Greenhouse gas emissions from sugarcane vinasse transportation by open channel: a case study in Brazil

Oliveira, Bruna Gonçalves de; Carvalho, João Luís Nunes; Cerri, Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino; Cerri, Carlos Clemente; Feigl, Brigitte Josefine

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.02.025

Cited by 31 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The application of vinasse in sugarcane fields is the least expensive and the simplest solution with several agronomic benefits (Oliveira et al 2015), including increase in sugarcane yields (Resende et al 2006), improvement in soil quality (Christofoletti et al 2013), increase in soil inputs of C and N (Parnaudeau et al 2008), reduction of fresh water used in full and salvage irrigation, and decrease in synthetic fertilizers use (Smeets et al 2008;Macedo et al 2008). Vinasse fertirrigation improves sugarcane yields in both short and long term primarily because of its high potassium content (Resende et al 2006).…”

Section: Vinasse Fertirrigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability of sugarcane production in Brazil. A review

Bordonal

Carvalho

Lal

et al. 2018

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

291

140

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Brazil is a major sugarcane producer and its production more than doubled over the last decades to meet global bioenergy demands for reducing crude oil dependency and mitigating climate change. Nevertheless, the adverse effects of this growth on jeopardizing the sustainability of sugarcane production are not known, especially when environmental impacts of agricultural inputs and production processes are not judiciously managed. This article is a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-knowledge and the main advances made thus far in the sugarcane sector. Here, we review the major environmental impacts of rapidly expanding sugarcane plantation on the land use change and its competition with food production, as well as those associated with sugarcane cultivation in Brazil. Our main finding are that sugarcane plantation did not contribute to direct deforestation, and its expansion on degraded pastures with the attendant increased yields of food crops and livestock intensification decreased land competition between food and sugarcane. Non-burning sugarcane harvesting is a win-win strategy because of its benefits involving agronomic and environmental aspects, but soil compaction is among the main issues in sugarcane cropping systems. Sugarcane is highly efficient in terms of nitrogen use efficiency, which is an important factor for its high energy balance. But, special attention should be given regarding emissions of nitrous oxide when straw mulching is combined with application of nitrogen fertilizer and vinasse. Recent advances in the sugarcane sector also show significant reductions in water consumption, making sugarcane ethanol one of the most favorable options in terms of water footprint. Growing realization of a vast potential indicates the need to further enhance the environmental benefits of sugarcane ethanol by optimizing the agricultural production chain. Based on this improved knowledge, the adoption of best management practices is among researchable priorities that can be developed to consolidate the large potential of sugarcane production towards greater sustainability.

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Section: Vinasse Fertirrigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability of sugarcane production in Brazil. A review

Bordonal

Carvalho

Lal

et al. 2018

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

291

140

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The problem with this practice is the emissions associated with this transportation. According to Oliveira et al (2015), these emissions can reach 455 g CO 2eq per L of ethanol when considering the Center-South region of Brazil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vinasse biogas for energy generation in Brazil: An assessment of economic feasibility, energy potential and avoided CO2 emissions

Bernal

Santos

Silva

et al. 2017

Journal of Cleaner Production

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Energy recovery from waste is one of the strategies that can assist the expansion of renewable energy in Brazil. Among the various types of waste, vinasse, which is a residue that contains a high organic load, originates from the sugarcane industry, which is a very important industry for the Brazilian economy. Due to high levels of sugarcane harvesting in the country and the production of large amounts of ethanol, vinasse is produced at high levels in Brazil. In this context, this paper presents an energy analysis of the avoided carbon dioxide emissions and economic viability associated with the combustion of biogas produced by the anaerobic digestion of the vinasse that results from the use of sugar cane planted in Brazil. Based on the literature review, data related to the process of biogas production from anaerobic digestion of the vinasse were collected and used for the calculation of the energy potential associated. The results show that to achieve economic viability for the use of this waste for energy, the following plantation areas would be required, considering their processed sugarcane equivalents: 14,580 ha (if considering the processing of sugarcane in attached plants), and 6000 ha (if considering the processing of sugarcane in autonomous plants). The total energy potential of this use may reach 3.26 TWh e /y, which represents 0.52% of all domestic energy consumption in 2014. The potential to avoid emissions from the same use could reach 1.9 Mt CO 2 /y, which is approximately 2.1% of the emissions for the whole industry in Brazil in 2014. These results demonstrate the environmental and energy benefits that can be obtained via power generation from biogas produced by the anaerobic digestion of vinasse and highlight the need to include the use of such residue for energy in expansion plans for the Brazilian energy matrix.

