Abstract
Bioenergy represents the highest share of renewable energies consumed in the European Union and is still expected to grow. This could be possible by exploring bioenergy production on Marginal, Underutilised, and Contaminated lands (MUC) that are not used for agricultural purposes and therefore, present no competition with food/feed production. In this paper, the viability and sustainability of bioenergy value chains on these lands is investigated and measures for market uptake were developed. Using three case study areas in Italy, Ukraine, and Germany, a screening of MUC lands was conducted, then an agronomic assessment was performed to determine the most promising crops. Then, techno-economic assessments followed by sustainability assessments were performed on selected value chains. This concept was then automated and expanded through the development of a webGIS tool. The tool is an online platform that allows users to locate MUC lands in Europe, to define a value chain through the selection of bioenergy crops and pathways, and to conduct sustainability assessments measuring a set of environmental, social, and economic sustainability indicators. The findings showed positive results in terms of profitability and greenhouse gas emissions for bioethanol production from willow in Ukraine, heat and power production from miscanthus, and biogas and chemicals production from grass in Germany. The webGIS tool is considered an important decision-making tool for stakeholders, which gives first insights on the viability and sustainability of bioenergy value chains.
Highlights
Bioenergy plays an important role and is a key element in reaching the European climate targets which requires to fulfil at least 20% of its total energy needs with renewable energies for 2020 and 32% for 2030 [1]
Under the 2010 National Renewable Energy Action Plans, total biomass demand for electricity, heating, and transport is planned to reach 178 Mtoe by 2020 and the supply from agricultural crops including energy crops would need to increase by 29% and much more by 2050 [3]
In an attempt to expand the production of sustainable biomass and bioenergy, this paper aims to first investigate the viability of producing biomass for bioenergy purposes on MUC lands taking into account the techno-economic, environmental, and social aspects of bioenergy value chains
Summary
Bioenergy plays an important role and is a key element in reaching the European climate targets which requires to fulfil at least 20% of its total energy needs with renewable energies for 2020 and 32% for 2030 [1]. Under the 2010 National Renewable Energy Action Plans, total biomass demand for electricity, heating, and transport is planned to reach 178 Mtoe by 2020 and the supply from agricultural crops including energy crops would need to increase by 29% and much more by 2050 [3]. In its long-term vision, the European Commission assumes that, if cultivated in a sustainable manner, short rotation coppices and perennial energy grasses can play an important role as feedstock in the production of biofuels and biogas. They represent one of the few alternatives for replacing fossil fuel methane in the gas grid and decarbonising the air transport, road freight, and maritime sectors [2]
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