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Abstract To mitigate the effects of global warming, the European Union must reduce its dependence on foreign fossil fuels to produce energy. Biomass from forests and agroforestry residues are a readily available source of domestic renewable energy. However, further technological developments must be made in order to foster its use in machines and thermal engines. The present study analyses the current situation of biomass energy in Spain as well as its future prospects, potential challenges and opportunities moving forward. This analysis is performed through a review based on bioenergy resources, technology and management to provide recommendations and carry out a more comprehensive energy assessment. Non-food biomass resources are intended to be useful in the development of bioenergy industrial sector. This study is applied to Spain due to its remarkable forests and wealth of agricultural areas. The methodology is based on three phases of energy conversion: resources, technology and management. The main achievements are pathways definition from resource to bioenergy application in Spain. Bioenergy advances offer management drive forces to meeting the energy and environmental challenges in the European Union. Highlights • Biofuels could profitably replace conventional fuels by bioeconomy. • New energy conversion strategies can further develop the bioenergy sector. • European countries must pay attention to technical solutions for energy production. • Circular biomass conversion has great potential available in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The issue of sustainability assessment of biodiesel production has increasingly gained importance due to the interest of governments in drawing up sovereignty strategies, to diversify their energy matrix and to determine the impact of biofuels production. In this context, this work proposes a system dynamics model to assess biodiesel production in a specific context. A System Dynamics model was developed and applied to assess the sustainability of the conditions in the baseline scenario of biodiesel production in Colombia. Simulation of current biodiesel production showed that a strong support from government policies is required related to the promotion of an increase of the contents of biodiesel in the biodiesel-diesel blend, as well as of the production capacity. Certain dynamics were observed as a result of the modeling, the increase oil palm cultivation, can be related to a lesser rate of displacement of the population, of poverty and of emissions of pollutants affecting air quality (hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter). Results also predicted that the increase in oil palm cultivation under baseline scenario could boost inequitable distribution of land ownership and increase greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) in palm oil cultivation, and reduce food security. Highlights • System dynamics is presented as a methodological tool in sustainability assessment. • Technological efficiency and politics are relevant on biodiesel-sustainability. • Biodiesel production is limited by production capacity and production costs. • Using biodiesel have not a significant impact on air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Electricity is considered the most versatile form of energy derived from commonly used primary source of energy; fossil fuels. Sri Lanka forecast 6.5% annual growth in the demand for electricity, where the recent generation mix (in 2016) comprised of 25% hydro power, 31% oil, 35% coal and 9% renewables, with continued growth in wind and solar energy systems. The national Energy Policy targeted to reach minimum 10% of the demand for gird electricity using non-conventional renewable energy by 2015, and the policy now is to use only renewable energy sources for electricity generation by 2050 through installing large scale wind, solar and biomass power plants. In the path to achieve this growth and transformation, the challenge is to use resources and materials with minimum environmental consequences and damages in construction, operation and deconstruction phases of power plants. This paper looks in to possible environmental consequences, based on life cycle analysis, arising out of different electricity generation mixes comprising thermal, hydro, wind and solar energy. The study shows that, in meeting the electricity demand in 2050 using either solar or wind power alone, or through a mix of the two, would have adverse environmental impacts on freshwater and marine ecotoxicity, urban land occupation, metal depletion, agricultural land occupation and natural land transformation, whereas hydropower adds impact towards water depletion too. It is evident from the results that, in Sri Lanka, future electricity generation mix between wind and solar energy has to be determined mainly considering the land occupation and metal depletion impact categories. Further, the results point to the essential need for a national integrated waste management policy in decommissioning power plants; existing fossil fueled power plants and new large scale solar and wind based power plants, to avoid more adverse environmental impacts associated with decommissioning of different types of power plants. Highlights • The study is about environmental impacts of electricity generation in Sri Lanka. • The evaluation is based on life cycle assessment. • This work discusses environmental merits and demerits of different generation mixes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The goal of this paper is to evaluate the supply of sugarcane to mills and also the supply of green harvesting residues to second-generation ethanol plants under three different strategies: chopping, baling and integral harvesting. A dynamic model was developed in order to simulate the biomass flow along the main activities within sugar-ethanol supply chain. Weather, geographical and operational constraints were considered for calculating the biomass availability. The model is able to quantify the production of sugar and first-generation ethanol from mills, electricity surplus from co-generation and second-generation ethanol with the aim of evaluating operational, economic and environmental indicators. In this study it was found that the integral harvesting is the best strategy for supply the residues in terms of cost (5.90 USD/dry t), energy inputs (56.89 MJ/dry t) and carbon emissions (4.18 kg CO 2 /dry t). The low resources utilization due to the inappropriate harvest-load-transport synchronization creates bottlenecks that decrease the system throughput, leaving the door open for further improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Second generation bioconversion industry is a driver towards the post-petroleum age where materials and fuels are made of renewable resources. Agricultural residues are a promising feedstock source for emerging bioeconomic concepts. Research on the forecasting of feedstock potentials is still scarce and available methodologies are not harmonised. Biomass markets are characterised by their regionality, which requires regionalised assessments and forecasting of feedstock potentials. This work dealt with the question of the variables that determine the future development of agricultural harvesting residues. It further examines methodologies allowing a spatially explicit prediction of feedstock potentials. The forecasting approach was applied to wheat straw, corn stover, barley straw, and rapeseed straw, which together account for 80 per cent of cereals and oil crops harvesting residues in the European Union. The results indicate the largest increase of all investigated crops was for corn stover at up to 20 per cent between 2017 and 2030. Barley straw potentials are expected to stay rather constant within the coming decade. Rapeseed is the only crop likely to face a decreasing production in many regions in the coming years. This work identified increasing crop yields as the main driver for advancing feedstock potentials. Especially Central and Eastern European countries show high growth rates. The methodology of the research work contributes to the discussions about sustainable resource potentials of the European bioeconomy. The forecasting results can be used for strategic decision-making in emerging bioconversion concepts. Highlights • Spatially explicit assessment