Environmental life cycle assessments of producing maize, grass-clover, ryegrass and winter wheat straw for biorefinery
Parajuli, Ranjan (Aarhus University)
Kristensen, Ib Sillebak (Aarhus University)
Knudsen, Marie Trydeman (Aarhus University)
Mogensen, Lisbeth (Aarhus University)
Corona, Andrea (Technical University of Denmark)
Birkved, Morten (Technical University of Denmark)
Peña Valbuena, Nancy Angela Lucia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Graversgaard, Morten (Aarhus University)
Dalgaard, Tommy (Aarhus University)

Date:	2017
Abstract:	The aim of this study is to assess the potential environmental impacts of producing maize, grass-clover, ryegrass, and straw from winter wheat as biomass feedstocks for biorefinery. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method included the following impact categories: Global Warming Potential (GWP100), Eutrophication Potential (EP), Non-Renewable Energy use (NRE), Potential Fresh Water Ecotoxicity (PFWTox) and Potential Biodiversity Damages (PBD). The results showed that GWP100 (in kg CO2 eq, including contribution from soil carbon change) for producing 1 ton of dry matter (t DM) was highest for ryegrass, grass-clover and maize, and lowest for straw. The carbon footprints of ryegrass, grass-clover and maize were affected by including the contribution from soil organic carbon (SOC) changes. Nitrous oxide emissions and emissions related to the production of agro-chemicals (including N-fertilizer) were other hotspots in the carbon footprint. The EP calculated per t DM was highest for grass-clover, ryegrass and maize, and was lowest for straw. NRE use (MJ eq/t DM) was highest for ryegrass, grass-clover and maize and lowest for straw. Major hotspots were diesel use for field operations and agro-chemicals production. The PBD, expressed as Potentially Disappeared Fraction (PDF) showed the highest adverse impact to biodiversity in maize, followed by straw, whereas the results showed relatively lower impact for ryegrass and grass-clover. The PFWTox (CTUe/t DM), at farm level was highest for straw, followed by maize, whereas the values were significantly lower for grass-clover and ryegrass. These variations in ranking of the different biomasses productions using different impact categories for environmental performance showed that it is important to consider a wider range of impact categories for assessing environmental sustainability.
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Life cycle assessment ; Biorefinery ; Environmental impacts ; Ecotoxicity ; Soil organic carbon ; Denmark
Published in:	Journal of cleaner production, Vol. 142, Part 4 (January 2017) , p. 3859-3871, ISSN 1879-1786

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.10.076

Postprint 53 p, 1.9 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles