Spatially explicit analyses of sustainable agricultural residue potential for bioenergy in China under various soil and land management scenarios

Economic optimization for a dual‐feedstock lignocellulosic‐based sustainable biofuel supply chain considering greenhouse gas emission and soil carbon stock

“…The Jing‐Jin‐Ji district, known as the Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei metropolitan region of China, was selected as the case study region. The reasons for choosing the region are: (1) the lignocellulosic biomass resources are substantial; 29,30,32 (2) a huge jet fuel consumption potential exists because it is the biggest urbanized megalopolis region in north China with a total population of 112 million people and the second‐largest airport cluster in China; (3) the strong advantages to biofuel production and consumption as the region has traditionally been involved in heavy industries, manufacturing, petrochemical sectors, aviation, and logistics.…”

“…Previous studies show that there is a huge availability potential of lignocellulosic biomass for biofuel production in China, and they estimated that up to 888 Mt of agricultural residues are theoretically collectible at an on‐farm collection cost below 17.6 $∙Mg −1 in 2050, and 1644 Mt of Miscanthus and switchgrass from marginal land are available for biofuel production at a farm‐gate production cost below 65.1 $∙Mg −1 in 2050 29,30,32 …”

“…Appropriate land management, such as conservation tillage, could significantly reduce the decomposition of SOC 28 . Consequently, maintaining high SOC content may require a large volume of residues to be retained in the soil, thus reducing the removal rate of residues for biofuel production 29 . Furthermore, agricultural residues are valuable as feedstocks for producing animal feed, industry materials, bio‐chemicals, and mushroom matrix.…”

“…Furthermore, agricultural residues are valuable as feedstocks for producing animal feed, industry materials, bio‐chemicals, and mushroom matrix. The competing uses of agricultural residues add great uncertainty to supply 29 . Hence, the supply potential of agricultural residues for biofuel production would depend on the SOC level being maintained, land management being implemented, and the competing use of agricultural residues.…”

“…The uncertainty of biomass supply affects the optimal design of the biofuel supply chain. Moreover, differences in procurement costs and GHG emissions between agricultural residues and energy crops can have a great impact on the economic and GHG performances of the biofuel supply chain 29,30 . The uncertainty of the biomass feedstock supply and dual‐feedstock sourcing from the same region should be considered in the optimization.…”