of agricultural residue potentials in the EU. • Time series-based forecast until 2030. • Focused on wheat straw, corn stover, barley straw and rape straw. • Developed forecasting methodology is transferable to other biomass feedstock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Improvement of processes starting from renewable feedstocks to produce chemicals and biofuels up to now derived from fossil carbon feedstocks is paramount to creating environmentally sustainable industrial processes. Guerbet condensation of ethanol to give n -butanol represents a turning point not only respect to the traditional petrochemical "oxo" process, but also to the bio-chemical path (Acetone Butanol Ethanol "ABE" process). In this work, different Cu/Mg/Al hydrotalcite-derived mixed oxides catalysts, with Cu atomic content in the range 7.6–1.0%, were synthetised, characterized, and tested for the Guerbet reaction. The adopted catalysts are easy to produce, and based on available, cheap and non-toxic metals. Tailoring Cu-content in hydrotalcite-derived Cu/Mg/Al mixed oxides allowed us to selectively address this reaction towards n -butanol formation, highlighting how a low Cu-content favours the condensation to n -butanol and higher alcohols, in particular n -hexanol, decreasing the ester formation. The Guerbet selective co-production of [ n -butanol + n -hexanol] is economically even more attractive than that of the sole n -butanol, being both saleable products. Good catalytic performances to n -butanol and n -hexanol were achieved, in a batch process carried out under subcritical conditions. These catalysts have required a simple procedure of recovery, showing good recyclability, in term of catalytic performances to give the target products, thus opening the way to applicative perspectives. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • BuOH was synthesized by condensation of ethanol in liquid phase. • Different Cu/Mg/Al hydrotalcite-derived mixed oxides were employed as catalysts. • Tailoring Cu-content allows us to address the reaction toward BuOH formation. • Characterization of catalysts enables to establish structure-performance trends. • Conversion up to 32.0 mol % with selectivity to BuOH of 53 mol% were ascertained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Selecting the supplier is a very critical part to the comprehensive performance of modern enterprises. With the large-scale development of straw biomass industry, green supplier selection has become a key decision-making task which needs to collect and process mass of information, it is necessary to make the supplier to go green. Nevertheless, it is safe to say, in fact, that so far there are a few researches on supplier selection in straw biomass industry. At the same time, some crucial problems urgently needed to be solved exist in present research, as shown below:①decision-making methods are frequently used, even though they have some serious problems, e.g. information loss.②some key index factors are ignored, green supplier selection hasn't got attracted sufficient attention.③little work has been performed on the fuzziness or the uncertainty of index weight. To solve the problems mentioned above, this paper tries to find out some ways to make improvements:①Cloud model is proposed to handle the fuzziness and randomness of evaluation information.②Index system is more comprehensive. Important issues, such as on-time delivery, pollutant emissions per unit fuel(t) and green certification, are paid more attention to.③Fuzzy AHP is applied to determine the index weight, the uncertainty of criteria and sub-criteria are considered, the vagueness of human thought is dealt with.④A decision framework based on Cloud model and possibility degree is put forward to guide the optimal selection of green supplier selection.⑤A Chinese case is carried out and related sensitivity analysis is performed. The results show that the proposed novel model not only can find the more suitable green supplier, but also reveal the big gap between alternatives clearly. The strength of the proposed new decision framework is proved. Highlights • An evaluation index system of green supplier selection in straw biomass industry is built. • Fuzzy AHP is applied to determine the index weight, the vagueness of human thought is considered. • A model for converting the 2-dimension linguistic variables into clouds is proposed. • A decision framework is proposed to guide the optimal selection of green supplier selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Bio-economy can be defined as an economy where renewable biomasses are produced and converted into value-added materials, chemicals, foods, feeds, fuels and energy: therefore, it represents one valid, reliable way to transition to equitable, sustainable, post fossil-carbon societies. For this reason, it is increasingly gaining attention by scientists and academics worldwide, as is supported by this special issue developed within the Journal of Cleaner Production and presented in this editorial article. This Virtual Special Issue (VSI) was designed to highlight the importance of academic research in documenting the multiple greening effects that bio-economy has in multiple societal sectors. Therefore, the editors are confident that it will help to create the platform to exchange and to enhance knowledge on the evolving bio-economy. In this context, this editorial was designed to provide an overview of the papers contained in this special issue and to highlight their contributions to the bio-economy within five main research themes: biomass, biomaterials and bioenergy; agriculture; forestry; production and packaging of foods and feeds; and miscellaneous applications. Based upon the analysis of this VSI's papers, the authors found that there is an urgent need for research on: meta-studies of cross-country/regional interventions, to assess which interventions are more effective; more effective harmonisation solutions of methodological approaches for bio-economy assessments; and finally more interdisciplinary collaboration among technical and social scientists to identify and address the relevant questions for the bio-economy and to exchange and involve academics with all actors of the "innovation pipeline" of the bio-economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The world today is facing challenging crises like depletion of fossil fuels and environmental pollution. Biofuels can be an alternative solution to fossil fuels. Iran hosts a variety of weather conditions and its soil can grow different types of plants suitable for production of liquid biofuels. In this regard, the present research is an in-depth attempt to explore the potentials of Khuzestan Province as an agriculture hub of Iran to produce liquid biofuels. The studied biodiesel sources included oilseeds, animal fats and fish wastes, and the sources of bioethanol were wheat, sugarcane, sugar beet, rice, barley, maize, alfalfa, potato, grapes, apple, date and other local citrus fruits including orange, grapefruit, sweet lemon, sour lemon and sour orange. Results showed that the province's production potential was 1.04 Gl of bioethanol. A 5% addition of ethanol to gasoline (i.e. E5) can save 63.5 Ml of gasoline throughout the province. The estimated biodiesel production from animal fat- and oil-containing products and fish wastes is about 56 Ml in this province that can supply 2% of its total diesel fuel requirement. The estimated fat-based biodiesel production of Iran is 332.56 million liters. By adding the biodiesel production from oilseeds, Iran can produce 1.27 Gl of biodiesel fuel. This amount can supply 4.2% of the country's total diesel fuel consumption. The results for bioethanol and biodiesel production show promising alternatives. As a result of sound management of agricultural residues, E5 (5% ethanol, 95% gasoline) for SI engines and B2 (2% biodiesel and 98% diesel fuel) for diesel engines can be commercially produced as they impose no modifications to these engines. Highlights • Agricultural residues and animal fat for production of biofuels were investigated. • About 1.04 and 0.06 Gl of bioethanol and biodiesel could be produced. • A total profit of 513 million USD can be achieved from the total produced residues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Using waste cooking oil for biofuel production is potentially beneficial to food safety and