Mapping environmental and techno-economic bioenergy potentials of Brazil

Bioenergy can be a crucial energy system to reduce climate change, while promoting socioeconomic development. However, it is rather difficult to quantify the environmental and technoeconomic potentials of bioenergy production due to the high spatial and temporal variability of
environmental impacts and techno-economic factors. Hence, a key research challenge on bioenergy
potential quantification is to address environmental impacts and techno-economic factors in a
spatially and temporally explicit manner. The objective of the thesis is to spatially explicitly assess
the current and future environmental and techno-economic potentials of bioenergy supply in Brazil
at different geographical scales. To reach this goal, two promising bioenergy systems in Brazil are
analyzed in four different case studies. In chapters 2 and 3, the bioelectricity potentials from
sugarcane straw are assessed in the state of São Paulo (Brazil). In chapters 4 and 5, various
aviation biofuels (BJF) supply chains from energy crops and biomass residues are assessed to map
and quantify the environmental and techno-economic bioenergy potentials in Brazil. Throughout
the chapters, different methodological approaches were taken due to the various geographical
scales, timeframes and levels of complexity of the case studies. The methods used in each chapter
are briefly summarized in chapter 1 and cross-compared in chapter 6. The main results of this
thesis can be comprised in five points: i) Refining environmental and techno-economic constraints
of bioenergy supply chains to pixel level is a major methodological challenge for quantifying
bioenergy potentials spatially explicitly. ii) The sugarcane mills in Sao Paulo with the highest
environmental and techno-economic potentials of bioelectricity from sugarcane straw are mostly in
regions with optimal agro-ecological conditions, have a medium to high milling capacity and have
high accessibility to the electricity distribution network. iii) The development of BJF industry should
not only focus on the supply chain that achieves the lowest BJF total costs. There are regions in
Brazil in which up to 10 supply chains could produce BJF total costs below the fossil jet fuel price.
iv) Currently, BJF is not competitive with fossil jet fuel in the (central) regions of Brazil with highest
demand for aviation fuels. Nonetheless, due to the large size of the country and the high fossil jet
fuel prices in airports located in (remote) regions of Brazil, niches for the development of
competitive BJF may exist. v) Brazil has a large techno-economic and environmental potential of
bioenergy (bioelectricity and BJF), but implementation is limited by several additional (and local
contextual) factors. Through the methods, results and discussions presented across the chapters,
this thesis contains useful information to support a broad range stakeholders at local and national
levels, such as farmers, private and public investors, policy makers and regulating bodies.