Feedstock Availability Research Articles

Sequential and consolidated bioprocessing of biogenic municipal solid waste: A strategic pairing of thermophilic anaerobe and mesophilic microaerobe for ethanol production

Feedstock availability and its pretreatment, high process economics and insufficient ethanol (HEt) titres necessitated the bioprocesses that are sustainable. The advanced consolidated bioprocessing (CBPSeq) strategy presently considered for improved HEt production involves, sequential coupling of CBP thermophile, Clostridium thermocellum ATCC-27405 with mesophilic microaerobe, Pichia stipitis NCIM-3498. Biogenic municipal solid waste (BMSW) pretreated with 0.5% NaOH (CSPBMSW) served as the sole carbon source. CBPSeq (23.99 g/L) fared better than CBP standalone (18.10 g/L) wherein 1.32-folds improvement in HEt titre was recorded. Considering insufficient xylanase titre in cellulosome complex of C. thermocellum, CBPSeq was performed employing exogenous xylanases (CBPSeqE) to improve xylan digestibility and HEt yield. CBPSeqE-II biosystem at pH 5 showed maximum HEt titre of 36.90 g/L which corresponds to yield of 0.26 g HEt/ g CSPBMSW. This study substantiates efficacy of CBPSeqE-II biosystem in sustainable bioethanol production from BMSW in a single reactor without laborious steps.

Assessment of the bioenergy policy for the sustainable development of rural-based bioenergy systems in Zambia

Traditional biomass remains the primary energy source in rural Zambia – providing 98% of the energy needs. Its use is unsustainable, inefficient, and leads to harmful emissions with serious health implications, and deforestation. Modern bioenergy systems offer viable energy supply alternatives - but only if sustainably developed. Among other causes, the limited provision of modern bioenergy in rural areas is attributed to an ineffective public policy for promoting these systems in Zambia. Accordingly, this study evaluates the policy in place that seeks to promote sustainable bioenergy systems for rural areas in Zambia through the analysis of related strategies. It is observed that one of the significant weaknesses of the bioenergy policy framework is its lack of consideration of the bioenergy supply chains. These are influenced by four main elements – i.e., feedstock availability, conversion technology, intermediate energy carriers, and energy service demands - that considerably differ across rural localities within districts. Thus, the bioenergy policy-making process should be considered at such subnational levels (district). A suggestion that is well-aligned with the country’s decentralized governance agenda that is being implemented. Considering that there are numerous rural communities within a district and that information regarding the different elements of the bioenergy supply chain is required for the local government policy-making process, a framework to guide the generation of such information has been proposed.

Assessment of the Impact of Climate Change Policies on the Market for Forest Industrial Residues

As part of the Pan-Canadian Framework (PCF) on Clean Growth and Climate Change, the Government of Canada (GoC) introduced carbon pricing and is in the process of developing a Clean Fuel (CF) Standard. Both policies are key elements of the PCF and aim to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through the use of lower carbon fuels, including bioenergy. Carbon pricing and the CF Standard are expected to increase the demand for biomass feedstocks, possibly threatening feedstock availability for existing forest industrial residues users, including composite panel manufacturers. To assess the potential impact of carbon pricing and the CF Standard on Canadian composite panel producers, a Monte Carlo-based model was developed to estimate possible increases in feedstock price-points that composite panel manufacturers may face as a result of increases in bioenergy consumption. Results suggest that the composite panel industry may be negatively impacted in the long-term (2030) by the relative price increase of fossil fuels covered by carbon pricing and additional revenues for biofuel suppliers from CF Standard credits, assuming no other adjustments to the market. Although these results are preliminary in that the analysis excludes external market factors that could influence the outcome, there is evidence that such policies have the potential to generate supply risks for the Canadian composite panel industry without careful consideration of the associated externalities.

