Azzi, Elias S. and Karltun, Erik and Sundberg, Cecilia
(2021).
Small-scale biochar production on Swedish farms: A model for estimating potential, variability, and environmental performance.
Journal of Cleaner Production. 280
, 124873
[Journal article]
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Abstract
Several small-scale pyrolysis plants have been installed on Swedish farms and uptake is increasing in the Nordic countries. Pyrolysis plants convert biomass to biochar for agricultural applications and syngas for heating applications. These projects are driven by ambitions of achieving carbon dioxide removal, reducing environmental impacts, and improving farm finances and resilience. Before policy support for on-farm pyrolysis projects is implemented, a comprehensive environmental evaluation of these systems is needed. Here, a model was developed to jointly: (i) simulate operation of on-farm energy systems equipped with pyrolysis units; (ii) estimate biochar production potential and its variability under different energy demand situations and designs; and (iii) calculate life cycle environmental impacts. The model was applied to a case study farm in Sweden. The farm's heating system achieved net carbon dioxide removal through biochar carbon sequestration, but increased its impact in several other environmental categories, mainly due to increased biomass throughput. Proper dimensioning of heat constrained systems is key to ensure optimal biochar production, as biochar production potential of the case farm was reduced under expected climate change in Sweden. To improve the environmental footprint of future biochar systems, it is crucial that expected co-benefits from biochar use in agriculture are realised. The model developed here is available for application to other cases. (c) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Authors/Creators: | Azzi, Elias S. and Karltun, Erik and Sundberg, Cecilia | ||||||
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Title: | Small-scale biochar production on Swedish farms: A model for estimating potential, variability, and environmental performance | ||||||
Series Name/Journal: | Journal of Cleaner Production | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2021 | ||||||
Volume: | 280 | ||||||
Article number: | 124873 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 14 | ||||||
Publisher: | ELSEVIER SCI LTD | ||||||
ISSN: | 0959-6526 | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Journal article | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 4 Agricultural Sciences > 405 Other Agricultural Sciences > Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use | ||||||
Keywords: | Biochar, Pyrolysis, Farm, Energy system modelling, Life cycle assessment, Potential | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-110407 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-110407 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 22118 | ||||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap S - Faculty of Forest Sciences | ||||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Soil and Environment (S) > Dept. of Soil and Environment (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Energy and Technology | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 04 Feb 2021 13:03 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 04 Feb 2021 13:11 |
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