Industrial Crops and Products 34 (2011) 1332–1339 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Industrial Crops and Products jo ur nal homep age: www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop Life Cycle Assessment and sustainability methodologies for assessing industrial crops, processes and end products M.J. Black a,∗ , C. Whittaker b,c , S.A. Hosseini d , R. Diaz-Chavez a , J. Woods a , R.J. Murphy b a Porter Alliance, Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, UK b Porter Institute, Department of Biology, Imperial College London, UK c North Energy Associates, Watson’s Chambers Business Centre, 5-15 Market Place, Castle Square, Sheffield, S1 2GH, UK d Porter Institute, Centre for Process Systems Engineering, Imperial College London, UK a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 15 March 2010 Received in revised form 27 August 2010 Accepted 2 December 2010 Available online 12 January 2011 Keywords: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Sustainability Greenhouse gas (GHG) Advanced biofuel technology Lignocellulosic ethanol Willow a b s t r a c t Providing food, energy and materials for the rising global population is a challenge which is compounded by increased pressure on natural resources such as land, water and fossil sources of raw materials. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities have increased with industrial development and population expansion, and it is anticipated that resulting climate change might further limit agricultural productivity, through changes to weather patterns and global availability/distribution of agriculturally productive land. Growing crops as feedstocks for industrial uses is seen as one way of reducing GHG emis- sions and dependency on fossil resources. However, determining the extent to which the development of crops for industrial use will effect GHG balances and provide for a more energy efficient manufacturing system requires the development and use of appropriate calculation methodologies. Research at the Porter Institute has identified over 250 different scenarios for bioenergy production systems using commodity crops. In order to rationalise this complexity and diversity, a modular approach to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and sustainability analysis has been taken. This allows characterisation of discrete sections of supply chains and enables comparisons to be made between different crop production systems, different process systems and different end product uses. The purposes of this paper are to introduce the concepts of biofuel GHG and sustainability metrics, to introduce the approach taken by our organization and to use the example of UK grown willow in a lignocellulosic ethanol production system to demonstrate how GHG emission outcomes can be reviewed for “new” crops and technologies. The results show a range of variation, in both growing and process systems and how outcomes such as energy and GHG balances can be affected by various activities. LCA methodologies provide data to inform governments and industry of the potential specific sup- ply chains may have for energy and GHG saving. However, methodological approaches can also affect assessment outcomes. Unresolved issues in LCA methodology must also be evaluated e.g. impacts result- ing from land use change. Sustainability assessments of crop growing systems, irrespective of the end use, also assist in the assessment of environmental impacts of supply chains. However, it is critical that data continue to be collected, analysed and reviewed, to ensure that the most appropriate crops are grown and processed for the most appropriate end use. Crown Copyright © 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In writing an introduction to a paper about Life Cycle Assess- ment (LCA) and Sustainability analysis of crops for industrial uses it is necessary to take account of three major concerns facing soci- ety today. Population growth, depletion of natural resources and ∗ Corresponding author at: Porter Alliance, Rm. 329, Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK. Tel.: +44 020 7594 9328. E-mail address: m.black@imperial.ac.uk (M.J. Black). climate change (from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions) are major challenges facing mankind in the 21st century. It is widely accepted that human activities and expanding population impact on the environment, and that this impact is dis- proportionately exacerbated as population increases (Harte, 2007). The relationship between population growth and environmental impact has been discussed in much greater detail by Spiedel et al. (2009). What has been made quite clear is that population growth and demand for products is putting increasing pressure on land resources (forest and croplands are decreasing, as the result of tim- ber extraction, land conversion, soil erosion and desertification); marine resources (depletion of fishery stocks as the result of over 0926-6690/$ – see front matter. Crown Copyright © 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2010.12.002