Abstract
The impact of heat production from vineyard pruning pellets has been evaluated in this paper. The study considers two different systems: the first one based on a mobile pelletizer (PS1) and the second one based on a stationary pellet plant (PS2). The analysis conducted is from “cradle to grave”; the systems under analysis includes pruning harvesting, transport to storage area, pelletization (mobile system or stationary production plant), transport to consumer and combustion. The functional unit selected is 1 MJ of thermal energy produced. The impact assessment calculation methods selected are Eco-Indicator 99 (H) LCA Food V2.103/Europe EI 99 H/A with a midpoint and endpoint approach, and ReCiPe Midpoint (H) V1.10. Considering Life Cycle Assessment results, Eco-indicator shows a total impact of 4.25 and 4.07 mPt for mobile pelletizer and stationary pellet plant, respectively. Considering the three damage categories, PS1 has values of 2.4% (Human Health), 3.8% (Ecosystem Quality) and 17.3% (Resources), more impactful than PS2. Contribution analysis shows that direct emissions are the major damage contributor, followed by wood ash management. From a comparison between the baseline scenario and a scenario with an avoided product (wood ash as a standard potassium fertilizer), PS1 and PS2 with an avoided product approach are 41% and 40% less impactful than in the baseline scenarios. When testing the impact of mobile pelletizer while considering transportation as a factor, a reduction of distance for pellet has been evaluated. Reducing the distance from 100 to 10 km, the total impact of PS1 almost reaches the impact of PS2 with a difference of around 4.6% (Eco-indicator 99 method). The most impactful processes are pellet production, direct emissions and ash management, while a less impactful factor is the electricity consumption. Transportation shows the lowest impact. Considering the ReCiPe impact calculation method with a midpoint approach, the results confirm what was found with Eco-indicator 99; the PS1 shows a slightly higher impact than PS2.
Highlights
The climate strategies and targets of the European Union (EU) have led to the establishment of a table of actions with a time horizon of about 40 years; a program of this length demonstrates the attention that the EU pays towards environmental issues
The present study aims to assess the environmental impact of heat produced from vineyard pruning agripellets by means of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) [22,23]
The impacts of the production and use methods related to vineyard pruning pellets assessed in this case study, using the life cycle assessment method and the Eco-indicator 99 characterization model, are 4.07 mPt and 4.25 mPt for the fixed pelletizing plant and mobile pelletizer, respectively
Summary
The climate strategies and targets of the European Union (EU) have led to the establishment of a table of actions with a time horizon of about 40 years; a program of this length demonstrates the attention that the EU pays towards environmental issues. The objectives set by the 2020 energy package have been fundamentally achieved, the challenge of implementing the climate and energy framework and the even greater challenge of Resources 2020, 9, 94; doi:10.3390/resources9080094 www.mdpi.com/journal/resources. One of the most promising materials that can help achieve the climate strategies and target goals is biomass [2], from which bioenergy can be obtained through different procedures. According to the EU and several authors [3,4,5,6,7], bioenergy is crucial to achieving the objectives of the climate strategies and targets, biomass materials are represented by a strongly heterogeneous set of biogenic materials that are difficult to standardize and model [8]. In Europe it has been considered that between 2013 and 2020, the production of advanced biofuels doubled as an effect of the limitations imposed on fossil fuels, and due to the best environmental performances of renewable sources in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [12]
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