IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i8p1931-d345441.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Assessment of Giant Miscanthus: Production on Marginal Soil with Various Fertilisation Treatments

Author

Listed:
  • Michał Krzyżaniak

    (Department of Plant Breeding and Seed Production, Centre for Bioeconomy and Renewable Energies, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland)

  • Mariusz J. Stolarski

    (Department of Plant Breeding and Seed Production, Centre for Bioeconomy and Renewable Energies, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland)

  • Kazimierz Warmiński

    (Department of Chemistry, Research Group of Environmental Toxicology, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland)

Abstract

In Poland, unutilised land occupies approximately two million hectares, and it could be partly dedicated to the production of perennial crops. This study aimed to determine the environmental impact of the production of giant miscanthus ( Miscanthus x giganteus J.M. Greef & M. Deuter). The experiment was set up on a low-fertility site. The crop was cultivated on sandy soil, fertilised with digestate, and mineral fertilisers (in the dose of 85 and 170 kg ha −1 N), and was compared with giant miscanthus cultivated with no fertilisation (control). The cradle-to-farm gate system boundary was applied. Fertilisers were more detrimental to the environment than the control in all analysed categories. The weakest environmental links in the production of miscanthus in the non-fertilised treatment were fuel consumption and the application of pre-emergent herbicide. In fertilised treatments, fertilisers exerted the greatest environmental impact in all the stages of crop production. The production and use of fertilisers contributed to fossil depletion, human toxicity, and freshwater and terrestrial ecotoxicity. Digestate fertilisers did not lower the impact of biomass production. The current results indicate that the analysed fertiliser rates are not justified in the production of giant miscanthus on nutrient-deficient soils.

Suggested Citation

  • Michał Krzyżaniak & Mariusz J. Stolarski & Kazimierz Warmiński, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of Giant Miscanthus: Production on Marginal Soil with Various Fertilisation Treatments," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-15, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:8:p:1931-:d:345441
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/8/1931/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/8/1931/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Witzel, Carl-Philipp & Finger, Robert, 2016. "Economic evaluation of Miscanthus production – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 681-696.
    2. Hubert Prask & Józef Szlachta & Małgorzata Fugol & Leszek Kordas & Agnieszka Lejman & Franciszek Tużnik & Filip Tużnik, 2018. "Sustainability Biogas Production from Ensiled Plants Consisting of the Transformation of the Digestate into a Valuable Organic-Mineral Granular Fertilizer," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-13, February.
    3. Murphy, Fionnuala & Devlin, Ger & McDonnell, Kevin, 2013. "Miscanthus production and processing in Ireland: An analysis of energy requirements and environmental impacts," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 412-420.
    4. Mohankumar, S. & Senthilkumar, P., 2017. "Particulate matter formation and its control methodologies for diesel engine: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1227-1238.
    5. Stolarski, Mariusz J. & Krzyżaniak, Michał & Tworkowski, Józef & Szczukowski, Stefan & Niksa, Dariusz, 2016. "Analysis of the energy efficiency of short rotation woody crops biomass as affected by different methods of soil enrichment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 748-761.
    6. Christof Lanzerstorfer, 2019. "Combustion of Miscanthus: Composition of the Ash by Particle Size," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, January.
    7. Taghizadeh-Toosi, Arezoo & Christensen, Bent T. & Hutchings, Nicholas J. & Vejlin, Jonas & Kätterer, Thomas & Glendining, Margaret & Olesen, Jørgen E., 2014. "C-TOOL: A simple model for simulating whole-profile carbon storage in temperate agricultural soils," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 292(C), pages 11-25.
    8. Šiaudinis, Gintaras & Jasinskas, Algirdas & Šarauskis, Egidijus & Steponavičius, Dainius & Karčauskienė, Danutė & Liaudanskienė, Inga, 2015. "The assessment of Virginia mallow (Sida hermaphrodita Rusby) and cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum L.) productivity, physico–mechanical properties and energy expenses," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 606-612.
    9. Moritz Von Cossel & Iris Lewandowski & Berien Elbersen & Igor Staritsky & Michiel Van Eupen & Yasir Iqbal & Stefan Mantel & Danilo Scordia & Giorgio Testa & Salvatore Luciano Cosentino & Oksana Maliar, 2019. "Marginal Agricultural Land Low-Input Systems for Biomass Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-25, August.
    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. Monia El Akkari & Nosra Ben Fradj & Benoit Gabrielle & Sylvestre Njakou Djomo, 2023. "Spatially-explicit environmental assessment of bioethanol from miscanthus and switchgrass in France [Évaluation environnementale spatialement explicite du bioéthanol produit à partir de miscanthus ," Post-Print hal-04369771, HAL.
    2. Aleksandra Steinhoff-Wrześniewska & Piotr Dąbrowski & Anna Paszkiewicz-Jasińska & Barbara Wróbel & Maria Strzelczyk & Marek Helis & Mohamed Hazem Kalaji, 2022. "Studying the Physiological Reactions of C 4 Grasses in Order to Select Them for Cultivation on Marginal Lands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-21, April.
    3. Ewelina Olba-Zięty & Mariusz Jerzy Stolarski & Michał Krzyżaniak, 2021. "Economic Evaluation of the Production of Perennial Crops for Energy Purposes—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-16, November.
    4. Diego Alexis Ramos Huarachi & Cleiton Hluszko & Micaela Ines Castillo Ulloa & Vinicius Moretti & Julio Abraham Ramos Quispe & Fabio Neves Puglieri & Antonio Carlos de Francisco, 2023. "Life Cycle Thinking for a Circular Bioeconomy: Current Development, Challenges, and Future Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-27, May.

