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Diversifying the energy components of a country's transport sector is essential to guarantee the fuel supply to consumers and increase the market dynamics and competitiveness. Among the known alternative fuels, biogas is a renewable source and after upgrading to biomethane, it presents a similar composition to natural gas (>90% of CH4; 35–40 MJ m−3). In addition, it can be produced from a wide variety of biological resources and at different scales In this study, two scenarios have been developed that evaluate the use of liquefied biomethane (LBM) as a diesel replacement option in the freight sector of an area of 248,223 km2 (equivalent to the area of the UK). Sugarcane vinasse (SVC) and Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) were the sole feedstocks for biogas production. The first scenario, non-restricted scenario (NRS), covered the entire territory while, the second scenario, restricted scenario (RS), includes only the area where gas pipelines are available. An economic assessment of the entire biogas value chain including, biogas production units, purification, transport and end-use was performed. The minimum selling price (MSP) of biomethane throughout the biogas chain was then estimated. LBM is estimated to be a cost-effective and affordable fuel choice compared to diesel. The technical potential of biogas production by the sugarcane mills and landfills of Sao Paulo state can replace up to half of the diesel consumed in the territory. The minimum distances and optimal locations methodology indicated the need for 120 liquefaction plants in the NRS, 35 injection points in the RS, and 7 refuelling stations to supply LBM throughout the state of Sao Paulo. The units for CO2 removal had the greatest influence on capital costs (∼60%) in both scenarios. Expenditure associated with the gas injection operation and its transport comprised more than 90% of the operating costs of the RS. Electricity purchasing represented the highest share of the operating costs at biogas purification (20%–30%) and biomethane liquefaction (65%–91%) units. Personnel costs are observed along the entire biogas chain, especially, in the biomethane transport step (40%), indicating an opportunity to generate wealth, jobs, and income. Despite our projections for the cost-effective and competitive supplies of LBM as a diesel replacement fuel, policy support measures such as a feed-in tariff, are likely to be necessary in order to overcome non-technical barriers and gain wider acceptability.

Brazil is a country with several advantages to act as a leader in agro-industrial and forest sectors, particularly those dedicated to energy, featuring sustainable biomass production with significant potential for exploitation. Its natural and geographical conditions are quite favorable and there are available areas with adequate characteristics of soil and climate conditions, making it the country's largest gathering of quantitative comparative advantages to lead the sustainable production and use of biomass energy on a large scale, without competition with other crops such as food crops. If successful in institutional advancements, we can expect Brazil to accelerate the sustainable expansion of forest plantations. Considering forestry in Brazil, it is important to notice that, in this sector, the prospects for expansion of forest plantations can ensure future demand for wood that are linked to the production of high added value, given that the country has the characteristics required for the production of wood for energy, as well as great potential for structure bioproducts as (LVL and plywood technology), replacing concrete and structural steel, with wood involving the projected bioenergy demands and potentially linked to CCS technology to promote negative emissions in the power systems. However, to place Brazil in the international solid biomass area, it is necessary to remove the existing barriers and to create policies to incentive investments in this sector aiming a higher participation, as discussed in this paper., Proceedings of the 26th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 14-17 May 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 1408-1412

Climate change, among other factors, have been motivating research, development and investments on less carbon intensive technologies. In energy sector, this movement has impelled the increasing use of renewable energy sources, especially solar and wind. However, these variable renewable energy sources cause challenges in supply-demand grid balance. Consequently, measures to increase grid flexibility are required, including the use of energy storage technologies. Power-to-gas is a promising one, providing seasonal storage as well as converting electricity into another energy carrier, contributing to energy convergence of electricity, gas and transportation sectors. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the PtG integration into vinasse biogas generation in sugarcane ethanol industry. This paper results show that, in a local analysis, this integration increases the biomethane delivery in a range of 58-65%. On national scope, the values are in a range from 1150-1300 Mm³/year. Local analysis shows that this increase would be equivalent to 7.5-10 times the diesel demand of heavy-duty vehicles from sugarcane ethanol industry. The potential GHG mitigation assessed by displacing diesel from transportation applications is in a range of 2.14-2.76 MtCO2/year, corresponding to 0.09-0.12% of Brazil’s total emissions or 0.50-0.65% of energy use associated emissions. This paper shows an opportunity to harness renewable electricity surplus, improving renewable integration in power sector, expanding decision making options in sugarcane ethanol industry and promoting GHG emission mitigation in Brazil. These opportunities are aligned towards a cleaner, more efficient and sustainable energy sector., Proceedings of the 26th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 14-17 May 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 1495-1502

