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Biomass such as crops and agricultural waste is increasingly used as the primary resource for products like bioplastics and biofuels. Incorporating the needs, knowledge, skills and values of biomass producers in the design of global value chains – the steps involved in creating any finished product from design to delivery – can contribute to sustainability, reliability and fairness. However, how to involve biomass producers, especially if they are resource poor, remains a challenge. To make sure that inclusion in global biobased value chains is both fair and effective, the capabilities of relevant actors need to be taken into account, especially of those producing biomass. Access to resources determines to what extent a specific actor can participate in a global value chain. Therefore, differences in capabilities should be a central consideration when new (biobased) value chains are designed. Using the capability approach as an ethical framework to realize inclusion, we discern three complementary strategies for setting up inclusive value chains. Firstly, designing for local conversion factors second, providing adaptive design for new capabilities, and third, investing in local conversion factors. Applying these strategies can lead to context-sensitive design of biorefineries that allow for true inclusion of local stakeholders. We support these claims with reference to case-studies of sugarcane production in Jamaica, modified tobacco in South Africa and the non-edible parts of corn (stover) in the US.

Including local producers of biomass in the process of developing global biobased value chains offers a way to ensure sustainable and reliable production of biomass while also promoting economic fairness. However, many contextual factors influence the design of inclusive bio-based value chains because their technology and feedstock are diverse. Inclusion is therefore not one-size-fits-all, but rather an approach demanding different strategies depending on the value chain. Given such diversity, how can the development of inclusion strategies in bio-based value chain design be supported? Responding to that question, this article examines and analyzes the practices of biorefineries in the United States, Jamaica, and the Netherlands. We propose a means/goals approach to inclusion that can accommodate a variety of value chains. Moreover, we suggest that the concept of inclusion can realize several societal goals ranging from economic justice to managing uncertainties via various institutional arrangements and design means.

Aviation biofuels are promising to reduce carbon emissions in the aviation sector. However, emerging concerns over biofuels indicate a need for sustainability analyses that take into consideration the context around biofuel production. Here, we present a novel ex-ante sustainability analysis of production alternatives for aviation biofuel in Southeast Brazil. Considering local stakeholders’ concerns, the analysis is focused on climate change, commercial acceptability, efficiency, energy security, investment security, profitability, social development, and soil sustainability. By identifying tensions between production alternatives and these sustainability aspects, we discuss opportunities for further developments, such as sugarcane ethanol-to-jet production in the short term, and in-house production of hydrogen and power with renewable energy. Additionally, producer–operator partnerships and opening the decision-making to stakeholder participation are suggested to stimulate social cohesion, and reconcile diverging interests with biobased production. Analyzing sustainability with consideration of the local context can contribute to identify opportunities for more sustainable decarbonization alternatives.

Biobased production has been promoted as an alternative to fossil-based production to mitigate climate change. However, emerging concerns over the sustainability of biobased products have shown that tensions can emerge between different objectives and concerns, like emission reduction targets and food security, and that these are dependent on local contexts. Here we present the Open Sustainability-in-Design (OSiD) framework, the aim of which is to integrate a context-sensitive sustainability analysis in the conceptual design of biobased processes. The framework is illustrated, taking as an example the production of sustainable aviation fuel in southeast Brazil. The OSiD framework is a novel concept that brings the perspectives of stakeholders and considerations of the regional context to an ex ante sustainability analysis of biobased production. This work also illustrates a way to integrate methods from different scientific disciplines supporting the analysis of sustainability and the identification of tensions between different sustainability aspects. Making these tensions explicit early in the development of biobased production can make them more responsive to emerging sustainability concerns. Considering the global pressure to reduce carbon emissions, situating sustainability analyses in their socio-technical contexts as presented here can help to explain and improve the impacts of biobased production in the transition away from fossil resources.

Biobased production has been promoted as an alternative to fossil-based production to mitigate climate change. However, emerging concerns over the sustainability of biobased products have shown that tensions can emerge between different objectives and concerns, like emission reduction targets and food security, and that these are dependent on local contexts. Here we present the Open Sustainability-in-Design (OSiD) framework, the aim of which is to integrate a context-sensitive sustainability analysis in the conceptual design of biobased processes. The framework is illustrated, taking as an example the production of sustainable aviation fuel in southeast Brazil. The OSiD framework is a novel concept that brings the perspectives of stakeholders and considerations of the regional context to an ex ante sustainability analysis of biobased production. This work also illustrates a way to integrate methods from different scientific disciplines supporting the analysis of sustainability and the identification of tensions between different sustainability aspects. Making these tensions explicit early in the development of biobased production can make them more responsive to emerging sustainability concerns. Considering the global pressure to reduce carbon emissions, situating sustainability analyses in their socio-technical contexts as presented here can help to explain and improve the impacts of biobased production in the transition away from fossil resources.

