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Spatially Explicit Life Cycle Assessment of Biofuel Feedstock Production
Citation:
Xue, X., T. HAWKINS, AND R. L. SMITH. Spatially Explicit Life Cycle Assessment of Biofuel Feedstock Production. Presented at the ISSST Meeting, Boston, MA, May 16 - 18, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform EPA
Description:
Biofuels derived from renewable resources have gained increased research and development priority due to increasing energy demand and national security concerns. In the US, the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 mandated the annual production of 56.8 billion L of ethanol (15 billion gallon/yr) from corn by 2015 and an additional 60.6 billion L (16 billion gallon/yr) of biofuel from cellulosic materials by 2022 (EISA 2007). The EISA requirements virtually guarantee a large increase in biofuel production. This continued growth of biofuels could have far-reaching environmental and economic repercussions. Environmental impacts of biomass production are site dependent and exhibit significant uncertainty and variability due to different farming practices and climatic conditions. Kim et. al. (2009) investigated the cradle-to-gate greenhouse gas emissions of soybean derived biodiesel in 40 counties in the Corn Belt States and discovered that greenhouse gas emissions of soybean grown in different counties can vary by a factor of 2.5. Meanwhile, Miller et al (2006) investigated the aqueous emissions of a corn-soybean ecosystem and found that nitrate emissions from soybean farmlands varied from 13 to 22 kg nitrogen/hectare soybean/year. These results demonstrate the need for spatially-explicit life cycle assessment (LCA) of biofuel feedstock.
URLs/Downloads:
slca (PDF, NA pp, 18 KB, about PDF)XUEPRESENTATIONISSST2012.PDF (PDF, NA pp, KB, about PDF)