energy supply. However, the lack of waste cooking oil as a feedstock for biofuel production is one of the main reasons mentioned by the biofuel industry for the illegal reprocessing of cooking oil for secondary use. Thus, it is necessary to acquire information and knowledge about how to inspire restaurants to submit their wasted cooking oil to formal collectors such as biofuel manufacturers, rather than to informal channels. We carry out random sampling surveys on restaurants in Beijing's urban districts through internet questionnaires and face-to-face investigations to explore the behaviours, awareness, and willingness of restaurants to submit their waste cooking oil for biofuel production. The results show that the total quantity of waste cooking oil generated by restaurants is 90.14 thousand tonnes in 2016. Additionally, 24% of restaurants do not submit waste cooking oil to formal collectors, and approximately 21.63 thousand tonnes of waste cooking oil is unaccounted for. We find that mandatory regulations and economic incentives are the dominant factors that affect restaurants' disposal decisions. With a subsidy value of 4 yuan RMB/kg, all the restaurants are willing to submit waste cooking oil to formal collectors. Governmental departments should also consider building economic incentives, enhancing the mandatory regulation, designing different methods to manage different types of restaurants, and strengthening supervision and education to ensure the safe disposal of waste cooking oil and promote its use for biofuel production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomethane increasingly grows in importance in the bioenergy sector, as it is a renewable energy source that promotes waste recovery and GHG (greenhouse gases) reduction. In Brazil, the legal framework for biogas and biomethane is being developed, especially in the State of São Paulo. However, many of the final uses to biomethane require an upgrading and cleaning process, to remove contaminants such as H 2 S and CO 2 . Facing the great number of technological options to promote biogas upgrading and cleaning so far, policymakers and energy planners might lack the tools to accurately and readily estimate biomethane potentials to comply with a given biomethane quality standard. Our main objective thus is to propose a short-cut, mass balance-based model to predict biomethane availability after promoting a biogas cleaning and upgrading process, regardless of the source of organic feedstock. The model development results in the ratio of biogas to biomethane production and other relevant parameters regarding biomethane use, such as its LHV. The correlation with data from the literature shows that the model has a satisfactory prediction, even when using upgrading technologies that have high methane losses. The model was applied to a case study of upgrading biogas from vinasse from ethanol production in the state of São Paulo; it aided in choosing the upgrading technology for biogas focusing on biomethane injection in the natural gas pipeline and in replacing diesel oil in trucks and heavy-duty machinery in the ethanol plant. Using the proposed model, it was estimated that 1.975x10 9 Nm 3 /y of biomethane could be produced, supplying 16.6% of the NG consumption in the State of São Paulo and making it possible to displace the entire diesel oil consumption in ethanol mills. The use of biomethane in the ethanol plants of São Paulo would avoid 3.965x10 6 t CO2eq of GHG emissions, which represents 5.48% of the GHG emissions of the state in 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study develops an integrated model for dynamically predicting the energy potential of straw resources and assessing regional energy, environmental, and socioeconomic benefits of straw utilization for energy production. Jilin Province, China is taken as an empirical study area. The quantity of straw resources is estimated by principal component analysis and autoregressive integrated moving average model considering panel data of six influential factors and grain yield. The regional energy, environmental, and socioeconomic benefits of straw utilization through three bioenergy conversion technologies (direct-combustion power generation, briquette fuel and cellulosic fuel ethanol) are quantitatively evaluated referring to Global Bioenergy Partnership's sustainability indicators. The results indicate that the quantity of straw available for energy production has continuous rising trend spanning 15 years (2016–2030) and could amount to 47.10 million t (Mt) by 2030. According to local government planning within 15 years, three straw-energy industries could contribute to a net profit of 2.2 billion USD. The accumulative mitigation amount of greenhouse gases, SO 2 , NO x and PM 2.5 is 700.25 Mt, 3.99 Mt, 2.05 Mt and 3.94 Mt, respectively in contrast to fossil fuels burning and open-burning of straw. In total 166.05 thousand employments could be created. The methods and results presented are expected to provide decision makers with guidance for regional development of bioenergy industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies and business decisions intended to promote the use of bioenergy should be based on accurate estimates of the sustainability impacts of various alternatives, including indirect consequences of any change. Consequential life-cycle assessment (CLCA) attempts to include such impacts in the analysis. This paper reviews studies that have adopted a CLCA approach to analysing the use of bioenergy, describing their main topics, approaches, empirical and methodological aspects and scenarios. The review finds that the production of studies proceeded at a modest pace from 2007, with a significant increase occurring from 2015 onward. The most studied impact is global warming potential (GWP), although other impacts are frequently taken into consideration. A majority of the studies concern the agricultural-, followed by the forest sector. The literature has a European emphasis, and relatively few studies have focused on low- and middle-income countries. The review also finds a diversity in terms of how empirical and methodological aspects are taken into consideration. Based on the findings of the review, areas of improvement for future research are suggested: an increased focus on bioenergy use in the household sectors, more studies in under-researched regions, more precise explanations of the CLCA methods used, a critical examination of the scenarios, and methodological collaboration with economic bio-sector modelling. In addition, the factors that affect the generalizability of the results can be discussed in a more systematic manner. Frameworks and procedures for improving the applicability and validity of CLCA will likely emerge as the research field develops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the ever-increasing energy demand, triggered by the continued population growth and accelerated industrial revolution, renewable energy has emerged as the world's fastest-growing energy source. Renewable energy's popularity has grown because it is environmentally friendly and abundant in natural environments. Despite its enormous potential as a viable alternative to traditional (fossil fuel-based) energy sources, renewable energy has rarely been commercialized and utilized. Its lack of commercialization has something to do with a lack of evidence proving its eco- and cost-efficiency. With this in mind, this paper aims to assess the eco- and cost-efficiency of renewable energy such as algae-based biofuels using data visualization. It also intends to help increase public awareness and facilitate the commercialization of renewable energy such as biofuels. Through experiments, this paper found that the success of biofuel commercialization hinged on temperature, light intensity, and algae strain. Another important finding is that the low carbon footprint resulting from biofuel consumption may not directly contribute to the immediate revenue growth of a biofuel producing company, but it can foster a long-term positive image that will help attract more customers in the future with increased brand recognition. Furthermore, this paper evaluates the effectiveness, the level of user involvement, and the usability of two data visualization tools built upon the dashboard and the balanced scorecard. Based on the case study, this paper demonstrates how effective