The Colombian biofuel supply chains: The assessment of current and promising scenarios based on environmental goals

The Colombian biofuels are used in the transportation sector at low-percentage blends of biofuel–fossil fuel (until 8:92, volume basis). Since energy policies encourage the increment of Bioenergy percentage in energy matrix, the biofuels production and use should be increased during the next years. In this work, the environmental assessment of several scenarios involving current and promising biofuel supply chains was made. The aim of this paper was the assessment of several possible alternatives to increase the biofuels production from current agricultural supply chains. Sugarcane, cassava, oil-palm and jatropha were considered as feedstocks for the analysis. The environmental assessment included calculations of the greenhouse gas emissions and the potential environmental impacts, using the life cycle assessment approach. The results indicated that the current biofuels production mitigates environmental impacts in comparison to fossil fuels production and use. Additionally, biofuels production using promising feedstocks could be environmentally competitive if the production processes are improved. - Highlights: • The environmental assessment of current and promising Colombian biofuels was made. • Current Colombian biofuel supply chains show 5–8% of GHG emissions savings. • Jatropha and cassava are potential feedstocks for Colombian biofuels production. • Suitable biofuels in Colombia can be achieved by feedstock integration