Straw-to-soil or straw-to-energy? An optimal trade off in a long term sustainability perspective

Massimo Monteleone, Anna Rita Bernadette Cammerino, Pasquale Garofalo and Mitra Kami Delivand

Applied Energy, 2015, vol. 154, issue C, 899 pages

Abstract: This study examined some management strategies of wheat cultivation system and its sustainability in using straw as an energy feedstock. According to the EU regulatory framework on biofuels, no GHG emissions should be assigned to straws when they are used for energy. Given this relevance in the current energy policy, it is advisable to include all possible marginal effects related to land use, resource utilization and management changes in the comparison of different biomass options. Coherently, an expanded life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied to include the upstream cultivation phase and to make a comparison between “straw to soil” and “straw to energy”. Different crop management conditions in Southern Italy were simulated, by using the CropSyst model, to estimate the long-term soil organic carbon and annual N2O soil emissions. Three wheat cropping systems were considered: the conventional single wheat system without straw removal (W0) and with partial straw removal (W1), together with a no-tillage “wheat-wheat-herbage” rotation system with partial straw removal (W2). The results of the simulations were integrated in the LCA to compare fossil energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of straw-to-electricity with respect to the fossil-based electricity system.

Keywords: Life cycle assessment (LCA); Soil organic carbon (SOC); GHG emission saving; N2O soil emissions; Land use change (LUC); Agroenergy farming (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.04.108

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