and useful the tools are in communicating the firm's strategic goals toward sustainability and thus provides easier practical guidelines for renewable energy development decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with the prospect of depletion of non-renewable sources of fossil fuels and concerns about the emission of substances that compromise the environment, biofuels, and especially bioethanol, have attracted the attention of researchers, companies and governments. Specifically, the second generation of bioethanol has critical stages in the production process which have been limiting for companies to achieve production on a commercial scale. Although research has sought to overcome such constraints by focusing on technological challenges, it has been recognized that the greater or lesser absorption capacity of technological innovations is related to the business model used. The purpose of this article was to analyze the business models used by Brazilian companies that have achieved commercial scale production of second generation bioethanol, studying their business models as commercial viability instruments of technologies, looking to subsidize companies of this segment in formulating their policies to reach commercial scale. The research was carried out through a methodology based on the content analysis technique, which provided the following categories that served as the basis for the analysis of the business models: company focus, raw material, costs, certification, technology and production. Among the six major second-generation commercial ethanol plants in the world - GranBio, Raízen, Poet-DSM, BetaRenewables, Abengoa (plant bought by Synata Bio) and DuPont - two are Brazilian: GranBio and Raízen, which mainly use sugar cane bagasse and straw as raw material. The study demonstrated that both companies have competitive advantages that are equivalent in most of the categories studied, albeit GranBio’s business model performs better in some other categories due to the strategic partnerships it has established with some of the main companies in the segment, thus, better exploring the benefits of the open innovation environment that characterizes the competitive arena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selection of the location of a biomass plant is a critical concern because biomass feedstocks are geographically and spatially dispersed. Geographic Information System-Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (GIS-MCDA) techniques are powerful methods that have been applied to various disciplines using suitable criteria. These methods can be used to solve power planning problems, such as determining the optimal locations of biomass plants in the context of renewable energy. In response to the promotion of renewable energy in European strategy, Extremadura (Spain) is boosting energy generation from biomass as an alternative to traditional generation to protect the environment. This study presents a combined application of GIS-MCDA and the Fuzzy-DEcision-MAking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (F-DEMATEL) technique to identify suitable and favorable sites for biomass facilities in terms of long-term sustainability. The main criteria established in this approach are outlined, evaluated, weighted and allocated to three criteria groups: environmental, geophysical and socio-economic groups. In the F-DEMATEL participatory method, constraints and their weight coefficients, with regard to their influence, are calculated. The most suitable locations are obtained after applying the Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) method. In the final stage of the decision-making problem, a sensitivity analysis of the criteria set is conducted, and the weights are determined for four implementation strategies. The model is applied in a case study of Extremadura where forest and agriculture are the typical land uses. The results of the F-DEMATEL/GIS-MCDA analysis suggest that the optimal sites for the locations of biomass plants are situated near forests and in zones with low transport costs, which comprise only 9.247% ( Sh ) of the total study area. Currently, five plants are installed in this area; however, they are not located in the most suitable areas ( Sh ). The most influential criteria of the model are the vegetation cover, agricultural area, transport cost and potential demand criteria. This methodology can be used in other studies to verify suitable locations for biomass plants in areas with similar geographical and spatial characteristics and available spatial data. Additionally, the proposed method of renewable energy policy planning can be applied to decision-making problems in the private sector and at various government levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The palm oil industry has had to undergo rapid development in order to cope with the increasing demand from consumers year by year. The palm oil industry is receiving criticism from various parties on the issue of sustainability. This paper presents the development of a Palm Oil Mill Sustainability Index that enables millers to assess the sustainability performance of palm oil mills against benchmarks, and to differentiate between the performance of each mill. The assessment was performed via the adoption of a Proximity-to-Target approach that measures the current sustainability performance of the industry relative to policy targets. The industry's comparable performance was observed in terms of sustainability and indicators through a graphical method. The resulting Palm Oil Mill Sustainability Index scores were translated into a five-point rating system to describe the sustainability performance levels for different mills i.e. excellent, good, fair, poor, and very poor. Based on the Palm Oil Mill Sustainability Index scores and rating system, weak performance indicators were identified, for example, excessive use of water consumption due to inappropriate operation of hydrocyclones. By identifying the weak performance indicators, practical recommendations and measures for improvement can be proposed and the Palm Oil Mill Sustainability Index scores recalculated to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed sustainability performance strategy. Selected palm oil mills in Malaysia were used as a case study to demonstrate the applicability of the framework. The results provide empirical evidence to support a decision-support-system for enhancing palm oil mill sustainability performance, so as to achieve a balance between environmental, economic, and social aspects in the palm oil mill sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Woody biomass is widely used as a renewable energy source to produce electricity and heat, with the goal of reducing CO 2 emissions, enhancing energy security, and rejuvenating rural economies. In Japan, the energy usage of woody biomass is currently incentivized by feed-in tariff (FIT) programs. However, a variety of unpredictable factors ( e.g ., a drastic change in national energy policy and feedstock supply) might undermine the sustainability of woody biomass energy businesses. In order to clarify conditions for designing sustainable woody biomass energy businesses from environmental and economic viewpoints, this paper proposes a method for undertaking scenario analyses where the influences of future uncertainties are analyzed. For quantitative assessment, a woody biomass energy business is modeled as a sequence of processes using a discrete event simulation technique. A case study is carried out with a particular focus on the energy business with a 10 MW woody biomass power generation plant in a Japanese rural community in the period of 2015–2034 (20 years). The results reveal that the business has potential to gain economic profit and halve CO 2 emissions when compared with the worst case scenario. Critical factors for enhancing the sustainability of the business include collecting the amount of wood residue used for electricity generation and keeping the selling price of electricity from woody biomass at over 35% of the current price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering that renewable energy is the primary energy source in the future, this study investigates biomass power for sustainable and secure energy supply. Biomass fuels in Malaysia include empty fruit bunch, mesocarp fiber, palm kernel shell, oil palm