2026-05-05T11:22:50Zhttps://uvadoc.uva.es/oai/request

oai:uvadoc.uva.es:10324/839722026-04-09T19:01:16Zcom_10324_35294com_10324_952com_10324_894col_10324_35295

Benchmarking techno-economic efficiency of bioresources management in the water industry: a synthetic index-based approach Molinos Senante, María Maziotis, Alexandros Producción Científica The transition towards a circular economy in the water industry has increased the strategic importance of bio- resources management, particularly in relation to renewable energy generation and sewage sludge treatment within wastewater services. Despite this relevance, techno-economic performance in bioresources activities has not been systematically assessed. To address this gap, this study introduces the Techno-Economic Bioresource Index (TEBI), a novel benchmarking indicator based on a non-radial Data Envelopment Analysis approach. The framework is applied to a sample of 50 observations operating in England and Wales. The results reveal sub- stantial heterogeneity in performance, with TEBI values ranging from 0.124 to 1.000 and an average score of 0.76, indicating an average improvement potential of approximately 24%. Inefficiencies are found to be variable- specific rather than systemic, with energy utilization, energy export, and untreated sludge emerging as the main sources of inefficiency for several utilities. No relationship is observed between techno-economic efficiency and utility size. A super-efficiency analysis further discriminates among efficient utilities, enabling the identification of robust benchmarks. The findings demonstrate that efficient bioresources management can play a key role in supporting the transition towards a circular water industry, and that TEBI provides a transparent and operational tool to support regulatory benchmarking and evidence-based decision-making. 2026-04-09T10:26:38Z 2026-04-09T10:26:38Z 2026 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Biomass and Bioenergy, 2026, vol. 213, p. 109362 0961-9534 https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/83972 10.1016/j.biombioe.2026.109362 109362 Biomass and Bioenergy 213 eng https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096195342600437X info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ © 2026 The Author(s) Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Elsevier SI