1. Offsetting the environmental impacts of single or multi-product biorefineries from wheat straw.
- Author
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Rebolledo-Leiva, Ricardo, Moreira, María Teresa, and González-García, Sara
- Subjects
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WHEAT straw , *PRODUCT life cycle assessment , *CLIMATE change mitigation , *SUSTAINABILITY , *CIRCULAR economy , *CARBON dioxide - Abstract
[Display omitted] • Midpoint and endpoint environmental profiles for bio-based isobutene are performed. • Pre-treatment represents the largest environmental burden due to steam demand. • From a system approach, co-produce lignin increases the impacts of the biorefinery. • In a product point view, the isobutene profile benefits sharing impacts with lignin. • Allocation method is a relevant decision to declare an environmental profile product. Moving toward a bioeconomy system is fundamental to climate change mitigation, nevertheless, the biotechnological routes should guarantee an environmental sustainability. Isobutene, a precursor in several industrial applications, is one of those chemicals that the environmental effects of its bio-based production have been scarcely explored. This study aims to assess the environmental performance of two biorefinery systems: the first one focuses only on the production of isobutene (I) and the second one on the co-production with lignin (I + L), both from the valorisation of wheat straw. The Life Cycle Assessment methodology is used to determine the environmental impacts considering mid-point and end-point categories. Biorefineries report 0.65 and 1.32 kg CO 2 -eq per kg of biomass processed for I and I + L system, respectively. The most affected endpoint damage category corresponds to Human Health, regardless of the scenarios. Moreover, the pre-treatment stage constitutes the main hotspot of both systems considering midpoint and endpoint perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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