Publications

Climate benefits and greenhouse gas (GHG) balances are aspects often discussed in conjunction with sustainability and biofuels. Every now and then voices are heard in media claiming that biofuels have worse environmental impact compared to diesel and gasoline. This is true for a fraction of the biofuels on the market but not for the majority of the biofuels. The total GHG emissions depend on the entire fuel production chain, mainly from the agriculture or forestry feedstock systems and the manufacturing process. To compare different biofuel production pathways it is essential to conduct an environmental assessment using a well to wheel (WTW) analysis methodology.

This study identifies research and development challenges for Swedish biofuel actors based on literature studies as well as discussions with the researchers themselves. The ambition has been to learn about ongoing research and find improvement potentials, dilemmas between different improvement options as well as if there are barriers to overcome or technology that needs to be proven in large scale before the fuel production can achieve commercial status.

The overall study consists of case studies focusing on three biofuel production technology options that are currently in the demonstration phase: cellulose based ethanol, methane from gasification of solid wood, and DME from gasification of black liquor. This is done with the purpose of identifying research and development potentials that may result in improvements in the WTT (Well-to-Tank) emission values. In addition to the three case studies, improvement potentials for the agriculture and forestry part of the WTT chain are also discussed in a separate study.

Photo: FreeImages.com/Mauro Alejandro Strione

The project has put together a comprehensive list of ongoing R&D activities and actors related to biofuels in Brazil through web and literature searches as well as interviews and meetings with some key actors. The report also presents a short background on biofuels use for transportation in Brazil, including production and legal framework.

The aim of this project has been to give an overview of the EU biofuel sustainability criteria within the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD). The aim is also to describe how the sustainability criteria have been implemented in Swedish law. Further, the aim is to briefly discuss how the implementation has affected biofuel stakeholders and to discuss future changes to the sustainability criteria.

The report content has been developed into a fact sheet for f3 about sustainability criteria.

Biofuels have been recognised to be one of the key solutions for reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transport sector. For quite some time there have been national and international (EU level) policies promoting biofuels and this has indeed led to significant increase in production. But concerns have been raised about the actual societal and environmental benefits of the significant rise in biofuel production and utilisation. Two of the most intriguing concerns are the actual savings of GHG emissions compared to conventional fossil alternatives, and the impact of increased prices of raw material for the production and competition for food and feed purposes.

After these concerns were brought into the light more hope has been set for 2nd generation biofuels that are based on waste products and non-food crop.

The aim of this project has been to describe the current policy instruments applied in Sweden for promoting biofuels, and to make a comparison of supply and demand side instruments and what effects they have had or could have. As background a description of the current use and production of biofuels in the Swedish transport sector is given. The project report also discusses the difference between first and second generation biofuels briefly, with focus on the rational for policy instruments making a difference between the two categories.

This project has performed a cross-disciplinary study of the low-temperature route of biogas production from bio­mass, evaluating different aspects of biomass production and chemical conversion. An assessment of suitable agricultural residues and energy crops for low temperature pyrolysis defines the entire supply chain from the field to the plant, including harvesting techniques, transport, storage and up-grading. Aspen Plus simulation is used for design and  process integration of a low temperature biogas production module in a combined heat and power (CHP) plant.

Potential results from the study can be useful for cost estimations and overall cycle efficiencies. Pyrolysis of biomass can be performed without oxygen and thereby enables production of biogas from a wide range of raw materials. Also, low-temperature pyrolysis minimizes risks of ash-melting and release of alkali metal potentially making it especially advantageous for alkali-rich biomass or biomass with a low ash-melting point that are difficult to gasify at high temperatures. A high energy exchange is possible, and by locating plants next to central heating systems or heat-demanding industry efficiency gains can be made.

As a consequence of advancing research about biobased energy forms and biobased materials, the concept of biobased economy has evolved. In a biobased economy, energy, materials and chemicals are produced from biobased and renewable raw materials without endangering food availability or quality.

This project provides an overview and comparative analysis of the strategies and visions for biobased economies in different countries, focusing on the USA, EU, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Canada and Australia. The report also comments on the situation in China, Russia, Brazil and Malaysia, and briefly outlines the OECD policy agenda for the bioeconomy.

A complementary report about the Indian bioeconomy has also been produced.

In the pursuit of renewable fuels alternatives, several “drop-in” gasoline replacements are discussed. The most common one is ethanol, but in this list isobutanol is a good candidate. The fuel has excellent properties with respect to energy density, Reid vapour pressure and is covered by existing fuels standards.

In this application, the integration of a thermochemical isobutanol pathway into a traditional petrorefinery is investigated. The starting material for the process is a side-product from the first generation biofuels production such as ethanol and biodiesel production. By integrating the process into an existing production facility, the project estimates the savings with respect to energy and feedstock as well as the environmental impact of the process.

Photo: FreeImages.com/Luciano Tirabassi

The project provides an overview of ongoing activities, policies and actors related to biofuels in Australia and collaborative activities to promote biofuels in the Asia Pacific Region, particularly through the forum for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC. A parallel objective is to identify and explore possibilities for cooperation between the f3 centre and key organisations in Australia and the Asia-Pacific Region.

With a high availability of forest biomass and various types of cellulose based waste, Sweden is of significant interest concerning future large scale production of second generation biofuels. Large plant sizes, however, increase the required feedstock supply area and put significant demands on the supply chain. Competition for the available feedstock further complicates the picture, and as co-production or co-location with other industry provides an opportunity for higher total conversion efficiencies, it also puts additional requirements on the locations.

This project has developed an optimization model for investigation and determination of locations in Sweden for production of second generation biofuels from lignocellulosic feedstocks. The overall aim is to identify locations with boundary conditions robust to energy market prices, policy instruments, investment costs, feedstock competition, and integration possibilities with existing energy systems. The model can be useful for decision support for different biofuel production stakeholders as well as for government and policy makers.

Thermal gasification at large scale for cogeneration of power and heat and/or production of fuels and materials is a main pathway for a sustainable deployment of biomass resources. However, so far no such full scale production exists and biomass gasification projects remain at the pilot or demonstration scale.

This project has focused on the key critical technology challenges for the large-scale deployment of the tre following biomass-based gasification concepts:

1. Direct Fluidised Bed Gasification (FBG)
2. Entrained Flow Gasification (EFG)
3. Indirect Dual Fluidised Bed Gasification (DFBG)

The main content in this report is based on responses from a number of experts in biomass gasification obtained from a questionnaire. The survey was composed of a number of more or less specific questions on technical barriers as to the three gasification concepts considered. For formalising the questionnaire, the concept of Technology Readiness Level (TRL 1-9) was used for grading the level of technical maturity of the different sub-processes within the three generic biomass gasification technologies.

Many life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have investigated the environmental impact of using biofuel in transportation compared with fossil fuels. Since these studies often use standard values for the fossil fuel reference scenario, there is a need for a thorough review of published data on fossil fuel use in transportation.

This study reviewed the available literature regarding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy balances in petrol and diesel use and examined possible causes for the differences reported in the literature. This included differences connected to the LCA methodology itself, but also those resulting from technical and economic effects.

Thirteen studies were reviewed in order to establish the level of GHG emissions and energy use in the well-to-tank perspective and, where possible, in the entire well-to-wheel perspective. The studies used different input data, allocation methods and system boundaries, but the results fell within a narrow range, since the energy content of the fuels on a tank-to-wheel basis differed only slightly, while the use phase represents most GHG emissions and energy usage in fuel life cycles. All studies reviewed reported GHG emissions values that exceeded the reference value of 83.8 g CO2-eq/MJ fuel suggested in the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) of 2009.

The project investigates the current state of knowledge and identifies knowledge gaps related to land use linked to biofuel production. The main focus is on impacts related to Swedish production of biofuels.

Land use change issues have generated a large volume of research throughout the world. Though many facts have been scientifically established, divergent opinions also occur. It is difficult to grasp what the scientific community as a whole knows and thinks on these matters. This project therefore collects and compiles the research results on three important subject areas: Biodiversity and soil chemistry, Indirect land use (ILUC) and climate change, and Socioeconomic impacts and policy development.

