Sustainability Assessment of a Self-Consumption Wood-Energy Chain on Small Scale for Heat Generation in Central Italy

Abstract

The sustainability of a small-scale self-consumption wood-energy chain for heat generation in central Italy was analyzed from a technical, economic and energetic point of view. A micro-chain was developed within the CRA-ING farm at Monterotondo (Rome, Italy): The purpose of this system was to produce biomass for supplying a heating plant within the CRA-ING property as a substitute for diesel fuel. A poplar short rotation coppice, established with clones AF2, AF6 and Monviso, fed the micro-chain. The rotation was biennial. The average plantation production (Mgd.m.·ha−1·year−1) was 10.2, with a maximum of 13.53 for the twin-rows AF2 and a minimum of 8.00 for the single-row Monviso. The economic assessment was based on the Net Present Value (NPV) method and the equivalent annuity cost, and found an average saving of 15.60 €·GJ−1 of heat generated by the wood chips heating system in comparison with the diesel heating system over a 10 year lifetime of the thermal power plant. The energy assessment of the poplar plantation, carried out using the Gross Energy Requirements method, reported an energy output/input ratio of 12.3. The energy output/input ratio of the whole micro-chain was 4.5.

Combustion-Related Properties of Poplar, Willow and Black Locust to be used as Fuels in Power Plants

“…The lack of knowledge about the expectable combustion behavior of energy crops is even more important for willow and black locust. Although their agronomic characteristics have been widely studied [3,5,14,17,23,24], there is yet a lack of information regarding their physical and thermochemical combustion-related properties.…”

Increasing the Value Recovery from Short-Rotation Coppice Harvesting

“…Besides offering financial benefits, SRC remains an important management tool to improve the relationship between agriculture and environment (Verani et al 2015).…”

Financial cost-benefit analysis of investment possibilities in district heating system on wood residues

“…in O'Mahoney et al (O'Mahoney, Thorne, & Denny, 2013) a Cost-Benefit Analysis of generating electricity from biomass was conducted considering the long term effects of co-firing with biomass in Irish peat stations. Some of the studies provide economic assessment and financial analysis of the use of wood waste biomass for heating are focused on aspects such as the supply chain ( Whalley, Klein, & Benjamin, 2017), (Alam, Pulkki, Shahi, & Upadhyay, 2012), transportation costs (Verani et al, 2015), feasibility of using wood biomass to produce heat (Chau et al, 2009), and potential availability of wood biomass (Macfarlane, 2009). Vallios et al (Vallios, Tsoutsos, & Papadakis, 2009) presented a methodology of the design of biomass district heating systems taking into consideration the optimum design of building structure and urban settlement around the plant.…”

“…Biomass materials such as wood residues are becoming internationally recognised as an important source of carbon which could be further used for the production of energy. Around 15% of the energy needs at the global level is provided from biomass, out of which 13% in developed countries and 2% in developing countries (Verani, Sperandio, Picchio, Marchi, Costa, 2015).…”