Editorial

Rethinking the sustainable

Received November 7 2024; Accepted November 7 2024;

A
s many readers know, I have spent a lifetime trying to • ‘Renewable’ electricity can make important contributions
help establish and grow the bioeconomy. While I am to our energy needs, but it is physically and economically
proud of what my students, my wonderful colleagues, impossible for solar and wind to replace all the energy
and I have accomplished, I have recently been rethinking services currently provided by petroleum-­derived
hydrocarbon fuels.
my approach to sustainable bioeconomy, particularly its
• Modern society depends on large-­scale, storable,
bioenergy sector. Perhaps these thoughts will be useful to you
transportable, energy-­dense liquid fuels. Future societies will
as you advance the bioeconomy in your own areas of interest. also require true replacements for petroleum-­derived fuels.
My bioeconomy career has been based on three central • Without large-­scale production of low carbon biofuels
priorities: (1) providing abundant energy to enable human we will not achieve the climate security or the energy
prosperity, (2) ensuring that this energy is provided sustainably, security we desire.
and (3) designing bioenergy systems so that the agricultural/ • If the required production scale is achieved, true
forestry communities providing the biomass will prosper. ‘drop-­in’ carbon-­neutral replacement hydrocarbon fuels
Rethinking my approach to bioenergy has been catalyzed can be produced from carbon-­containing plant biomass.
by interactions with two distinguished colleagues: Dr Charles • Very large biorefineries can convert easily transported
Forsberg (Nuclear Engineering, Massachusetts Institute forms of biomass directly to gasoline/diesel/jet fuel
of Technology) and Dr Charles (‘Charlie’) Hall (Systems replacements using massive inputs of heat and hydrogen
Ecology, State University of New York, retired). from nuclear reactor systems.
• Energy-­dense, easily transported biomass feedstocks for the
I have learned much from both Charles and Charlie. I am
biorefineries (as liquids, solids or gases) are best produced at
grateful to them for their generosity toward me and their preprocessing centers (called ‘depots’) located in rural areas.
careful thinking based on bedrock facts. Both men follow
facts to logical conclusions … wherever such facts may lead. For example, the conversion of biomass to methane
So, why have I been hanging out with a nuke guy and a by anaerobic digestion (AD) and large-­scale methane
systems guy? I will tell you. conversion to liquid fuels are processes that have already been
First, Dr Forsberg and I have collaborated to analyze demonstrated. No new technologies are needed. If these steps
the potential for converting cellulosic biomass into direct are integrated with large nuclear plants at the biorefinery, four
replacements for existing petroleum-­derived fuel – as enabled very important objectives can be achieved:
by massive inputs of heat, electricity, and hydrogen from • on-­farm or near-­farm methane production by AD can
nuclear power systems. Our work has led to several scholarly enable widespread rural prosperity;
papers and articles in trade magazines. • digestate resulting from AD can be recycled to
Among other things we concluded that: agricultural fields; this contains stable carbon and

Correspondence to: Bruce E. Dale, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 3078, USA. E-­mail: bdale@[Link]

© 2024 Society of Industrial Chemistry and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 7
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Bruce E. Dale Editorial

mineral fertilizers, improving the carbon intensity of the 9 units of energy to society. A minimum net energy of 90% is
methane produced; probably required to maintain industrial society in something
• nuclear energy can be used at large biorefineries to like its current form. We must design bioenergy systems to
supply heat, hydrogen, and electricity, reducing by half achieve high net energy, within the other constraints of scale
the land area needed to produce biofuels; and carbon intensity.
• a true reduction in the use of hydrocarbon liquid fuels I recently retired from a long (almost 50 years) and
can eliminate the enormous cost and carbon emissions
enjoyable academic career in teaching and research. One
required to replace the systems for producing and using
constraint of a life in academic research is that the researcher
these hydrocarbon fuels, which we have developed since
the Oil Age began. must find willing sponsors. Sponsors for research on
integrating nuclear energy with cellulosic biofuel production
Methane conversion to liquid hydrocarbon fuels has already do not currently exist. Nor are there research sponsors for
been demonstrated at commercial scale, so I have emphasized better understanding the net energy of bioenergy systems. I
anaerobic digestion to methane in the example above. hope both fields will receive more funding attention … they
However, I believe that the use of liquid (as ‘bio-­oil’) and solid need and deserve it.
(as biomass pellets) feedstocks produced for the biorefinery So, I find myself at a turning point in my life, not just my
at rural depots is also a viable approach needing further study career. I no longer need to support a laboratory or graduate
and development. students, so I am now free to pursue important research for
I also wish to acknowledge my debt to Dr Charles Hall, a which there is little or no financial support.
pioneer of net energy analysis. Years ago, I wrote an editorial In collaboration with others, I will therefore be focusing my
in this journal critical of net energy, also called energy return future research attention on regenerative agroenergy systems,
on energy invested (EROI). I was wrong. I apologize to Dr trying to understand better how such highly integrated
Hall and to others involved in the net energy field. systems might be designed and implemented to provide
I now believe that scale, carbon intensity, and net energy human food/animal feed as well as large-­scale, low-­carbon
are the three critical metrics that should govern future biofuels with high net energy.
development of sustainable biofuels. Indeed, they should Wish me well!
guide the development of all energy sources. The importance
of scale and carbon intensity is self-­evident. Net energy may
need some explanation.
Conflict of interest statement
It always ‘costs’ some energy to produce and provide energy
Professor Bruce Dale is the editor-­in-­chief of Biofuels,
to its end users. That ‘energy cost of energy’ is not available
Bioproducts and Biorefining.
for other uses. Net energy is therefore the difference between
the energy cost of energy and the total amount of energy
provided by a given energy system. Net energy enables all
Bruce E. Dale
other energy uses enjoyed by humankind. The greater the
available net energy, the more energy can be devoted to other Bruce E. Dale, Ph.D. University
activities (e.g., education, health care, culture, and leisure) Distinguished Professor Emeritus,
Michigan State University, USA.
beyond energy production.
For example, if the net energy is 99%, then only one unit of
energy is required to supply 99 units of energy to society. If
the net energy is 90%, then one unit of energy only supplies

8        © 2024 Society of Industrial Chemistry and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. | Biofuels, Bioprod. Bioref. 19:7–8 (2025); DOI: 10.1002/bbb.2707