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“…At the NV site, potassium chloride (KCl) was applied as an inorganic fertiliser (520 kg ha -1 ) at the time of sugarcane planting, whilst vinasse was applied in the V site each year since 2004 at an average rate of 268 m³ ha -1 . Taking into account the K content typically found in the vinasse (from 0.84 to 1.8 g L -1 ) these applications correspond to a total rate of around 440 kg ha -1 of K concentration (Oliveira et al 2013;Oliveira et al 2015 Manuscript to be reviewed 20 years, while the UB site had undergone 8 years of burned management practice followed by 12 years of unburned practices. The B and UB sites were cultivated by conventional tillage with added mineral fertilisers.…”

Section: Site Selection and Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By contrast, an inappropriate and/or overuse of vinasse application might cause environmental issues including soil salinisation (Christofoletti et al 2013) and potential nutrient discharge into water bodies leading to eutrophication (Có Júnior et al 2008). Furthermore, recent studies suggest that vinasse leads to GHG emissions during its storage, transportation and application to the soil (Oliveira et al 2013;Oliveira et al 2015). Whilst the vast majority of studies have focused on GHG emissions and perceive vinasse discharge as a pollutant (see review by Fuess et al 2014) there is also a need to consider its potential benefits to soil C. To the best of our knowledge, there is only one study evaluating the impacts of vinasse application on soil C stocks, reporting a non-significant increase of 0.25 Mg ha -1 yr -1 in the top 20 cm (de Resende et al 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Review #2 of "Vinasse application and cessation of burning in sugarcane management can have positive impact on soil carbon stocks (v0.1)"

Xu¹

2018

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Bioenergy crops, such as sugarcane, have the potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel substitution. However, increased sugarcane propagation and recent management changes have raised concerns that these practices may deplete soil carbon (C) stocks, thereby limiting the net greenhouse gas benefit. In this study, we use both a measured and modelled approach to evaluate the impacts of two common sugarcane management practices on soil C sequestration potential in Brazil. We explore how transitions from conventional (mineral fertiliser/burning) to improved (vinasse application/unburned) practices influence soil C stocks in total and in physically fractionated soil down to 1 metre. Results suggest that vinasse application leads to an accumulation of soil C of 0.55 Mg ha-1 yr-1 at 0-30 cm depth and applying unburned management led to gains of ~0.7 Mg ha-1 yr-1 at 30-60 cm depth. Soil C concentration in the Silt+Clay fraction of topsoil (0-20 cm) showed higher C content in unburned management but it did not differ under vinasse application. The CENTURY model was used to simulate the consequences of management changes beyond the temporal extent of the measurements. Simulations indicated that vinasse was not the key factor driving increases in soil C stocks but its application may be the most readily available practice to prevent the soil C losses under burned management. Furthermore, cessation of burning may increase topsoil C by 40 % after ~50 years. These are the first data comparing different sugarcane management transitions within a single area. Our findings indicate that both vinasse application and the cessation of burning can play an important role in reducing the time required for sugarcane ethanol production to reach a net C benefit (payback time).

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Greenhouse gas emissions from sugarcane vinasse transportation by open channel: a case study in Brazil

Cited by 31 publications

References 19 publications

Sustainability of sugarcane production in Brazil. A review

Sustainability of sugarcane production in Brazil. A review

Vinasse biogas for energy generation in Brazil: An assessment of economic feasibility, energy potential and avoided CO2 emissions

Peer Review #2 of "Vinasse application and cessation of burning in sugarcane management can have positive impact on soil carbon stocks (v0.1)"

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