2. Terrestrial Biomass Production

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to review, evaluate, and analyze sustainable biomass chains for several biorefinery options. The analysis comprised feedstock production and supply logistics chain, including storage, and referred to different regional scales (south, central, and northern Europe). This aimed to enable capture of the geographic specificities in terms of ecosystems, climate variation, land-use patterns as well as resource types, crop management, feedstock handling, and associated logistics. The identification of areas in Europe suitable for cultivation of selected crops was based on spatial distribution of parameters influencing conditions for cultivation (e.g., germination, growing, flowering, seed production). For that purpose, available climatic data sets, land-use and land-cover data sets, and elevation data sets were used. In the Eurobioref, project focus is given on specific non-food oil crops and perennial crops based on their favorable oil properties for the various green chemical products dealt in this project. New non-food oil crops were studied in field trials in Greece and Poland. The selected oil crops are grown in Europe only marginally, in small plots or in gardens for ornamental reasons. Average yields over the 3 years of trial in Greece were 2500 kg/ha of seeds for castor, 2380 kg/ha for safflower, and 1300 kg/ha for crambe. Crambe was third in the rank, with seed yields up to 1500 kg/ha in the small plots in Poland and 1000 kg/ha in the 10-ha demonstration field. Lignocellulosic crops recorded yields >15 t/ha of dry matter (apart from cardoon that was unable to survive after the 10 year) and around 9 t/ha of dry matter in average for willow, confirming their potential to efficiently exploit less favorable lands of Europe.2 Terrestrial biomass production