Various sustainable sociotechnical sets are being applied globally for carbon capture and storage. In Brazil, the practices implemented in biomass production chains, particularly in the forestry industry, in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul (MS), have served as a testing ground for sustainable production set, such as negative carbon production. These sociotechnical arrangements aim to compensate for other biomass production chains that, for various reasons, fail to meet the goals set in public policies toward to achieve zero carbon in the state. In this context, the problem question of this study arises: what are the particularities of the sociotechnical arrangements for negative carbon production that differentiate them from other biomass production techniques? Thus, the objective of this study is to examine these particularities. A literature review was conducted using data collected from the Scopus scientific database. Prisma Protocol was utilized to gather scientific evidence published between 2015 and 2024. Therefore, this is an exploratory and descriptive study employing a qualitative approach for data analysis. Artificial Intelligence tools were used only to improve this writing. The results revealed that the sociotechnical arrangements for biomass production, particularly for negative carbon, are initially driven by the natural metabolism of each eucalyptus or pine plant used for cellulose production. Throughout the growth of each plant, significant amounts of carbon are captured from the atmosphere and stored over an average period of seven years. This natural metabolism favorably facilitates the sequestration of larger volumes of carbon compared to what is emitted during the industrial process. Hence, the concept of negative carbon is measured using audit-capable mathematical equations. Additionally, this productive segment exhibits considerable competitiveness in the global cellulose market, supported by principles of socio-environmental justice in productive territories. Compared to other short-cycle biomass production chains, the plants are smaller and, as they have shorter production cycles, are unable to achieve the same temporal efficiency in carbon capture and storage. Furthermore, the final cellulose products are certified by reputable international accreditation companies based on methodologies recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and, in Brazil, also by the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT). Given the edaphoclimatic and geographical characteristics of the entire productive territory, the state possesses natural aptitudes for sustainable biomass production. Additionally, the state invests in financing new projects for the forestry industry that contribute positively to achieving carbon neutrality targets. Moreover, the state has established innovative public policies with strategic formats to be recognized in the international market as a player in the biomass segment that achieves technical measures for carbon neutrality. Thus, in a coordinated manner, through collaborative and relational climate governance structures, the productive territories, where the forest-based industry is based, elevate the State of MS to the condition of becoming, as players, in the sustainable biomass production chains, more competitive in the international market for food, fibers, cellulose and alternative energies. At the same time, these sustainable biomass productive arrangements become supportive forces to address adverse effects of extreme climate change. In light of these considerations, it is believed that the results achieved here can increase the visibility of academic studies. These results can also assist private and government initiatives that undertake strategic actions aimed to achieve carbon neutrality, ultimately contributing to mitigating the adverse effects of extreme climate change.

Decarbonizing the construction sector is vital to meet the U.S. national greenhouse gas emission targets. To this effect, the development and deployment of bio-based alternatives to existing construction materials is becoming an increasingly used strategy to reduce the embodied carbon of the built environment. Hemp-based insulation is one such alternative. While several studies have aimed to quantify the environmental benefits of deploying hemp insulation, the economic modeling is currently limited to purchase price data. In this study, a Monte Carlo-based techno-economic model is proposed to fill this gap. The developed model incorporates the uncertainty surrounding a supply chain in its infancy to determine the economic viability of the hemp insulation across a range of input parameters. The results obtained show that the retrofit of existing bioproducts/manufacturing plants to produce hemp insulation increases the rate of payback and breakeven. The model further analyzes the economic viability of hemp insulation across different production rates and selling prices, which in turn reflects the economic performance across different rates of demand and market penetration of the insulation. Further sensitivity analysis shows that the price of the procured hemp fibers, the selling price of the finished product, and the demand for the finished product are key factors that determine the magnitude of economic success. Lastly, this study shows the need for further development of the hemp supply chain and the hemp market, with opportunities for manufacturers to strongly consider mass production of hemp insulation.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential cradle-to-gate greenhouse gas emissions or carbon footprint estimate of producing ethylene from U.S. corn ethanol.

The analysis covered bio-based ethylene production pathways via corn ethanol dehydration from the following routes:

1) Stand-alone ethanol-to-ethylene processes

2) A co-processing route via fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process wherein corn ethanol was co-processed with vacuum gas oil (VGO)

Fossil-based ethylene production was included as a reference case for carbon footprint estimate comparison with corn-ethanol derived ethylene.

For this study, carbon-14 (C-14) content was used to determine how much of the product was derived from bioethanol in the co-processing case. Additionally, modeled yields based on co-processing yields of ethanol and VGO and base FCC unit yields (based on 100% VGO) were used to generate bio-ethylene yields for comparison purposes.

This study demonstrated that corn ethanol-based ethylene showed lower carbon footprint estimate when compared to fossil-based ethylene production (103% - 127% reduction in the base case scenarios). The study also evaluated the impact of low carbon intensity (CI) ethanol on the carbon footprint of bio-ethylene. For example, substituting natural gas used in ethanol production with renewable natural gas (RNG) from animal manure and utilizing heat and power from corn stover collected during farming reduced the carbon footprint estimate of bio-ethylene compared to the baseline corn ethanol production. This reduction was due to the addition of biogenic CO2 sequestration credits and avoided emissions of current waste management practices by use of RNG.

Additionally, the correlation between the CI of ethanol and carbon footprint of bio-ethylene for ethanol sources beyond corn was studied as a sensitivity. Since lignocellulosic feedstocks resulted in lower CI estimate of ethanol compared to non-lignocellulosic feedstocks, the carbon footprint estimate of bio-ethylene produced was lower in the former cases.

