Abstract
Corn stover is an abundant raw material that can be used to produce ethanol and reduce air pollution. This paper studied the potential reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions across China if corn stover was used for ethanol production. Field surveys in nine provincial regions were conducted. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) was used to assess the GHG and PM2.5 emissions from a corn stover based ethanol system. The LCA system boundaries included several process stages from corn planting to ethanol fuel used in vehicles. Corn stover geographical distributions and emission reduction factors were combined. Results showed that the total surplus quantity of corn stover in China was 86.2 million metric tons (Mt) in 2015. It was sufficient to reach the ethanol production target set by the Chinese government. In the scenario that 38.5 Mt or 44.6% of corn stover surplus were used for ethanol production, the total potential emission reductions were 36.5 Mt CO2-eq GHG and 450.9 kt PM2.5. Among the 31 provincial regions in China, the reduction potentials varied from 0.001 to 8.9 Mt CO2-eq for GHG and from 0.013 to 109.7 kt for PM2.5. This study provided useful information to policy makers, researchers and industry managers who work on environmental control and corn stover management.
Highlights
IntroductionClimate change has drawn great concerns around the world [1], including China [2]
Emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) are believed to link to climate change and emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5, particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm in diameter) are confirmed to relate to smog.Climate change has drawn great concerns around the world [1], including China [2]
The results indicated that the potential reductions in GHG and PM2.5 emissions were significant if corn stover were used for ethanol production
Summary
Climate change has drawn great concerns around the world [1], including China [2]. Pursuing co-benefits in bioenergy production is an effective approach to simultaneously respond to air pollution problems, including GHG emissions [3]. Corn stover is a desirable raw material for producing cellulosic ethanol [5,6,7]. Corn stover for ethanol production can provide co-benefits because it can improve energy security and reduce air pollution [8,9,10,11,12,13]. Corn stover for fuel production has a great potential in China because corn made up 39.2% of all cereals in 2017 [14].
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