scholarly journals Criteria prioritization for the sustainable development of second-generation bioethanol in Thailand using the Delphi-AHP technique

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piradee Jusakulvijit ◽  
Alberto Bezama ◽  
Daniela Thrän

Abstract Background The availability of underexploited agricultural residues in Thailand opens up the opportunity to supply second-generation bioethanol production. The national implementation of residues-to-biofuel can potentially boost the bioeconomy and greenhouse gas mitigation but requires the involvement of multiple stakeholders in the development of effective policy recommendations. This study aims to optimize the implementation of the national strategy through the use of a multi-criteria approach that involves participatory prioritization by current stakeholders in order to evaluate certain aspects and important indicators for second-generation bioethanol development. Methods The Delphi-AHP technique was used to analyze the degree of importance of different criteria. The evaluation process was conducted with various stakeholders and used a pairwise comparison of 4 dimensions (main criteria) and 12 indicators (sub-criteria). Participants were asked to rate factors related to technical feasibility, environmental impacts, economic feasibility and social impacts in terms of importance. Results Bioethanol stakeholders in Thailand from five different sectors (industry/business, NPO/NGOs, the governmental sector, academic/research institutes and financial institutions/banks) participated in the Delphi survey. The 20 experts’ evaluation of the four dimensions ranked economic feasibility (32.7%) highest in terms of level of importance, followed by environmental impacts (25.1%), technical feasibility (24.9%) and social impacts (17.3%). When assessing the sub-criteria, the participants selected ‘final price per liter’, ‘added value of input materials’ and ‘net energy balance’ as the top three most important indicators among the 12 sub-criteria. In terms of a link between the preferred criteria and the participants’ expertise, the results encouraged taking different backgrounds and affiliations into account in the policy planning phase. Conclusions The stakeholder survey indicated the importance of economic aspects, highlighting the need to take governmental driven policy into consideration. However, implementation scenarios have to be embedded in a broader range of aspects because all the dimensions were rated as being highly impactful. For future sustainable bioenergy, the inclusion of stakeholders’ opinions can result in multifaceted scenarios that can be linked to social acceptance and benefits for all relevant players when developing policy recommendations for advanced bioenergy.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piradee Jusakulvijit ◽  
Alberto Bezama ◽  
Daniela Thrän

Abstract Background: The availability of underexploited agricultural residues in Thailand opens up the opportunity to supply second-generation bioethanol production. The national implementation of residues-to-biofuel can potentially initiate the bioeconomy and greenhouse gas mitigation, requiring engagement from the multi-stakeholders to develop effective policy recommendations. Thus, the study aims to optimize the implementation of the national strategy from a multi-criteria approach to evaluate the concerned aspects and important indicators for second-generation bioethanol development through a participatory prioritization by the actual stakeholders Methods: To analyze the relevance of the different dimensions regarding important levels of criteria, a Delphi-AHP technique was applied. The evaluation process was conducted with different stakeholders and elaborated by using a pairwise comparison of 4 dimensions (main-criteria) and 12 indicators (sub-criteria). The evaluation was applied to the participants to share their preferences evaluating the most important factors from the aspect of technical feasibility, environmental impacts, economic feasibility and social impacts. Results: Bioethanol stakeholders in Thailand from 5 different branches (industry/ business sectors, NPO/NGO, governmental sectors, academic/research institute and financial institution/bank) participated in the Delphi survey. The 20 expert’s evaluation of four dimensions reveals the highest score from the economic feasibility (32.3%), followed by environmental impacts (25.6%), technical feasibility (24.0%) and social impacts (18.1%). From the sub-criteria assessment, the participants selected ‘final price per liter’, ‘added value of input materials’ and ‘net energy balance’ for the top three important indicators among 12 sub-criteria. From the identification of connection between preferable criteria and participants’ expertise, the results encouraged the process of employing different associated backgrounds into account at the step of policy planning in addition to the consideration of affiliations. Conclusions: The stakeholder’s participatory evaluation indicated the importance of economic aspects, highlighting the necessity of the governmental driven policy that needs to be considered. However, implementation scenarios have to be embedded in a broader range of aspects because all the dimension were rated with high impacts. For the future sustainable bioenergy, involvement from stakeholders’ opinions can imply multifaceted scenarios that may interconnect to the social acceptance and benefits for all relevant players when considering the development of advanced bioenergy as a policy recommendation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcello Lima Bertuci ◽  
Mariane Daniella da Silva ◽  
João Pedro Cano ◽  
Crispin Humberto Garcia Cruz

