PRODUCTION OF BIOFUELS FOR TRANSPORT IN COLOMBIA

Sinopsis del producto

Bioenergy has emerged as a potentially sustainable alternative to the use of fossil fuels for transport and industrial uses. Developing nations, such as Colombia, can seize the advantages of modernizing rural areas by using cleaner energy and having more economic opportunities with bioenergy initiatives, provided the trade-offs between fiber, food, feed and fuel can be managed. This Thesis examines the bioenergy program now under way in Colombia, where comparative advantages (shared with other tropical countries) in production of sugar cane and palm oil are being built on. While the technologies associated with use of these feedstocks are well known, nevertheless their scaling up in a country like Colombia poses considerable environmenral, social, economic and business challenges. The thesis poses two fundamental questions based on current Colombian conditions, namely (1) can the Colombian biofuel industry produce bioethanol and biodiesel under sustainable guidelines; and (2) to what extent is it possible to expand energy crops for biofuels production purposes withour jeopardizing sustainability goals? A sustainability approach based on recognized techniques such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) allows for a comprehensive social, economic and environmental analysis of the whole cradle-to-grave progress of the bioenergy value chain. An original LCA analysis is conducted for the Colombian bioenergy sector, with results indicating that considerable savings in GHG emissions are achieved while producing sustainable and competitive bioenergy products. Nevertheless

9789588721583

RAMIREZ TRIANA, B; RAMIREZ TRIANA, CARLOS ARIEL