Information on what is scientifically known in these subject areas, and what impacts of todays and future biofuel production could be, is important to Swedish industry policy-makers in order to obtain a solid basis for investments, strategic decisions and development of policies on future biofuel production.

A large number of national and international techno-economic studies on industrially integrated gasifiers for production of biofuels have been published during the recent years. These studies comprise different types of gasifiers (fluidized bed, indirect and entrained flow) integrated in different industries for the production of various types of chemicals and transportation fuels (SNG, FT-products, methanol, DME etc.) The results are often used for techno-economic comparisons between different biorefinery concepts. One relatively common observation is that even if the applied technology and the produced biofuel are the same, the results of the techno-economic studies may differ significantly.

The main objective of this project has been to perform a comprehensive review of publications regarding industrially integrated biomass gasifiers for motor fuel production. The purposes have been to identify and highlight the main reasons why similar studies differ considerably and to prepare a basis for “fair” techno-economic comparisons. Another objective has been to identify possible lack of industrial integration studies that may be of interest to carry out in a second phase of the project.

Around 40 national and international reports and articles have been analysed and reviewed.

Currently there are several on-going biofuel production units and research projects in Sub-Saharan African countries. These differ in respect to countries, scales, source of raw materials (feedstock) and so forth. Thus there is a need for an overview of the on-going biofuel production, research and other related activities. The aim of this study was to give a broad overview of Sub-Saharan Africa regarding current biofuel policies, on-going and planned biofuel production, and to map research activities and actors related to biofuels in the Sub-Saharan Africa countries.

Biofuel development largely depends on the policies of the countries in the region. Several countries such as Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania etc. are in the process of developing biofuel regulatory frameworks with the aim to promote sustainable development in the biofuel sector.

The project summarizes the most promising biochemical production routes for integrated production of ethanol and biogas (together with electricity, heat, lignin etc.) from lignocellulosic biomass. The routes are analyzed from a resource, energy, environmental and cost efficiency point of view, based on research and development activities at the participating partners in the project.

The technical implementation potential is assessed for existing infrastructure in Swedish district heating systems (DHS), forest industries, and ethanol plants, and as stand-alone co-production plants. Also, the corresponding regional potential of feedstock supply from agriculture and forestry which fulfill relevant sustainability criteria is assessed.

The synthesis, which also includes a comparison with the performance of current ethanol and biogas production systems from a life cycle perspective, will be a valuable decision support for policy makers in their effort to develop efficient incentives to accelerate the implementation of innovative biofuel production systems, and for industry when planning for investments.

Today, there are a number of biofuels in different stages of development: from ethanol, RME and tall oil diesel, to methane, methanol and DME from different sources. Several studies have shown the advantages of biofuels compared to fossil fuels regarding greenhouse gas emissions, etc. However, to the best of our knowledge, previous reports have not sufficiently considered current and alternative uses of biomass in for example heat and power production, or production of chemicals or materials such as pulp and paper.

As a valuable resource, and in a sustainable society, biomass should be used as efficiently as possible and the competing interests need to be considered. This project is a pre-study aiming to describe the environmental effects of alternative sourcing for current products from forest biomass when the biomass is instead used for fuel. By highlighting critical issues for further analyses, the study constitutes a solid basis for more detailed analyses of climate related effects of biofuel production, thus leading to increased understanding of how to maximize the positive climate effects of production of forest based biofuels.

The production of transportation fuels from renewable primary energy sources requires ongoing support if it is to reach commercial maturity. Worldwide, the most common types of support are politically derived ‘policy instruments’. A variety of such instruments have been and are applied in differing contexts in different parts of the world; in this project we describe and dissect policy instruments that have been used in Brazil, the EU (with prime focus on Germany), and the US. As the political economy of biofuels these jurisdictions has evolved over past decades, and policy interventions have also changed, the analysis focuses on key points of change or major market inflections. Emphasis was placed on the following aspects of enquiry in particular:

• underlying motivations for policy interventions, how were they formulated, and how outcomes align with the initial objectives;
• how instruments supported the biofuels sector(s) in the short and longer terms;
• lessons of relevance to the promotion of renewable biofuels in Sweden.

During the study period, the Swedish government proposed a new ‘hybrid’ quota system for low-level blended biofuels. However, pure and high-level blended biofuels outside the quota system and retaining tax exemptions. This has affected the deductions drawn for the Swedish way forward regarding biofuel-related policy instruments. Further, two important Swedish policy goals affect biofuel futures: zero net 2050 greenhouse gas emissions, and a fossil independent 2030 transport sector. While transportation biofuels will be part of the toolbox to reach both these goals, lack of clarity regarding their application to biofuels (particularly for the latter) make many questions re-garding future policy instruments difficult to answer definitively.

The scientific literature presents an increasing number of energy-economic systems analysis modeling studies treating the transport sector as an integrated part of the energy system and/or economy. Many of these studies provide important insights regarding transport biofuels. To clarify similarities and differences in approaches and results, this project summarizes and analyzes input data and transport biofuel-related results of 29 peer reviewed scientific journal articles presenting studies based on different energy-economic models.

The aim has been to investigate what future role comprehensive energy-economy modeling studies portray for transport biofuels in terms of their potential and competitiveness. This includes a mapping of what future transport biofuel utilization and market shares the studies describe as well as an analysis of what factors influence this.

A challenge in the use of biomass for fuel production is loss of mass from the forest or field to the tank by production of carbon dioxide. This loss has large impact on the overall feasibility of biofuels because it requires significant resources in land use and energy use in cultivation, harvesting and transportation of biomass.  If there were some manner in which the carbon could be preserved, significant savings in resources, e.g. up to one half of the land use, could be achieved.

The project proposes a novel, hybrid process that utilizes fermentation to preserve carbon by consumption of carbon dioxide followed by a chemical process to form a biofuel.

The overall goal of the project has been to identify technically feasible and economically and environmentally sustainable concepts for biomethane production based on cooperation between the forest industry and utilities. The potential for biogas production via AD in the Swedish forest industry is about 1.5 TWh per year. Technically, most of this potential should be possible to realize by 2020. This potential is comparable to the forecasted demand for biogas in public transportation by 2020.

The study specifically explores the integration of anaerobic digestion (AD) in pulp mills. The AD process converts waste streams into valuable fuel for the transport sector, while  the overall re­source efficiency in the wastewater treatment at the pulp mills increases. Simulation models and economic calculations are used to evaluate the potential for biogas production in mills producing bleached kraft pulp. This is complemented by a compilation of related studies to cover the total potential for biogas production in the pulp and paper industry.

A general problem for biogas of vehicle fuel grade is cost- and energy efficient transportation and storage. One potential option could be to convert the biogas to gas hydrate, for further transport and upgrading to e.g. vehicle gas in a large scale. Hydrate is ice-like crystals that form at low temperature and high pressure.

The study has investigated the possibilities for formation of gas hydrates from biogas, by applying comparative system analyses with respect to economy and energy. The report includes a comparison of three scenarios for converting farm-produced biogasto vehicle fuel quality gas including conventional upgrading and transport in pressurized vessels and two future-oriented scenarios based on formation, transport and dissociation of gas hydrates.

Algal biomass is a promising future source of sustainable fuel, and efforts are being taken all around the world to develop the opportunity. A variety of fuel types are considered, such as biodiesel, biogas, biohydrogen, bioethanol and biobutanol.

The purpose of this study is to obtain knowledge of the worldwide competence within the area of using algal biomass as a source for biofuel, through a systemic structuring and mapping of the work which has been performed as well as ongoing initiatives. The scope of the study is limited to results of recent studies, current industrial activity and ongoing research initiatives.

Conclusions from the study are that there is a variety of research and industrial activities going on within the field of algal biofuel, but the Nordic countries are only to a certain extent involved.

The project provides an overview of R&D activities in Austria, starting with the current situation and legislations concerning biofuels. The report covers domestic production of biofuels, Austrian biofuel technology provider, R&D, and a selection of biofuel related research projects.

