Energy and environmental assessments of bioethanol production from Sri Kanji 1 cassava in Malaysia

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, 43000 Kajang, Selangor Malaysia.

2 Faculty of Integrated Technologies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong BE1410, Brunei Darussalam.

3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Abstract


According to the Malaysia’s biofuel policy, renewable fuels are crucial for energy sustainability in the transportation sector in the future. This study was aimed to evaluate the potential of bioethanol production from Sri Kanji 1 cassava in Malaysia in terms of energy efficiency and renewability, as well to estimate the potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction in CO2 equivalent. Bioethanol production process from cassava includes cassava farming, ethanol production, and transportation in which the primary energy consumption was considered. The Net Energy Balance (NEB) and Net Energy Ratio (NER) of 25.68 MJ/L and 3.98, respectively, indicated that bioethanol production from Sri Kanji 1 cassava in Malaysia was energy efficient. From the environmental perspective, the GHG balance results revealed that the production and distribution of 1 L of Cassava Fuel Ethanol (CFE) could reduce GHG emissions by 73.2%. Although found promising in the present study, Sri Kanji 1 cassava as bioethanol feedstock should be further investigated by constructing an actual ethanol plant to obtain real life data.

Graphical Abstract

Energy and environmental assessments of bioethanol production from Sri Kanji 1 cassava in Malaysia

Highlights

  • Energy and GHG balances of Sri Kanji 1 cassava bioethanol were assessed.
  • Net Energy Balance and Net Energy Ratio were found to be 25.68 MJ/L and 3.98, respectively.
  • Production and distribution of 1 L of Cassava Fuel Ethanol could reduce GHG emissions by 73.2%.
  • Ethanol production process was the main contributor to the total life cycle GHG emissions by 72.09%.

Keywords

References

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