Multicriteria evaluation of biomass residues in Portugal to second generation bioethanol production

Abstract Paper aims This study evaluates agricultural and forest residues in Portugal to select the best candidates to use in second generation bioethanol (2G bioethanol) production. Originality The growth in the significance and level of decisions in biomass resources to 2G bioethanol and the involved complexity clearly encourage a research strategy to identify and select the wastes according to a multiplicity of criteria. Research method To address the key research objective this research used a multicriteria decision analysis method, MACBETH, to structuring the values of concern and identifying the key criteria, to evaluating the main agricultural and forest waste with respect to each criterion, to weighting the criteria and analyzing the biomass residues overall attractiveness and exploring the model´s results. Main findings As main findings of the study we found that Eucalyptus waste is the most promising forest residue to produce lignocellulosic bioethanol followed by Paulownia Tomentosa waste. The utilization of forest residues to the production of bioethanol in Portugal may represent in the future an important economic activity with huge environmental benefits. Implications for theory and practice The multicriteria approach addressed the research objectives and is simple to use with great potential for circular economy strategy issues. The step-by-step explanation of the model building makes the approach highly acceptable to other practitioners.