Biogas is currently used for production of heat and electricity, or it is upgraded to e.g. fuel gas. In 2012, 26 farm-based biogas facilities existed in Sweden, mainly based on manure, producing in total 47 GWh biogas. In these facilities the main part of the biogas was used for heat and electricity and only 1 GWh was upgraded. The reason why not a larger amount was upgraded is that it is costly to compress and transport the gas, especially when the biogas production site is far from commerce.

One alternative to the present field of application could be to process the gas further to transportation fuels such as methanol and dimethyl ether (DME). In comparison to biogas, methanol and DME are easier to transport. Another advantage is the possibility to use them as fuel at the farm.

Within Biogas Skaraborg, a project run by Hushållningssällskapet Skaraborg, it is of interest to evaluate the possibilities to convert biogas to primarily DME, and possibly also methanol. The aim of this f3 project is a short and general literature survey that presents available technologies and identifies their possibili­ties and most important challenges for further consideration of this biogas upgrading route.

A desire in society to reduce the use of fossil fuels has led to a search of renewable options. Lately, social aspects of the production of biofuels have come into focus. However, research has addressed a limited set of social impacts, and not those from fossil fuels.

In this project we have applied the methodology of social life cycle assessment on different biofuels, and fossil fuels. The objective was to identify the main social and socioeconomic impacts from the life cycle of all assessed fuels in a comparable way, and see how these are incorporated in existing policies and certification schemes.

The project contributes to improved knowledge on social impacts from the selected fuels and guidance on how to use the results in policy-making and integrate them with other evaluations.

Sweden with its rich forest resources is of significant interest concerning future large-scale production of next generation biofuels. Large plant sizes, however, increase the required feedstock supply area and put significant demands on the supply chain. Co-location with
other industry provides an opportunity for higher system efficiencies, but also puts additional requirements on the locations, as does competition for the available feedstock. Since production facilities for next generation biofuels are associated with very large investments,
careful evaluation of possible plant locations is of utmost importance.

Through the f3 project Optimal Localisation of next generation biofuel production in Sweden, a techno-economic, geographically explicit biofuel production plant localisation model was developed. The model, named BeWhere Sweden, is a potentially valuable tool for simulation and analysis of the Swedish energy system, including the industry and transport sectors. It minimises the cost of the entire studied system, including costs and revenues for biomass harvest and transportation, production plants, transportation and delivery of biofuels, sales of co-products, and economic policy instruments. The model will thus choose the least costly pathways from one set of feedstock supply points to a specific biofuel production plant and further to a set of biofuel demand points, while meeting the demand for biomass in other sectors. Focus is on forest-based biomass and integration with industry, in particular with forest industry.

In this work BeWhere Sweden has been used to model four different roadmap scenarios for 2030 that are based on scenarios presented by the Swedish Environment Protection Agency in their report “Basis for a roadmap for Sweden without GHG emissions in 2050”. The roadmap
scenarios used here take into account e.g. demand for transport, transport fuel and next generation biofuels, available forest biomass resources, biomass available for industrial purposes, biomass usage in other energy and industrial sectors, and energy market conditions.
The primary objective has been to identify cost-effective types of biofuel production plant locations that are robust to various boundary conditions, in particular regarding energy market prices, policy instruments, investment costs, feedstock competition and integration possibilities with existing energy systems, and to provide a broader analysis of the model results regarding e.g. implications for policy makers and connections between different actors in the biofuel innovation system.

Biogas has a unique potential to reduce fossil fuel dependency and the climate impact from waste, manure and fuel supply. Previous studies have indicated a potential to produce up to 14 TWh biogas from agricultural substrates in Sweden, and a significant part of this growth potential is found in small-scale plants. In order to increase the utilization of the Swedish agriculture-based biogas potential, not only financial support, but also knowledge, methodology and tools for strategic planning are required.

Important steps to improve the conditions for increasing biogas production is therefore to learn from existing plants and to develop improved tools for strategic planning and efficient logistics, so that the most appropriate places and the most efficient logistic chains for biogas production can be identified. To identify the best opportunities for efficient and profitable biogas production, complex interactions between substrate mix, plant size, gas utilization and transport demand need to be taken into account. On other words, the system needs to be considered as a whole.

The purpose of this project has been to generate knowledge and tools that can improve the conditions for new biogas production. The specific objectives are to promote logistics experiences from existing facilities, to develop an optimization model for strategic planning, and to apply the model in a concrete case study in Sofielund, south of Stockholm, with Scandinavian Biogas Fuels AB.

Field trips and interviews were undertaken to collect information and summarize experiences from Swedish and German crop and manure-based biogas production.

The high oil dependence and the continuous growth of energy use in the transport sector have in recent years triggered interest in transport biofuels as a measure to mitigate climate change and improve energy security. A future large scale integration of renewable fuels in the road transport sector will in significant ways change the energy system. To minimize the risk of unwanted system effects, the assessment of biomass potentials and the long term performance of different transport fuels and technologies are essential.

This project has aimed to establish future biofuel-based pathways for the road transport sector that are feasible, sustainable and linked to low risks. A broad perspective is strived for and technical, economic as well as environmental parameters are taken into account. The analysis is primarily based on the development and use of an energy system model describing the Swedish road transport sector as an integrated part of the national energy system.

Photo: FreeImages.com/Johanna Ljungblom

Use of arable land for energy crop production is already a reality in some countries. To meet future sustainability criteria for biofuel systems, it will be crucial to demonstrate systems which do not negatively affect current food production. This is of special relevance regarding future biofuels from energy crops cultivated on arable land and a potential implementation of so called iLUC – indirect land use change – factors.

One promising strategy is to improve the soil productivity, and thereby food crop yields, through dedicated and integrated food and energy crop rotations. The purpose of this study has been to evaluate a scenario where a biogas plant is providing the organic fertilizer needed for soil productivity improvement. In addition, crops have been integrated in the food crop rotation to improve soil fertility – crops which at the same time can act as biogas feedstock. The evaluation is performed as a case study on farm level, where the total output of food/feed products from the farm potentially could be maintained in addition to production of biogas feedstock.

As biofuel production increases worldwide, the market value for by-products has continued to change. By-products originally having strong market value may become saturated in the market with lower profitability. The use of these by-products for innovative products may therefore allevi­ate economic and environmental pressure for the commercial biofuel industry.

There are many potential useful substances that can be extracted from the by-products from the biofuel industry. Their subsequent uses can include for example use as feed, chemicals and energy. Moreover, further value can be added to the raw material inputs by cascading their use for new products prior to use in biofuel production.

This report aims at identifying possibilities for the biofuel industry to add value to their product outputs in addition to cascading use of raw materials for increased valorization, with special atten­tion devoted to the ethanol and biodiesel industry.

The report outlines different possibilities to extract proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, amino acids from the by-products in addition to their use as chemical building blocks for other processing tech­nologies. Raw materials used for the production of biofuel have also been identified as possible inputs to a variety of biorefinery systems. While there are many options available for valorization of the commercial biofuel industry, the promotion of advanced biofuels, environmental perfor­mance guidelines, market acceptance and competitiveness may be barriers to improving the current biofuel production performance.

A current trend in biomass conversion technologies is towards more efficient utilization of the biomass feedstock in so called biorefineries. One important aspect of bioenergy systems is the sustainability performance, especially energy use and greenhouse gases are at present given much attention. Life cycle assessment, LCA, is often used as a quantification tool for sustainability evaluation.

The aim of this project has been to highlight how different methodological choices in LCA, e.g, time and system boundaries and definition and choice of functional unit, influence the sustainability evaluation of biorefinery systems. Further, the project report gives recommendations and guidelines on how LCA of biorefineries can be carried out in future studies.

These guidelines can be be useful for LCA practioners in both research and industry. Following guidelines will increase accuracy and enhance comparability of studies. Also, as greenhouse gas emissions increasingly often are being regulated, this project has tried to bring to policymakers the balanced information needed for regulation and strategic decisions.

