Environmental sustainability of biodiesel in Brazil

Biodiesel production in Brazil has grown from 736m3 in 2007 to 2.7Mm3 in 2012. It is an emergent bioenergy for which it is important to guarantee environmental sustainability. The objective of this article is to characterise the biodiesel production chain in Brazil, to identify potential environment...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy policy 2014-02, Vol.65, p.680-691
Main Authors: Geraldes Castanheira, Érica, Grisoli, Renata, Freire, Fausto, Pecora, Vanessa, Coelho, Suani Teixeira
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Air pollution
Air pollution caused by fuel industries
Alternative fuels. Production and utilization
Applied sciences
Biodiesel
Biodiesel fuels
Biodiversity
Biomass
Brazil
Carbon emissions
Chains
Economic data
Energy
Energy economics
Energy resources
Energy. Thermal use of fuels
Environment
Environmental impact
Environmental impact studies
Exact sciences and technology
Food
Fuels
General, economic and professional studies
Greenhouse effect
Land
Land use
Land utilization
Latin America
Metering. Control
Miscellaneous
Natural energy
Petroleum industry
Pollution control
Power generation
Production
Raw materials
Renewable energy
Risk assessment
Soybean biodiesel
Studies
Sustainability
Sustainability assessment
Sustainable development
Tallow biodiesel
Water
Zoning
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Biodiesel production in Brazil has grown from 736m3 in 2007 to 2.7Mm3 in 2012. It is an emergent bioenergy for which it is important to guarantee environmental sustainability. The objective of this article is to characterise the biodiesel production chain in Brazil, to identify potential environmental impacts and to analyse key drivers and barriers for biodiesel environmental sustainability. This article explores these aspects and focusses on the increasing demand for the main feedstocks for biodiesel production in Brazil: soybean oil and beef tallow. The impacts of land use and land-use change on greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity and water, as well as the energy balance, were found to be critical for the environmental sustainability assessment and development of biodiesel chains. Increasing agriculture yields, diversifying feedstocks and adopting ethyl transesterification can contribute to minimise environmental impacts. It was also found that environmental impacts could be mitigated by appropriate policies aiming at an integrated optimisation of food and bioenergy production and through agro-economic–ecological zoning, allowing adequate use of land for each purpose. Despite the limitation and weakness of some sustainability tools and initiatives, certification and zoning can play an important role in the sustainability of the emerging biodiesel production in Brazil.
ISSN:0301-4215
1873-6777
DOI:10.1016/j.enpol.2013.09.062