Assessment of the feedstock supply for siting single‐ and multiple‐feedstock biorefineries in the USA and identification of prevalent feedstocks

AbstractAn integrated multi‐feedstock bioenergy (i.e., biofuel, biopower, or bioproduct) supply system has potential to reduce biomass supply system uncertainties and costs. This study identifies optimal configurations of multi‐feedstock biomass‐to‐biorefinery supply chains and pertinent feedstock combinations based on spatial distribution of feedstock and lowest delivered cost to the biorefinery. We used the Supply Characterization Model (SCM) to allocate feedstock supplies to candidate biorefinery facilities. Model runs were performed for herbaceous energy crops, agriculture residue, and woody biomass available in 2017, 2022, 2025, and 2030 as estimated by the Policy Analysis System (POLYSYS) and Forest Sustainable and Economic Analysis Model (ForSEAM) models. Three feedstock supply scenarios were compared: (a) an herbaceous scenario: switchgrass, miscanthus, biosorghum, and corn stover; (b) a woody scenario: coppice wood, noncoppice wood, whole trees, and forestry residues, and (c) a mixed scenario: a combination of all feedstocks in herbaceous and woody scenarios. By 2030 the analyses predicted that 323, 168, and 473 biorefineries were sited in the herbaceous, woody, and mixed scenario, respectively, in the conterminous USA. Feedstock mixes supplied to the biorefineries were mostly dominated by a single feedstock. The most prominent feedstock mixes identified were: (1) switchgrass and miscanthus; (2) coppice and noncoppice wood; and (3) coppice wood, noncoppice wood, switchgrass and miscanthus. Biorefineries using multi‐feedstock would be beneficial for growth of bioeconomy, however flexible and cost‐effective conversion platforms should be developed to efficiently utilize multiple feedstocks. This analysis identifies biorefinery locations and feedstock supply mixes while minimizing delivered feedstock costs based on spatial and temporal feedstock availability. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Optimization of harvest and logistics for multiple lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks in the northeastern United States

A mixed-integer linear programming model was developed to optimize the multiple biomass feedstock supply chains, including feedstock establishment, harvest, storage, transportation, and preprocessing. The model was applied for analyses of multiple biomass feedstocks at county level for 13 states in the northeastern United States. In the base case with a demand of 180,000 dry Mg/year of biomass, the delivered costs ranged from $67.90 to $86.97 per dry Mg with an average of $79.58/dry Mg. The biomass delivered costs by county were from $67.90 to 150.81 per dry Mg across the northeastern U.S. Considered the entire study area, the delivered cost averaged $85.30/dry Mg for forest residues, $84.47/dry Mg for hybrid willow, $99.68 for switchgrass and $97.87 per dry Mg for Miscanthus. Seventy seven out of 387 counties could be able to deliver biomass at $84 per dry Mg or less a target set by US DOE by 2022. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted to evaluate the effects of feedstock availability, feedstock price, moisture content, procurement radius, and facility demand on the delivered cost. Our results showed that procurement radius, facility capacity, and forest residue availability were the most sensitive factors affecting the biomass delivered costs.

Impact analysis of Calophyllum Inophyllum oil biodiesel on performance and emission characteristic of diesel engine under variation in compression ratio, engine load, and blend proportion

Biodiesel is the promising alternative to the diesel fuel used in compression ignition engine which required no modification in the existing engine. Moreover, it reduces the dependency, scarcity and frequent hike in the price of conventional fuel encourages to search for different fuel substitute to the CI Engines which are originally designed for the diesel fuel. Now the research is more focused on the availability of biodiesel feedstock, economical and optimisation. The present work, confer the study of the impact of variation in compression ratio on CI engine performance and exhaust emission characteristics when engine fuelled with biodiesel produced from Calophyllum Inophyllum non-edible feedstock. In the present work CI engine is run on diesel fuel, biodiesel blend of 25%, 50% and 75% under the engine load conditions of 0.75 kW, 1.50 kW, 2.25 kW, and 3.00 kW and varying the compression ratio form 14:1, 15:1, 16:1 and 17:1. The impact of use of biodiesel blend were investigated which is concluded that, the 25% Calophyllum Inophyllum oil biodiesel blend shows the nearest to the diesel fuel values and gives the better performance and emission characteristics among all other blend proportion and at the compression ratio of 16: 1 at full load engine conditions.

Strategies to Control Electrochemical Hydrogenation and Hydrogenolysis of Furfural and Minimize Undesired Side Reactions

As the availability of biomass-derived feedstocks increases, the infrastructure necessary to upgrade biomass-derived platform chemicals to value-added compounds from distributed point sources needs to be developed. Furfural, a C5-biomass-derived platform chemical, can be converted to a variety of desirable products. By using electrochemical hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis (ECH), furfural can be converted to furfuryl alcohol and 2-methyl furan at ambient conditions using renewable intermittent electricity without needing hydrogen gas supplied to the reactor. It is desired for the ECH of furfural to have high reaction rates (i.e. high currents), high faradaic efficiencies and control of the selectivity between furfuryl alcohol and 2-methyl furan, all while minimizing the undesired side reactions of hydrogen evolution and humins formation. Achieving this balance is challenging. In this viewpoints article the impact of reaction conditions including electrolyte, pH, current density, potential, and reaction du...

