Abstract
Biomass residues from permanent crops might be an alternative fuel for energy generation in a local market with limited transport distances. Moreover, as activities related to CO2 reduction are of special attention in the European Union (EU), sustainable use of resources plays an important role in climate change mitigation. In this paper, a life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the integrated value chain from peach pruning residues for electricity generation is presented and compared with the common practice including the mulching process of the pruned biomass in an orchard. It was shown that biomass harvesting, chipping and its delivery to a power plant—the Pruning-to-Energy (PtE) scenario—is feasible from an environmental point of view. The total global warming potential (GWP) of this value chain was 200 kg CO2 eq.·ha−1 (or 27 kg CO2 eq.·GJ−1). In turn, the mulching and leaving of the pruned biomass in an orchard—the pruning-to-soil (PtS) scenario—is characterized by a CO2 equivalent of 2360 kg·ha−1. Other impact categories showed a lower environmental impact for the PtE scenario as well. When considering the Spanish electricity-mix instead of coal-based electricity, the PtS scenario score better in most impact categories, but the GWP for the PtE scenario remains lower.
Highlights
The European Biomass Action Plan (BAP) formulated by the European Commission in 2005 presented a clear vision of the energetic utilization of biomass from forestry, agriculture, and waste materials until 2020 [1]
The ambitious scenarios of the carbon-neutral European Union (EU) assume the achievement of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions between 80% and 100% by 2050, compared to 1990 [3]
According to the Europruning report [31], the favorable approval conditions for biomass pruning removal occur when the vegetation cover in the orchard exceeds 20% of the surface area, and the carbon content and the potential of additional organic compounds are sufficient
Summary
The European Biomass Action Plan (BAP) formulated by the European Commission in 2005 presented a clear vision of the energetic utilization of biomass from forestry, agriculture, and waste materials until 2020 [1]. It is expected that beyond 2020, the biomass will still play a major role in the energy sector of the European Union (EU) reaching a share of 50% of overall renewable energy production by 2030 [2]. The increase of biomass residues usage in energy production is one of the main means to mitigate climate change [2]. It is important to ensure that the biomass is used locally, in other words to minimize activities related to long-distance transportation (increased environmental impacts) and long-term storage (risk of biomass losses). The local use of biomass is in Energies 2020, 13, 2734; doi:10.3390/en13112734 www.mdpi.com/journal/energies
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