Sweden is one of the leading countries in the development of upgraded biogas for use in the transport sector. The introduction of a new vehicle fuel is complex since the production, infrastructure, and vehicle fleet has to be simultaneously developed. The aim of this report is to evaluate the barriers and drivers for increased production and use of upgraded biogas. The implications for the future development of the biogas system are also analysed.

It is likely that investment support schemes, like LIP and KLIMP, have been important in the construction of new biogas production facilities and infrastructure. The exemptions from energy and carbon dioxide taxes have also been important, both for producers and gas vehicle owners.

However, it is difficult to predict whether this is enough for the further expansion of biogas as a transportation fuel. Biogas chains from production to use, as well as other chains for pure and highlevel blends of biofuels, will probably need further specific incentives to compete with fuelefficient diesel vehicles. If biogas should be promoted further, support that enable biogas vehicles to compete with the alternatives in terms of life cycle economy is likely to be a key issue.

Sustainability performance of biofuels is often evaluated using life cycle assessment (LCA). Based on this method standardized guidelines has been laid down in the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED), commonly used by the industry. Biorefineriesproducing a variety of co-products, poses particular challenges for the sustainability assessment methodologies.

In the previous f3 project Sustainable performance of lignocellulose-based ethanol and biogas co-produced in innovative biorefinery systems, the GHG performance of ethanol and biogas co-produced in biorefineries from a lignocellulosic feedstock were calculated, applying the RED methodology.

The aim in this project has been to study aspects which are not included in the RED methodology. A specific emphasis was laid on methodological choices such as handling of co-products, functional unit, system boundaries etc. The results and methods are also discussed in relation to the RED methodology.

The results can be used to identify future research needs, but also be useful for future policymaking regarding e.g. use of lignocellulosic feedstock or biorefining and for industry.

Commercial fuels in the market are blended out of various constituents. Biomass-based components are part of practically all commercial fuels today (ethanol in gasoline, FAME/HVO in diesel, CNG/CBG mixtures). With an increasing demand for environmental communication business-to-business as well as business-to-consumer there is also an increasing demand for generic, well-acknowledged best available environmental data for vehicle fuels, both in terms of production resource efficiency and emissions, as well as emissions from use in vehicles.

Through this project, Swedish companies in the transport sector as well as other sectors will get access to a high-quality up-to-date data source containing such data. The project setup will promote long-term collaboration of main stakeholders in Sweden for such data under the f3 structure.

Photo (c) Margarit Ralev

Butanols are four carbon alcohols available in four isomeric forms that mainly find use as solvents or as starting chemicals in lacquers and plastics. Compared to ethanol and methanol, butanols have a higher energy content and better water separating properties and are as well less corrosive. Thereby, the use of butanols as a fuel or fuel blend component is technically more promising than methanol and ethanol.

Corn has been the traditionall feedstock for biobutanol production, but recently (December 2013) also ligno-cellulosic waste has been used as feedstock for ABE fermentation at scale. With respect to the large supply of cellulosic waste materials in Sweden and potential use and benefits from iso- and n-butanols as biofuels/biochemicals, the objective of this project has been to investigate the production and research efforts on biobutanol in Sweden and relate these to corresponding efforts for biobutanol globally.

The outcome of the survey reveals that Sweden has no or little tradition on biobutanol production as well as no focused research in the field. The greatest increase in biobutanol production occurs in China, where commercial production sites for biobutanol based on corn feedstock are in operation. The research regarding butanol fermentation is dominating in the US, Germany and Asia.

Environmental product declarations (EPD’s) of vehicle fuels, based on LCA, will likely be increasingly required by the market in the near future. EPD is in the broad sense a market driven format for communicating LCA based environmental information business-to-business and more recently also business-to-consumer.

A key component in LCA based EPD’s is a method prescription document, referred to as Product Category Rules (PCR). A PCR defines the necessary method and data requirements, as agreed by the interested stakeholders in a process of iterated drafting, open consultation and revising. This project has focused on initiating the work towards a PCR as a necessary background requirement before the actual PCR development can start.

One of the main challenges for correct LCI data and consequently EPDs for fuels lies in the traceability of the fuel to its source, meaning exactly where it comes from and how it is produced. Today, this is more developed for biofuels than for fossil fuels due to the implementation of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED), and, more specifically, fulfilment of the so-called sustainability criteria. This is called Guarantees of origin (GO). One difficulty lies in the fact that fuels from different sources are often mixed before distribution to the fuel retailer.

The purpose of this project has been to explore conditions and opportunities to develop EPDs for vehicle fuels including the customer demands for life cycle based environmental data on vehicle fuels. It is a continuation of the previous f3 project Well-to-wheel LCI data for fossil and renewable fuels on the Swedish market.

Today there are a number of renewable chemicals under development, both biofuels and platform chemicals. Several studies have shown advantages of these compared to their fossil based counterparts. To achieve the most efficient production the concept of biorefineries has been brought forward, optimizing the use of the raw material when several products are produced in parallel and the integration of processes leading to energy savings. The number of studies investigating the environmental impact of the production of these products in biorefineries are however, very limited.

The project consists of a case study investigating the environmental performance of an extended biorefinery concept that consists of several industries integrated in a symbiotic system located in Kristianstad producing RME, ethanol, propionic acid, and biogas. The results highlight general critical issues for biorefineries, e.g. important environmental hot spots for biorefinery production, and can increase the understanding of how to maximize the positive environmental effects of production in biorefineries. In cooperation with involved companies, the technical feasibility of the biorefinery is  investigated. This aims at showing industry and policy makers how an efficient and economically viable biorefinery concept based on the use of residues from agriculture and industry can be designed.

This study has been made at request of the secretariats for Environment and Development within Region Västra Götaland, as part of their strategic planning aiming at long-term development of a regional, sustainable transport system. An important starting point for the regional analysis is the national study on pathways towards a fossil-independent transport sector in Sweden (FFF), presented in 2013.

Central questions for the region’s strategic work are:

• What is the potential for production and use of the various types of biofuels for transportation in Västra Götaland, and if/how do they differ from the nation as a whole?
• Which factors and necessary conditions impact the development of various systems?
• How can a transition from the current system to a long-term sustainable system take place, how can it be promoted, and what would the role of the region be in such a development?

The report is written in Swedish with an English summary.

Production of ethanol from lignocellulosic materials is a very complex process, which consists of various interdependent steps, such as pretreatment of the raw material, enzymatic hydrolysis of the polysaccharides into sugar monomers, fermentation of the sugars to ethanol, and purification of ethanol. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a potential tool for comparing and analyzing environmental performance of different pathways for lignocellulosic ethanol as well as finding hot spots for future improvements. Several previous LCA’s have identified the production of cellulase enzymes as a process that have a large impact on overall results, especially regarding energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The aim of the present study was to investigate GHG performance, primary energy use and ethanol production cost from two different process designs regarding cellulase enzymes for lignocellulosic ethanol production: (i) integrated in ethanol plant versus (ii) purchased from a centralized facility. On-site cellulase production in a full-scale bioethanol plant was modelled together with the whole ethanol production process, and the economic impact of the enzyme fermentation step on the ethanol production cost was assessed.

The results show that primary energy efficiency is somewhat higher in the cases with integrated enzyme production, but no major differences are identified. Regarding GHG emissions, results show that by using part of the lignocellulosic feedstock for enzyme production by the microorganism, emissions from bioethanol in a well-to-wheel perspective can be reduced significantly, compared to a scenario using purchased enzymes from a centralized facility. Information regarding purchased enzymes is scarce and data is connected to large uncertainties. The sensitivity analysis shows that assumptions regarding purchased enzymes, such as dosage and type of energy utilized in production, largely affect the comparison with an integrated enzyme production approach.

Sweden has set the ambitious goal of acquiring a fossil-free vehicle fleet in 2030. This is a key step towards the country’s CO2-emissions neutral target to be achieved by 2050. The public transport sector, and bus service in particular, plays an important role in achieving this goal. In 2013, bus transport services were offered in all municipalities in Sweden and accounted for 52% of passenger boarding in public transport.

