A methodological proposal for Life Cycle Inventory of fertilization in energy crops: The case of Argentinean soybean and Spanish rapeseed

Fernández-Tirado, Francisca; Parra-López, Carlos; Calatrava-Requena, Javier

doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2013.07.022

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The amount of resistant SOM fraction was estimated according to Boiffin et al [15] or applying BSI [10,14] on cardoon above-ground residues: wheat 0.08, bean 0.1, and roots 0.15; above-ground cardoon was 0.18 experimentally estimated from compositional analysis. Even contribution of cardoon basal leaves and renewal of roots was calculated and computed in the model.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Role of Compost in Bio-waste Management and Circular Economy

Razza

D’Avino

L’Abate

et al. 2018

Designing Sustainable Technologies, Products and Policies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The increase of separate collections of bio-waste, largely represented by food waste, and their biological treatment is an essential feature of the waste management strategy. The aim of this paper was to highlight the role of compost in the circular economy, and its use in the agricultural sector. An annual time-step model for estimating soil organic matter (SOM) stock dynamics in a 22-year time frame was developed and tested on cardoon cropping system. The model took into account few soil parameters, mean annual temperature, and the cultural systems management, in particular organic fertilizers and crop residues. This work indicates that compost use in agriculture would be beneficial both for SOM increase and GHG reduction. The results showed how high-quality compost could represents the actual driving force of this change able to connect food, waste, economy and environment.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The model implements the Hénin-Dupuis equation [10][11][12] which apply two different kinetic constants (k 1 and k 2 ) on annual step in the above complex cropping system.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Compost in Bio-waste Management and Circular Economy

Razza

D’Avino

L’Abate

et al. 2018

Designing Sustainable Technologies, Products and Policies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…From an environmental point of view, soybean has a key advantage over rapeseed. Approximately 50% of N removed by the soybean crop is supplied via biological fixation, leading to less need for nitrogen fertilizers, consequently reducing the environmental impacts (Fernández-Tirado et al, 2013). Non-leguminous plant species, such as rape, might be able to fix atmospheric nitrogen following a process of artificial inoculation of bacteria which form symbiotic relationships with developing plant roots, called paranodules.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Non-leguminous plant species, such as rape, might be able to fix atmospheric nitrogen following a process of artificial inoculation of bacteria which form symbiotic relationships with developing plant roots, called paranodules. Paranodulation would help to reduce the consumption of inorganic nitrogen and would bring major environmental benefits to the rapeseed crop in Spain (Fernández-Tirado et al, 2013). The results obtained must be interpreted taking into account the assumptions that were made and the limitations of LCA (Reap et al, 2008a,b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rational fertilization is understood to mean the fertilization required in order to return to the soil the nutrients taken out by previous crops (García-Serrano Jiménez et al, 2010). The input and outputs of fertilization were taken from the LCI of Fernández-Tirado et al (2013). Moreover, the packaging of fertilizers in 50 kg low-density polyethylene bags has been taken into account.…”

Section: Fertilizers Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Evaluating the environmental sustainability of energy crops: A life cycle assessment of Spanish rapeseed and Argentinean soybean cultivation

Fernández-Tirado

Parra-López

Romero-Gámez

2017

Span. j. agric. res.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rapeseed oil is expected to be increasingly used in Spain as raw material to produce biodiesel to the detriment of extra-EU imports of biodiesel mainly based on soybean oil from Argentina. Therefore, the environmental impacts produced throughout the life cycle of energy crops used to produce biodiesel which is consumed in Spain could be radically affected. In this context, the environmental impacts of rapeseed cultivation in Spain and soybean cultivation in Argentina, were compared under certain growing conditions using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Two methods of calculation for Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) and two functional units (FUs) were used to test potential biases. The results showed that the cultivation of soybean in Argentina had, in general, fewer environmental impacts than rapeseed cultivation in Spain when the FU was the area of cultivation, but these findings are inverted when the analysis is conducted according to the energy content of the biodiesel obtained from these crops. Soybean in fact has very low oil content, meaning that larger areas of land are required to obtain the same amount of biodiesel and that consequently it has a higher environmental impact by energy content. Fertilization was, in general, the process that generated the greatest environmental burdens, and is an area in which improvement is necessary in order to increase sustainability, particularly with regard to Spanish rapeseed.Additional key words: LCA; biodiesel; impacts; CML-IA.Correspondence should be addressed to Francisca Fernández-Tirado: fernandez@uma.esAbbreviations used: ASNPB100kmFF (the amount of seed (kg) needed to produce the biodiesel that would be required to drive 100 km in a diesel Ford Focus 1.8 TDdi 89HP); EU (European Union); FU (functional unit), GHG (greenhouse gas); LCA (life cycle assessment); LCI (life cycle inventory); LCIA (life cycle impact assessment), NT (no till); REOS (respiratory effects of organic substances).

show abstract