The prospect and challenges of renewable hydrogen production in Iraq

The energy demand in Iraq has increased in the past decade as a result of growth in population and industrialization. Although, most of the energy demand is being met using energy derived from fossil fuels, which are fast depleting and have the problem of emission of greenhouse gases when combusted. Recently, there have been an increasing awareness in the quest for alternative source of cleaner and sustainable energy production. One of such alternatives is hydrogen energy, which has been tagged as the energy of the future with zero-emission when combusted with oxygen. Moreover, hydrogen has wide applications in electrochemical cells for electricity production or as fuel in internal combustion engines for powering vehicles. The present study gives an overview of the prospect and challenges of renewable hydrogen production in Iraq. Moreover, the availability of the different feedstocks for the production of renewable hydrogen as well as the state-of-the-art in Iraqi context were examined. The prospect and challenges in the production of renewable hydrogen in Iraq were also presented.

Contribution of encouraging the future use of biomethane to resolving sustainability and energy security challenges: The case of the UK

The focus of this research is the potential of biomethane in Britain's gas grid. It examines its relative ability to address Britain's sustainability and energy security challenges from an economic perspective. Such research is important because UK is wedded to gas for heat production and power generation and is increasingly dependent on imported gas, in line with shrinking domestic production, and uncertain future trading relationships. Also, dependency on natural gas, threatens Britain achieving its legally-binding carbon budgets. The study included a thorough literature review, primary research to finally uncover the views of key UK market participants plus analytical modelling. The findings reveal that the market is cautiously optimistic, despite reservations regarding feedstock availability and the impending cessation of subsidy approvals. Investors are in greater need of long-term certainty, however, and the challenge of decarbonising heat and heavy-duty transport warrants this. Retail price premiums are polarised but, in line with wholesale costs, relatively high compared to electricity. The key recommendation is for the policymakers to follow precedents in renewable electricity and liquid biofuels, by mandating that energy suppliers, owners of heavy-duty road fleets and occupiers of new buildings purchase biomethane. In tandem, feedstock and grid-entry restrictions must be tackled creatively.

Compressed biogas (cbg) as an alternative and sustainable energy source in India: Case study on implementation frameworks and challenges

Biogas is environment friendly and socially accepted renewable energy source but due to composition quality it is not technically feasible and economically viable at large scale. Biogas conditioning results in upgraded biogas (biomethane) after compression, this compressed biogas (CBG) becomes a complete substitute for fossil fuels and acts as a sustainable energy source. With the calorific value of 52,000 KJ/Kg, CBG is advantageous for energy conservation, reduces the pressure of natural fossil fuel consumption and protects ecological resources. Versatile applications of CBG for generating electricity, heat, and vehicle fuel along with economic and environmental benefits make it the fuel of the future. Despite government support, availability of feedstock and favorable climate conditions for biogas production, the total production volume of CBG is still relatively low as compared to the estimated potential of 62 million tonnes per annum. This study is the first attempt to identify challenges that are hindering the success of Compressed biogas in India, based on exhaustive literature review and in-depth interviews with directors & managers of sustainably running CBG plants. The findings of the study are used in designing an implementation framework that will guide new entrepreneurs, policymakers, plant constructors and other stakeholders for sustainable operation of CBG plants.

Feasibility of waste gasification technologies in the USA

Governments across the globe have adopted different programs to deal with increasing amounts of municipal solid waste (MSW) including recycling, waste prevention programs, and waste-to-energy (WTE) technologies, such as gasification. Deciding on a specific WTE technology involves an understanding of a complex blend of factors including location, haul distance, regulations, capital costs, feedstock availability, tipping fees, taxes, electricity price, and incentives which do not necessarily denote a linear behaviour. Therefore, the business feasibility of gasification technologies is still unclear. This paper includes the development of a model that combines the aforementioned factors in the context of a potential gasification plant in the USA. The model successfully concluded that location is the most sensitive factor for most of the cases. Authors include a geographical analysis which may be used, in combination with the model, to decide on regional energy options and new business opportunities.