The Swedish public transport sector has defined two major targets: (i) to run 90% of the total vehicle kilometers of the fleet on non-fossil fuels by 2020, and (ii) to increase the share of public transport in relation to the total personal transport in the country, and double the volume of travel via public transport by 2020. The analysis performed within this project highlights the challenges and solutions encountered, particularly when it comes to the adoption of renewable fuels in the regional bus fleets. The fuel alternatives considered are biodiesel, biogas, ethanol and electricity.

The project results show that biodiesel has been the preferred fuel while increasing deployment of renewable fuels in buses, especially in scarcely populated regions. In addition, the compatibility with traditional diesel engines has favored this option among service providers. The use of biogas is increasing in line with incentives at local and national level. The deployment of electricity in buses is only found in city traffic, while the major choice for regional routes is usually biodiesel. A survey among experts in public transport indicated that electricity is likely to receive increasing attention and become more attractive. Environmental aspects such as emission reduction potential and energy efficiency are a priority when choosing fuels, together with infrastructure needs and fuel availability.

There is no strong correlation between population density or bus transport volume and the share of renewable fuels in the bus fleet, as shown in our mapping of renewable fuel deployment at regional level. This indicates political will, strategic planning and policies to promote public transport as very important factors affecting renewable fuel deployment.

Various knowledge transfer initiatives already in place show that decentralizing implementation efforts and sharing experiences serves well to promote innovative solutions and avoid mistakes. Devising a successful strategy for renewable fuels and low emissions in public bus fleets requires long-term engagement of decision-makers and broad collaboration with stakeholders. Every region has a different starting point but, with a multitude of concrete actions at local level, Sweden is showing that the transition to a fossil-free bus transport is indeed possible. These experiences provide lessons that should be shared internationally, and shall contribute to the transformation of transport systems towards sustainability.

To ensure that biofuels are produced sustainably, an increasing body of scientific literature has become available in recent years focusing on the environmental sustainability of biofuels, often using environmental systems analysis (ESA) approaches such as life cycle assessments. However, these studies only address some of potential environmental impact categories.

This study aims to review and compare the state-of-the-art in environmental systems analyses of biofuel production systems, internationally and in Sweden. This is done in order to determine how studies have portrayed the potential environmental impacts of biofuel production pathways. Furthermore, this study identifies the scope of environmental impact categories considered, if there is a focus on a narrow set of environmental impact categories, and if there is, why this may exist.

A systematic literature review has been conducted to identify the most relevant environmental systems analyses of biofuels in Swedish research between 2000 and 2014. From the articles, information on ESA approaches used, goals, impact categories, methods, biofuels analysed and other relevant information was compiled.

The results indicate that there is a pronounced focus on GHG emission related impacts. However, this focus has not inhibited other impact categories from being investigated in the environmental assessment of biofuels, which is consistent with international research on the environmental assessment of biofuels, characterised by a dominant focus on GHG emissions and energy use.

The narrow focus in environmental impact categories is discussed in terms of study dependent variables (for example goal of the study, methods, and data uncertainty and availability) and the influence of the dominant science-policy framework in Sweden. Whilst biofuel production is inextricably linked to climate policy, one should not forget that the broader context of the Swedish environmental objectives should also be taken into consideration when developing biofuel production systems in Sweden.

Syngas, or synthesis gas, is a fuel gas mixture consisting of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2) in different proportions. In some cases, carbon dioxide (CO2) is also included in the mix. Syngas is an important feedstock when producing ammonia, methanol and many other chemical products, but also gaseous biofuels (e.g. substitute natural gas (SNG) and hydrogen) and liquid biofuels (e.g. Fischer-Tropsch diesel and dimethyl ether, DME). Syngas can also be used in turbines for efficient production of electricity and heat.

Much attention has been given to the possibility of thermal gasification of forest products, but there are other alternatives for syngas production. This report reviews the possibilities of converting agricultural feedstock (crops, manure, residues etc.) to syngas via (1) upgrading of biogas from anaerobic digestion and (2) thermochemical conversion. The focus of the review is on technical conversion systems rather than feedstock and it is based on existing literature, but a rough energy analysis, examining some of the energy inputs and outputs to the system, is also presented.

The production of biofuels has increased dramatically in North America in recent years. The United States (U.S.) is leading this development and has promoted biofuels through a number of policies and mandates through the Renewable Fuels Standard to drive production, research and innovation in the area. Canada has also intensified the promotion of biofuels in recent years through the Renewable Fuels Regulation, in addition to a number of provincial policies and mandates to promote biofuels.

Ethanol is currently the dominant fuel in both countries, with blend rates in petrol most commonly between 5-10 percent.  The promotion and policies for ethanol fuels has helped to drastically increase their production and use in the past 10 years (2004-2014). In comparison to ethanol, biodiesel, for example, is produced in only marginal volumes in North America.

Despite the dramatic increases in the past 10 years, Canada and the U.S. have seen stagnation in conventional biofuel production. This is due in part to a saturation of the market and incentives for current plants, but also due to a large focus on advanced biofuel, for example cellulose-based ethanol.

This project has aimed at providing a brief overview of the development, production, policies and trends promoting biofuels in Canada and the US. Information was collected through literature reviews and interviews with leading researchers in Canada and the US.

Forest-derived methane may contribute significantly to a vehicle fleet independent of fossil fuels by 2030. There is sufficient technical knowledge about energy conversion methods and several Swedish actors have investigated and prepared investments in production facilities, but the technology is not commercially mature yet and it needs support during a development period. The combination of varying investment possibilities due to market changes, and the unpredictable development of policy instruments supporting production and use of renewable energy, is a major reason to why potential investments are postponed.

The use of upgraded biogas in the transport sector has increased continuously since its introduction in 1996. Upgraded biogas is complemented by natural gas to meet the vehicle gas demand. A voluntary agreement among the distributors maintains a minimum biogas share that corresponds to 50 %. The biogas share is much higher today (74 % by volume, average January-August 2015) and some large end-users use pure upgraded biogas.

Studies of the practical production potential show that the current vehicle gas demand could be met entirely with upgraded biogas. However, an increased demand will eventually require other production pathways based on other feedstocks. Gasification of forest biomass is one such pathway.

This project has conducted a literature study and an interview study with three industry actors to answer the question “How can forest derived methane complement biogas from anaerobic digestion in the Swedish transport sector?” For example, results from the study point out that

• In order to attract investments in forest-derived methane, the vehicle gas market must continue to increase. To invest in a large-scale facility implies too large a risk given the size of the current demand and the uncertainties of the future market.
• If methane should be able to play an increasingly important role in a future transportation sector, the gasification technology needs policy support during a development period.
• The predictability of policy support is perceived as low. The predictability is more important than the specific type of policy instrument to attract investments.

The intensified focus on bio-based economy has revived the interest in forest industry as a very important factor in the achievement of the transition away from an economy based in fossil raw materials. The sustainable use of the natural resources and their ecosystem services is an important constituent of the bioeconomy. The objective of this project has been to give an overall view of the economic values related to the main physical biomass flows through the Swedish forest industry, and to discuss the implication for these value flows at the introduction of large-scale transportation fuel production from forest biomass. Thereby it aims to provide a better understanding for the bioeconomy structure, the values added within it and the options for renewable motor fuel production, by applying a “follow the money” approach.

The approach has been to combine existing information on physical feedstock flows with economic data from available statistics and literature. Through interviews and collection of more detailed statistics, data on production, market prices and value chains were compiled for three selected products: softwood kraft pulp, dissolving grade cellulose and ethanol.

The general conclusion from the project is that biorefining is about finding the optimal combination of feedstock requirements, processing cost, process flexibility, product mix and product properties.  Biorefining with integrated production of several products is generally found to be more efficient and with better economic performance than separate production. Integration with interdependence of several processes, however, increases the technical complexity and puts new demands on the businesses.