frond, oil palm trunk from palm oil plantation, and woody biomass from forests. The moisture content and heating value of palm oil-based biomass fuels are analyzed relative to their cost savings in a 10 MW biomass power plant. The net present value, internal rate of return, and payback period for various finance options and at various system efficiencies are also presented. Results indicate that for an empty fruit bunch priced at MYR 20/t without loan, the net present values are MYR 45.31 million, MYR 54.32 million, and MYR 57.74 million, with 20%, 30%, and 40% system efficiencies, respectively; the internal rates of returns are 21.88%, 22%, and 21.11%, respectively; and the payback periods are 4.16, 4.20, and 4.22 y, respectively. The 10 MW plant releases 50,130 t less CO 2 , 750 t less SO 2 , 218.65 t less NOx, and 22.83 t less CO emissions in the environment compared with the existing energy mix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current assessments of the environmental performance of biofuel chains are fraught by a large degree of variability and uncertainty arising from differences in life cycle inventory data for the feedstock production stage, notably crop yields and emissions of reactive nitrogen. This study sets out to improve the accuracy of these data by combining agro-ecosystem modelling and agronomic survey data, in the context of biodiesel production from winter oilseed rape in France. Crop yields and environmental emissions related to crop farming were simulated over the 2010–2030 time period in 8 administrative regions accounting for most of winter oilseed rape production, and the results were fed into a life cycle assessment (LCA) of biodiesel. The effects of changes in climate scenarios and the improvement of fertilization practices were also examined. Compared to the widely used methodology based on fixed emissions factors, ecosystem modelling led to 29–41% lower estimates for direct nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions, depending on climate scenarios, which emphasizes the importance of taking local factors into account. The life cycle GHG emissions of biodiesel from winter oilseed rape varied starkly across the studied regions, from 20.6 to 25.7 g CO 2 eq MJ −1 and from 22.9 to 32.4 g CO 2 eq MJ −1 depending on climate scenarios. Overall, biodiesel deployment would abate GHG emissions by 65–78% compared to fossil diesel, not accounting for land use changes effects. Improved fertilization practices mitigated the LCA impact indicators by 3–14%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To solve the insufficiency of biomass supply in the biomass power industry of China, this study developed a conceptual model of farmers' risk perceptions on straw supply (FROSS) activities by integrating influencing factors, namely, socio-demographic characteristics, policy guidance factors, economic factors, and trust factors, into the model ( Wang, 2015 ). The FROSS model was empirically tested in a survey on the risk perceptions of 275 farmers living around a biomass power plant in northeast China. The results of multiple regression analyses on the influencing factors indicate that the proposed model accounts for 67.4% of the variance in farmers' risk perceptions. The factors that dominantly influence farmers' risk perceptions were then identified, after which factor analysis that was conceptualized along personal- and environment-related risk perceptions was carried out. The influencing factors predict more than 80% of personal-related risk perceptions but only 16.2% of environment-related risk perceptions. Focusing on the initial stages of analyzing the factors that affect farmers' risk perceptions regarding straw supply activities improves our understanding of straw demand risks in China's biomass power industry. The implications of the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable technologies to produce alternative energies as biofuel with focus on the harnessing of renewable sources and waste biomass is gradually gaining ground. Although the biodiesel is a very attractive biofuel its production from vegetable oils competes with the feed generation with the consequent socio-economic costs involved. Therefore, the reuse of waste oils appears as an alternative highly promising. However the high content of free fatty acid and water in this raw material difficult its use in the conventional processes employed in the actuality. In this work, we successfully develop hybrid catalysts based in Pseudomonas fluorescen s lipase immobilized over Ca and Na modified mesoporous SBA-15 supports. The physic-chemical properties of the supports were determined by Small-angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Infrared Spectroscopy (IR), Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP) and N 2 adsorption measurements. These hybrid catalysts were capable to process waste oils, and even, commercial ethanol (96%) obtained from a fermentative process An optimum activity, with around 90% of FAEE yield, was achieved with lipase immobilized on Ca modified SBA-15 using 4% of water respect to oil, 1:4 oil/ethanol ratio, 400 mg/g of enzyme immobilized, at 37 °C and 180 oscillations/min. This catalyst could contribute to development of a more environmentally and economically viable process to biodiesel production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microalgae have been studied as a potential alternative raw material and various technologies have been proposed to transform the algal biomass into energy products. In this study, two bioenergy production systems of very different complexities were modelled to assess their environmental efficiencies: a biodiesel system and a biogas system. Biodiesel system used supercritical extraction and transesterification as key processes; to the best of authors' knowledge, there is no previous work analysing the environmental performances of such production system. Cumulative energy demand, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and dynamic LCA for climate change were used to evaluate the environmental footprint of the production systems. Conventional systems for electricity, heat and diesel production were considered for comparison. Energy balance showed that the supercritical extraction and drying steps were the most energy consuming unit operations in biodiesel production and further developments of technologies might be envisaged. LCA showed that climate change was the main contributor to impacts on human health and ecosystem quality due to energy consumed in production steps. Also, heat from biogas was the only product that proved to have a satisfactory environmental performance with regard to other conventional production systems. Finally, dynamic climate change evaluation (used for the first time for bio-chemical processes) revealed no carbon sequestration in microalgae system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofuel as a promising pathway for substituting the traditional fossil fuels, mitigating environmental contaminations, and enhancing the energy security has attracted more and more attention in China. This study aims at identifying the critical success factors for promoting the sustainable development of biofuel industry and helping the stakeholders/decision-makers to draft the appropriate strategic measures for enhancing the sustainability of biofuel industry in China. A generic methodology in which the decision-makers are allowed to use linguistic terms to express their views and options, multiple decision-makers are allowed to participate in the decision-making, has been developed to prioritize the factors influencing the sustainability of biofuel industry and to identify the cause–effect relationships among these factors. The three factors, including government support degree, competitiveness, and local acceptability are identified as the most critical factors for promoting the sustainable development of biofuel industry in China, but they are all effects rather than the origins of the problems existed in the biofuel industry of China. In contrast, maturity, safety and reliability, complexity, conversion efficiency, and investment cost are the most important causes, and they are also the origins of the problems existed in the biofuel industry of China. Six effective strategic measures including popularizing the use of biofuels in large scales, subsidies and tax exemption