The coffee sector generates vast amounts of residues along its value chain. Crop residues, like coffee stems, are burned in the field, used for domestic cooking or coffee drying in processing plants having significant environmental and health implication to rural communities. This research investigated the environmental impacts of replacing current practices with modern bioenergy applications in the Colombian coffee sector. A biomass gasification system to produce decentralised energy from coffee stems was considered, and the environmental impacts of such bioenergy implementation were evaluated. A lifecycle assessment was conducted to quantify the environmental performance of this bioenergy system and compare it to current residues uses and energy needs that feature small-to large-scale coffee farms. The results show that deploying modern bioenergy could result in reductions in 48–86% greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and up to 98% less particulate matter formation when current practices and fossil-based energy are replaced. However, negative impacts should be considered as substituting grid electricity, largely generated from hydro-electricity, could increase GHGs by 68% and fossil fuel consumption by 73%. The results also show the relevance of understanding the environmental performance of bioenergy systems compared to reference scenarios; this allowed to evaluate and identify environmental trade-offs from modern bioenergy implementations. To maximise benefits and minimise the limitations of these systems, it is important to conduct whole-system assessments that inform on the wider environmental impacts of using agri-residues for bioenergy generation in a region- and system-specific context.

咖啡行业在其价值链中会产生大量残留物。作物残渣（例如咖啡茎）在田间燃烧，用于加工厂的家庭烹饪或咖啡干燥，对农村社区具有重大的环境和健康影响。这项研究调查了哥伦比亚咖啡行业用现代生物能源应用替代当前做法的环境影响。考虑了一种生物质气化系统，该系统可从咖啡梗中产生分散的能量，并评估了这种生物能源实施对环境的影响。进行了生命周期评估，以量化该生物能源系统的环境性能，并将其与当前的残渣用途和以小型到大型咖啡农场为特征的能源需求进行比较。结果表明，部署现代生物能源可以减少48％至86％的温室气体（GHG）排放量，并取代目前的做法和基于化石的能源，最多可以减少98％的颗粒物形成。但是，应该考虑负面影响，因为主要由水力发电替代的电网电力可能使温室气体排放增加68％，化石燃料消耗增加73％。结果还表明，与参考情景相比，了解生物能源系统的环境绩效具有重要意义；这可以评估和确定现代生物能源实施中的环境权衡。为了最大化收益并最小化这些系统的局限性，