Exergy efficiency assessment of corn-based ethanol production: a case study in the Pampas region (Argentina)
Keywords:
sustainability, agriculture, energyAbstract
Natural ecosystems transformation in agroecosystems not only alters its structure but also its functionality. The need to evaluate and monitor these functional changes has led to the development and implementation of a large number of indicators of human impact due to agricultural activities. This paper develops a theoretical framework for the assessment of agroecosystems through the analysis of energy flows. In particular, the approach is based on the use of energy or useful exergy. Also, the calculation methodology is applied to a corn-based ethanol farming system located in the Pampa Region. Results indicate that although the potential impact in terms of resource extraction from the environment, in the form of exergy consumed, is highest in the industrial stage, the inefficiencies in the agricultural phase are much more pronounced. As for the internal cycling of exergy, the results of this study indicate that 41% of the exergy used to get 1 MJ of exergy comes from non-renewable sources, rising to 71% when you take into account the contribution of net exergy fuel. These results indicate that the crop-based system analyzed for ethanol production partially meets the desirable conditions of low resource extraction from the environment and high renewability of production.
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TISDELL, C. 1996. Economic indicators to assess the sustainability of conservation farming projects: An evaluation. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 57:117-131.
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VAN CAUWENBERGH, N; K BIALA; C BIELDERS; V BROUCKAERT; L FRANCHOIS ET AL. 2007. SAFE - A hierarchical framework for assessing the sustainability of agricultural systems. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 120:229-242.
VAN ITTERSUM, MK & R RABBINGE. 1997. Concepts in production ecology for analysis and quantification of agricultural input-output combinations. Field Crops Research 52:197-208.
WALL, G. 2002. Conditions and tools in the design of energy conversion and management systems of a sustainable society. Energy Conversion and Management 43:1235.
WCED. 1987. Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
ZHU, P; X FENG & RJ SHEN. 2005. An Extension to the Cumulative Exergy Consumption Applied to Environmental Impact Analysis of Industrial Processes. Process Safety and Environmental Protection 83:257-261.
BERTHIAUME R; C BOUCHARD & MA ROSEN. 2001. Exergetic evaluation of the renewability of a biofuel. Exergy, An International Journal 1:256-268.
BUCHS, W. 2003. Biodiversity and agri-environmental indicators--general scopes and skills with special reference to the habitat level. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 98:35-78.
COLEMAN, DC; R ANDREWS; JE ELLIS & JS SINGH. 1976. Energy flow and partitioning in selected man-managed and natural ecosystems. Agro- Ecosystems 3:45-54.
CORNELISSEN, AMG; J VAN DER BERG; WJ KOOPS; M GROSSMAN & HMJ UDO. 2001. Assessment of the contribution of sustainability indicators to sustainable development: a novel approach using fuzzy set theory. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 86:173-185.
COSTANZA, R; B FISHER; K MULDER; S LIU & T CHRISTOPHER. 2007. Biodiversity and ecosystem services: A multi-scale empirical study of the relationship between species richness and net primary production. Ecological Economics 61:478.
CHAPIN, FS; MS TORN & M TATENO. 1996. Principles of ecosystem sustainability. American Naturalist 148:1016-1037.
DAILY, GC. 2000. Management objectives for the protection of ecosystem services. Environmental Science & Policy 3:333-339.
DALSGAARD, JPT & RT OFICIAL. 1997. A quantitative approach for assessing the productive performance and ecological contributions of smallholder farms. Agricultural Systems 55:503-533.
DELUGA, GA; JR SALGE; LD SCHMIDT & XE VERYKIOS. 2004. Renewable hydrogen from ethanol by authothermal reforming. Science 303:993-996.
DEWULF, J & H VAN LANGENHOVE. 2005. Integrating industrial ecology principles into a set of environmental sustainability indicators for technology assessment. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 43:419-432.
DEWULF, J; H VAN LANGENHOVE & B VAN DE VELDE. 2005. Exergy-Based Efficiency and Renewability Assessment of Biofuel Production. Environ. Sci. Technol. 39:3878-3882.
DORAN, JW. 2002. Soil health and global sustainability: translating science into practice. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 88:119-127.
ERTESVÅG, IS. 2007. Sensitivity of chemical exergy for atmospheric gases and gaseous fuels to variations in ambient conditions. Energy Conversion and Management 48:1983-1995.
FARRELL, AE; RJ PLEVIN; BT TURNER; AD JONES; M O’HARE ET AL. 2006. Ethanol Can Contribute to Energy and Environmental Goals. Science 311:506-508.
FERREIRA, C. 2006. Energy analysis of one century of agricultural production in the Rolling Pampas of Argentina. International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology 5:185-205.
GONG, M & G WALL. 2001. On exergy and sustainable development - Part 2: Indicators and methods. Exergy, An International Journal 1:217-233.
GREEN, MB. 1997. Energy in pesticide manufacture, distribution and use. Pp. 165-177, en: Helsel, ZR (ed.), Energy in Plant Nutrition and Pest Control. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
HILL, J; E NELSON; D TILMAN; S POLASKY & D TIFFANY. 2006. From the Cover: Environmental, economic, and energetic costs and benefits of biodiesel and ethanol biofuels. PNAS 103:11206-11210.
JORGENSEN, SE & BD FATH. 2004. Application of thermodynamic principles in ecology. Ecological Complexity 1:267-280.
