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Evaluation of environmental and cost tradeoffs of producing energy from soybeans for on-farm use
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Evaluation of environmental and cost tradeoffs of producing energy from soybeans for on-farm use

Paul R. Adler, Megan E. Hums, Frederick M. McNeal and Sabrina Spatari
Journal of cleaner production, v 210, pp 1635-1649
10 Feb 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.11.019
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.11.019View
Accepted (AM)Open Access (Publisher-Specific),  Open

Abstract

Biodiesel Greenhouse gas abatement costs Greenhouse gas emissions LCA Soybean (Glycine max L.)
There has been interest in producing fuel from oil seed crops for use on farms, however little guidance is available on where this may be profitable, the extent to which greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions may be mitigated or the cost associated with that mitigation. We conduct a national analysis to evaluate the economics of on-farm processing of soybeans, the GHG mitigation potential of several on-farm uses of the oil, and the cost of achieving the mitigation. We found that significant GHG mitigation is possible when substituting soybean oil for on-farm energy use, however, often the food market has higher economic value. When we characterized the conditions and consequently, the regions where on-farm soybean processing was profitable, we found that the economics and greenhouse gas abatement potential of processing soybeans on-farm improves as farm location moves towards the coastal Atlantic and Gulf regions where the economic value of the meal is higher. Overall, we found that on-farm pressing of soybeans can add value to soybean production, but the market for the extracted oil will depend on the price of soybean meal and the market for food uses of the meal. [Display omitted] •Substituting diesel fuel with soybean oil for on-farm use mitigates GHG emissions.•Soybean oil has higher economic value in food rather than energy markets.•Farm scale soybean press facilities can add economic value to soybean production.•Low GHG abatement costs & high economic incentives align with soybean meal value.•Economics and GHG abatement improves towards coastal Atlantic and Gulf regions.

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6 citations in Web of Science
5 citations in Scopus

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Engineering, Environmental
Environmental Sciences
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
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