Abstract The production of an alternative form of fuel that replaces fossil fuels has been increasingly studied due to the environmental impacts generated by its excessive use, as well as the depletion of these fossil energy sources. Ethanol obtained from the crushing of sugar cane has been used as a substitute for these fuels, mainly in the automotive area. However, alternative sources are being studied to produce the so called second generation bioethanol. This would avoid competition for food producing agricultural areas and agroindustrial waste is a great source for obtaining it. In general, these residues are not always completely reused and are disposed of inappropriately in the environment, becoming contaminants. Therefore, the use of agroindustrial waste can become a renewable source of energy, in addition to reducing environmental impacts. The objective of this work is to produce second generation bioethanol as an alternative to the one currently used, using the rice husk hydrolyzate by the consortium formed by Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pachysolen tannophilus . For this, an acid hydrolysis was performed with 2% sulfuric acid during 10 minutes of heating in an autoclave, after which the hydrolyzate was detoxified with the use of activated carbon. The crude and detoxified hydrolysates were used as a substrate for the fermentation medium with an initial concentration of 50 mg/mL of reducing sugars. The fermentation process with the use of both yeasts in the crude hydrolyzate medium, in the detoxified medium and in a synthetic medium composed of glucose, was carried out for 24 h, 30º C, 0 rpm and pH 6.5.The best results for the ethanol production of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was the synthetic medium with 20.6 mg/mL. For the yeast Pachysolen tannophilus , its highest production was in a synthetic medium with 11.67 mg/mL. The intercropping of the two yeasts proved to be efficient with a greater ethanol production reaching 21.5 mg/mL, the hydrolyzed and detoxified media showed great potential for ethanol production both in intercropping and in monoculture


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Bolivar-Telleria ◽  
Cárita Turbay ◽  
Luiza Favarato ◽  
Tarcio Carneiro ◽  
Ronaldo S. de Biasi ◽  
...  

Coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) is an important commercial crop in many tropical countries, but its industry generates large amounts of residue. One way to address this problem is to use this residue, coconut husk, to produce second-generation (2G) ethanol. The aim of this review is to describe the methods that have been used to produce bioethanol from coconut husk and to suggest ways to improve different steps of the process. The analysis performed in this review determined that alkaline pretreatment is the best choice for its delignification potential. It was also observed that although most reported studies use enzymes to perform hydrolysis, acid hydrolysis is a good alternative. Finally, ethanol production using different microorganisms and fermentation strategies is discussed and the possibility of obtaining other added-value products from coconut husk components by using a biorefinery scheme is addressed.


Author(s):  
Ana K. de G. Smith ◽  
Letícia S. Alesi ◽  
Luciano D. Varanda ◽  
Diego A. da Silva ◽  
Luis R. O. Santos ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The search for new alternatives in order to reuse residues is one way to minimize environmental impacts by promoting sustainable practices. This study analyzed the technical feasibility of briquettes production from urban pruning residue and sugarcane bagasse, turning them into a product with higher added value besides directing their use and reducing their improper disposal. Five treatments were studied from different ratios of the two residues: T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively made of 100% of urban pruning; 50% urban pruning and 50% sugarcane bagasse; 25% urban pruning and 75% sugarcane bagasse; 10% urban pruning and 90% sugarcane bagasse; 100% sugarcane bagasse. The materials were characterized physically, chemically and energetically. Briquettes were produced and evaluated for mechanical performance, with expansion tests, mechanical resistance and friability to verify the quality of the final product. The treatments 1 and 2 showed the best results, with lower friability and average values of mechanical resistance of 167.14 and 107.56 kgf, respectively. It is concluded that both residues (sugarcane bagasse and urban pruning) had potential for briquette production, as well as the mixture between both materials.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moisés Rita Vasconcelos Júnior

