IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/soceps/v82y2022ipbs0038012122000945.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating the potential of marginal lands available for sustainable cellulosic biofuel production in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Sallustio, Lorenzo
  • Harfouche, Antoine L.
  • Salvati, Luca
  • Marchetti, Marco
  • Corona, Piermaria

Abstract

The European Union aims to provide as much as one quarter of its transportation fuels via biofuels derived from renewable sources by 2030. To put this into perspective, the Italian government has recently established an ambitious goal to support the wider uptake of advanced second-generation biofuels, including cellulosic biofuels for the transportation sector. A sustainable way forward is to grow perennial biomass crops on marginal lands, however the nationwide availability of those lands for lignocellulosic feedstock production remains uncertain. We identify and evaluate the potential of marginal lands in Italy to produce sizeable amounts of biomass for sustainable cellulosic biofuel production while limiting land use conflicts and negative ecological impacts. We applied spatial multi-criteria decision analysis techniques in geographic information systems to ultimately generate spatially-explicit national land suitability and availability maps at a fine resolution (250-m). We selected a broad range of leading cellulosic biomass crops that includes poplar (Populus × canadensis Moench), willow (Salix alba Linnaeus), black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia Linnaeus), giant reed (Arundo donax Linnaeus), and vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides Linnaeus). Based on marginality criteria, our results suggest that such biomass plantations of perennial grasses and short rotation trees may produce 3.1–27.4 billion liters of cellulosic ethanol per year from 462,265 to 2,811,064 million hectares of available marginal lands. This estimated production may fulfill 7.8–69.1% of Italy's current liquid transportation fuel consumption, constrained by the requirement that each modelled location be within 70 km of a potential cellulosic biorefinery. Collectively, this study provides the cornerstone of efforts to rationally meet Italy's need for renewable fuels in a sustainable low-carbon economy future.

