Life cycle assessment of the sugarcane bagasse electricity generation in Brazil Diogo Aparecido Lopes Silva a , Ivete Delai b,c,n , Mary Laura Delgado Montes a , Aldo Roberto Ometto a a School of Engineering of Sao Carlos, The University of Sao Paulo, 400 Trabalhador Sao-carlense Avenue, Sao Carlos 13566-590, Brazil b School of Economics, Business and Accounting of Ribeirao Preto, The University of Sao Paulo, 3900 Bandeirantes Avenue, Ribeirao Preto 14040-900, Brazil c Department of Production Engineering, Federal University of Sao Carlos, Km 235, Washington Luís Road, Sao Carlos 13565-905, Brazil article info Article history: Received 10 January 2012 Received in revised form 24 October 2013 Accepted 29 December 2013 Keywords: Life cycle assessment (LCA) Environmental impact Sugarcane bagasse electricity generation Biomass electricity generation EDIP method Renewable energy abstract This paper aims to identify and quantify the main potential environmental impacts of the sugarcane bagasse electricity generation in Brazil. To do so, it was employed the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technique based on primary and secondary data from three previous studies encompassing electricity generation, transmission and distribution processes. It was identified that the main impact potentials of this type of electricity generation in Brazil that should be addressed by decision-makers are the photochemical ozone, the human toxicity via soil and the nutrient enrichment ones, which are caused mainly by the sugarcane straw burning prior harvesting and the chemical application. In addition, it was found that non-renewable resources, renewable resources and energy consumption are also important issues that should be addressed mostly in the process of electricity transmission. & 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 533 2. Literature review .................................................................................................... 533 2.1. Residues of the sugarcane industry ............................................................................... 533 2.2. Electric energy production in cogeneration systems .................................................................. 534 2.3. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of sugarcane bagasse electricity generation .................................................. 535 3. Material and methods ................................................................................................ 536 3.1. Goal and scope definition ....................................................................................... 536 3.1.1. Goal of the study ....................................................................................... 536 3.1.2. Scope of the study ...................................................................................... 536 3.2. Inventory analysis ............................................................................................. 541 3.3. Impact assessment............................................................................................. 541 3.4. Interpretation................................................................................................. 541 4. Results ............................................................................................................ 541 4.1. Consumption of non-renewable resources .......................................................................... 541 4.2. Consumption of renewable resources .............................................................................. 542 4.3. Consumption of energy ......................................................................................... 542 4.4. Emissions .................................................................................................... 542 4.4.1. Solid waste ............................................................................................ 543 4.4.2. Global warming potential ................................................................................ 544 4.4.3. Ozone depletion potential ................................................................................ 544 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 1364-0321/$ - see front matter & 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.12.056 n Corresponding author at: Federal University of Sao Carlos, Department of Production Engineering, Km 235, Washington Luís Road, 13565-905 São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil. Fax: þ55 16 3351 9517. E-mail address: ivetedelai@yahoo.com.br (I. Delai). Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 32 (2014) 532–547