(619m) Overview on Evaluation of Sustainable Biofuel Conversion Processes

This paper reviews the existing methodologies on how to assess the overall sustainability of a biofuel production process, including approaches on how to quantify and compare the key indicators. It is always highly desirable to develop a more sustainable biofuel production process, for better economy, environment, and society. A holistic sustainability analysis for the production of biofuel plays a critical role on the improvement of the overall life cycle sustainability. Once a conceptual conversion process is developed, the next step is to evaluate its overall sustainability, based on a process sustainability evaluation methodology using various indicators in the areas of environment, efficiency, energy, and economics. One outcome of the sustainability evaluation is to allow researchers to identify process areas in need of sustainability improvement, as well as the challenges and opportunities for achieving the best possible sustainability target.