Comparative environmental performance of three different annual energy crops for biogas production in Northern Italy

González‐García, Sara; Bacenetti, Jacopo; Negri, Marco; Fiala, Marco; Arroja, Luís

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.12.017

Cited by 80 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Fertilizer-induced emissions were identified as the most important flow in the categories FE and ME and second most important in CC and TA. Similar results have been reported in the literature and numerous studies have already described the strong impact of nitrogen fertilizer production and related direct and indirect emissions on FFD and CC (e.g., [39,46,50,51]). The present study also showed a strong impact of mineral nitrogen fertilizer application on eutrophication (FE and ME) and acidification potential of crop production.…”

Section: Overall Impact Of Process Steps In Impact Categoriessupporting

confidence: 91%

“…High biomass yields have been shown to be a crucial factor for favorable environmental performance [47]. Again, these results correspond to findings of other studies, which mainly also found a higher impact of energy-crop-derived biogas than the fossil reference in acidification and eutrophication potential [48][49][50].…”

Section: Environmental Performance In Impact Categories Modelled In Tsupporting

confidence: 88%

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Environmental Performance of Miscanthus, Switchgrass and Maize: Can C4 Perennials Increase the Sustainability of Biogas Production?

2016

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Abstract:Biogas is considered a promising option for complementing the fluctuating energy supply from other renewable sources. Maize is currently the dominant biogas crop, but its environmental performance is questionable. Through its replacement with high-yielding and nutrient-efficient perennial C4 grasses, the environmental impact of biogas could be considerably improved. The objective of this paper is to assess and compare the environmental performance of the biogas production and utilization of perennial miscanthus and switchgrass and annual maize. An LCA was performed using data from field trials, assessing the impact in the five categories: climate change (CC), fossil fuel depletion (FFD), terrestrial acidification (TA), freshwater eutrophication (FE) and marine eutrophication (ME). A system expansion approach was adopted to include a fossil reference. All three crops showed significantly lower CC and FFD potentials than the fossil reference, but higher TA and FE potentials, with nitrogen fertilizer production and fertilizer-induced emissions identified as hot spots. Miscanthus performed best and changing the input substrate from maize to miscanthus led to average reductions of −66% CC; −74% FFD; −63% FE; −60% ME and −21% TA. These results show that perennial C4 grasses and miscanthus in particular have the potential to improve the sustainability of the biogas sector.

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Section: Overall Impact Of Process Steps In Impact Categoriessupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Environmental Performance In Impact Categories Modelled In Tsupporting

confidence: 88%

Environmental Performance of Miscanthus, Switchgrass and Maize: Can C4 Perennials Increase the Sustainability of Biogas Production?

2016

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“…Therefore, following LCA guidelines, three biogas-to-energy processes have been analyzed and carefully assessed in order to quantify the environmental effects and to identify the environmental key process (ISO 14040, 2006). Considering that feedstock production or recovery involves important environmental issues (González-García et al, 2013) particular attention was paid to the agricultural subsystem. The production of an energy crop (maize) in different districts of northern Italy as well as the recovery of pig slurry was evaluated in detail.…”

Section: Goal and Scopementioning

confidence: 99%

Anaerobic digestion of different feedstocks: Impact on energetic and environmental balances of biogas process

Bacenetti

Negri

Fiala

et al. 2013

Science of The Total Environment

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188

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“…They found also that trade-offs among the different environmental impacts exist and an analysis of impact categories other than global warming is needed to fully grasp the environmental benefits or impacts of biogas production. The relevance of biogas production on impact categories related to atmospheric pollution (PM (Particulate Matter) emissions, photochemical ozone, acidification and eutrophication) is widely reported in literature [13][14][15][16][17][18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmentally Sustainable Biogas? The Key Role of Manure Co-Digestion with Energy Crops

et al. 2015

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Abstract:We analysed the environmental impacts of three biogas systems based on dairy manure, sorghum and maize. The geographical scope of the analysis is the Po valley, in Italy. The anaerobic digestion of manure guarantees high GHG (Green House Gases) savings thanks to the avoided emissions from the traditional storage and management of raw manure as organic fertiliser. GHG emissions for maize and sorghum-based systems, on the other hand, are similar to those of the Italian electricity mix. In crop-based systems, the plants with open-tank storage of digestate emit 50% more GHG than those with gas-tight tanks. In all the environmental impact categories analysed (acidification, particulate matter emissions, and eutrophication), energy crops based systems have much higher impacts than the Italian electricity mix. Maize-based systems cause higher impacts than sorghum, due to more intensive cultivation. Manure-based pathways have always lower impacts than the energy crops based pathways, however, all biogas systems cause much higher impacts than the current Italian electricity mix. We conclude that manure digestion OPEN ACCESSEnergies 2015, 8 5235 is the most efficient way to reduce GHG emissions; although there are trade-offs with other local environmental impacts. Biogas production from crops; although not providing environmental benefits per se; may be regarded as an option to facilitate the deployment of manure digestion.

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Comparative environmental performance of three different annual energy crops for biogas production in Northern Italy

Cited by 80 publications

References 27 publications

Environmental Performance of Miscanthus, Switchgrass and Maize: Can C4 Perennials Increase the Sustainability of Biogas Production?

Environmental Performance of Miscanthus, Switchgrass and Maize: Can C4 Perennials Increase the Sustainability of Biogas Production?

Anaerobic digestion of different feedstocks: Impact on energetic and environmental balances of biogas process

Environmentally Sustainable Biogas? The Key Role of Manure Co-Digestion with Energy Crops

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