In recent decades, academia has elaborated a wide range of technological solutions to recover water, energy, fertiliser and other products from centralised municipal wastewater treatment plants. Drivers for this work range from low resource recovery potential and cost-effectiveness to a high demand for energy and the large environmental footprint of current treatment-plant designs. This critical review aims to inform innovators and decision-makers in water management utilities about the vast technical possibilities and market supply potentialsrelated to designing (or redesigning) a municipal wastewater treatment process from a resource recovery perspective, but also the bottlenecks., Postprint (author's final draft)

This study presents a techno-economic analysis and an environmental assessment, of the whole production chain (biomass production, sugar extraction, biomass pretreatment, sugars fermentation, and products recovery and purification), of a fully autarkic sugarcane-based biorefinery for biojet fuel production. All scenarios considered correspond to 1st/2nd generation integrated biorefineries (i.e. simultaneous use of sugarcane juice stream and lignocellulosic fractions) with a production scale of 208 kton (biojet fuel) yr−1. In this paper, we compared multiple options for the most relevant processing steps of the biorefinery: eight biomass pretreatment technologies (i.e. dilute acid, dilute acid + alkaline treatment, steam explosion, steam explosion + alkaline treatment, organosolv, alkaline wet oxidation, liquid hot water and liquid hot water + alkaline treatment); two biojet fuel production routes from sugars (i.e. ethanol to jet and direct fermentation); one biojet fuel production route from biomass (i.e. fast pyrolysis); two biojet fuel production routes from lignin obtained after biomass pretreatment (i.e. fast pyrolysis and gasification Fischer- Tropsch); and one alternative use for lignin (i.e. co-generation). From the combination of these key features, 81 scenarios are selected and compared. Furthermore, three potential technological improvements were analysed for selected scenarios: i) recovery of acetic acid and furfural (for cases with bagasse pretreatment); ii) production of succinic acid from a fraction of concentrated juice; iii) increase of operation time (from 200 to 320 days yr−1) by using sweet sorghum as cumulative feedstock. The different scenarios are compared first based on the minimum jet fuel selling price (MJSP) and then based on their environmental performance (i.e. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and non-renewable energy use (NREU)). Among the scenarios considering biomass pretreatment, the lower MJSP are obtained when 1G/2G sugars are upgrade

PR, IFPRI3; ISI;A Ensuring Sustainable food production; D Transforming Agriculture; CRP2, EPTD; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

This chapter reviews some of the key issues that relate to the social impacts of bioenergy supply chains at local, national and international levels, with a particular focus on food production and the implications for natural resources management. The review shows that data is available only for some topics and on some regions, and how, although some point to negative aspects in this relatively new sector, there also is positive data that demonstrates that bioenergy can contribute to social and economic improvements at local and national levels, given appropriate considerations and measures. The chapter introduces some of the main social issues discussed in the literature as well as providing background information on global policy framework. This is followed by a consideration of social benefits of bioenergy production, such as job creation, provision of training and skills development. Additional social and environmental impacts that result from the use of land, water and other natural resources for bioenergy production are then examined in relation to gender, food production, poverty reduction and land tenure. The final section discusses public perception of bioenergy production and the usefulness of public reporting of corporate sustainability.

This chapter reviews some of the key issues that relate to the social impacts of bioenergy supply chains at local, national and international levels, with a particular focus on food production and the implications for natural resources management. The review shows that data is available only for some topics and on some regions, and how, although some point to negative aspects in this relatively new sector, there also is positive data that demonstrates that bioenergy can contribute to social and economic improvements at local and national levels, given appropriate considerations and measures. The chapter introduces some of the main social issues discussed in the literature as well as providing background information on global policy framework. This is followed by a consideration of social benefits of bioenergy production, such as job creation, provision of training and skills development. Additional social and environmental impacts that result from the use of land, water and other natural resources for bioenergy production are then examined in relation to gender, food production, poverty reduction and land tenure. The final section discusses public perception of bioenergy production and the usefulness of public reporting of corporate sustainability.