JØRGENSEN, SE; BC PATTEN & M STRASKRABA. 2000. Ecosystems emerging: 4. growth. Ecological Modelling 126:249-284.
KORONEOS, C; T SPACHOS & N MOUSSIOPOULOS. 2003. Exergy analysis of renewable energy sources. Renewable Energy 28:295-310.
MALÇA, J & F FREIRE. 2006. Renewability and life- cycle energy efficiency of bioethanol and bio-ethyl tertiary butyl ether (bioETBE): Assessing the implications of allocation. Energy 31:3362-3380.
MARGALEF, R. 1968. Perspectives in Ecological Theory. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. ODUM, EP. 1984. Properties of Agroecosystems. Pp. 5-11, en: Lowrance, R; BR Stinner & GJ House (eds.), Agricultural Ecosystems. Unifying Concepts. John Wiley and Sons.
PATZEK, TW. 2004. Thermodynamics of the Corn- Ethanol Biofuel Cycle. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 23:519-567.
PERVANCHON, F: C BOCKSTALLER & P GIRARDIN. 2002. Assessment of energy use in arable farming systems by means of an agro-ecological indicator: the energy indicator. Agricultural Systems 72:149-172.
PIMENTEL, D. 1984. Energy Flow in Agroecosystems. Pp. 121-132, en: Lowrance, R; BR Stinner & GJ House (eds.), Agricultural Ecosystems: Unifying Concepts. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
PIMENTEL, D & GH HEICHEL. 1991. Energy Efficiency and Sustainability of Farming Systems. Pp. 25- 34, en: Lal, R & FJ Pierce (eds.), Soil Management for Sustainability. Ankeny, Iowa: Soil and Water Conservation Society.
PIMENTEL, D; C WILSON; C MCCULLUM; R HUANG; P DWEN ET AL. 1997. Economics and Environmental Benefits of Biodiversity. Bioscience 47:747-757.
POPE, J; D ANNANDALE & A MORRISON-SAUNDERS. 2004. Conceptualising sustainability assessment. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 24:595-616.
RATHKE, GW; BJ WIENHOLD; WW WILHELM & W DIEPENBROCK. 2007. Tillage and rotation effect on corn-soybean energy balances in eastern Nebraska. Soil and Tillage Research 97:60-70.
ROSEN, MA; I DINCER & M KANOGLU. 2008. Role of exergy in increasing efficiency and sustainability and reducing environmental impact. Energy Policy 36:128-137.
ROTOLO, GC; T RYDBERG; G LIEBLEIN & C FRANCIS. 2007. Energy evaluation of grazing cattle in Argentina’s Pampas. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 119:383-395.
SAGPYA. 2007. Estimaciones agrícolas. Anexo Estadístico. Dirección de Coordinación de Delegaciones, SAGPyA, Ministerio de Economía. Argentina. http://www.sagpya.mecon.gov.ar/new/0-0/agricultura/otros/estimaciones/base.php.
SHAPOURI, H; JA DUFFIELD & M WANG. 2002. The energy balance of corn ethanol: an update. USDA, Office of Energy Policy and New Uses, Agricultural Economics, Washington, p. 14.
SZARGUT, J. 2005. Exergy Method: Technical and Ecological Applications. WIT Press, Southampton. SZARGUT, J; DR MORRIS & FR STEWARD. 1988. Exergy analysis of thermal, chemical, and metallurgical processes. Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, Berlin.
SZARGUT, J; A ZIEBIK & W STANEK. 2002. Depletion of the non-renewable natural exergy resources as a measure of the ecological cost. Energy Conversion and Management 43:1149-1163.
TILMAN, D; KG CASSMAN; PA MATSON; R NAYLOR & S POLASKY. 2002. Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices. Nature 418:671-677.
TISDELL, C. 1996. Economic indicators to assess the sustainability of conservation farming projects: An evaluation. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 57:117-131.
ULANOWICZ, RE. 1999. Life after Newton: an ecological metaphysic. Biosystems 50:127.
ULGIATI, S. 2001. A Comprehensive Energy and Economic Assessment of Biofuels: When “Green” Is Not Enough. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 20:71-106.
VAN CAUWENBERGH, N; K BIALA; C BIELDERS; V BROUCKAERT; L FRANCHOIS ET AL. 2007. SAFE - A hierarchical framework for assessing the sustainability of agricultural systems. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 120:229-242.
VAN ITTERSUM, MK & R RABBINGE. 1997. Concepts in production ecology for analysis and quantification of agricultural input-output combinations. Field Crops Research 52:197-208.
WALL, G. 2002. Conditions and tools in the design of energy conversion and management systems of a sustainable society. Energy Conversion and Management 43:1235.
WCED. 1987. Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
ZHU, P; X FENG & RJ SHEN. 2005. An Extension to the Cumulative Exergy Consumption Applied to Environmental Impact Analysis of Industrial Processes. Process Safety and Environmental Protection 83:257-261.
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2008-12-01
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Ferraro, D. O. (2008). Exergy efficiency assessment of corn-based ethanol production: a case study in the Pampas region (Argentina). Ecología Austral, 18(3), 323–336. Retrieved from https://ojs.ecologiaaustral.com.ar/index.php/Ecologia_Austral/article/view/1379
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