Valorization of ecosystem services through location optimization of integrated value chains for biofuel and livestock production in Brazil

Rinke Dias de Souza, N. (2021). Valorization of ecosystem services through location optimization of integrated value chains for biofuel and livestock production in Brazil. IIASA YSSP Report. Laxenburg, Austria: IIASA

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Abstract

Future projections indicate an increase in food and energy demands, creating a pressure on land use, while there is an urgent global need for climate change mitigation. Bioenergy is foreseen as potential option to meet future energy demands and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, the sustainability of biofuels depends on availability of biomass, logistics and impacts on ecosystems, that are strictly dependent on locations and regional characteristics. This study presents a bottom-up approach to assess spatially explicit sustainability of bioenergy-livestock integrated systems (BLIS) in Brazil, to understand their contribution to future energy demands and GHG mitigation targets, and their impacts on Ecosystem Services (bioenergy production, GHG mitigation, zero direct deforestation, reduction of food competition). The proposed integration considers livestock intensification and use of biofuels by-products as animal feed supplement, taking advantage of synergies between these two value chains. Three different technological options were considered, Tech1_Sugarcane considers an autonomous sugarcane plant producing ethanol, electricity, and animal feed; in Tech2_Corn, corn is processed during sugarcane offseason, producing ethanol, corn oil and animal feed (DGS); Tech3_Soybean considers a biodiesel plant integrated with sugarcane plant. Techno-economic and environmental implications of the three BLIS technological options were modelled using the Virtual Biorefinery, developed at LNBR/CNPEM. After exclusion of biodiversity hotspots, biomes and scattered feedstock production, 18 million hectares of pasture inside Sugarcane Agroecological Zoning could be available for BLIS expansion. Tech1_Sugarcane has the highest potential for bioenergy production (89 billion liters) and GHG mitigation (139 million tonnes of CO2eq) among the technological options, and Tech3_Soybean presents the highest profits. Expansion of BLIS system in Brazil could contribute to meet future bioenergy demands and mitigation targets in the country while also alleviating pressure on land use for food and energy purposes, and without expanding on biodiversity hotspots and Pantanal and Amazon biomes. These results might help to support more assertive public policies regarding biofuel expansion in Brazil and contribute to achieve the ambitious targets assumed in the Paris Agreement.

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