This project has produced a knowledge synthesis addressing flexibility in ethanol-based biorefinery processes using lignocellulosic feedstocks from the Swedish forestry and agricultural sectors. The flexibility of biorefinery operations is important as it determines their capacity to respond to fluctuations in feedstock supply and market demands. Here, the flexibility of feedstocks, processes, volumes and products, referred to as manufacturing flexibility, is reviewed. Particular emphasis has been given feedstock and product flexibility.

Increasing the product flexibility of a biorefinery is one means of reducing the risks associated with uncertainties in the future biofuel demand. A number of non-fuel products can be generated in a flexible biorefinery and there is future market potential in e.g. polyhydroxyalkanoates, lactic acid and other organic acids. Further, single-cell proteins may be produced with a number of microorganisms, using lignocellulosic sugars, simple nutrients and equipment similar to that of second generation ethanol plants.

It is concluded that a vast number of options to increase manufacturing flexibility in biorefinery operations exist. Although the present report does not include assessments of these options from a techno-economical perspective, it is indispensable that such analyses are made in conjunction with a scrutiny of the effects on the production as a whole, and the interdependency of the different processing steps in relation to the prerequisites of each biorefinery facility.

In 2012 f3 was asked to contribute to the official report of the Swedish Government “Fossilfrihet på väg” (Fossil independency on the way, SOU 2013:84) by summarizing the current state of the art knowledge about production of biofuels and sustainability aspects such as energy and land efficiency and greenhouse gas performance and costs, preferably from a Swedish perspective. The f3 contribution was published in June 2013 with the title “Dagens och framtidens hållbara biodrivmedel” (Sustainable biofuels today and in the future).

During 2016 a new report was compiled, based on the work of the 2013 publication. This report includes facts and figures updated in correspondance to new research results and is available in English.

This summary is an extended abstract for a Master of Science in Energy Environment Management thesis performed at Linköping University, the Department of Management and Engineering, written by Malin Karlsson and Linnea Sund.  The thesis was supervised by Sandra Halldin at Lantmännen Agroetanol, a member of f3.

Introduction

The last three decades have been the warmest of the last 1400 years in the northern hemisphere. Human influence on the climate is clear and the on-going climate changes have had widespread impacts on the environment and the economy (IPCC, 2015). Agricultural activities are estimated to be responsible for one-third of climate change, partly because of deforestation and the use of fertilisers (Climate Institute, n.d.). The beef production is also a major contributor to climate change, and the beef consumption worldwide is increasing, raising the demand for animal feed (Dalgaard, et al., 2008). One of the reasons why the beef production has such a large environmental impact is the large area of arable land required in order to grow animal feed (Larsson, 2015). The population growth and the climate change will probably lead to a decrease in available arable land in parts of the world (Zhang & Cai, 2011), which means it is more important than ever to use the arable land existing today in the best possible way from a climate change perspective.

Biofuels, such as bioethanol and rape methyl ester (RME), are produced with the hope to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from a life cycle perspective, since biofuels can replace fossil fuels in the transportation sector. As the availability of arable land is limited, the greenhouse gas reduction per hectare of land and year is an important measure of sustainability when producing biofuels (Börjesson, et al., 2013). Lately, using arable land for biofuel production has been criticized for competing with food production and leading to indirect land use changes, i.e. the production of biofuels in Europe leading to changed land use and greenhouse gas emissions somewhere else in the world. At the same time, a significant part of the European arable land is used as fallow (Eriksson, 2013), land that could have been used to produce food or biofuels. These aspects opens up for a discussion – how should the arable land be used to contribute as little as possible to climate change?

When producing bioethanol from wheat and RME from rapeseed, the co-products Dried Distillers Grain with Solubles (DDGS) and rapeseed meal are also produced. These co-products can be used as protein sources in animal feed and substitute imported soybean meal, which means less land is required to grow soybeans (Börjesson, et al., 2010). However, different protein feeds have different protein content, and soybean meal contains more protein than DDGS and rapeseed meal which means a smaller amount of soybean meal is required to provide the animals with their daily protein intake compared to the two other protein feeds (Bernesson & Strid, 2011). The question remains which of the three protein feeds that contributes the least to climate change.

Aim and method

The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the climate impact from different arable land use options and protein feeds  aimed for cattle. This has been made by executing two life cycle assessments (LCAs). The first LCA aimed to compare the following three arable land use options:

Cultivation of wheat used for production of bioethanol, carbon dioxide and DDGSCultivation of rapeseed used for production of RME, rapeseed meal and glycerineFallow in the form of long-term grassland

The second LCA aimed to compare the three protein feeds DDGS, rapeseed meal and soybean meal. In the LCA of arable land, the functional unit 1 ha arable land during one year was used and the LCA had a cradle-to-grave perspective. The LCA of protein feeds had the functional unit 100 kg digestible crude protein and had a cradle-to-gate perspective, hence the use and disposal phases of the feeds were excluded.

Bioethanol, DDGS and carbon dioxide produced at Lantmännen Agroetanol, Norrköping, were investigated in this study. The production of RME, rapeseed meal and glycerine were considered to occur at a large-scale plant in Östergötland, but no site-specific data was used. Instead, general data of Swedish production was used in the assessment. The wheat and rapeseed cultivations were considered to take place at the same Swedish field as the fallow takes place.

The protein feed DDGS was produced at Lantmännen Agroetanol and the rapeseed meal was assumed to be produced at a general large-scale plant in Sweden. In the soybean meal scenario, a general case for the Brazilian state Mato Grosso was assumed and no specific production site was investigated. Data required for the LCAs was retrieved from literature, the LCI database Ecoinvent and from Lantmännen Agroetanol.

In the LCA of arable land use options, system expansion was used on all products produced to be able to compare the wheat and rapeseed scenarios with the fallow scenario. In the LCA of protein feeds, system expansion was used on co-products. The products in the arable land use options and the co-products in the protein feed scenarios are considered to replace the production and use of products on the market with the same function.

Results and conclusion

The result shows that the best arable land use option from a climate change perspective is to cultivate wheat and produce bioethanol, carbon dioxide and DDGS. This is since wheat cultivation has a higher yield per hectare compared to rapeseed and therefore a bigger amount of fossil products and feed ingredients can be substituted. To have the arable land in fallow is the worst option from a climate change perspective, since no products are produced that can substitute alternative products. Furthermore, the result shows that DDGS and rapeseed meal are to prefer before soybean meal from a climate change perspective, since soybean meal has a higher climate impact than DDGS and rapeseed meal. This can be explained by the smaller share of co-products produced in the soybean meal scenario compared to the DDGS and rapeseed meal scenarios. Since the production and use of co-products leads to avoided greenhouse gas emissions (since they substitute alternatives), the amount of co-products being produced is an important factor. A sensitivity analysis was also executed testing different system boundaries and variables critical for the result in both LCAs.

The conclusion of this study is that arable land should be used to cultivate wheat in order to reduce the total climate impact from arable land. Furthermore, it is favorable for the climate if DDGS or rapeseed meal are used as protein feeds instead of imported soybean meal.

Through ambitious targets and goals, Sweden has surpassed targets set by the EU for biofuel con­sumption and is a European leader in the consumption of biofuels. Correspondingly, the use of biofuels in Sweden has increased rapidly since 2000. In 2014 biofuels corresponded to roughly 12% of transportation fuels.

In the context of identifying the environmental implications of Swedish biofuel consumption, this project has reviewed the origins of fuels, and raw materials used to produce the fuels from 2000-2014. This was done to identify and provide a comprehensive review of environmental implications that biofuel consumption (including imports and domestic production) of fuels have both in Sweden and abroad using life cycle assessment.

The results suggest that the increase in biofuel consumption has been met largely in part through the introduction and expansion of HVO, an increasing biogas production and consumption market and the imports of raw materials and fuels from Europe and other nations abroad. The environmental assessments illustrate that while GHG emissions may have been reduced in Sweden by the use of biofuels, the origin of the emissions has shifted from Sweden to other coun­tries abroad; due largely in part to an increased use of biofuels and raw materials from abroad.

