IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v10y2021i6p548-d559113.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Model-Based Assessment of Giant Reed ( Arundo donax L.) Energy Yield in the Form of Diverse Biofuels in Marginal Areas of Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Giovanni Alessandro Cappelli

    (CREA—AA Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment, Via di Corticella 133, 40128 Bologna, Italy)

  • Fabrizio Ginaldi

    (CREA—AA Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment, Via di Corticella 133, 40128 Bologna, Italy)

  • Davide Fanchini

    (CREA—AA Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment, Via di Corticella 133, 40128 Bologna, Italy)

  • Sebastiano Andrea Corinzia

    (Dipartimento di Agricoltura, Università Degli Studi di Catania, Alimentazione e Ambiente (Di3A), Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy)

  • Salvatore Luciano Cosentino

    (Dipartimento di Agricoltura, Università Degli Studi di Catania, Alimentazione e Ambiente (Di3A), Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy)

  • Enrico Ceotto

    (CREA—AA Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment, Via di Corticella 133, 40128 Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

Giant reed is a promising perennial grass providing ligno-cellulosic biomass suitable to be cultivated in marginal lands (MLs) and converted into several forms of renewable energy. This study investigates how much energy, in the form of biomethane, bioethanol, and combustible solid, can be obtained by the cultivation of this species in marginal land of two Italian regions, via the spatially explicit application of the Arungro crop model. Arungro was calibrated in both rainfed/well-irrigated systems, under non-limiting conditions for nutrient availability. The model was then linked to a georeferenced database, with data on (i) current/future climate, (ii) agro-management, (iii) soil physics/hydrology, (iv) land marginality, and (v) crop suitability to environment. Simulations were run at 500 × 500 m spatial resolution in MLs of Catania (CT, Southern Italy) and Bologna (BO, Northern Italy) provinces, characterized by contrasting pedo-climates. At field scale, Arungro explained 85% of the year-to-year variability of measured carbon accumulation in aerial biomass. At the provincial level, simulated energy yields progressively increased from bioethanol, to biomethane, and finally to combustible solid, with average values of 92-115-264 GJ ha −1 in BO and 105-133-304 GJ ha −1 in CT. Mean energy yields estimated for 2030 remained unchanged compared to the baseline, although showing large heterogeneity across the study area (changes between −6/+15% in BO and −16/+15% in CT). This study provides site-specific indications on giant reed current productions, energy yields, and natural water consumption, as well as on their future trends and stability, ready-to-use for multiple stakeholders of the agricultural sector involved in bioenergy planning.

