A funded basis for tax exemption of renewable and environmentally friendly biofuels
ESU-services conducted several studies investigating the environmental impacts of energy from biomass.
List of projects on bioenergy
- Bioethanol
- ESU services conducted different studies investigating the environmental impacts of bio-based feedstocks such as ethanol.
- Biogas
- An LCA on the biogas production from non-waste substrates such as maize silage, sugar beets, fodder beets, beet residues, molass and glycerine from rape oil was compared with the biogas production from waste substrates such as sewage sludge, slurry and biowaste. The electricity produced from burning this type of biogas was compared with conventional electricity.
- Biomass combustion
- An LCA on the combustion of different biomass substrates was performed in order to assess the impacts and benefits of direct combustion of biomass waste.
- Biofuel
- ESU-services was the project leader for the BFE/BAFU project "Ökobilanz von Energieprodukten". LCA of biofuels. This project was one of the first starting the worldwide reflection on the current biofuel boom. Results from this project form the basis for the national legislation on tax reduction for biofuels.
- LCI Bioenergy
- The Swiss Federal authorities BFE, BLW and BUWAL have initiated a project to investigate life cycle inventory data for several energy products from biomass. The project investigated the life cycle inventories of the production and use of ethanol, methanol, biogas, BTL-fuels (biomass to liquid) and plant oils.
- Impact Assessment
- In a second part of the project of the project "Ökobilanz von Energieprodukten" different options for the use of bioenergy were compared. The life cycle impact assessment and interpretation part of the study was elaborated by different institutions under the project lead of Niels Jungbluth.
- BTL-fuel production
- Renewable Fuels for Advanced Powertrains (RENEW): Integrated Project in the 6th framework program including major European automobile manufacturers (DaimlerChrysler, Renault, Volkswagen, Volvo). Funded by the European commission with an EC financial contribution of 10 Mio. EUR. ESU-services acts as the central data manager and is responsible for the LCA of all technologies developed in the course of the project. The production of biofuels by gasification of biomass followed by a synthesis process (BtL-fuels) has been investigated with a life cycle assessment (LCA). The use of different types of biomass (wheat straw, miscanthus and short-rotation wood) has been considered. The LCA has been reviewed according to ISO 14040ff.
- BTL-fuel use
- This study elaborates a life cycle assessment of using of BTL-fuels (biomass-to-liquid). This type of fuel is produced in synthesis process from e.g. wood, straw or other biomass.
