The Climate Benefit of Swedish Ethanol: Present and Prospective Performance

Book chapter, 2015

This chapter presents an assessment of green house performance (GHG) performance of current and prospective Swedish ethanol production and outlines a strategy for improving the GHG performance on an expanding ethanol market. Calculations are presented that consider process integration and establishment of biocombines producing multiple products, the use of a broader resource base including lignocellulosic feedstocks, and expansion options that minimize GHG emissions from land use changes (LUC) associated with the ethanol production. Based on this, the scenario for Swedish ethanol expansion shows how the production could increase substantially while maintaining a very favorable GHG profile. The chapter applies a broad multidisciplinary systems approach that combines an assessment of critical issues, such as the technical design of ethanol systems, the category of feedstock, the direct land use changes (dLUC), the indirect land use changes (iLUC), treatment of coproducts, and temporal boundaries.