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Life Cycle Analysis
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The biobased economy will grow rapidly during the 21st century. A combination of low cost plant raw materials and gradually improving biorefinery process technologies for converting these raw materials into a variety of fuels, chemicals, materials, foods and feeds will drive the adoption of the biobased economy. The biological sciences will have a particularly powerful impact on both the raw materials and the processing technologies underlying the biobased economy. The biobased economy, and its associated biorefineries, will be shaped by many of the same forces that shaped the development of the hydrocarbon economy and its refineries over the past century. These similarities include the importance of yield (using the whole “barrel of biomass”), continuing diversification of products, and gradual process improvement in functioning biorefineries.
However, significant differences between the biobased economy and the hydrocarbon economy are also apparent. Among these are the great compositional variety of plant raw material, requiring a greater range of processing technologies to add value to the basic components, and the much wider geographic distribution of both raw materials and the associated refineries. This wide geographic distribution of both raw materials and biorefineries will promote greater economic/national security and more equitable distribution of wealth. In essence, “all biomass is local” and local biomass refineries will be developed to use local plant resources in particular agricultural, economic and social contexts. The figure to the left illustrates our view of integrated local biorefining systems.
Based on careful analysis, we believe that supposed limits on agricultural productivity to support the biobased economy are mostly illusory. There is no “food vs. fuel” conflict. Economic profitability and process efficiency will force the adoption of “food and fuel” scenarios. Biorefineries and their associated crop production systems will be highly integrated as shown in the figure above.
Furthermore, integrated biorefining systems will be designed to achieve not only economic profitability but also environmental benefits. Truly transformational environmental benefits can be achieved by creative design of these integrated biorefining systems. Our sustainability analysis efforts are intended to outline how this new industry can achieve both environmental and economic sustainability. For perhaps the first time, humanity can design and develop a new industry, the biorefining industry, to achieve both economic and environmental goals.
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