policies, investing more on R&D on biofuel technologies, encouraging more private enterprises and joint ventures to participate in the biofuel industry, developing the integrated utilization manner of biofuels by further developing the byproducts of biofuels, and popularizing the use of biodiesel and bioethanol among the vehicle users through publicity and education have been proposed for promoting the sustainable development of China's biofuel industry according to the obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is easy to predict that in the coming years in Europe biodiesel will play an increasingly important role in the transport sector. The European Commission has set at 10% by 2020 the proportion that biofuels should represent in total fuel used in transport and biodiesel is currently the most widely used biofuel in the European Union. The most common way to produce biodiesel is through transesterification of vegetable oils with methanol; glycerol is the main co-product. Although glycerol has many industrial applications, increased production of biodiesel could make complete market placement of this chemical difficult. In this context, increasing interest is paid towards different methods of biodiesel production that provide alternative co-products. This article offers a “cradle to gate” evaluation of potential environmental impacts caused by an innovative process for the production of DMC-BioD, an alternative biofuel to biodiesel which does not involve the production of glycerol. Transesterification of soybean oil with dimethyl carbonate to obtain DMC-BioD has been modelled with the aid of the Chemical Process Simulation software Aspen HYSYS ® that produced the material and energy balances and the preliminary sizing of the process units. Results have been also compared with background information from database on the production of conventional biodiesel from soybean oil and of fossil diesel. The study suggests that DMC-BioD can be an interesting route for the production of biofuels from an environmental point of view. Compared to fossil diesel, GHG (Greenhouse gases) emissions can be decreased, although trade-offs are registered in other environmental categories. In any case, future investigation is needed in order to understand and optimize its environmental profile through the entire life cycle and possibly bring its production to a commercial scale. This preliminary analysis of potential environmental impacts provides useful information to continue the testing and scale-up phases and to improve the environmental performances of the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the alpine Autonomous Province of Bolzano (NE Italy), about 40% of the biomass used for bioenergy production is currently imported. This share is expected to further increase in the near future owing to growing renewable energy needs. The residual biomass harvestable from the local agronomic sector, mostly based on the cultivation of apple, is a promising option to supply relatively cheap bioenergy feedstock. In this study, we investigate the use of woody residues from apple orchards (apple orchard's woody residues, AWRs) for the production of bioenergy using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The system boundaries include the harvesting and chipping of AWRs, their transport to the energy plant and conversion into heat and power in a gasification unit. The life cycle inventory (LCI) data rely on field measurements for AWRs harvesting and chipping operations, as well as for their chemical and energy characterization. In the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase, we consider various environmental impact categories like climate change, acidification, fossil depletion, and others. We benchmark the outcomes with two alternative reference systems based on fossils fuels. Our results show that the energy production using AWRs generally presents better environmental indicators than the reference systems, although some trade-offs exist. For instance, whereas the bioenergy system saves up to about 85% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and about 95% of non-renewable resources, it is usually associated with higher toxicity impact potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity generated from forest-based biomass is an attractive source of renewable energy. However, the cost of generating heat and/or electricity from it is relatively high due to the low energy density of wood, high moisture content and variations in its quality and availability. Models have been developed to optimize the supply chain and reduce the cost per kilowatt hour generated. This paper focuses on incorporating uncertainty in the supply chain of such a model. The model considers the tactical supply chain planning of a power plant over a one-year time horizon with monthly time steps. Uncertain parameters which impact the net profit of the power plant include ‘biomass quality,’ namely moisture content and higher heating value, and ‘monthly available biomass’ from different suppliers. Robust optimization is used to model uncertainty in the quality of biomass. Then a hybrid, multi-stage, ‘stochastic programming-robust optimization’ model is presented in order to simultaneously include uncertainty in biomass quality and biomass availability. It is demonstrated that the hybrid model takes advantage of both modelling approaches to balance the profit estimates and the tractability to various circumstances. The model provides solution considering all instances of the uncertain parameters within the defined sets and scenario tree. The results revealed a major trade-off between profit and range of biomass quality. Profit decreased by up to 23% when there was ±13% variation in moisture content and ±5% change in higher heating value. The model achieved a biomass purchase cost that was lower than the current commercial costs at the power plant. Implementing the model could prevent production curtailment and undesirable fluctuation in storage levels which occurred in the past due to variations in biomass availability and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing awareness of the climate impact of agricultural production, not least from cattle farms. Major sources of GHG emissions from milk production are enteric fermentation followed by fossil fuel use and manure/soil management systems. This study analyzes the potential to eliminate fossil fuel use from milk production farms in Sweden, by using residual farm resources of biomass to obtain self-sufficiency in fuel, heat and electricity. The change from a fossil-based energy system to a renewable system based on A) Biogas based on manure and straw and B) Biogas based on manure + RME were analyzed with consequential life cycle assessment (CLCA) methodology. Focus was energy use and GHG emissions and the functional unit was 1 kg of energy-corrected milk (ECM). The results show that organic milk producers can become self-sufficient in energy and reduce total GHG emissions from milk production by 46% in the Biogas system, or 32% in the Biogas + RME system compared to the Fossil system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As of 2012, the share of the Brazilian domestic energy supplied by renewable energy was 42.4%, the highest among all major economies in the world. Nonetheless, there are opportunities to increase this share even further. One such opportunity is the adoption of biorefineries that could represent a viable and sustainable alternative to replace the need for oil, coal, natural gas and other non-renewable energy sources with biomass. The fact that biomass has the flexibility to be converted into distinct outputs such as electricity, biofuels, charcoal and chemicals, along with the uncertainty regarding market prices, may allow the firm to create value from the optimal exercise of these embedded options. Thus, the objective of this study is to analyze if converting a biomass power plant based on Elephant grass into a biorefinery adds value to the project and if the proposed biorefinery is economically feasible. The analysis was conducted by adopting a hybrid commercialization model where part of the plant's power generation installed capacity was sold through a 20 year long-term fixed supply contract and the remainder was optimally negotiated in the short-term market in the form electricity, charcoal or ethanol. The results show