Bioethanol, a sustainable alternative fuel blended with gasoline, continues to grow alongside rising transportation energy demand. In the United States, approximately 90% of bioethanol is produced in dry, with much research focusing on these facilities; meanwhile, limited studies address wet mills due to their smaller production share and more versatile configuration. There is a need for updated assessments of corn wet mill ethanol production to understand its impact on environmental performance and sustainability. Additionally, little research has explored wet mill co-products like dextrose, widely used in food and pharmaceuticals, germ and animal feeds such as corn germ, gluten, and fiber.

This study evaluates life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of major U.S. corn wet mill products, including ethanol, dextrose, germ, gluten meal, and fiber, using the most recent operational data from major wet mills. A detailed process-level allocation method was applied to estimate product-specific emissions, which involved the following steps: 1) applying process-level allocation to assign energy use and emissions to each unit operation for specific products; 2) aggregating data across all unit operations that contribute to the production of each finished product at each facility; and 3) aggregating an industry-wide average based on capacity-weighted averages for each product. The results indicate that life-cycle GHG emissions vary across products, with ethanol, dextrose, germ, and animal feeds each influenced by specific factors. Key emission drivers include fertilizer efficiency in corn farming and production yields for dextrose, while fossil fuel use, particularly coal, significantly impacts ethanol’s carbon intensity. Furthermore, the potential emission mitigation options were assessed. Capturing and storing fermentation CO₂ has the potential to substantially reduce ethanol’s GHG emissions, with further reductions achievable through substituting coal with lower-emission energy sources like natural gas or renewable natural gas and incorporating CCS for onsite flue gas. For dextrose, significant reductions are also achievable under optimal mitigation scenarios. These strategies could even lead to negative emissions for ethanol and other feed products. This study provides valuable insights into emissions and mitigation strategies for the U.S. corn wet mill industry.

The growing demand to reduce reliance on petroleum-based plastics has spurred interest in sustainable, biobased materials. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), particularly poly(3-hydroxybuyrate) (PHB), produced from renewable resources, are a promising alternative due to their biodegradability, biocompatibility, and tunable properties. This study investigates the use of forest residue biomass (FRB) and shrub willow (SW) as sustainable feedstocks for PHB production. Specifically, it aims to evaluate the environmental impact of PHB derived from SW and a SW-FRB mixture. This cradle-to-gate analysis will assess the environmental impact across biomass production, collection, transportation to the biorefinery, and conversion process, including pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation, and product recovery. The inventory analysis will be based on results from the process simulations informed by lab-scale experimental data, previous literature. The life cycle impact assessment will be performed in openLCA using TRACI 2.2 method. Results are expected to show that PHB production from FRB and SW significantly reduces environmental burdens, particularly global warming potential, compared to conventional bioplastics. Sensitivity and contribution analyses will identify key hotspots and the most influential variable parameters, offering strategies to further improve the environmental benefits of the PHB production pathway. Furthermore, the use of lignocellulosic feedstocks presents a more sustainable alternative to both food crops and fossil resources. This study underscores the potential to mitigate environmental impacts while advancing the sustainability of bioplastic production.

Pretreatment is a key part of wood based biorefineries to enhance sugar production for biofuels and biochemicals. However, this step affects the conversion efficiency, production cost, and potentially the product's environmental impact. This study was designed to evaluate environmental performance specifically global warming potential (GWP) of three pretreatment methods: hot water (HW), hot water combined with disc milling (HWD), and dilute acid (DA) pretreatments of willow biomass followed by enzymatic hydrolysis methods that used to produce fermentable sugar. The analysis includes twelve scenarios to account for the effect of biomass pretreatment, and enzymatic hydrolysis step by step approach which include three pretreatment and four condition (dilute, and concentrated sugar step, with and without integrating combine power plant (CHP). The system boundary includes willow biomass production, biomass transportation to the biorefinery, biomass pretreatment followed by enzymatic hydrolysis, and sugar concentration. The functional unit is 1 Mg of sugar (C5 and C6 combined). The mass and energy balance data are derived from a model developed in Super Pro Designer Software. The life cycle inventory data are sourced from the DATASMART and the Ecoinvent 3.1 database. The impact assessment was conducted in SimaPro using the Tool for Reduction and Assessment of Chemicals and Other Environmental Impacts (TRACI 2.1). The results indicate that HW pretreatment has the highest GWP (7520.34kg CO2/Mg) compared to the other two methods in which the value of GWP were 7081.81 and 4595.16 kg CO2/Mg, for HWD and DA respectively at concentrated sugar steps. In similar way for dilute sugar, HW has the highest GWP compared to DA and HWD. The main reason is primarily due to the higher enzyme consumption required for enzymatic hydrolysis for the dilute step and the greater steam usage for sugar concentration as enzyme and steam were the major driving factors causing GWP. The GWP difference between HW and DA is larger for concentrated sugars (63.7%–95%) than for the dilute sugar stream (0.4%–2.6%). The sugar concentration stage alone accounts for 58% to 80% of the total GWP. Integrating a combined heat and power (CHP) system into the process significantly reduces GWP by 11% to 31% across all pretreatment scenarios. Typically, after incorporating CHP within the system GPW of DA pretreatment was reduced by 31% because the steam required for concentrating sugar to 50% fully came from cogeneration whereas the GPW of HW was reduced by 11% as the steam required for concentrating sugar partially came from natural gas. This research provides insightful information for researchers and biorefinery industries interested in developing pretreatment processes for low-carbon products from willow biomass.