The municipality of Marituba, Metropolitan Region of Belém - RMB, has suffered environmental impacts due to irregularities in the landfill operation implemented in 2015, which triggered social impacts perceived by all the population, including neighboring municipalities, such as Ananindeua and Belém Protests were carried out by the Movement Outside the Garbage that is constituted by the dwellings of the surrounding neighborhoods to the place where the embankment is located, of owners of commercial activities linked to the tourism and Non Governmental Organizations that interrupted several times the transit of the main route that interconnects the seven municipalities of the RMB and the entrance of the embankment, in order to draw the attention of the municipal public power to the problems that the population would have been facing ever since. From this, the following questions arose: What social impacts would people be making in these protests? Would such problems be directly related to the activities carried out in the landfill? And finally, what are the actions of the public authority and the company that manages the enterprise in the management of these social impacts? The relevance of this study concerns not only the identification of social impacts considering the fragility of this approach in the Environmental Impact Studies and concomitantly in the Reports of Environmental Impacts, but also, from the point of view of the debate about the licensing process of enterprises of this nature and employment and the need for the joint use of environmental and urban policy instruments, considering that RMB municipalities have not yet used sustainable alternatives for the reduction of solid waste produced in their territories, as well as the reduction of environmental impacts caused by dumps , and in the case of Marituba, of the landfill that operates outside the standards established by the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards - ABNT, which is responsible for the management and treatment of solid waste and the National Policy on Solid Waste - PNRSN.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gert Vanmarcke ◽  
Mekonnen M. Demeke ◽  
Maria R. Foulquié-Moreno ◽  
Johan M. Thevelein

Abstract Background Presence of inhibitory chemicals in lignocellulose hydrolysates is a major hurdle for production of second-generation bioethanol. Especially cheaper pre-treatment methods that ensure an economical viable production process generate high levels of these inhibitory chemicals. The effect of several of these inhibitors has been extensively studied with non-xylose-fermenting laboratory strains, in synthetic media, and usually as single inhibitors, or with inhibitor concentrations much higher than those found in lignocellulose hydrolysates. However, the relevance of individual inhibitors in inhibitor-rich lignocellulose hydrolysates has remained unclear. Results The relative importance for inhibition of ethanol fermentation by two industrial second-generation yeast strains in five lignocellulose hydrolysates, from bagasse, corn cobs and spruce, has now been investigated by spiking higher concentrations of each compound in a concentration range relevant for industrial hydrolysates. The strongest inhibition was observed with industrially relevant concentrations of furfural causing partial inhibition of both D-glucose and D-xylose consumption. Addition of 3 or 6 g/L furfural strongly reduced the ethanol titer obtained with strain MD4 in all hydrolysates evaluated, in a range of 34 to 51% and of 77 to 86%, respectively. This was followed by 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, acetic acid and formic acid, for which in general, industrially relevant concentrations caused partial inhibition of D-xylose fermentation. On the other hand, spiking with levulinic acid, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid or vanillin caused little inhibition compared to unspiked hydrolysate. The further evolved MD4 strain generally showed superior performance compared to the previously developed strain GSE16-T18. Conclusion The results highlight the importance of individual inhibitor evaluation in a medium containing a genuine mix of inhibitors as well as the ethanol that is produced by the fermentation. They also highlight the potential of increasing yeast inhibitor tolerance for improving industrial process economics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3856
Author(s):  
Rebeka Kovačič Lukman ◽  
Vasja Omahne ◽  
Damjan Krajnc

When considering the sustainability of production processes, research studies usually emphasise environmental impacts and do not adequately address economic and social impacts. Toy production is no exception when it comes to assessing sustainability. Previous research on toys has focused solely on assessing environmental aspects and neglected social and economic aspects. This paper presents a sustainability assessment of a toy using environmental life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, and social life cycle assessment. We conducted an inventory analysis and sustainability impact assessment of the toy to identify the hotspots of the system. The main environmental impacts are eutrophication, followed by terrestrial eco-toxicity, acidification, and global warming. The life cycle costing approach examined the economic aspect of the proposed design options for toys, while the social assessment of the alternative designs revealed social impacts along the product life cycle. In addition, different options based on the principles of the circular economy were analysed and proposed in terms of substitution of materials and shortening of transport distances for the toy studied.


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