Suggested Citation

  • Sallustio, Lorenzo & Harfouche, Antoine L. & Salvati, Luca & Marchetti, Marco & Corona, Piermaria, 2022. "Evaluating the potential of marginal lands available for sustainable cellulosic biofuel production in Italy," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PB).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceps:v:82:y:2022:i:pb:s0038012122000945
    DOI: 10.1016/j.seps.2022.101309
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0038012122000945
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.seps.2022.101309?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hamel, Perrine & Bryant, Benjamin P., 2017. "Uncertainty assessment in ecosystem services analyses: Seven challenges and practical responses," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 1-15.
    2. Richard Fuchs & Calum Brown & Mark Rounsevell, 2020. "Europe’s Green Deal offshores environmental damage to other nations," Nature, Nature, vol. 586(7831), pages 671-673, October.
    3. Nikodinoska, Natasha & Buonocore, Elvira & Paletto, Alessandro & Franzese, Pier Paolo, 2017. "Wood-based bioenergy value chain in mountain urban districts: An integrated environmental accounting framework," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(P2), pages 197-210.
    4. Nisar Ahamed, T. R. & Gopal Rao, K. & Murthy, J. S. R., 2000. "GIS-based fuzzy membership model for crop-land suitability analysis," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 75-95, February.
    5. Carfora, Alfonso & Romano, Antonio A. & Ronghi, Monica & Scandurra, Giuseppe, 2017. "Renewable generation across Italian regions: Spillover effects and effectiveness of European Regional Fund," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 132-141.
    6. Theodor J Stewart, 2005. "Dealing with Uncertainties in MCDA," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis: State of the Art Surveys, chapter 0, pages 445-466, Springer.
    7. Fabio Recanatesi & Matteo Clemente & Efstathios Grigoriadis & Flavia Ranalli & Marco Zitti & Luca Salvati, 2015. "A Fifty-Year Sustainability Assessment of Italian Agro-Forest Districts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Marco Zitti & Carlotta Ferrara & Luigi Perini & Margherita Carlucci & Luca Salvati, 2015. "Long-Term Urban Growth and Land Use Efficiency in Southern Europe: Implications for Sustainable Land Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-27, March.
    9. Russi, Daniela, 2008. "An integrated assessment of a large-scale biodiesel production in Italy: Killing several birds with one stone?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 1169-1180, March.
    10. Keith Paustian & Johannes Lehmann & Stephen Ogle & David Reay & G. Philip Robertson & Pete Smith, 2016. "Climate-smart soils," Nature, Nature, vol. 532(7597), pages 49-57, April.
    11. Gissi, Elena & Gaglio, Mattias & Reho, Matelda, 2016. "Sustainable energy potential from biomass through ecosystem services trade-off analysis: The case of the Province of Rovigo (Northern Italy)," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 1-19.
    12. Verkerk, P.J. & Mavsar, R. & Giergiczny, M. & Lindner, M. & Edwards, D. & Schelhaas, M.J., 2014. "Assessing impacts of intensified biomass production and biodiversity protection on ecosystem services provided by European forests," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 9(C), pages 155-165.
    13. Scarlat, Nicolae & Dallemand, Jean-François, 2011. "Recent developments of biofuels/bioenergy sustainability certification: A global overview," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1630-1646, March.
    14. Pulighe, Giuseppe & Bonati, Guido & Colangeli, Marco & Morese, Maria Michela & Traverso, Lorenzo & Lupia, Flavio & Khawaja, Cosette & Janssen, Rainer & Fava, Francesco, 2019. "Ongoing and emerging issues for sustainable bioenergy production on marginal lands in the Mediterranean regions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 58-70.
    15. 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.
    16. Ferrara, Carlotta & Carlucci, Margherita & Grigoriadis, Efstathios & Corona, Piermaria & Salvati, Luca, 2017. "A comprehensive insight into the geography of forest cover in Italy: Exploring the importance of socioeconomic local contexts," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 12-22.
    17. Edrisi, Sheikh Adil & Abhilash, P.C., 2016. "Exploring marginal and degraded lands for biomass and bioenergy production: An Indian scenario," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1537-1551.
    18. Kluts, Ingeborg & Wicke, Birka & Leemans, Rik & Faaij, André, 2017. "Sustainability constraints in determining European bioenergy potential: A review of existing studies and steps forward," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 719-734.
    19. Shortall, O.K., 2013. "“Marginal land” for energy crops: Exploring definitions and embedded assumptions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 19-27.
    20. Messineo, Antonio & Volpe, Roberto & Marvuglia, Antonino, 2012. "Ligno-cellulosic biomass exploitation for power generation: A case study in sicily," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 613-625.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Arias, Ana & Nika, Chrysanthi-Elisabeth & Vasilaki, Vasileia & Feijoo, Gumersindo & Moreira, Maria Teresa & Katsou, Evina, 2024. "Assessing the future prospects of emerging technologies for shipping and aviation biofuels: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).

