NDLI: The Water Quality and Energy Impacts of Biofuels

Content Provider	The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Digital Collection
Author	Kelly, M. Twomey Ashlynn, S. Stillwell Michael, E. Webber
Copyright Year	2009
Abstract	Concerns over rising fuel prices, national security, and the environment have led to the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007, which established a mandate for the production of at least 36 billion gallons of biofuels in 2022, up to 15 billion gallons of which can come from traditional first-generation biofuels sources such as corn starch-based ethanol. One consequence of ramped-up biofuels production is the risk of additional soil runoff. This runoff, potentially laden with nitrogen and phosphorus compounds from fertilizers, can detrimentally impact water quality. Consequently, the water treatment sector might require additional energy to remove increased quantities of sediment and run-off from nutrients and pesticides in degraded water bodies downstream of agricultural land. At the same time, the cumulative effects of increased eutrophication in the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basins have already negatively impacted much of the aquatic life in the Louisiana-Texas continental shelf. A recent report by U.S. Geological Survey measured nitrogen loading in the Mississippi River basin as high as 7,761 metric tons per day, the highest recorded loading in the past three decades, 52% of which is attributed to loading from corn and soybean crops. Massive algae blooms that thrive in nutrient-rich water deplete the water of oxygen when they die, creating a hypoxic region. This hypoxic region, which currently covers a region the size of New Jersey, is considered to be the second-largest dead zone in the world as of 2007. As a result, the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan of 2008 was established to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous loading by 45% in order to shrink the hypoxic region to 5,000 square kilometers. Thus, at a time when water quality priorities aim to decrease nitrogen and phosphorous loading in waterways, legislative targets are seeking to increase corn starch-based ethanol production to 15 billion gallons a year, and thereby potentially increase nitrogen loading in this region by 10–34% due to runoff. Consequently, the energy intensity for water treatment may have a two-fold challenge. Because water and wastewater treatment is already responsible for 4% of the nation’s electricity consumption, putting more stringent demands on this sector could put upward pressure on energy consumption. This analysis quantifies the impact that the mandated increase in ethanol production might have on the energy required for water treatment in the United States. It reports results from a first-order top-level analysis of the energy impacts of ethanol. The results indicate that the increased production corn-starch based ethanol in the United States is not likely to increase the energy consumed during surface water treatment, but might cause significant increases in the energy consumed during groundwater treatment.
Sponsorship	Advanced Energy Systems Division and Solar Energy Division
Starting Page	161
Ending Page	169
Page Count	9
File Format	PDF
ISBN	9780791848890
DOI	10.1115/ES2009-90294
e-ISBN	9780791838518
Volume Number	ASME 2009 3rd International Conference on Energy Sustainability, Volume 1
Conference Proceedings	ASME 2009 3rd International Conference on Energy Sustainability collocated with the Heat Transfer and InterPACK09 Conferences
Language	English
Publisher Date	2009-07-19
Publisher Place	San Francisco, California, USA
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Water Water treatment Energy consumption Oxygen Ethanol Risk Biofuel Rivers Nitrogen Fuels Security Sediments Pressure Wastewater treatment Fertilizers Groundwater Soil National defense Water pollution
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in