Renewable Energy on Tribal Lands: A Feasibility Study for a Biomass-to-Energy Plant on the Cocopah Reservation in Arizona

Native American reservations are among the most economically disadvantaged regions in the United States; lacking access to economic and educational opportunities that are exacerbated by “energy insecurity” due to insufficient connectivity to the electric grid and power outages. Local renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biomass offer energy alternatives but their implementation encounters barriers such as lack of financing, infrastructure, and expertise, as well as divergent attitudes among tribal leaders. Biomass, in particular, could be a source of stable base-load power that is abundant and scalable in many rural communities. This case study examines the feasibility of a biomass energy plant on the Cocopah reservation in southwestern Arizona. It considers feedstock availability, cost and energy content, technology options, nameplate capacity, discount and interest rates, construction, operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, and alternative investment options. This study finds that at current electricity prices and based on typical costs for fuel, O&M over 30 years, none of the tested scenarios is presently cost-effective on a net present value (NPV) basis when compared with an alternative investment yielding annual returns of 3% or higher. The technology most likely to be economically viable and suitable for remote, rural contexts—a combustion stoker—resulted in a levelized costs of energy (LCOE) ranging from US$0.056 to 0.147/kWh. The most favorable scenario is a combustion stoker with an estimated NPV of US$4,791,243. The NPV of the corresponding alternative investment is US$7,123,380. However, if the tribes were able to secure a zero-interest loan to finance the plant’s installation cost, the project would be on par with the alternative investment. Even if this were the case, the scenario still relies on some of the most optimistic assumptions for the biomass-to-power plant and excludes abatement costs for air emissions. The study thus concludes that at present small-scale, biomass-to-energy projects require a mix of favorable market and local conditions as well as appropriate policy support to make biomass energy projects a cost-competitive source of stable, alternative energy for remote rural tribal communities that can provide greater tribal sovereignty and economic opportunities.

Potential of Novel Biochars Produced from Invasive Aquatic Species Outside Food Chain in Removing Ammonium Nitrogen: Comparison with Conventional Biochars and Clinoptilolite

Previous studies for removal of ammonium from wastewater were mainly conducted using biochars produced from agricultural residue. Feedstock type (agricultural residue, wood, animal waste, and aquatic waste), as well as pyrolysis temperature, can significantly influence biochar properties and hence its adsorption capacity. Such studies are useful in decision making for selecting biochar depending on feedstock availability and pyrolysis temperature. This study aims to explore the effects of different types of biochar (laboratory prepared novel water hyacinth and algae biochar, conventional cedar wood, rice straw, and pig manure biochar) on the adsorption kinetics for ammonium removal from wastewater. The adsorption kinetics of biochars were compared to that of commercially available clinoptilolite and interpreted with their respective physicochemical properties (SEM, FTIR, XRD). Batch tests were performed to evaluate the effects of biochars on adsorption of ammonium nitrogen at different concentrations (10 mg/L and 100 mg/L). The tests reveal that clinoptilolite has the highest adsorption capacity. Among biochars, pig manure (animal based) biochar has a higher adsorption capacity in comparison to conventional agricultural residues based biochars. The capacity of pig manure biochar under highly concentrated ammonium solution (100 mg/L) is merely 20% lower than that of clinoptilolite. Both water hyacinth and algae biochar produced at higher temperature (600 °C) show higher sorption rate and capacity (depending on the initial concentration of ammonium) for ammonium in comparison to that produced at a lower temperature (300 °C). This is likely due to an increase in porosity at higher temperatures of pyrolysis.

Assessing the penetration of bioethanol in the andean community: a review

The sustainable development agenda of the United Nations aims to ensure affordable energy for all and to diminish greenhouse gas emissions in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. A way to achieve these goals is by the substitution of fossil fuels with biofuels. This study compares three Andean countries: Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, in terms of bioethanol blending mandates current scenario and its sustainability. For this analysis, a review of the state of the art of first and second generation bioethanol in the three countries were developed, including a social network analysis to understand the interactions that have enhanced or delayed the achievement of their blending objectives as countries. So far, Colombia is near to reach its blending target; Ecuador has recorded a bioethanol deficit, estimated at 75%; and regarding Peru, in the last years they have achieved their national target. In addition to blending mandates, the countries appear not to rely on a sustainability policy for the development of first or second generation bioethanol. Furthermore, these Andean countries are planning to increase their blending targets. In order to achieve this, political efforts must be focused on feedstock availability as well as on the development of guidelines related to sustainability and technologies to be applied in their own context.

