Pellet Production from Miscanthus: Energy and Environmental Assessment

Alessandra Fusi, Jacopo Bacenetti, Andrea R. Proto, Doriana E. A. Tedesco, Domenico Pessina and Davide Facchinetti
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Alessandra Fusi: Department of Environmental and Policy Science, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Jacopo Bacenetti: Department of Environmental and Policy Science, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Andrea R. Proto: Department of Agraria, Università degli Studi Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, 89122 Reggio Calabria, Italy
Doriana E. A. Tedesco: Department of Environmental and Policy Science, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Domenico Pessina: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science—Production, Landscape, Ageoenergy, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Davide Facchinetti: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science—Production, Landscape, Ageoenergy, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy

Energies, 2020, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: The production of wood pellets has grown considerably in the last decades. Besides woody biomass, other feedstocks can be used for pellet production. Among these, miscanthus presents some advantages because, even if specifically cultivated, it requires low inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides and shows high biomass yield (up to 28 tons of dry matter ha −1 in Europe). Even if in the last years some studies evaluated the environmental impact of woody pellet production, there is no information about the environmental performances of miscanthus pellet production. In this study, the environmental impact of miscanthus pellet was evaluated using the Life Cycle Assessment approach with a cradle-to plant gate perspective. Primary data were collected in a small-medium size pelletizing plant located in Northern Italy where miscanthus is cultivated to be directly processed. The results highlight how the miscanthus pellet shows lower environmental impact compared to woody pellet, mainly due to the lower energy consumption during pelletizing. The possibility to pelletize the miscanthus biomass without any drying offsets the environmental impact related to the miscanthus cultivation for all the evaluated impact categories (except for Marine eutrophication). In detail, for global warming potential, 1 ton of miscanthus pellet shows an impact of 121.6 kg CO 2 eq. (about 8% lower respect to woody pellet) while for the other evaluated impact categories the impact reduction ranges from 4 to 59%. Harvesting, which unlike the other field operations is carried out every year, is by far the main contributor to the impacts of the cultivation phase while electricity is the main contributor to the pelletizing phase.

Keywords: life cycle assessment; miscanthus; pellets; lignocellulosic biofuels (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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