that all option values are positive ranging from approximately 90–101 million dollars, which indicates that they add value to the project. In addition, the resulting NPVs of all biorefinery strategies were positive, which indicates that biorefineries using the commercialization scheme proposed in this study represent a feasible and interesting opportunity for a sustainable energy matrix diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive water usage and CO 2 emissions resulting from industrial systems and processes have significantly raised environmental concerns. Although biofuels help to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, the biofuel industry itself consumes a considerable amount of water and produces CO 2 emissions during ethanol production. In this paper, we develop a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) capacitated lot-sizing model for analyzing the economic and environmental feasibility of ethanol production using multiple biomass sources. The model minimizes the cost of ethanol production while penalizing its possible adverse environmental impacts such as CO 2 emissions and excessive water usage. The overall cost of ethanol production includes production, setup, and inventory holding costs with penalties for environmental impacts minus the income from ethanol tax credits and electricity generated from waste heat. We perform a sensitivity analysis and analyze results to improve our understanding of the economic viability of ethanol production and associated environmental effects. Results show that switchgrass is the most profitable and preferred biomass type when there is an unlimited supply of all biomass sources, while wheat and corn become more preferable in the case of a limited biomass supply. Compared to low- and medium-demand cases, when there is high demand, total costs increase significantly due to multiple production setup costs, excessive water usage, and CO 2 emissions under limited biomass supply. The solution of the proposed model also indicates that if ongoing technology investments in the conversion rate succeed, the total cost of ethanol production can decrease by up to 21 percent. Finally, results show that the proposed MILP model provides valuable insights and strategies for future investors, decision-makers, and the government to achieve sustainable and economically viable biofuel production using various biomass types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-production of high-value biobased products in biorefineries is a promising option for optimized utilization of biomass. Lignocellulosic materials such as agricultural and forest residues have been identified as attractive alternative feedstocks because of their high availability and low resource demand. This study assessed the greenhouse gas (GHG) performance and energy balance of ethanol co-production with biogas and electricity in biorefineries using straw and forest residues. Two calculation methods were used: Method I (ISO), which applied the international standard for life cycle assessment, and Method II, which applied the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) methodology. These methods differed in allocation procedure, functional unit and system boundaries. Analysis of the importance of significant methodological choices and critical parameters showed that the results varied depending on calculation method, with co-product handling and the inclusion of upstream impacts from residue harvesting explaining most of the differences. Important life cycle steps were process inputs in terms of enzymes and changes in soil organic carbon content due to removal of residues. Ethanol produced from forest residues generally gave lower GHG emissions than straw-based ethanol. The GHG savings for both feedstocks were 51–84% relative to fossil fuel. Omission of upstream impacts from residue recovery in agriculture and forestry in the RED method means that it risks overlooking important environmental effects of residue reuse. Furthermore, the default allocation procedure used in the RED method (energy allocation) may need revision for biorefineries where multiple products with different characteristics are co-produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Biofuel production through polygeneration with heat as one of the by-products implies a possibility for cooperation between transport and district heating sectors by introducing large-scale biofuel production into district heating systems. The cooperation may have effects on both the biofuel production costs and the district heating production costs. This paper is the second part of the study that investigates those effects. The biofuel production costs evaluation, considering heat and electricity as by-products, was performed in the first part of the study. In this second part of the study, an evaluation of how such cooperation would influence the district heating production costs using Stockholm's district heating system as a case study was performed. The plants introduced in the district heating system were chosen depending on the future development of the transport sector. In order to perform sensitivity analyses of different energy market conditions, two energy market scenarios were applied. Despite the higher revenues from the sale of by-products, due to the capital intense investments required, the introduction of large-scale biofuel production into the district heating system does not guarantee economic benefits. Profitability is highly dependent on the types of biofuel production plants and energy market scenarios. The results show that large-scale biogas and ethanol production may lead to a significant reduction in the district heating production costs in both energy market scenarios, especially if support for transportation fuel produced from renewable energy sources is included. If the total biomass capacity of the biofuel production plants introduced into the district heating system is 900 MW, the district heating production costs would be negative and the whole public transport sector and more than 50% of the private cars in the region could be run on the ethanol and biogas produced. The profitability is shown to be lower if the raw biogas that is by-produced in the biofuel production plants is used for combined and power production instead of being sold as transportation fuel; however, this strategy may still result in profitability if the support for transportation fuel produced from renewable energy sources is included. Investments in Fischer–Tropsch diesel and dimethyl ether production are competitive to the investments in combined and power production only if high support for transportation fuel produced from renewable energy sources is included. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper evaluates the effects on profitability of biofuel production if biofuel producers would sell the waste heat from the production to a local district heating system. All analyses have been performed considering four different technology cases for biofuel production. Two technology cases include ethanol production which is followed by by-production of raw biogas. This biogas can be upgraded and sold as biofuel (the first technology case) or directly used for combined heat and power production (the second technology case). The third and the fourth technology cases are Fischer-Tropsch diesel and dimethyl ether production plants based on biomass gasification. Two different district heating price levels and two different future energy market scenarios were considered. The sensitivity analyses of the discount rate were performed as well. In the case of energy market conditions, the profitability depends above all on the price ratio between biomass (used as the feedstock for biofuel production) and crude oil (used as the feedstock for fossil diesel and gasoline production). The reason for this is that the gate biofuel prices (the prices on which the biofuel would be sold) were calculated assuming that the final prices at the filling stations are the same as the prices of the replaced fossil fuel. The price ratios between biomass and district heating, and between biomass and electricity, also have an influence on the profitability, since higher district heating and electricity prices lead to higher revenues from the heat/electricity by-produced. Due to high biofuel (ethanol + biogas) efficiency, the ethanol production