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Environmental, social, and economic assessment of energy utilization of crop residue in China

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Abstract

This paper aims to discuss an environmental, social, and economic analysis of energy utilization of crop residues from life cycle perspectives in China. The methodologies employed to achieve this objective are environmental life cycle assessment (E-LCA), life cycle cost (LCC), and social life cycle assessment (S-LCA). Five scenarios are developed based on the conversion technologies and final bioenergy products. The system boundaries include crop residue collection, transportation, pre-treatment, and conversion process. The replaced amounts of energy are also taken into account in the E-LCA analysis. The functional unit is defined as 1 MJ of energy produced. Eight impact categories are considered besides climate change in E-LCA. The investment capital cost and salary cost are collected and compared in the life cycle of the scenarios. Three stakeholders and several subcategories are considered in the S-LCA analysis defined by UNEP/ SETAS guidelines. The results show that the energy utilization of crop residue has carbon emission factors of 0.09–0.18 kg (CO2 eq per 1 MJ), and presents a net carbon emissions reduction of 0.03–0.15 kg (CO2 eq per 1 MJ) compared with the convectional electricity or petrol, but the other impacts should be paid attention to in the biomass energy scenarios. The energy utilization of crop residues can bring economic benefit to local communities and the society, but the working conditions of local workers need to be improved in future biomass energy development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental System Optimization (Ministry of Education), College of Environmental Sciense and Engineering, North China Electic Power University, Beijing, 102206, China

    Yueling Zhang

  2. School Chemical and Environmental Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijng, 100083, China

    Junjie Li & Huan Liu

  3. Department of Energy Conversion and Storage, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, 2820, Denmark

    Guangling Zhao

  4. National Institute of Clean and Low Carbon Energy, Beijing, 102211, China

    Yajun Tian

  5. Chinese Acadamy of Engineering, Beijing, 100088, China

    Kechang Xie

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  1. Yueling Zhang
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  2. Junjie Li
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  3. Huan Liu
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  4. Guangling Zhao
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  5. Yajun Tian
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Correspondence to Guangling Zhao or Yajun Tian.

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Zhang, Y., Li, J., Liu, H. et al. Environmental, social, and economic assessment of energy utilization of crop residue in China. Front. Energy 15, 308–319 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-020-0696-x

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