Sustainable Advanced Biofuel: Technology development report

This Sustainable Advanced Biofuel Technology Development 2018 presents an assessment of the state of the art, development trends, targets and needs, technological barriers, as well as techno-economic projections until 2050. Particular attention is paid to how EC funded projects contributed to technology advancements. It includes an overview of Member States' activities based on information from the relevant SET Plan Temporary Working Groups as well as the objectives and main outcomes of the most relevant international programmes.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Progress in estimates of ILUC with MIRAGE model

JRC started in 2012 a collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to carry out further work with the economic model MIRAGE used to calculate the ILUC emissions included in the Commission policy proposal COM(2012)595.. Results are expected to further reduce uncertainties in ILUC estimates. This work presents and discusses the results of new runs of MIRAGE model delivered to the JRC-IET. In particular, IFPRI was asked to: - Evaluate GHG emissions by crop groups (sugar, cereals and oil crops), maintaining the same model assumptions/parameters as in the previous analysis. - Make new runs of the MIRAGE economic model, with improved assumptions/parameters as suggested by the JRC The changes brought by IFPRI to their model raise the ILUC emissions compared to 2011 values, especially for EU ethanol.JRC.F.8-Sustainable Transpor

Historical deforestation due to expansion of crop demand: implications for biofuels

The report presents an independent estimate of the part of LUC emissions due to deforestation, starting from the 29% of historical deforestation area (and estimated emissions) caused by expansion of different crops. The deforestation area and emissions per tonne of extra crop are converted to emissions per MJ biofuel from that crop. The average global deforestation caused by increase in production of a crop or biofuel is estimated, making no geographical differentiation in where the extra demand occurs or where that would provoke deforestation. The source of historical deforestation data is a report published by DG ENV [EC 2013] which estimates which areas of forest were lost to different crops and to other land uses (grazing, logged forest, urban and others) between 1990 and 2008. It used historical deforestation data from FAO’s Forest Resource Assessment 2010, interpreted with other FAO data. The emissions are calculated only from deforestation and peat forest drainage, attributed to each MJ biofuel. This does not include emissions from the grassland area converted to cropland. This method gives an independent verification of the general magnitude of LUC area and emissions which should be expected from bottom-up models of LUC for scenarios, and the results indicate that historical LUC emissions were higher than those estimated by most economic models.JRC.F.8-Sustainable Transpor

Estimates of indirect land use change from biofuels based on historical data

ILUC emissions from biofuels are commonly estimated with sophisticated economic models of world agriculture. Because these are often complex, the JRC in collaboration with Overmars and PBL has evaluated and developed an alternative approach base on “historical” data. This approach gives simple and transparent estimates of ILUC emissions in recent years, even if the method is less rigorous in principle than estimates based on sophisticated economic models. ILUC emissions calculated by a methodology using historical data are generally in line with those of economic models, showing a lower impact of cereals and sugar crops compared to vegetable oils.JRC.F.8-Sustainable Transpor

Dinamiche del commercio internazionale dell'olio di oliva italiano: un'analisi prospettica

The paper analyses the dynamics of the Italian olive oil trade and gives a preliminary explanation of the opportunity in the international market. The paper starts showing the description of olive oil chain and production and underlining the main factors affecting the import export system. The aim of this work is to explain the magnitude of the trade flows for olive oil from Italy to its main importing countries. This objective has been reached by establishing an appropriate econometric model derived from an extended form of the “Gravity Model”. This model has been broadly applied to the analysis of international trade because it provides robust estimates. The results obtained and the model itself are useful in forecasting potential trends in the exportation of high quality Italian olive oil.Italian Olive Oil, Food-Trade, Gravity Models, Export Analysis, Q13, Q17, C20,

Economics of GHG emissions mitigation via biogas production from Sorghum, maize and dairy farm manure digestion in the Po valley

AbstractThe Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and economic feasibility of electricity production from the anaerobic digestion of different substrates are studied in this paper. Three realistic substrate options for the climatic and soil conditions of a modelled farm in the Po Valley in Italy are analysed: manure from a dairy farm, Sorghum and maize.A detailed cost analysis is performed with field data provided by farmers and suppliers and literature sources. The capital costs (CAPEX) and the operational costs (OPEX), disaggregated by their components, are presented. Investment payback time is then calculated for the different substrates and technologies, while taking into account the Italian government feed-in tariff scheme for biogas plants implemented in 2013.In the specific conditions assumed, electricity production via anaerobic digestion of manure and co-digestion of manure with at most 30% Sorghum (no till) provide both GHG savings (in comparison to the Italian electricity mix) and profit for economic operators.The anaerobic digestion of silage maize or Sorghum alone, instead, provides no (or very limited) GHG savings, and, with the current feed-in tariffs, generates economic losses.Both economic and environmental performance are improved by the following practices: cultivating Sorghum instead of maize; implementing no till agriculture; and installing gas-tight tanks for digestate storage. A tool allowing a customised calculation of the economic performances of biogas plants is provided

Definition of input data to assess GHG default emissions from biofuels in EU legislation: Version 1c - July 2017

The Renewable Energy Directive (RED) (2009/28/EC) and the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) (2009/30/EC), amended in 2015 by Directive (EU) 2015/1513 (so called ‘ILUC Directive’), fix a minimum requirement for greenhouse gas (GHG) savings for biofuels and bioliquids for the period until 2020, and set the rules for calculating the greenhouse impact of biofuels, bioliquids and their fossil fuels comparators. To help economic operators to declare the GHG emission savings of their products, default and typical values for a number of spefic pathways are listed in the annexes of the RED and FQD. The EC Joint Research Center (JRC) is in charge of defining input values to be used for the calculation of default GHG emissions for biofuels, bioliquids, solid and gaseous biomass pathways. An update of the GHG emissions in Annex V has been carried out for the new Proposal of a Directive on the Promotion of the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources (COM(2016)767 - RED-2), for the post-2020 framework. This report describes the assumptions made by the JRC when compiling the new updated data set used to calculate default and typical GHG emissions for the different biofuels pathways as proposed in the new RED-2 document.JRC.C.4-Sustainable Transpor

JEC Well-To-Wheels report v5

JRC (the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission), EUCAR and Concawe have updated their joint evaluation of the Well-to-Wheels energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for a wide range of potential future fuel and powertrain options, first published in December 2003. As an update of the previous version, the objectives of JEC WTW v5 are to establish, in a transparent and objective manner, a consensual Well-to-Wheels energy use and GHG emissions assessment of a wide range of automotive fuels and powertrains relevant to Europe in 2025 and beyond. This versions updates the technologies investigated and applies a common methodology and data-set to estimate WTW emissions. This WTW version 5 concentrates on the evaluation of energy and GHG balances for the different combinations of fuel and powertrains, in road transport. The current version 5 investigates, for the first time, the heavy duty segment, thus expanding the scope of the previous versions of the study.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Sustainable Advanced Biofuel: Technology Development Report

This Sustainable Advanced Biofuel Technology Development 2018 presents an assessment of the state of the art, development trends, targets and needs, technological barriers, as well as techno-economic projections until 2050. Particular attention is paid to how EC funded projects contributed to technology advancements. It includes an overview of Member States' activities based on information from the relevant SET Plan Temporary Working Groups as well as the objectives and main outcomes of the most relevant international programmes.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable