A Life Cycle Assessment of an Energy-Biochar Chain Involving a Gasification Plant in Italy
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a fundamental tool for evaluating the environmental and energy load of a production cycle. Its application to renewable energy production systems offers the possibility of identifying the environmental benefits of such processes—especially those related to the by-produ...
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MDPI AG
2021
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oai:doaj.org-article:17aa53b4064a419997e159318f39bb312021-11-25T18:10:04ZA Life Cycle Assessment of an Energy-Biochar Chain Involving a Gasification Plant in Italy10.3390/land101112562073-445Xhttps://doaj.org/article/17aa53b4064a419997e159318f39bb312021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/11/1256https://doaj.org/toc/2073-445XLife cycle assessment (LCA) is a fundamental tool for evaluating the environmental and energy load of a production cycle. Its application to renewable energy production systems offers the possibility of identifying the environmental benefits of such processes—especially those related to the by-products of production processes (i.e., digestion or biochar). Biochar has received worldwide interest because of its potential uses in bioenergy production, due to its coproducts (bio-oil and syngas), as well as in global warming mitigation, sustainable agriculture, pollutant removal, and other uses. Biochar production and use of soil is a strategy for carbon sequestration that could contribute to the reduction of emissions, providing simultaneous benefits to soil and opportunities for bioenergy generation. However, to confirm all of biochar’s benefits, it is necessary to characterize the environmental and energy loads of the production cycle. In this work, soil carbon sequestration, nitrous oxide emissions, use of fertilizers, and use of water for irrigation have been considered in the biochar’s LCA, where the latter is used as a soil conditioner. Primary data taken from experiments and prior studies, as well as open-source available databases, were combined to evaluate the environmental impacts of energy production from biomass, as well as the biochar life cycle, including pre- and post-conversion processes. From the found results, it can be deduced that the use of gasification production of energy and biochar is an attractive strategy for mitigating the environmental impacts analyzed here—especially climate change, with a net decrease of about −8.3 × 10<sup>3</sup> kg CO<sub>2</sub> eq. Finally, this study highlighted strategic research developments that combine the specific characteristics of biochar and soil that need to be amended.Simone MarzedduAndrea CappelliAndrea AmbrosioMaría Alejandra DécimaPaolo ViottiMaria Rosaria BoniMDPI AGarticleagricultural land detectionbiocharenvironmental impactsland-climate interactionLCAgasificationAgricultureSENLand, Vol 10, Iss 1256, p 1256 (2021) |
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| collection |
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| topic |
agricultural land detection biochar environmental impacts land-climate interaction LCA gasification Agriculture S |
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agricultural land detection biochar environmental impacts land-climate interaction LCA gasification Agriculture S Simone Marzeddu Andrea Cappelli Andrea Ambrosio María Alejandra Décima Paolo Viotti Maria Rosaria Boni A Life Cycle Assessment of an Energy-Biochar Chain Involving a Gasification Plant in Italy |
| description |
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a fundamental tool for evaluating the environmental and energy load of a production cycle. Its application to renewable energy production systems offers the possibility of identifying the environmental benefits of such processes—especially those related to the by-products of production processes (i.e., digestion or biochar). Biochar has received worldwide interest because of its potential uses in bioenergy production, due to its coproducts (bio-oil and syngas), as well as in global warming mitigation, sustainable agriculture, pollutant removal, and other uses. Biochar production and use of soil is a strategy for carbon sequestration that could contribute to the reduction of emissions, providing simultaneous benefits to soil and opportunities for bioenergy generation. However, to confirm all of biochar’s benefits, it is necessary to characterize the environmental and energy loads of the production cycle. In this work, soil carbon sequestration, nitrous oxide emissions, use of fertilizers, and use of water for irrigation have been considered in the biochar’s LCA, where the latter is used as a soil conditioner. Primary data taken from experiments and prior studies, as well as open-source available databases, were combined to evaluate the environmental impacts of energy production from biomass, as well as the biochar life cycle, including pre- and post-conversion processes. From the found results, it can be deduced that the use of gasification production of energy and biochar is an attractive strategy for mitigating the environmental impacts analyzed here—especially climate change, with a net decrease of about −8.3 × 10<sup>3</sup> kg CO<sub>2</sub> eq. Finally, this study highlighted strategic research developments that combine the specific characteristics of biochar and soil that need to be amended. |
| format |
article |
| author |
Simone Marzeddu Andrea Cappelli Andrea Ambrosio María Alejandra Décima Paolo Viotti Maria Rosaria Boni |
| author_facet |
Simone Marzeddu Andrea Cappelli Andrea Ambrosio María Alejandra Décima Paolo Viotti Maria Rosaria Boni |
| author_sort |
Simone Marzeddu |
| title |
A Life Cycle Assessment of an Energy-Biochar Chain Involving a Gasification Plant in Italy |
| title_short |
A Life Cycle Assessment of an Energy-Biochar Chain Involving a Gasification Plant in Italy |
| title_full |
A Life Cycle Assessment of an Energy-Biochar Chain Involving a Gasification Plant in Italy |
| title_fullStr |
A Life Cycle Assessment of an Energy-Biochar Chain Involving a Gasification Plant in Italy |
| title_full_unstemmed |
A Life Cycle Assessment of an Energy-Biochar Chain Involving a Gasification Plant in Italy |
| title_sort |
life cycle assessment of an energy-biochar chain involving a gasification plant in italy |
| publisher |
MDPI AG |
| publishDate |
2021 |
| url |
https://doaj.org/article/17aa53b4064a419997e159318f39bb31 |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT simonemarzeddu alifecycleassessmentofanenergybiocharchaininvolvingagasificationplantinitaly AT andreacappelli alifecycleassessmentofanenergybiocharchaininvolvingagasificationplantinitaly AT andreaambrosio alifecycleassessmentofanenergybiocharchaininvolvingagasificationplantinitaly AT mariaalejandradecima alifecycleassessmentofanenergybiocharchaininvolvingagasificationplantinitaly AT paoloviotti alifecycleassessmentofanenergybiocharchaininvolvingagasificationplantinitaly AT mariarosariaboni alifecycleassessmentofanenergybiocharchaininvolvingagasificationplantinitaly AT simonemarzeddu lifecycleassessmentofanenergybiocharchaininvolvingagasificationplantinitaly AT andreacappelli lifecycleassessmentofanenergybiocharchaininvolvingagasificationplantinitaly AT andreaambrosio lifecycleassessmentofanenergybiocharchaininvolvingagasificationplantinitaly AT mariaalejandradecima lifecycleassessmentofanenergybiocharchaininvolvingagasificationplantinitaly AT paoloviotti lifecycleassessmentofanenergybiocharchaininvolvingagasificationplantinitaly AT mariarosariaboni lifecycleassessmentofanenergybiocharchaininvolvingagasificationplantinitaly |
| _version_ |
1718411545464012800 |