Biofuels and Bioenergy Sustainability Assessment Methods

This presentation from AIChE’s Institute for Sustainability will explore biofuels and bioenergy sustainability assessment methods, focusing on supply chain and value chain, and safety, economic, social, and environmental concerns. Various popular methods will be compared on the basis of cost- and time-effectiveness, ease of use, flexibility, clarity of results, and other strengths and weaknesses. Also discussed will be the needs for and benefits of such assessments for bioenergy producers and users. The presentation will identify areas where more research is needed and what challenges exist for implementing assessment methods across the supply chain. Applicability will be compared for different types of energy producers, and specific recommendations will be made based on size, feedstock, location, process, products, and resource availability. The ways in which these factors are likely to affect attitudes, operations, impacts from a sustainability standpoint will be explored.

This paper will come from educational materials offered as part of the AIChE Credential for Sustainability Professionals.