Abstract
In the context of environmental sustainability there has been an increasing interest in bioenergy production from renewable resources, and is expected that European biofuel production from energy crops will increase as a consequence of the achievement of policy targets. The aim of this paper is to assess the agronomic feasibility of biomass crop cultivation to provide profitable renewable feedstocks in a marginal and heavy-metal polluted area located in the Sulcis district, Sardinia (Italy). Results from literature review and unpublished data from field trials carried out in Sardinia were analysed to establish the main agronomic traits of crops (e.g., yield potential and input requirements). A Geographical Information System (GIS)-based procedure with remotely sensed data is also used to evaluate the land suitability and the actual land use/cover, considering a future scenario of expansion of energy crops on these marginal areas avoiding potential conflicts with food production. The results of the review suggests that giant reed, native perennial grasses and milk thistle are the most suitable energy crops for this area. The land suitability analysis shows that about 5700 ha and 1000 ha could be available for feedstock cultivation in the study area and in the most polluted area, respectively. The results obtained from land suitability process and agronomic evaluation will serve as a base to support technical and economical feasibility studies, as well as for the evaluation of environmental sustainability of the cultivation in the study area.
Highlights
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in a low-carbon society, where the use of biomass as feedstock to produce renewable energy, bio-based chemicals and bio-fuels is a promising alternative to non-renewable fossil resources [1,2]
Despite our multi-criteria procedure for land suitability modeling is based on accurate and detailed and agro-ecological knowledge at a detailed geographical scale, caution is Thisdata study setintegrate out to determine the agronomic feasibility for the cultivation of dedicated energy required due to certain limitations
One source of weakness may originate from the scale of crops on a marginal and contaminated territory located in the Sulcis area, Italy
Summary
There has been an increasing interest in a low-carbon society, where the use of biomass as feedstock to produce renewable energy, bio-based chemicals and bio-fuels is a promising alternative to non-renewable fossil resources [1,2]. The biomass feedstocks produced by dedicated crops are expected to develop alternative systems of energy production and markets, promote rural development and livelihoods and revive economic growth. In order to avoid competition and controversies between food and energy crops, the potential use of less productive and marginal land for bioenergy production has been proposed worldwide [8,9]. Marginal and degraded land can be defined as land less suitable or totally unsuitable for food production where a low level of economic profit is expected [10]. Marginal lands could be correctly identified and valued with a land suitability analysis based on multi-criteria approaches which enable to integrate environmental constraints (e.g., soil depth, erosion, slope) [11] and social and economic needs of the communities engaged [12,13]
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