Wheat-straw derived bioethanol production: A review of Life Cycle Assessments

This article was developed to review the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in systems that produce materials and energy from agricultural residues, like Wheat Straw (WS) in the context of a circular bio-based economy. Attention was focussed upon WS, because it was documented as a valuable feedstock for biorefinery applications, thus highlighting the value of a systematic literature review of this content area. The study documented that WS is being used for production of biofuels and bioenergy in technically and environmentally sound processes. However, WS biomass is somewhat less environmentally and economically beneficial than biomasses such as Corn Stover (CS) and forest residues, mainly due to their higher ethanol potential and production yields. The LCAs reviewed for this paper evaluated the alternative sustainability dimensions of biorefinery systems and focussed upon advancements and challenges in implementing WS-derived ethanol systems. Further research is needed to optimise the WS bio-energy production processes so comparative studies can be done to make improvements of the environmental, and socio-economic dimensions of bio-energy production and usage within circular economies.