The Intended Nationally Determined Contribution from Brazil presented in COP 21, ratified in 2016 by the Brazilian Congress, establishes goals regarding reduction of carbon emissions and increasing the share of biofuels by 2030. In this scenario, biogas and biomethane are suitable renewable fuels to meet such goals. Thus, the Bioenergy Research Group of the Institute of Energy and Environment at the University of São Paulo (GBIO/IEE/USP) developed "Project 27 - The biomethane contribution prospects to increase the supply of NG in São Paulo" - within the Research Center for Gas Innovation (RCGI/FAPESP/SHELL/USP). Project 27’s objective is to map the production of biogas and biomethane in the state of São Paulo, where the most promising biogas potential in Brazil resides. In view of the above, this article aims to present the results obtained for biogas and biomethane potentials so far, to compare it to other estimates and to study the incentives for these biofuels in São Paulo. The results obtained diverge from other studies' estimates for biogas and biomethane in the state of São Paulo. Nonetheless, they show that the biogas and biomethane potential is São Paulo is largely underused. However, the state already has a number of policies and regulations aiming towards introducing biogas and biomethane to the energy matrix., Proceedings of the 26th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 14-17 May 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 1503-1511

Section I Fundamentals of Engineering Analysis and Design of Bioenergy Production Systems Genetic Engineering of Bioenergy Crops toward High Biofuel Production Guosheng Xie and Liangcai Peng Novel Cropping Technologies and Management Applied to Energy Crops Lorenzo Barbanti Mathematical Modeling in Biomass and Bioenergy Systems Lijun Wang, Samuel Asomaning Agyemang and Abolghasem Shahbazi Life-Cycle Assessment of Bioenergy Systems Reinout Heijungs and Edi Iswanto Wiloso Sustainability of Bioenergy Systems Lucas Reijnders Section II Sustainable Biomass Production and Supply Logistics Production and Supply Logistics of Microalgae as an Energy Feedstock Helena M. Amaro, F. Xavier Malcata, and I. Sousa-Pinto Production and Supply Logistics of Switchgrass as an Energy Feedstock Marty R. Schmer and Igathinathane Cannayen Production and Supply Logistics of Sweet Sorghum as an Energy Feedstock Sergio O. Serna-Saldivar and William L. Rooney Production and Supply Logistics of Sugarcane as an Energy Feedstock Jose Goldemberg, Suani T. Coelho, Plinio M. Nastari, and Patricia Guardabassi Crop Residues as an Energy Feedstock: Availability and Sustainability Dong Jiang, Dafang Zhuang, and Yaohuan Huang Woody Biomass as an Energy Feedstock: Availability and Sustainability Birger Solberg Animal Wastes as an Energy Feedstock: Availability and Sustainability Hui Wang and Lijun Wang Municipal Solid-Waste Management Strategies for Renewable Energy Options Richa Kothari, Virendra Kumar, N.L. Pawar, and V.V. Tyagi Food Processing Wastes as an Energy Feedstock: Availability and Sustainability Lijun Wang Section III Sustainable Bioenergy Processing Fermentation in Transportation Alcohols Jonathan Moncada, Luis A. Toro, and Carlos A. Cardona Biodiesel Production from Waste Feedstock Dennis Y.C. Leung and Xuan Wu Biomass Gasification and Syngas Utilization Ajay Kumar, Ashokkumar Sharma, and Pushpak Bhandari Biomass Pyrolysis and Bio-oil Utilization Lijun Wang and Dan Cheng Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Biomass Nor Aishah Saidina Amin, Javaid Akhtar, and Selhan Karagoz Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Wastes Bo Zhang and Lijun Wang Combined Heat and Power Generation from Biomass Hao Liu and Rabah Boukhanouf Section IV Sustainable Biorefinery Systems Biorefinery Principles, Analysis, and Design Zheng Liu and Mario Richard Eden Lignocellulosic Feedstock Biorefinery Karin Arens and Shijie Liu Whole-Crop Biorefinery Apostolis A. Koutinas, Carol Lin, Chenyu Du, and Colin Webb Green Biorefinery H.S. Shekhar Sharma and Michael Mandl