In summary, the project illustrate that although policy has been designed to promote sustaina­ble transportation fuels, the implications on regions exporting fuels and raw materials for Swedish consumption in addition to the generation goals set by the Swedish Parliament, should be reviewed in order to avoid problem shifting and promote domestic production.

The use of biofuels in Sweden has increased dramatically during the last decade and the country is now one of the leadning member states in the EU. Sweden has ambitious nation­al targets for the transport sector and the ambition to continue being a leading country for biofuel use. This requires policies that justify long-term investment in biofuel production facilities and refueling infrastructure.

Although Swedish policy is in line with EU directives and state aid guidelines it has, however, at times, suffered from friction with the EU. This project has set out to give an overview of complex EU legislation and its implications for Swedish stimulus measures for biofuel development.

Among the regulations described and analysed are the Renewable Energy Directive, the ILUC Directive and the EU state aid guidelines.

Power to gas (P2G) means that power is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen by electrol­ysis. The technology has sparked a lot of interest as it enables storage of electrical power in energy gas and it could thereby be efficient for storage of excess electricity from re­newable wind, solar, or wave power. The hydrogen itself can either be used directly as a fuel or raw material, or allowed to react further with carbon monoxide and/or carbon dioxide into a bio­fuel or biochemical, for example methane or methanol. When the end-product is a liquid, the technology is called Power to Liquid (P2L).

Today, there is one commercial P2L-plant on Iceland and around 40 pilot and demonstration P2G/P2L-plants in Europe. There is not yet any P2G/P2L plant in Sweden, but with a growing interest, several studies have been carried out evaluating the possibilities and potential benefits of the technology with respect to conditions and locations in Sweden. In November 2016, an EU project was initiated with the aim to establish and evaluate a P2methanol pilot plant in Luleå in which carbon dioxide rich blast furnace gas from SSAB’s steel production would be combined with renewable hydrogen from intermittent electricity production.

The purpose of this project has been to identify, analyse and suggest different possibilities for P2G/P2L in Norrbotten with respect to the regional electricity market and hydrogen demands, having the bio­refinery infrastructure in Piteå as a starting point. The analysis consideres both current conditions and dif­ferent future scenarios and is a continuation of an ÅF-study from 2015 that pointed out Piteå-Luleå-Norrbotten as one of the three most appropriate locations for demonstrating P2G/P2L in Sweden.

Sweden aims to have a 100% renewable power production by 2040. This will primarily be achieved by largely expanding the intermittent power production with for example wind power. However, an increased proportion of wind power also requires increased access to energy storage and balance and/or regulating power. Sweden also has other environmental and cli­mate goals and ambitions to strive for, such as a fossil-independent transport sector in 2030, a car­bon-neutral society in 2045 and acheiving a leading position in taking care of and recycling waste in a circular economy.

The combination power-to-gas and biogas production can contribute to reach these goals in different ways. By enabling for a more flexible electricity system and, at the same time utilize the available biomass (e.g. manure and bio-degradable waste) more efficiently, more renewable fuels and/or chemicals can be produced from the same amount of biogas substrate. The concept is based on converting low-cost renewable electricity, via electrolysis, into hydrogen (power-to-gas). In turn, hydrogen is further reacted with carbon dioxide in raw biogas in so-called electro­fuel processes.

There are both thermochemical and biological electrofuel processes for methane production. There are also biological gas fermentation for the production of liquid electrofuels, i.e. bio-alcohols. Among today’s biogas producers the interest in electrofuel processes is growing because of their potential to open up for more profitable biogas plants at the same time as the plants could become more product flexible and less susceptible to market fluctua­tions. However, it is difficult to get a grip on what the techno-economic performance and degree of maturity of the pro­cesses really are, particularly concerning biological electrofuel processes.

This knowledge synthesis has aimed to meet this need. It includes in-situ, ex-situ biological methanation and gas fermentation, and uses thermochemical methanisation as a reference. The possibilities to combine and/or to replace conventional biogas upgrading with the different electrofuel processes are also investigated and discussed.

The report is written in Swedish with an English summary.

Traditional bioenergy supply chains design considers a centralized facility around which the bio­mass is collected. In the centralized supply chain design the benefits from economies of scale are counterbalanced by rising upstream transport costs as a higher scale requires a larger feedstock collection radius. Distributed supply chains configurations (i.e. including a pre-treatment step in which the biomass is densified) are often proposed to reduce the upstream transportation costs. It is hypothesized that such configuration allows for further upscaling and can hence decrease bioenergy production costs, particularly when using liquefaction technologies which are able to convert bio­mass into a transportable biocrude with a much high energy and bulk density compared to biomass.

This project has explored the preconditions under which distributed supply chain configurations (based on hydrothermal liquefaction, HTL) are preferred over centralized supply chains. A spatially ex­plicit optimization model based on Swedish data on biomass supply and price, intermodal transport infrastructure, competing demand, and potential conversion sites (including integration benefits) was evaluated at different biofuel demands.

It was found that distributed supply chains may reduce upstream transport cost. Nonetheless, the additional costs for conversion and intermediate transpor­tation associated with distributed supply chains generally leads to a preference for centralized sup­ply chains at biofuel demands below 75 PJ_out/yr (21 TWh/yr). Distributed supply chains were shown to be useful in cases in which the feedstock cost-supply curves are steep, biofuel production beyond 75 PJ_out/yr is targeted, or the available biomass resource base is almost fully utilized.

This project aims at examining the availability of data on positive social impacts for renewable vehicle fuels. The data collection focused on four different transportation fuels from different geographical regions and results are presented as the social impact factor ʽjob creationʼ. Results are compared with litterature.

The project is part of a general aim to integrate data in the either the existing databases SHDB and PSILCA, or in a separate database software.

On November 30th, 2016, the European Parliament, as part of its so called Winter Package*, issued a proposal for an update of the directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (the Renewable Energy Directive, RED). The update of this directive, often referred to as RED II, is in May 2017 still a proposal and is going through the legislative process, where the text will be negotiated, before finally being adopted and the directive will be entered into force.

f3’s main purpose is to develop and communicate scientifically based knowledge about renewable transportation fuels and their sustainability. Thus, the parts of the RED II relevant for the development and regulation of renewable transportation fuels, and the extent to which these have been altered, compared to the former RED have been compiled.

Major changes from former RED

The RED launched in 2009 established an overall policy for the production and promotion of energy from renewable sources in the EU. For the transport sector, all EU countries must ensure that at least 10% of their transport fuels come from renewable energy sources by 2020. The directive also introduced a European sustainability criteria for renewable transportation fuels. The RED was later, after extensive debate, complemented by the so called iLUC directive in 2015, in order to address indirect land use change emissions and to prepare the transition towards advanced biofuels. Below, the main changes in the proposed RED II, compared to the former directives, are summarized:

Article 3: The target for 10% renewable energy in the transportation sector (RES-T) is removed after 2020. This means that there is no specific target for the transportation sector after this date, instead the total target for the renewable energy share of 27% in gross final consumption by 2030 is to be met by a non-defined combination of measures within all energy sectors (electricity, heating and cooling, and transportation). The target is a union-wide target. However, each Member State must attain a minimum national share of renewable energy in gross final consumption as set by the earlier national commitments (corresponding to 10-49% in 2020 and also listed in Annex I).

Article 7: The cap on biofuels and bioliquids produced from food or feed crops**, introduced through the iLUC directive in 2015, is gradually reduced from 7% of final consumption of energy (as per Member State) in 2021 in road and rail transport, to 3.8% in 2030, following the trajectory set out in Annex X. Member States may, however, set a lower limit and may also distinguish between different types of biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels, for instance by setting a lower limit for biofuels produced from oil crops. To count towards the renewable energy targets the contribution of biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels must meet further sustainability and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission saving criteria.

Article 16: An establishment of a permit granting process for (all) renewable energy projects with one designated authority (“one-stop-shop”) to reduce complexity and increase efficiency and transparency. Also, a maximum time limit for the permit granting process is set.