plant which produces upgraded biogas has the lowest biofuel production costs. Those costs would be lower than the biofuel gate prices even if the support for transportation fuel produced from renewable energy sources were not included. If the raw biogas that is by-produced would instead be used directly for combined heat and power production, the revenues from the electricity and heat would increase, but at the same time the biofuel efficiency would be lower, which would lead to higher production costs. On the other hand, due to the fact that it has the highest heat efficiency compared to the other technologies, the ethanol production in this plant shows a high sensitivity to the district heating price level, and the economic benefit from introducing such a plant into a district heating system is most obvious. Assuming a low discount rate (6%), the introduction of such a plant into a district heating system would lead to between 28% and 52% (depending on the district heating price level and energy market scenario) lower biofuel production costs. Due to the lower revenues from the heat and electricity co-produced, and higher capital investments compared to the ethanol production plants, Fischer-Tropsch diesel and dimethyl ether productions are shown to be profitable only if high support for transportation fuel produced from renewable energy sources is included. The results also show that an increase of the discount rate from 6% to 10% does not have a significant influence on the biofuel production costs. Depending on the biofuel production plant, and on the energy market and district heating conditions, when the discount rate increases from 6% to 10%, the biofuel production costs increase within a range from 2.2% to 6.8%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The global stockpiles of by-product lignin are increasing rapidly with the growing demand on wood-based industry and biomass energy, creating a potential threat to environmental safety without proper disposal. The presented study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing biomass-based by-product lignin to suppress the shrinkage of silt expected as filling material in engineering construction. A series of laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the variations in geometry size, mass loss Δm , moisture content w , and unconfined compressive strength q u of the treated samples exposed to the artificial dry condition. The effects of additive dosage and curing time on shrinkage behaviors of lignin treated silt were analyzed. The roles of matric suction on q u and soil microstructure were discussed to understand the mechanism leading to the soil shrinkage. The test results demonstrated that the addition of lignin effectively suppressed shrinkage of compacted silt subjected to dry curing. Both linear shrinkage rate e s and volumetric shrinkage rate e v increased with an increase in lignin dosage, indicating excessive addition of lignin produced a negative impact on the shrinkage resistance. The values of e s and e v of lignin treated samples were controlled within 1.0% and 3.0%, respectively. As compared to quicklime, lignin exhibited slightly inferior performance of suppressing shrinkage, while it promoted the water-holding capacity of the treated silt. The matric suction resulted from moisture loss was beneficial for strength improvement and also accelerated the process of soil shrinkage. The shrinkage characteristics of lignin treated silt mainly depended on the combined functions of lignin cementation and matric suction. Additional research is recommended to quantitatively evaluate the matric suction variation of lignin treated soils in dry environment. The outcomes of this study are invaluable in facilitating sustainable soil treatment in engineering construction and providing a viable answer to the cleaner production of biomass-based business. [Display omitted] • By-product lignin is a sustainable additive for engineering construction. • Lignin exhibits great potential of suppressing shrinkage of silty soil. • Lignin treatment enhances water-holding capacity and strength of silty soil. • Shrinkage behaviors depend on combination of lignin cementation and matric suction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Biofuels are heavily debated as to their potential to reduce transport-related greenhouse gas emissions. Life cycle thinking gave rise to formal evaluations of the energy balance of such fuels, which led to the vigorously conducted “corn to ethanol” debates. Just as consensus was building on such evaluations came the “carbon debt” insights, a result of applying consequential Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) backed by advanced economic modeling. Increasingly, hopes have shifted to the 2nd generation biofuels, viewed as a “technological home run”. Could this also backfire? We investigate a simple South African case in which there might not be improvements in environmental performance: a sugar mill sells its bagasse, currently used at low efficiency to provide process heat, to an advanced biofuels producer, and buys an equivalent amount of coal without investing in efficiency improvements. Seven scenarios are generated, ranging from the status quo, where no bagasse is diverted, to 100% bagasse diversion, with one scenario including an energy efficiency improvement in the sugar mill. A consequential LCA is applied to the seven scenarios, covering global warming potential (GWP), non-renewable energy use, aquatic eutrophication and terrestrial acidification. A basic financial analysis of the proposed scenarios shows that they are realistic, with potentially lucrative returns. Results show that diverting bagasse without efficiency improvements from its current use to an ethanol bio-refinery would indeed backfire for all environmental impacts studied. The base case outperforms all the other scenarios, with the 100% bagasse diversion scenario emerging the worst. Investments into energy efficiency are therefore a precondition for diverting cellulosic residues into biofuel production. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In October 2018, the European Union (EU) launched an updated bioeconomy strategy with the aim of encouraging the substitution of fossil carbon with biomass feedstock in the industry and in energy production while preserving ecosystem services. The objective of the paper is to analyse the links between the EU bioeconomy strategy and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to assess what could be the main points of synergies and tensions between bioeconomy-related SDG targets. By semantically mapping the action plan of the 2018 EU bioeconomy strategy with the SDG targets, the paper finds that the bioeconomy strategy is aligned with 53 targets distributed in 12 of the 17 SDGs. Ex-post correlation analysis on bioeconomy-related SDGs indicators for 28 EU Member States (1990–2018) shows a predominance of synergies over trade-offs. More intense synergetic past developments (positive correlations) are found among clean energies (SDG 7), recycling (SDG 11), ecosystem preservation (SDG 15) and most of all other bioeconomy-related SDGs. Negative correlations are observed between agro-biodiversity (SDG 2), domestic material consumption of biomass (SDG 8 and 12), agriculture and industrial developments (SDG 2 and SDG 9) and a wide array of bioeconomy-related SDG indicators. The hotspots of strong correlations identified might be useful in further enrichment of ex-ante simulation models. From a policy coherence perspective, a wide range of policy instruments are already in place in the EU to foster synergies and may bring co-benefits. Policies oriented at preventing trade-offs are already in place but they have not overcome the antagonisms observed in this study yet. Change in practices, technical and technological innovations and the application of circular and 'cascading principles' are the most common fields of action. • The European bioeconomy strategy is aligned with 12 Sustainable Development Goals. • Synergies predominate over trade-offs in bioeconomy domains (period 1990–2018). • Main synergies are found with goals 7 (energy), 11 (recycling) and 15 (land). • Many co-benefits are thus expected from policy measures in these areas. • Trade-offs with Sustainable Development Goals 2, 8, 12 and 9 require policy attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]