Bioenergy in Switzerland: Assessing the domestic sustainable biomass potential

Steubing, Bernhard; Zah, Rainer; Waeger, P.; Ludwig, Christian

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2010.03.036

Cited by 108 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…For example, only one of the reviewed works discusses about bioenergy in Russia [36] and mainly concentrates on current status of bioenergy resources such as crop residues, forest residues and municipal solid waste in this country. Steubing et al [37] assess bioenergy potential in Switzerland and find out that material utilizations, economic factors and Swiss biofuels policy are major constraints for developing bioenergy in this country.…”

Section: Description Of Target Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Assessment of Bioenergy from a Global Perspective: A Review

et al. 2018

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Bioenergy, as a renewable energy resource, is expected to see significant development in the future. However, a key issue that will affect this trend is sustainability of bioenergy. There have been many studies on this topic but mainly focusing on only one or two-dimensions of the issue and also with much of the literature directed at studies of European regions. To help understand the wider scope of bioenergy sustainability, this paper reviews a broad range of current research on the topic and places the literature into a multi-dimensional framework covering the economic, environmental and ecological, social and land-related aspects of bioenergy sustainability, as well as a geographical analysis of the areas for which the studies have been carried out. The review indicates that it is hard to draw an overall conclusion on the sustainability of bioenergy because of limited studies or contradictory results in some respects. In addition, this review shows that crop-based bioenergy and forest bioenergy are seen as the main sources of bioenergy and that most studies discuss the final utilization of bioenergy as being for electricity generation. Finally, research directions for future study are suggested, based on the literature reviewed here.

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Section: Description Of Target Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Assessment of Bioenergy from a Global Perspective: A Review

et al. 2018

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“…Biomass potential in Switzerland has been evaluated by Steubing et al (2010) later updated by Thees et al (2014). Table 7 presents the sustainable potential for woody biomass by type of resource with the corresponding LHV per ton of dry matter (tdw).…”

Section: Biomass Potential In Switzerlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Assessment of the CO2 Mitigation Potential of Woody Biomass

et al. 2018

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Woody biomass, a renewable energy resource, accumulates solar energy in form of carbon hydrates produced from atmospheric CO2 and H2O. It is, therefore, a means of CO2 mitigation for society as long as the biogenic carbon released to the atmosphere when delivering its energy content by oxidation can be accumulated again during growth of new woody biomass. Even when considering the complete life cycle, usually, only a small amount of fossil CO2 is emitted. However, woody biomass availability is limited by land requirement and, therefore, it is important to maximize its CO2 mitigation potential in the energy system. In this study, we consider woody biomass not only as a source of renewable energy but also as a source of carbon for seasonal storage of solar electricity. A first analysis is carried out based on the mitigation effect of woody biomass usage pathways, which is the avoided fossil CO2 emissions obtained by using one unit of woody biomass to provide energy services, as alternative to fossil fuels. Results show that woody biomass usage pathways can achieve up to 9.55 times the mitigation effect obtained through combustion of woody biomass, which is taken as a reference. Applying energy system modeling and multi-objective optimization techniques, the role of woody biomass technological choices in the energy transition is then analyzed at a country scale. The analysis is applied to Switzerland, demonstrating that the use of woody biomass in gasification-methanation systems, coupled with electrolysers and combined with an intensive deployment of PV panels and efficient technologies, could reduce the natural gas imports to zero. Electrolysers are used to boost synthetic natural gas production by hydrogen injection into the methanation reaction. The hydrogen used is produced when there is excess of solar electricity. The efficient technologies, such as heat pumps and battery electric vehicles, allow increasing the overall efficiency of the energy system while generating demand for the solar electricity.

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“…According to Steubing et al (2010), the sustainable biomass potential in Switzerland for forest energy wood, industrial wood residues and wood from landscape maintenance is equal to 34.9 PJ th per year. Brought back to the case study, this gives a total yearly potential of 49,086 MW th .…”

Section: Indigenous Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic methodology for the environomic design and synthesis of energy systems combining process integration, Life Cycle Assessment and industrial ecology

Gerber

Fazlollahi

Maréchal

2013

Computers & Chemical Engineering

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This paper presents a systematic methodology for sustainable process systems design, combining the principles of industrial ecology, process design and process integration, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and multi-objective optimization (MOO). The superstructure considers an extended decision perimeter and embeds models based either on flowsheeting software or average market technologies, for which energy and material flows are extracted from the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) database. Therefore, the overall supply chain can be synthesized within a given action system and the systematic recyclings identified. The methodology can be used to design eco-industrial parks or urban systems, to identify the best conversion pathways of resources or waste, or to fix the optimal value of environmental taxes. It is illustrated by an application to the environomic design of an urban energy system. This case study considers multiple energy services to be supplied and waste to be treated, with their seasonal variations, indigenous and imported resources, as well as different candidate conversion technologies. Results demonstrate that integrating an environmental objective in the design procedure leads to consider different system configurations than if only economic aspects are considered. The problematic of the optimal value of a CO 2 tax is as well addressed. e i emission factor of substance i from the flash system condensers, in kg-i/kg-geofluid e CO2,N GCC specific CO2 emissions of electricity production from NGCC, in kg CO2-eq/kWh e e CO2,N GCC specific CO2 emissions of heating production from natural gas boiler, in kg CO2-eq/kWh t h E CO2,av yearly avoided life-cycle CO2-equivalent emissions, in kg CO2-eq/yr I C impact due to the construction phase I E impact due to the end-of-life phase Nomenclaturė

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Bioenergy in Switzerland: Assessing the domestic sustainable biomass potential

Cited by 108 publications

References 25 publications

Sustainability Assessment of Bioenergy from a Global Perspective: A Review

Sustainability Assessment of Bioenergy from a Global Perspective: A Review

On the Assessment of the CO2 Mitigation Potential of Woody Biomass

A systematic methodology for the environomic design and synthesis of energy systems combining process integration, Life Cycle Assessment and industrial ecology

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