Title:
Saving up to 70% Greenhouse Gas Emissions with Bioethanol from the Pischelsdorf Biorefinery - An Austrian Success Story
Author(s):
Jungmeier, G., Makic, E., Maier, L.
Document(s):
Paper
Abstract:
The purpose of the work was to analyze the greenhouse gas emissions of the Pischelsdorf Biorefinery Complex in Austria operated by AGRANA. The multi-feedstock bioethanol plant produces annually about 240.000 m³ bioethanol in Pischelsdorf since 2008 coproducing about 160,000 t DDGS as animal feed. The process heat is mainly supplied by a waste incineration plant collocated in the same industrial area and connected via a steam pipeline. In 2012 a further investment was realized to produce liquid biogenic CO2 by using the CO2-stream from the fermentation in a capacity of up to 130,000 t per year. The biogenic CO2 is used in technical application and the beverage industry by substituting CO2 from fossil origin. In 2013 at the same location a starch factory using annually about 200,000 t of wheat will go into operation producing different starch products. So the Pischelsdorf Biorefinery Complex produces various bio-based products and bioethanol in an integrated way, for which the environmental benefits in terms of greenhouse gas saving are calculated according to the methodology of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). The life cycle based methodology to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions is applied to the Pischelsdorf biorefinery complex. The methodology corresponds to the RED and considers all three greenhouse gases – CO2, CH4 and N2O – in the life cycle perspective of bioethanol, where the coproduction of the further products like DDGS, CO2 and starch are considered adequately. The emission saving of bioethanol is then calculated by substituting gasoline. The scientific innovation is to apply the RED methodology to the integrated multi-feedstock and multi-product system in real operation in the Pischelsdorf Biorefinery. The innovative challenges realized in this approach were the collection of real life data from the production site and the proper setting of the system boundaries for the greenhouse gas analyses. The relevance of the results help to fulfill the legal needs of a biofuel producer to report on the greenhouse gas emissions and their sustainability of the bioethanol produced according to the RED. The results of the greenhouse gas analyses show that the bioethanol produced from wheat and maize since 2008 has a greenhouse gas saving of about 50% by substituting gasoline. With the coproduction of liquid biogenic CO2 since 2012 the greenhouse gas saving is about 70%, which is one of the highest values so far reported from a commercial starch based bioethanol production worldwide. Starting in 2013, when starch slurry from the new starch factory integrated in the Pischelsdorf Biorefinery will be in operation, the greenhouse gas saving might reach even nearly 90%. It can be concluded that the further innovative development of bioethanol from starch in commercial application might lead to a higher greenhouse gas reduction than expected in the past. The Austrian case of the biorefinery plant in Pischelsdorf realized a greenhouse gas reduction in the same range already today that is expected from transportation biofuels produced from lingo-cellulosic feedstock e.g. straw, wood in future, which still cannot be produced on commercial scale today.
Keywords:
bioethanol, biorefinery, greenhouse gases (GHG), life cycle assessment (LCA)
Topic:
Industrial Demonstration and Business Concepts
Subtopic:
Industrial biorefineries and bio-products
Event:
21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
4AO.2.5
Pages:
1589 - 1591
ISBN:
978-88-89407-53-0
Paper DOI:
10.5071/21stEUBCE2013-4AO.2.5
Price:
FREE
