Consumptive Water Use in Bioethanol and Petroleum Gasoline Pathways

Energy production requires substantial water input. Biofuel feedstocks like corn, switchgrass, and agricultural residues need water for growth and conversion to bioethanol. Likewise, petroleum feedstocks like crude oil and oil sands require large volumes of water for drilling, extraction and conversion into refined products. Water management has become a key feature of existing projects and a potential issue in new ones. This paper examines the growing issue of water use in energy production by characterizing current consumptive water use in liquid fuel production. “Consumptive water use” is defined as the sum total of process water input less water output that is recycled and reused for the process. The estimate applies to surface and groundwater sources but does not include precipitation. Water requirements are evaluated for five fuel pathways: bioethanol from corn, bioethanol from cellulosic feedstocks, gasoline from Canadian oil sands, gasoline from Saudi Arabian crude oil, and gasoline from conventional crude oil produced from U.S. onshore wells. Regional variations and historic trends are noted, as are opportunities to reduce water use.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Wu, May
  • Mintz, Marianne Millar
  • Wang, Michael Q
  • Arora, Salil
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 89th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2010-1-10 to 2010-1-14
• Date: 2010

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: DVD
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 23p
• Monograph Title: TRB 89th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alternate fuels; Biomass fuels; Energy resources; Gasoline; Groundwater; Irrigation; Petroleum refining; Production methods; Renewable energy sources; Sustainable development; Water consumption
• Uncontrolled Terms: Bioethanol
• Subject Areas: Energy; Environment; Highways; I15: Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01154544
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 10-3740
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Apr 14 2010 7:14AM