Supply potential of lignocellulosic energy crops grown on marginal land and greenhouse gas footprint of advanced biofuels—A spatially explicit assessment under the sustainability criteria of the Renewable Energy Directive Recast

Abstract

Advanced biofuels produced from lignocellulosic crops grown on marginal lands can become an important part of the European Union (EU) climate change mitigation strategy to reduce CO2 emissions and meet biofuel demand. This study quantifies spatially explicit the availability of marginal land in the EU, its production biomass potentials for eight different crops, and the greenhouse gas (GHG) performance of advanced biofuel supply chains. Available land is mapped based on land marginality and Renewable Energy Directive Recast (REDII) land‐related sustainability criteria. Biomass potentials are assessed with a water‐use‐to‐biomass‐production approach while considering the available land, location‐specific biophysical conditions and crop‐specific phenological characteristics. The GHG balance of advanced biofuels from energy crops produced on marginal lands is assessed considering both land‐related carbon stock changes and supply chain emissions with the carbon footprint approach from the REDII. Available marginal land that meets REDII criteria is projected at 20.5–21 Mha 2030 and 2050, respectively. Due to biophysical limitations, not all available land is suitable for energy crop production. The maximum biomass potential of lignocellulosic energy crops (optimal crop choice with maximum yield for each available location) varies between 1951 PJ year−1 in 2030 and 2265 PJ year−1 in 2050. The GHG emission performance (net emissions) of different advanced biofuel supply chains varies on average between −32 g CO2‐eq MJfuel−1 for poplar/willow diesel to 38 g CO2‐eq MJfuel‐1 for reed canary grass renewable jet fuel. The large variability in GHG performance is strongly determined by the spatial heterogeneity, which dictates the type of feedstock produced under specific local biophysical conditions, the crop characteristics, and the best conversion pathway. Negative GHG emissions are related to increased carbon stocks for the biomass and soil organic carbon pools compared to the land prior to conversion. When for each location, the advanced biofuel supply chain with the highest GHG performance (lowest net GHG emissions) is selected, 618 PJ year−1 of advanced biofuels can be produced by 2030. Under REDII GHG emission criteria, slightly less (552 PJ year−1) is viable. Smart choices on location, crop type and supply chain design are paramount to achieve maximum benefits of bioenergy systems.

Method for assessing the potential of miscanthus on marginal lands for high temperature heat demand: The case studies of France and Belgium

“…Among the energy crops compatible with marginal lands, lignocellulosic crops usually represent good candidates due to low maintenance requirements and their ability to grow on poorer soils (Mehmood et al, 2017). Those energy crops include, among others, miscanthus, Reed Canary grass, switchgrass, Giant Reed, Willow or Poplar (Vera et al, 2021). They all present different characteristics for production and final uses.…”

“…Furthermore, studies on energy crops generally focus only on the production aspect (Acaroǧlu & Aksoy, 2005; Amaducci et al, 2017; Dubis et al, 2020; Mantineo et al, 2009) without considering the post‐processing and the analysis of the final use within the complete supply chain. Yet, some works consider the post‐processing of the energy crops for the production of advanced energy carriers, such as liquid fuels, biogas or pellets (Fusi et al, 2021; Jankowski et al, 2016; Vera et al, 2021). However, only a few papers include the final use of those fuels in the scope of the study (Kiesel et al, 2019).…”

Perennial biomass crops on marginal land improve both regional climate and agricultural productivity

“…Much of this land is abandoned or low yielding crop land, in which soil quality has often been degraded through erosion or is land that would be easily degraded if brought into annual crop use. Land use changes of these areas could have multiscale impacts on the regional climate, water quantity and quality (Robertson et al, 2017; Vera et al, 2021). In addition, planting perennial strips within productive corn–soybean land can pay for itself by preventing soil erosion and soil carbon losses to maintain the productive quality of that land (Jin et al, 2019; Schulte et al, 2017).…”

Land for biomass?

“…Nevertheless, there are new practices, techniques and technologies such as precision farming, reduced tillage and soil sampling that could improve the cultivation of perennial crops on marginal lands, achieve higher yields and reduce costs. For example, carefully selecting well-adapted perennial crop species to local biophysical conditions, considering the crop's chemical and physical characteristics for specific end-uses applying a life cycle perspective 550 . This selection process can avoid additional pre-processing steps before the conversion process and provide more competitive production costs.…”

“…Determining actual synergies related to GHG emissions reductions from bioenergy requires a full supply chain perspective within the entire energy system as GHG performance of bioenergy value chains depends on supply chain designs, logistics, and end uses, and not just land management 144,550,556 . Similar positive and negative pairwise correlations between SDGs can also occur at later stages of the supply chain.…”