Article 25: An EU-level obligation is established for fuel suppliers to provide a certain share of low-emission and renewable fuels, including advanced biofuels and other biofuels and biogas produced from feedstock listed in Annex IX, renewable electricity, renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin, and waste-based fossil fuels.The share of low-emission and renewable fuels should be at least equal to 1.5% in 2021 and 6.8% in 2030.The switch to advanced biofuels is promoted by a specific sub-mandate, within which their yearly contribution should be at least 0.5% in 2021, and increase to reach at least 3.6% by 2030. Advanced biofuels are defined as being produced from feedstock listed in Part A of Annex IX.The share of biofuels produced from organic wastes and residues with mature technologies, as included in Annex IX Part B, is capped to 1.7%.The 6% life-cycle GHG emission reduction target is not continued after the end of 2020 and the RED II would not directly amend the FQD (Fuel Quality Directive).Member States shall put in place national databases that ensure traceability of fuels and mitigate the risk of fraud.

Article 26: The existing EU sustainability criteria is reinforced and extended to biomass used also for other bioenergy purposes than transportation fuel, i.e. for heating/cooling and electricity production.Streamlining of the sustainability criterion applying to agricultural biomass (to reduce the administrative burden).Stricter criterion for peatland protection.Introduction of a new risk-based criterion for forest biomass. According to this, woody raw material should come only from forests that are harvested in accordance with the principles of sustainable forest management. Operators should take the appropriate steps in order to minimize the risk of using unsustainable forest biomass for the production of bioenergy.The country of origin of the forest biomass must meet LULUCF (Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry)requirements set according to decisions adopted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Paris agreements.Increased requirements for GHG saving performance to 70% for new plants for biofuels for transportation (80% for biomass-based heating/cooling and electricity – only above 20 MW). These thresholds are a prerequisite for public support and inclusion in the fulfilling of renewable energy targets and obligations. Existing support schemes for biomass-based electricity should however be allowed until their due end date for all biomass installations.The sustainability criteria and the greenhouse gas emission criteria should apply regardless of the geographical origin of the forest and agricultural biomass.

Article 27: Article 27 provides a clarification on the mass balance system and adaption to cover biogas co-digestion and injection of biomethane in the natural gas grid.

Annex V: Default values for GHG emission savings for biofuels and bioliquids in the Annex V are updated. For more mature biofuels (such as ethanol and biodiesel based on food and feed crop), these values have, in general, increased compared to former default values. For future biofuels, the default values are instead, in general, slightly decreased. For all biofuels, a more detailed division upon different biofuel production pathways are provided. Biogas is moved to Annex VI.

Annex VI: A new Annex VI is added to cover a common GHG accounting methodology for biomass fuels for heat and power (as well as biomethane for transport), including default values for GHG emission savings.

Annex IX: In Annex IX the feedstocks (mainly for advanced biofuels) which should be considered for meeting the new fuel-suppliers’ obligation target are listed. New to the list in Part B is molasses. Every two years the Commission shall evaluate the feedstocks listed in the Annex allowing for the possibility to add but not remove feedstocks from the list.

Biomass gasification is an attractive technology that efficiently converts forest biomass, biomass-based wastes and other types of renewable feedstocks into transportation fuels, chemicals or elec­tricity. However, one important bottleneck for commercialisation of the technology in biomass gasification plants is the choice of engineering solutions for the downstream product gas cleaning and conditioning, before using the produced synthesis gas. Gas cleaning and conditioning technologies are capital intensive, and the investment costs for these technologies in biomass gasification production sys­tems are initially very large, leading to large business risks. One way to promote the commercialisation of biomass gasification is to invest in small to medium-scale plants, where the total costs are more reasonable and the financial risks are lower.

The main aim of this study has been to make a preliminary evaluation of the technical and economic feasi­bility of combining biomass gasification with molten carbonate electrolysis cell technol­ogy (MCEC) in systems for production of biomass-based substitute natural gas (bio-SNG). The study is based on a literature survey and a conceptual techno-economic investigation of using a MCEC as a gas cleaning and conditioning process step in a biomass gasification system for bio-SNG production. To enable a comparison with a real case, the GoBiGas plant was selected as a reference case. Five different sce­narios were evaluated in relation to energy and economic performance.

The project results are positive with regard to integrating a MCEC. Introducing a MCEC in the gas cleaning and conditioning process of a biomass gasification system provides with the opportunity for process intensification with a potential integration of three process units into one.

Mass and energy balances show that the production of bio-SNG can be boosted by up to 60% when integrating a MCEC, compared to the same biomass input in a stand-alone operation of a plant similar to GoBiGas. Additionally, the economic assessments re­vealed price ranges for biomass, SNG and renewable electricity, allowing for a wider margin in terms of the Investment Opportunity index for the considered process configurations, as com­pared to the stand-alone SNG plant.

Industrial symbiosis involves collaborations among diverse, and predominantly local and re­gional, actors that create additional economic and environmental value through by-product ex­changes, utility and service sharing, and joint innovations. While the importance of Industrial symbiosis for the de­velopment of biofuels is commonly recognised hypothetically, this study aims at advancing under­standing of the actual contribution provided in two real life examples–one focusing on grain-based ethanol production and the other focusing on biogas production in a co-digestion unit.

Moreover, this study highlights the importance of organisational factors that help shape, and explain relevant organizational and inter-organizational behaviour relevant for emergence and development of suc­cessful symbiotic partnerships – here referred to as “social determinants”.

Methanol use in various applications is on the raise globally and there are several examples on how methanol is used in the transport sector today. The main reasons to go the methanol route are that the production is comparably efficient and cost-ef­fective, and that use of methanol is carried out without noticeable problems. There are also several examples of where methanol as fuel is under advanced testing in various, sometimes novel, types of engines.

This project has aimed at creating a knowledge synthesis with a long-term perspective on the following:

• earlier and current motivation to use or not to use methanol as an alternative fuel
• experiences gained from earlier periods of methanol usage
• reasons to why interest to use methanol as an automo­tive fuel has shifted through the past decades

The goal is to look forward and address methanol’s potential role as energy carrier/motor fuel in Sweden (and elsewhere).

In the year 2017, the Swedish government proposed to introduce a reduction obligation for trans­portation fuel distributors. This would imply an obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil petrol and diesel through a gradual increased share of biofuels. The aim is to create im­proved conditions for phasing out fossil fuels through an increased proportion of biofuels with good greenhouse gas performance in a lifecycle perspective. The reduction obligation also means that not only production cost determines the overall economic performance of a biofuel production route, but also the greenhouse gas emissions. This is due to that biofuels with low greenhouse gas emissions can be blended in lower volumes than biofuels with worse greenhouse gas performance.

The main objectives of this work were partly to illustrate how the greenhouse gas performance of different biofuels relates to their economic value in the new reduction obligation system and partly to compare the resulting cost of greenhouse gas reduction for different types of biofuels.

The results show that of the biofuels available on the market today, the lowest reduction costs were obtained for biogas produced via digestion of waste as well as for sugarcane-based ethanol. Bio­diesel based on rapeseed oil results in the highest reduction costs. Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) is currently produced from a large variety of feedstocks and thus results in a large reduction cost range, mainly due to the cost and greenhouse gas performance of the feedstock.

Emerging biofuels, so-called advanced biofuels, have the potential to achieve lower reduction costs than many of them produced via today’s production chains. This applies primarily to biofuels pro­duced by thermochemical conversion such as pyrolysis followed by refinery-integrated upgrading and gasification-based technology. However, in the cases where hydrogen is required for upgrading of liquids from pyrolysis or lignin polymerization, there are major cost reduction uncertainties, largely due to the origin of the hydrogen.

The project report is written in Swedish.

This work presents a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a distribution truck for urban applications, with either a diesel or otto engine using different fossil and bio-based fuels. Impact of electrifica­tion is also briefly discussed. The impact assessment is done with both CO₂-equivalent emissions and envi­ronmental damage cost assessment, using the Environmental Priority Strategy methodology (EPS) to provide impact on different perspectives and times when it comes to sustainability evaluation. This somewhat broader perspective, compared to conventional well-to-wheel analyses, can give better understanding of different environmental risks in technology development choices.