A Review on the Feedstocks for the Sustainable Production of Bioactive Compounds in Biorefineries

Since 2015, the sustainable development goals of the United Nations established a route map to achieve a sustainable society, pushing the industry to aim for sustainable processes. Biorefineries have been studied as the technological scheme to process integrally renewable resources. The so-called “bioactive” compounds (BACs) have been of high interest, given their high added value and potential application in pharmaceutics and health, among others. However, there are still elements to be addressed to consider them as economic drivers of sustainable processes. First, BACs can be produced from many sources and it is important to identify feedstocks for this purpose. Second, a sustainable production process should also consider valorizing the remaining components. Finally, feedstock availability plays an important role in affecting the process scale, logistics, and feasibility. This work consists of a review on the feedstocks for the sustainable production of BACs in biorefineries, covering the type of BAC, composition, and availability. Some example biorefineries are proposed using wheat straw, hemp and grapevine shoots. As a main conclusion, multiple raw materials have the potential to obtain BACs that can become economic drivers of biorefineries. This is an interesting outlook, as the integral use of the feedstocks may not only allow obtaining different types of BACs, but also other fiber products and energy for the process self-supply.

Lessons from Bali for small-scale biogas development in Indonesia

Being dependent on fossil fuels, Indonesia faces challenges in incorporating renewables into its energy supply, which hampers to achieve the NDC target of 26% emission reduction. We investigate how biogas could contribute to a low-carbon transition pathway as cooking fuel, especially through the national mid-term development planning. Using mixed-methods and stakeholder engagement, we conducted transdisciplinary research to advance knowledge on biogas in Indonesia. We used Q-methodology to explore the ambiguity around biogas developments leading us to identify three “perspectives” regarding value on biogas: technology, co-benefits, and independence. Quantitative research using the E3ME model identified economic benefits of biogas, but also an increase in LPG use due to unstable feedstock availability (hence intermittent biogas production), which could cause a potential increase of national CO2 emissions. Those and other barriers including ill-adapted technology to local conditions and barriers to financing installations require sound policies to be overcome, focusing on co-benefits of biogas.

Co-HTL of domestic sewage sludge and wastewater treatment derived microalgal biomass – An integrated biorefinery approach for sustainable biocrude production

Microalgal biomass as bioenergy feedstock is gaining wide attention for biocrude production through hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). However, the availability of feedstock in all seasons is a major challenge. Hence, to ensure a consistent supply of feedstock and transform waste to energy, the present study investigates co-HTL of domestic wastewater treatment derived microalgal biomass (Monoraphidium sp. KMC4) and domestic sewage sludge (DSS) as bioenergy feedstocks. The effects of temperature, feedstock ratio, and residence time were studied and optimised for maximum biocrude yield. The study showed that, co-HTL at optimum operating conditions of 325 °C, 75:25 wt% (KMC4:DSS), and 45 min produced 39.38 wt% biocrude yield at a conversion rate of 83.96 wt%. The optimum biocrude yield was 16% and 79% higher than the individual HTL of KMC4 and DSS respectively. The comprehensive characterizations of co-HTL biocrude showed 76.77%, 10.6%, 8.85%, 3.38% of C, H, N, O and 39.47 MJ Kg−1 of HHV with an energy recovery rate of 77.53%. Meanwhile, co-HTL enhanced the distillation profile of biocrude which had 10.13% of heavy naphtha, 23.92% of kerosene, and 27.09% of gas oil. The FTIR and GC–MS analysis confirmed that the co-HTL biocrude had superior hydrocarbons such as alcohols and esters with limited nitrogen and oxygen heterocyclic compounds. In addition, ICP-AES confirmed a significant decrease in transfer of mineral elements from the co-HTL feedstock to biocrude. This validates the sustainability of the co-HTL process to produce high energy density biocrude with the potential to substitute fossil fuels.

