Diagnosis of Challenges and Uncertainties for Implementation of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in Colombia, and Recommendations to Move Forward

This article reviews the current scenario and the main uncertainties and challenges associated with implementing Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in Colombia, from which it determines the possible certified technologies under the ASTM D 7566 standard as well as co-processing technologies contemplated within the ASTM D 1655 standard, more suitable...

European Union's biomass availability for Sustainable Aviation Fuel production and potential GHG emissions reduction in the aviation sector: An analysis using GIS tools for 2030

To be the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, the European Union (EU) should decarbonize the aviation sector. According to the ReFuel initiative, sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) are crucial in reducing carbon emissions from the sector. The Clean Sky 2 program by the EU commission, shortlisted four promising technologies - hydro...

Novel aircraft propulsion and availability of alternative, sustainable aviation fuels in 2050

This paper investigates green hydrogen and bio-based sustainable aviation fuels, including their production technology and feedstock, in combination with Clean Sky 2 propulsion technologies and novel hydrogen-powered propulsion technologies. The impact that these alternative aviation fuels and propulsion technologies can have on greenhouse...

Negative emissions at negative cost-an opportunity for a scalable niche

In the face of the rapidly dwindling carbon budgets, negative emission technologies are widely suggested as required to stabilize the Earth’s climate. However, finding cost-effective, socially acceptable, and politically achievable means to enable such technologies remains a challenge. We propose solutions based on negative emission technologies...

OSiD: opening the conceptual design of biobased processes to a context-sensitive sustainability analysis

Biobased production has been promoted as an alternative to fossil-based production to mitigate climate change. However, emerging concerns over the sustainability of biobased products have shown that tensions can emerge between different objectives and concerns, like emission reduction targets and food security, and that these are dependent on...

Multi-Objective Sustainability Optimization of Biomass Residues to Ethanol via Gasification and Syngas Fermentation: Trade-Offs between Profitability, Energy Efficiency, and Carbon Emissions

This work presents a strategy for optimizing the production process of ethanol via integrated gasification and syngas fermentation, a conversion platform of growing interest for its contribution to carbon recycling. The objective functions (minimum ethanol selling price (MESP), energy efficiency, and carbon footprint) were evaluated for the...

A techno-economic analysis of membrane-based advanced treatment processes for the reuse of municipal wastewater

The objective of this paper is to compare, under Dutch market conditions, the energy consumption and net costs of membrane-based advanced treatment processes for three water reuse types (i.e. potable, industrial, agricultural reuse). The water source is municipal waste-water treatment plant effluent. Results indicate that the application of...

Mitigating carbon emissions through sustainable aviation fuels: costs and potential

In general, the certified pathways for the production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) are still far from being competitive with fossil kerosene, although they have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, the mitigation costs related to SAFs and how they compete with the carbon credits market remain unclear. The...

Human health impacts of aviation biofuel production: Exploring the application of different life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods for biofuel supply chains

The life cycle human health (HH) impacts related to aviation biofuels have been understood in a limited way. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods for assessing HH are often associated with a high level of uncertainty and a low level of consensus. As a result, it remains challenging to perform a robust assessment of HH impacts with a...

Integrating Value Considerations in the Decision Making for the Design of Biorefineries

Biobased production has been promoted as a sustainable alternative to fossil resources. However, controversies over its impact on sustainability highlight societal concerns, value tensions and uncertainties that have not been taken into account during its development. In this work, the consideration of stakeholders’ values in a biorefinery...

The SPPD-WRF framework: A novel and holistic methodology for strategical planning and process design of water resource factories

This paper guides decision making in more sustainable urban water management practices that feed into a circular economy by presenting a novel framework for conceptually designing and strategically planning wastewater treatment processes from a resource recovery perspective. Municipal wastewater cannot any longer be perceived as waste stream...

Socioeconomic effects of aviation biofuel production in Brazil: A scenarios-based Input-Output analysis

Derived from renewable feedstocks, aviation biofuel is generally perceived as inherently sustainable. However, its production involves a wide range of sectors and interacts with different actors in society. It is therefore important to understand and evaluate not only the environmental impacts of that process, but also its socioeconomic...

Societal and Ethical Issues in Industrial Biotechnology

In this chapter we aim to give an overview of the main societal and ethical issues that are currently voiced around industrial biotechnology. We will illustrate this with some recent cases, such as the development of synthetic artemisinin, synthetic vanillin and vegetable oil produced by engineered algae. We show that current societal and...

Setting the design space of biorefineries through sustainability values, a practical approach

Sustainable development has become an outstanding aspiration in our society. However, the meaning of sustainability and how it should be operationalized is a complex issue that depends on subjective beliefs and values. To advance toward sustainable biobased production, we present an approach to delimit the design space of biorefineries by...

Conceptual design of sustainable integrated microalgae biorefineries: Parametric analysis of energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and techno-economics

This study covers four main aspects of the conceptual design of sustainable integrated microalgae-based biorefineries using flue gas from CO2-intensive industries (i.e. 100% CO2): i) screening of technologies (4 options for cultivation, 3 for culture dewatering, 3 for cell disruption, 4 for lipids extraction & purification, and 4 for...