    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. 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.
    2. Mellor, P. & Lord, R.A. & João, E. & Thomas, R. & Hursthouse, A., 2021. "Identifying non-agricultural marginal lands as a route to sustainable bioenergy provision - A review and holistic definition," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    3. Ilaria Zambon & Agostino Ferrara & Rosanna Salvia & Enrico Maria Mosconi & Luigi Fici & Rosario Turco & Luca Salvati, 2018. "Rural Districts between Urbanization and Land Abandonment: Undermining Long-Term Changes in Mediterranean Landscapes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    4. Sánchez, A.S. & Almeida, M.B. & Torres, E.A. & Kalid, R.A. & Cohim, E. & Gasparatos, A., 2018. "Alternative biodiesel feedstock systems in the Semi-arid region of Brazil: Implications for ecosystem services," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2744-2758.
    5. Milazzo, M.F. & Spina, F. & Cavallaro, S. & Bart, J.C.J., 2013. "Sustainable soy biodiesel," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 806-852.
    6. Rares Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir & Sirio Cividino & Gianluca Egidi & Rosanna Salvia & Luca Salvati, 2020. "Rapidity of Change in Population Age Structures: A Local Approach Based on Multiway Factor Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-13, April.
    7. Sgroi, Filippo & Foderà, Mario & Trapani, Anna Maria Di & Tudisca, Salvatore & Testa, Riccardo, 2015. "Economic evaluation of biogas plant size utilizing giant reed," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 403-409.
    8. Santos, Andreia & Carvalho, Ana & Barbosa-Póvoa, Ana Paula & Marques, Alexandra & Amorim, Pedro, 2019. "Assessment and optimization of sustainable forest wood supply chains – A systematic literature review," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 112-135.
    9. Hayatullah Ahmadzai & Seta Tutundjian & Ismahane Elouafi, 2021. "Policies for Sustainable Agriculture and Livelihood in Marginal Lands: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-18, August.
    10. Pere Serra & Montserrat Pallares-Barbera & Luca Salvati, 2023. "Can a long-term economic subsidy counteract rural depopulation? An empirical analysis from two spanish regions," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 3065-3084, August.
    11. Gaglio, Mattias & Aschonitis, Vassilis & Castaldelli, Giuseppe & Fano, Elisa Anna, 2020. "Land use intensification rather than land cover change affects regulating services in the mountainous Adige river basin (Italy)," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    12. Maurizio Marchi & Francesco Chianucci & Carlotta Ferrara & Giorgio Pontuale & Elisa Pontuale & Anastasios Mavrakis & Nathan Morrow & Fabrizio Rossi & Luca Salvati, 2018. "Sustainable Land-Use, Wildfires, and Evolving Local Contexts in a Mediterranean Country, 2000–2015," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-13, October.
    13. Zhu, Tong & Curtis, John & Clancy, Matthew, 2019. "Promoting agricultural biogas and biomethane production: Lessons from cross-country studies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-1.
    14. Marek Helis & Maria Strzelczyk & Wojciech Golimowski & Aleksandra Steinhoff-Wrześniewska & Anna Paszkiewicz-Jasińska & Małgorzata Hawrot-Paw & Adam Koniuszy & Marek Hryniewicz, 2021. "Biomass Potential of the Marginal Land of the Polish Sudetes Mountain Range," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-16, November.
    15. Marcela Prokopová & Ondřej Cudlín & Renata Včeláková & Szabolcs Lengyel & Luca Salvati & Pavel Cudlín, 2018. "Latent Drivers of Landscape Transformation in Eastern Europe: Past, Present and Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-17, August.
    16. Rosanna Salvia & Gianluca Egidi & Luca Salvati & Jesús Rodrigo-Comino & Giovanni Quaranta, 2020. "In-Between ‘Smart’ Urban Growth and ‘Sluggish’ Rural Development? Reframing Population Dynamics in Greece, 1940–2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-18, July.
    17. Luca Salvati & Margherita Carlucci & Pere Serra & Ilaria Zambon, 2019. "Demographic Transitions and Socioeconomic Development in Italy, 1862–2009: A Brief Overview," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, January.
    18. Acheampong, Michael & Ertem, Funda Cansu & Kappler, Benjamin & Neubauer, Peter, 2017. "In pursuit of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 7: Will biofuels be reliable?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 927-937.
    19. Luca Salvati, 2018. "Population growth and the economic crisis: understanding latent patterns of change in Greece, 2002–2016," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 105-126, July.
    20. Mattias, Gaglio & Elena, Tamburini & Giuseppe, Castaldelli & Anna, Fano Elisa, 2021. "Modeling the ecosystem service of agricultural residues provision for bioenergy production: A potential application in the Emilia-Romagna region (Italy)," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 451(C).

    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:eee:soceps:v:82:y:2022:i:pb:s0038012122000945. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/seps .

    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.