Analysis of current aviation biofuel technical production potential in EU28

The significant growth aviation has been observing is increasing the sector's pressure on the environment; in the EU28, passengers travelling by air in 2016 increased of 5.9% compared to 2015. The aviation industry voluntarily committed to significant aspirational goals, and identified bio-based aviation fuels as a potential means to improve its environmental performance. Despite of that, the market penetration of aviation biofuels in EU28 is almost negligible. In this paper, an assessment of the likely aviation biofuels demand has been carried out, under a baseline scenario of increasing total fuel consumption of +3% for 2016–2020 and + 3.5% up to 2030; the CO2 intensity of this growth has been calculated accordingly. Europe is a World leader in biofuel technologies; the current potential aviation biofuels is based on the HVO/HEFA technology, and the upper limit of the installed capacity can be considered approximately 2.4 Mt y−1. Nevertheless, lower production volumes can be expected as production plants are today optimized for road fuel production, not aviation. By 2025 the situation may change, with a total production capacity of 3.5 Mt y−1, and with an average potential production for aviation biofuels ranging 0.5–2 Mt y−1. The paper shows that even if today's EU nominal capacity appears large enough to support the expected aviation biofuels demand, other bottlenecks may limit the real market uptake: availability of sustainable feedstocks, competition with demand for road transport sector, etc. For this reason, a comparison of the cost for CO2 saving of other potential solutions to mitigate aviation's climate impact has also been carried out.

Non‐Glovebox Ethenolysis of Ethyl Oleate and FAME at Larger Scale Utilizing a Cyclic (Alkyl)(Amino)Carbene Ruthenium Catalyst

AbstractA ruthenium metathesis catalyst Ru1 bearing a cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene (CAAC) ligand is used in the ethenolysis reaction of biosourced 90% pure undistilled ethyl oleate or technical fatty acid methyl esters mixture with grade 3 ethylene, to yield 1‐decene and valuable terminal unsaturated 9‐decenoic acid ester. Under optimized conditions (25 ppm of catalyst Ru1, 20 bar, 50 °C, 2 h, use of metal scavenger/quenching agent, SnatchCat), the title reaction proceeds with high productivity (up to 70% conversion) and selectivity, and is tested in scale up to 1 L, with the exclusion of a glovebox or Schlenk techniques usage, and the ethenolysis products are isolated by fractional distillation. In addition, a large‐scale synthesis of Ru1 is presented.Practical Applications: Decreasing availability of fossil organic feedstock and current policies of the European Union drives scientists to look for alternative sustainable sources of fine chemicals. In this context, olefin metathesis based ethenolysis of transesterified seed oils studied herein shows a significant potential as a sustainable way to obtain valuable products, such as 1‐decene and valuable terminal unsaturated 9‐decenoic acid ester. Unlike other published studies on ethenolysis, in the present work, the focus is on optimizing this reaction under industrially practical conditions, thus utilizing an air‐stable catalyst, technical grade oleic substrates, grade 3 ethylene, and excluding the use of a glovebox or Schlenk techniques.

Acceptability of innovative biomass heating plants in a German case study\u2014a contribution to cultural landscape management and local energy supply

BackgroundTo prevent negative effects on the cultural landscape through land abandonment or agricultural intensification, innovative solutions towards more sustainable land use are required. Local bioenergy systems using agricultural co-products are perceived as one solution to threatened cultural landscapes with small-scale meadows. The aim of this paper is to analyse the acceptability of biomass heating plants in the Spreewald region (Germany) and their contribution to cultural landscape management.MethodsWe asked 17 farmers about the likelihood that they would install a biomass plant on their farms and about their reasons for accepting or rejecting it. A fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis was applied.ResultsThe analysis showed that acceptance is relatively low. We identified three types of farmers: proponents and potential adopters, ethically concerned opponents, and open-minded refusers. Biomass plants were likely to be accepted if farmers stated an ethical acceptance of and interest in technology, a need for a new heating system, the availability of sufficient feedstock, and a perceived unproblematic readiness of technology—all these factors had to exist in combination. On the other hand, farmers rejected a biomass plant if one of the following factors existed: ethical concerns about “burning hay”, satisfaction with their current oven, low availability of feedstock, or a perceived low readiness of technology. Other factors were the existence of procedural justice, trust in coordinating actors, and a demonstration plant.ConclusionsThe discussion shows that the specific results have to be contextualised within the innovation process for sustainable landscape management. This may be achieved by integrating the acceptability study into an adaptive landscape design. This relies on mutable acceptability decisions, reflexive learning processes, and iterative feedback loops in innovation processes. Our paper advances knowledge about (1) how to prevent land abandonment and simultaneously promote regional energy and (2) the acceptability in the field of land use and landscape management.KeywordsFuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA); Bioenergy; Energy transitions; Co-products; Biomass conversion; Gasification; Land abandonment; Wetlands; Integrative landscape design