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CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Estimating induced land use change emissions for sustainable aviation biofuel pathways
The Science of the total environment, Vol.779, pp.146238-146238
07/20/2021
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/117544
PMID: 33744564
Appears in Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT)
Abstract
Sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) are expected to play an essential role in achieving the aviation industries' goal of carbon-neutral growth. However, producing biomass-based SAFs may induce changes in global land use and the associated carbon stock. The induced land use change (ILUC) emissions, as a part of the full life-cycle emissions for SAF pathways, will affect whether and to what extent SAFs reduce emissions compared with petroleum-based jet fuels. Here, we estimate the ILUC emission intensity for seventeen SAF pathways considered by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), covering five ASTM-certified technologies, nine biomass-based feedstocks, and four geographical regions. We introduce the SAF pathways into a well-established computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, GTAP-BIO, and its coupled emission accounting model, AEZ-EF, to study economy-wide implications of SAF production and estimate ILUC emissions intensity for each pathway. The estimated SAF ILUC emission intensities, using a 25-year amortization period, range from −58.5 g CO2e MJ−1 for the USA miscanthus alcohol (isobutanol)-to-jet (ATJ) pathway to 34.6 g CO2e MJ−1 for the Malaysia & Indonesia palm oil Hydrotreated Esters of Fatty Acids (HEFA) pathway. Notably, the vegetable oil pathways tend to have higher ILUC emission intensities due to their linkage to palm expansion and peatland oxidation in Southeast Asia. The cellulosic pathways studied provide negative ILUC emissions, mainly driven by the high carbon sequestrations in crop biomass and soil. Using the core life-cycle emissions established by ICAO, we show that fifteen of the assessed pathways have a lower full life-cycle emission intensity than petroleum-based jet fuels (89 g CO2e MJ−1), offering promising options to reduce aviation emissions.
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•The use of biojet fuels could contribute to aviation emission reductions.•Biojet induced land use change (ILUC) emissions play a key role in the life-cycle.•We estimate ILUC emission intensities for 17 biojet pathways using a CGE model.•The estimated ILUC emission intensities ranging from −58.5 to 34.6 g CO2e MJ−1.•Most (15) pathways resulted in lower life-cycle emissions than petroleum fuels.
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Details
- Title
- Estimating induced land use change emissions for sustainable aviation biofuel pathways
- Creators
- Xin Zhao - Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, 403 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USAFarzad Taheripour - Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, 403 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USARobert Malina - Hasselt University, Centre for Environmental Sciences, Agoralaan Building D, BE 3590 Diepenbeek, BelgiumMark D Staples - Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USAWallace E Tyner - Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, 403 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
- Publication Details
- The Science of the total environment, Vol.779, pp.146238-146238
- Academic Unit
- Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT); Alternative Jet Fuel
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V
- Grants
- 13-C-AJFE-PU-019, 029, Federal Aviation Administration (United States, Washington) - FAA
- Identifiers
- 99900567700901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article