agricultural, Biofuels
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
