Life Cycle Analysis of Biofuels in the Upper Midwest

Natalie Hunt gave a presentation titled Where does our energy come from? Life Cycle Analysis of Biofuels in the Upper Midwest, at the US EPA Women in Science and Engineering conference in Chicago on March 11 and 12, 2010.

Over the next 20 years, biofuel production will take on an increasingly significant role in meeting the energy needs of the United States. This will require greater production intensity on existing cropland, or introducing production onto marginal land currently set aside in conservation programs. Major uncertainties in biofuel production include determining how much biomass can be produced, the environmental impacts of growing and transporting biomass, and finally converting it to liquid transportation fuel. With large overarching national policy pushing toward incorporating biofuels into an energy independence strategy, weighing these complex issues at multiple scales is a great and significant challenge.

Natalie is exploring these questions by using a series of process models to simulate the life cycle of biofuels. Natalie is applying a field to wheels approach, by looking at all the processes involved in moving the corn plant from the field to the fuel pump, and accounting for all of the energy inputs and outputs and emissions of feedstock production, fuel processing, and fuel distribution. This production system requires energy to power these processes, so those inputs must be accounted for as well.

One of the challenging aspects of life cycle analysis is that there is not one catch all model that can accurately simulate all of these processes and interactions, so Natalie's research team is working to construct a framework for threading together a series of models to set up a protocol for life cycle assessment.