    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. Mariusz Jerzy Stolarski & Stefan Szczukowski & Michał Krzyżaniak & Józef Tworkowski, 2020. "Energy Value of Yield and Biomass Quality in a 7-Year Rotation of Willow Cultivated on Marginal Soil," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-12, April.
    2. Stolarski, Mariusz J. & Krzyżaniak, Michał & Warmiński, Kazimierz & Tworkowski, Józef & Szczukowski, Stefan & Olba–Zięty, Ewelina & Gołaszewski, Janusz, 2017. "Energy efficiency of perennial herbaceous crops production depending on the type of digestate and mineral fertilizers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 50-60.
    3. Evgeny Chupakhin & Olga Babich & Stanislav Sukhikh & Svetlana Ivanova & Ekaterina Budenkova & Olga Kalashnikova & Olga Kriger, 2021. "Methods of Increasing Miscanthus Biomass Yield for Biofuel Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-30, December.
    4. Kwiatkowski, Jacek & Graban, Łukasz & Stolarski, Mariusz J., 2023. "The energy efficiency of Virginia fanpetals biomass production for solid biofuel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    5. Winkler, Bastian & Mangold, Anja & von Cossel, Moritz & Clifton-Brown, John & Pogrzeba, Marta & Lewandowski, Iris & Iqbal, Yasir & Kiesel, Andreas, 2020. "Implementing miscanthus into farming systems: A review of agronomic practices, capital and labour demand," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    6. Černiauskienė, Živilė & Raila, Algirdas Jonas & Zvicevičius, Egidijus & Kadžiulienė, Žydrė & Tilvikienė, Vita, 2018. "Analysis of Artemisia dubia Wall. growth, preparation for biofuel and thermal conversion properties," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 468-476.
    7. Dubis, Bogdan & Jankowski, Krzysztof Józef & Załuski, Dariusz & Sokólski, Mateusz, 2020. "The effect of sewage sludge fertilization on the biomass yield of giant miscanthus and the energy balance of the production process," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    8. Stolarski, Mariusz J. & Peni, Dumitru & Dębowski, Marcin, 2022. "Biogas potential of cup plant and willow-leaf sunflower biomass," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    9. Doppalapudi, A.T. & Azad, A.K. & Khan, M.M.K., 2021. "Combustion chamber modifications to improve diesel engine performance and reduce emissions: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    10. Mohammadjavad Mobarra & Miloud Rezkallah & Adrian Ilinca, 2022. "Variable Speed Diesel Generators: Performance and Characteristic Comparison," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-31, January.
    11. Stachowicz, Paweł & Stolarski, Mariusz J., 2024. "Pellets from mixtures of short rotation coppice with forest-derived biomass: Production costs and energy intensity," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    12. Jankowski, Krzysztof Józef & Dubis, Bogdan & Sokólski, Mateusz Mikołaj & Załuski, Dariusz & Bórawski, Piotr & Szempliński, Władysław, 2019. "Biomass yield and energy balance of Virginia fanpetals in different production technologies in north-eastern Poland," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 612-623.
    13. Śliz, Maciej & Wilk, Małgorzata, 2020. "A comprehensive investigation of hydrothermal carbonization: Energy potential of hydrochar derived from Virginia mallow," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 942-950.
    14. Carlos S. Ciria & Carlos M. Sastre & Juan Carrasco & Pilar Ciria, 2020. "Tall wheatgrass (Thinopyrum ponticum (Podp)) in a real farm context, a sustainable perennial alternative to rye (Secale cereale L.) cultivation in marginal lands," Papers 2003.13395, arXiv.org.
    15. Jakub Jan Zięty & Ewelina Olba-Zięty & Mariusz Jerzy Stolarski & Michał Krzykowski & Michał Krzyżaniak, 2022. "Legal Framework for the Sustainable Production of Short Rotation Coppice Biomass for Bioeconomy and Bioenergy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-19, February.
    16. Stolarski, Mariusz J. & Dudziec, Paweł & Krzyżaniak, Michał & Graban, Łukasz & Lajszner, Waldemar & Olba–Zięty, Ewelina, 2024. "How do key for the bioenergy industry properties of baled biomass change over two years of storage?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    17. Moritz von Cossel & Andrea Bauerle & Meike Boob & Ulrich Thumm & Martin Elsaesser & Iris Lewandowski, 2019. "The Performance of Mesotrophic Arrhenatheretum Grassland under Different Cutting Frequency Regimes for Biomass Production in Southwest Germany," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-17, September.
    18. Ewelina Olba-Zięty & Mariusz Jerzy Stolarski & Michał Krzyżaniak, 2021. "Economic Evaluation of the Production of Perennial Crops for Energy Purposes—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-16, November.
    19. Sergio Paniagua & Alba Prado-Guerra & Ana Isabel Neto & Teresa Nunes & Luís Tarelho & Célia Alves & Luis Fernando Calvo, 2020. "Influence of Varieties and Organic Fertilizer in the Elaboration of a New Poplar-Straw Pellet and Its Emissions in a Domestic Boiler," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-17, November.
    20. Von Cossel, M. & Lebendig, F. & Müller, M. & Hieber, C. & Iqbal, Y. & Cohnen, J. & Jablonowski, N.D., 2022. "Improving combustion quality of Miscanthus by adding biomass from perennial flower-rich wild plant species," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(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:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:8:p:1931-:d:345441. 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.