Title:
Sustainability of Bio-Energy Crop Production
Author(s):
Stilma, E.S.C., van der Schoot, J.R, van Dijk, W., de Visser, C.L.M.
Document(s):
Paper
Abstract:
Sustainability of biomass production for energy has been debated. Therefore, the Dutch government set sustainability criteria for biomass production. In this paper, a case study is presented in which crop biomass production is tested on a selection of these sustainability criteria. Environmental parameters calculated are ammonia emission, nitrate leaching, soil organic matter balance, and pesticide use. A standard crop rotation for the South East of the Netherlands was set up. Several alternative rotations were set up in which low valuable crops were substituted for energy crops. Low valuable crops were spring barley, grain maize and pea. Besides low valuable crops, also high valuable sugar beet was substituted as its share in a rotation is limited due to soil pests. Energy crops were energy (sugar) beet and energy (silage) maize for anaerobic digestion and rape seed for pure plant oil. Besides substitution of energy crops, a second scenario based on the reference rotation was calculated in which manure type was altered. Overall results show that changing crop type had some effect on environmental parameters analysed, but changing manure type has more effect.
Keywords:
biomass, land use, maize, rapeseed, sugar beet, sustainability
Topic:
Biomass Policies, Markets and Sustainability
Subtopic:
Sustainability assessment and criteria
Event:
19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
VP5.2.9
Pages:
2591 - 2596
ISBN-13:
978-88-89407-55-4
ISBN-10:
88-89407-55-7
Paper DOI:
10.5071/19thEUBCE2011-VP5.2.9
Price:
FREE