The pressure of the recent environmental accords may lead to production of 2G fuels, increasing biofuels availability and reducing environmental impacts. Sugarcane ethanol is a renewable fuel produced from either the 1G or the 2G route. In Brazil, the 1G route is very well stablished due to the role of ethanol in the transportation sector. Currently, the ethanol plants have also a role in the energy sector in Brazil, due to sugarcane bagasse burning in CHP systems. Brazilian ethanol plants are energetically independent and sell its energy surplus, which generates a part of the plant’s income. The pursue for more bioethanol goes through the use bagasse for 2G fuels. However, using sugarcane bagasse solely for 2G ethanol production would cause an imbalance on the ethanol plant energy matrix and revenue. Thus, an alternative renewable fuel is necessary to replace the bagasse, enabling 2G ethanol production from it. This paper’s objective is to assess the amount of bagasse spared by burning biogas produced from vinasse as such fuel. Results show that it is possible spare up to 44.5% of the bagasse using combined cycle technology for power generation. To spare all the bagasse, an energy amount of 293.2 kWh/tcane would lack, even with higher biogas consumption. Future studies should assess if this lacking energy income could come from another renewable energy source, such as bagasse straw., Proceedings of the 25th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 12-15 June 2017, Stockholm, Sweden, pp. 1883-1889

The ethanol and sugar sector in Brazil stand out in the productions of biofuel (1G ethanol) and bioelectricity. Residues of ethanol production can be used to produce more biofuels, such as biogas from biodigestion of vinasse and filter cake and lignocellulosic ethanol (2G ethanol) from sugarcane bagasse hydrolysis. However, using bagasse for producing 2G ethanol would impact the energy matrix of the ethanol plant, since this biomass is currently used for steam and power generation (CHP). A possible solution for minimizing these imbalances is using biogas produced from residues of ethanol to replace the energy input of bagasse to the mill, therefore increasing its availability for 2G ethanol production. This work aims to perform a technical and economic analysis of using biogas produced from vinasse and filter cake biodigestion as a substitute to sugarcane bagasse, shifting it towards the production of 2G ethanol without altering the ethanol and sugar mill energy balance. Different configurations of thermodynamic cycles for power generation were studied in scenarios with only vinasse digestion and with vinasse and filter cake co-digestion. Each of these scenarios were submitted to an economic analysis, aiming to obtain the minimum ethanol selling price (MESP) considering the absence and the contributions of biofuel credits from RenovaBio. The results show that the technology that can displace more bagasse is the combined Rankine-Brayton Cycle. However, the economic results show that the Rankine cycle-based scenarios present greater feasibility than other technologies. Furthermore, the use of co-digestion of vinasse and filter cake improved the results both technically and economically. Nevertheless, none of the scenarios reached the selling price of 1G ethanol, showing that 2G ethanol production still has to be improved in economic and technical terms, even when revenues from RenovaBio are considered., Proceedings of the 27th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 27-30 May 2019, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 595-604

This work presents a bibliographical review on studies according the production of charcoal in the Brazilian Southern Region and a research on secondary data from governmental databases. The relationship between the production of charcoal by native forests and the illegal deforestation in that region was verified. Through the recognition of the main productive chains of charcoal for residential use in Brazil, were identified the environmental, economic and social impacts of greater relevance in this sector. After that, legislation about the production of charcoal for this purpose was investigated, which allowed to describing the main governmental measures for the improvement and sustainability of the productive chain. To results, conclude that charcoal for residential use has a large portion provide produced from native forests and can be related to illegal deforestation, but it is not the primary cause in this scenario. Moreover, showed that there is a lack of enforcement and of adequate public policies. On the other hand, incentives for the use of firewood from sustainable management and efficient technologies can be one of the greatest allies to achieve the change of scenery. These actions could contribute to the regularity and uniformity of charcoal productive chain, maintaining the local cooking traditions, and, therefore, these are the points that need attention and improvements., Proceedings of the 27th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 27-30 May 2019, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 1553-1557