82464 - Bioenergy And Biorefinery

Learning outcomes

knowledge gain on challenges and opportunities of agriculture of developing bioenergy and biorefinery systems at national and international levels. Several examples of ongoing research projects and applications with special emphasis on biomass crops and environmental benefits.

Course contents

Frontal lessons (40 h): Introduction, definitions and state of the art and perspectives of the bioenergy and biorefinery sectors at national and international levels with particular emphasis on cropping systems. Food/non-food issues and integration, direct and indirect land use change effects will be analyzed. Biofuels, bioethanol and biodiesel (first and advanced biofuels): main species, cultivation area and characteristics. Biogas: definitions, specifications, current situation and perspectives. Main species and feedstocks. Biorefinery: definitions, specifications, current situation and perspectives. Main species and feedstocks. Examples of biorefinery systems. Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment – LCA for classifying and quantifying the environmental impacts.

Knowledge gain: Innovation, challenges and opportunities from developing bioenergy and biorefinery value chains. Biomass and oil crops. Life Cycle Assessment for the evaluation of environmental assessment tools.

Practical activities (20 h): Exercises on sustainability assessment of bioenergy and biorefinery systems. Visits at bioenergy and biorefinery plants and to the experimental farm of UNIBO to see some biomass crops. Exercises for the assessment of environmental impacts through common LCA tools.

Readings/Bibliography

Lecture notes and slides provided by the teacher

Teaching methods

Frontal and interactive lessons, and exercizes

Assessment methods

Interview with 2-3 questions (about 15-20 minutes)

Teaching tools

none

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Monti