Suggested Citation

  • Giovanni Alessandro Cappelli & Fabrizio Ginaldi & Davide Fanchini & Sebastiano Andrea Corinzia & Salvatore Luciano Cosentino & Enrico Ceotto, 2021. "Model-Based Assessment of Giant Reed ( Arundo donax L.) Energy Yield in the Form of Diverse Biofuels in Marginal Areas of Italy," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-24, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:6:p:548-:d:559113
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/6/548/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/6/548/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Appels, Lise & Lauwers, Joost & Degrève, Jan & Helsen, Lieve & Lievens, Bart & Willems, Kris & Van Impe, Jan & Dewil, Raf, 2011. "Anaerobic digestion in global bio-energy production: Potential and research challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(9), pages 4295-4301.
    2. Nackley, Lloyd L. & Vogt, Kristiina A. & Kim, Soo-Hyung, 2014. "Arundo donax water use and photosynthetic responses to drought and elevated CO2," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 13-22.
    3. Sallustio, Lorenzo & Pettenella, Davide & Merlini, Paolo & Romano, Raoul & Salvati, Luca & Marchetti, Marco & Corona, Piermaria, 2018. "Assessing the economic marginality of agricultural lands in Italy to support land use planning," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 526-534.
    4. Dutta, Kasturi & Daverey, Achlesh & Lin, Jih-Gaw, 2014. "Evolution retrospective for alternative fuels: First to fourth generation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 114-122.
    5. Searchinger, Timothy & Heimlich, Ralph & Houghton, R. A. & Dong, Fengxia & Elobeid, Amani & Fabiosa, Jacinto F. & Tokgoz, Simla & Hayes, Dermot J. & Yu, Hun-Hsiang, 2008. "Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12881, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    6. William K. Jaeger & Thorsten M. Egelkraut, 2011. "Biofuel Economics in a Setting of Multiple Objectives & Unintended Consequences," Working Papers 2011.37, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    7. Lee, Minji & Cho, Seolhee & Kim, Jiyong, 2017. "A comprehensive model for design and analysis of bioethanol production and supply strategies from lignocellulosic biomass," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 247-259.
    8. Jaeger, William K. & Egelkraut, Thorsten M., 2011. "Biofuel economics in a setting of multiple objectives and unintended consequences," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(9), pages 4320-4333.
    9. Martina Flörke & Christof Schneider & Robert I. McDonald, 2018. "Water competition between cities and agriculture driven by climate change and urban growth," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(1), pages 51-58, January.
    10. Jaeger, William K. & Egelkraut, Thorsten M., 2011. "Biofuel Economics in a Setting of Multiple Objectives & Unintended Consequences," Energy: Resources and Markets 108203, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    11. O'Keeffe, S. & Majer, S. & Drache, C. & Franko, U. & Thrän, D., 2017. "Modelling biodiesel production within a regional context – A comparison with RED Benchmark," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 355-370.
    12. Federico Battista & Nicola Frison & David Bolzonella, 2019. "Energy and Nutrients’ Recovery in Anaerobic Digestion of Agricultural Biomass: An Italian Perspective for Future Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-13, August.
    13. Ciro Vasmara & Stefano Cianchetta & Rosa Marchetti & Enrico Ceotto & Stefania Galletti, 2021. "Potassium Hydroxyde Pre-Treatment Enhances Methane Yield from Giant Reed ( Arundo donax L.)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-12, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Iyabo Adeola Olanrele & Adedoyin I. Lawal & Ezekiel Oseni & Ahmed Oluwatobi Adekunle & Bukola, B. Lawal-Adedoyin & Crystal O. Elleke & Racheal Ojeka-John & Henry Nweke-Love, 2020. "Accessing the Impacts of Contemporary Development in Biofuel on Agriculture, Energy and Domestic Economy: Evidence from Nigeria," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 10(5), pages 469-478.
    2. Ji, Xi & Long, Xianling, 2016. "A review of the ecological and socioeconomic effects of biofuel and energy policy recommendations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 41-52.
    3. Moschini, GianCarlo & Cui, Jingbo & Lapan, Harvey E., 2012. "Economics of Biofuels: An Overview of Policies, Impacts and Prospects," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 1(3), pages 1-28, December.
    4. Janda, Karel & Kristoufek, Ladislav & Zilberman, David, "undated". "Biofuels: review of policies and impacts," CUDARE Working Papers 120415, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    5. Karel Janda & Ladislav Kristoufek & David Zilberman, 2012. "Biofuels: policies and impacts," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 58(8), pages 372-386.
    6. Sharp, Benjamin E. & Miller, Shelie A., 2014. "Estimating maximum land use change potential from a regional biofuel industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 261-269.
    7. Karel Janda & Ladislav Kristoufek & David Zilberman, 2011. "Modeling the Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts of Biofuels," Working Papers IES 2011/33, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Oct 2011.
    8. Noel, Michael D. & Roach, Travis, 2017. "Marginal reductions in vehicle emissions under a dual-blend ethanol mandate: Evidence from a natural experiment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 45-54.
    9. Nair, Sujith & Paulose, Hanna, 2014. "Emergence of green business models: The case of algae biofuel for aviation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 175-184.
    10. Rajagopal, D. & Plevin, R. & Hochman, G. & Zilberman, D., 2015. "Multi-objective regulations on transportation fuels: Comparing renewable fuel mandates and emission standards," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 359-369.
    11. E, Jiaqiang & Pham, Minhhieu & Zhao, D. & Deng, Yuanwang & Le, DucHieu & Zuo, Wei & Zhu, Hao & Liu, Teng & Peng, Qingguo & Zhang, Zhiqing, 2017. "Effect of different technologies on combustion and emissions of the diesel engine fueled with biodiesel: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 620-647.
    12. Trumbo, Jennifer L. & Tonn, Bruce E., 2016. "Biofuels: A sustainable choice for the United States' energy future?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 147-161.
    13. Zhao, Qiankun & Cai, Ximing & Mischo, William & Ma, Liyuan, 2020. "How do the research and public communities view biofuel development?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    14. Pierluigi Coppola & Diego Deponte & Alessandro Vacca & Federico Messa & Fulvio Silvestri, 2022. "Multi-Dimensional Cost-Effectiveness Analysis for Prioritizing Railway Station Investments: A General Framework with an Application to the Italian Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.
    15. Stefan Walter, 2018. "The Regional Impact of Biofuel Economics," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 12(3), pages 369-386, August.
    16. Živković, Snežana B. & Veljković, Milan V. & Banković-Ilić, Ivana B. & Krstić, Ivan M. & Konstantinović, Sandra S. & Ilić, Slavica B. & Avramović, Jelena M. & Stamenković, Olivera S. & Veljković, Vlad, 2017. "Technological, technical, economic, environmental, social, human health risk, toxicological and policy considerations of biodiesel production and use," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 222-247.
    17. Ayesha Mushtaq & Muhammad Asif Hanif & Muhammad Zahid & Umer Rashid & Zahid Mushtaq & Muhammad Zubair & Bryan R. Moser & Fahad A. Alharthi, 2021. "Production and Evaluation of Fractionated Tamarind Seed Oil Methyl Esters as a New Source of Biodiesel," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-13, November.
    18. Kulisic, Biljana & Dimitriou, Ioannis & Mola-Yudego, Blas, 2021. "From preferences to concerted policy on mandated share for renewable energy in transport," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    19. Roach, Travis, 2015. "Hidden regimes and the demand for carbon dioxide from motor-gasoline," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 306-315.
    20. Kim, Yohan & Lee, Joosung & Ahn, Jaemyung, 2019. "Innovation towards sustainable technologies: A socio-technical perspective on accelerating transition to aviation biofuel," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 317-329.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:6:p:548-:d:559113. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.