Sustainability of Bioenergy: From the Field to the Plant Production

Dear Colleagues,

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have set the 2030 agenda to transform our world to ensure well-being, economic prosperity, and environmental protection. The SDGs provide a holistic and multidimensional view, but interactions among the SDGs might cause diverging results. One of the SDGs which is likely susceptible to interfering with others is objective 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, within which bioenergy can be placed. The sustainability of bioenergy production (whether using energy crops or organic waste as feedstock) requires the review of the so-called production paradigm:  considering the complete technology chain that starts in the field (where the cultivation of raw materials occurs) and ends in industrial production systems. Under this paradigm, not only do the net energy profitability and GHG emissions of the bioenergy carrier production need to be considered, but also additional parameters to assess the land-system change. Hence, the integrity of the biosphere acquires a preponderant value, without neglecting the direct impact on the food supply chain of the use of the land, whereas the available and arable land is depleted. Furthermore, the trade-offs between bioenergy production and the security of the food supply chain (objective 2: Zero Hunger) remain a critical interaction point. Sustainable bioenergy production approaches can only be established by including social, political, economic indicators, and environmental perspectives that lead to suitable technological choices and appropriate bioenergy technical infrastructure development.

This Special Issue has a transdisciplinary focus on bioenergy production, welcoming theoretical, numerical, and experimental research from scholars belonging to different fields. Approaches that cover not only engineering aspects but also the inherent problems of feedstock production, social acceptability and feasibility/interference with other SDGs are suitable. The areas of interest include (but are not limited to) the study of land use and its modification, bioenergetics, energy performance assessments (e.g., EROI, energy payback time, exergy), energy quality measurements and energy integration approaches.

We invite authors to contribute to this SI by submitting their original work, such as research articles, reviews, and case studies.

Prof. Dr. Bernardo Ruggeri
Dr. Carlos Enrique Gomez Camacho
Dr. Esperanza Batuecas Fernandez
Guest Editors

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• energy crop cultivation
• biogas/biohydrogen/syngas production
• fermentation processes for biofuels
• thermochemical processes for biofuels
• land properties and modification
• agricultural land use planning
• from municipal solid waste to biofuel
• waste-to-energy
• bioenergy potential
• bioenergy conversion systems
• life cycle assessment/impact assessment
• net energy analysis
• maximum power/minimum entropy principles
• bioenergy policy/bioenergy subsidies
• SDGs’ interference/SDGs’ attainability
• integration of bioenergy in transportation systems