Browsing by Subject "Bioenergy"

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Biomass production for bioenergy as an interface between yield optimisation, ecology and human nutrition : a question of resource efficiency
(2012) Gauder, Martin; Claupein, Wilhelm
In this thesis, specific questions dealing with sustainability of bioenergy were analysed on regional scales. One focus was put on food security and the connections to bioenergy production. Therefore a study, based on the comprehensive range of information available, was conducted for ethanol production in Brazil. The second focus laid on Europe and the potentials and environmental risks which come along with bioenergy production. A study on interannual yield performance of long-term Miscanthus plantations was conducted to evaluate potentials and genotype diversities of Miscanthus cropping in Southwest Germany. To identify the possible contribution of by-products from agriculture, a third study dealt with amount and distribution of surplus straw in Southwest Germany. Environmental aspects were addressed in a field trial, which monitored trace gas fluxes from soils under different energy plants also in Southwest Germany. The last study examined the potential of establishing large-scale poplar plantations in Romania and how this could contribute to the regional energy security.
Fernerkundungsgestützte Analyse und Bewertung ökologischer Auswirkungen des Anbaus von Bioenergiepflanzen auf die Agro-Biodiversität anhand der Modellierung der Habitatansprüche der Feldlerche (Alauda arvensis)
(2017) Schlager, Patric; Schmieder, Klaus
For the first time in 2002, the transformation of the conventional energy system into a system based on renewable energies was politically and legally decided in Germany. On the regional level numerous communities and municipalities followed this decision by voicing their own political resolutions, addressing the coverage of energy consumption with renewable energies. Their implementation is accompanied by a spatial expansion of bioenergy crops which lead to a controversial discussion about food safety, biodiversity and landscape change. Framed by the above mentioned discussion, this study assesses potential changes of skylark (Alauda arvensis) occurrence caused by a spatial expansion of bioenergy crops in the municipality of Schwäbisch Hall, Germany. The skylark was selected due to the comprehensive state of research about skylarks, their endangerment (“Red list of German breeding birds”), and the status as umbrella species for open agricultural landscapes (skylarks typically avoid vertical structures like hedges or edges of forests). The latter emphasizes their role as representatives for other species which are potentially affected by an expansion of bioenergy crops. This study is based on a stratified bird monitoring scheme of Baden-Württemberg, which was developed during a project that aimed to set up an indicator for species richness and was financed by the Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz (BMELV). From the bird monitoring scheme, the stratum, which covers the municipality of Schwäbisch Hall, was extracted and served as a base for the development of a Generalized Linear Habitat Model of the skylark. In order to assess potential habitat changes caused by an expansion of bioenergy crops, Schwäbisch Hall was mapped with an airborne remote sensing technology in 2011. The resulting aerial images were transformed into orthophotos and later classified (focusing on agricultural areas) with an object oriented image analysis approach. Based on the outcomes of the habitat association model and the land use classification, skylark territories were predicted for 1 km² plots covering Schwäbisch Hall. For an in-depth understanding of ecological impacts from expanded bioenergy cropping, a bioenergy scenario was developed considering § 17 BBodSchG (national soil protection act) and regional food security. Based on the scenario, skylark territories were predicted for 1 km² plots covering Schwäbisch Hall. The most reasonable habitat association model resulted in a negative binomial Generalized Linear Model with the predictors winter sown crops and mean patch size per plot. Model performance was assessed by Wald z-statistics with p-values, ANOVA, explained variance, theta, residuals, AIC, and independent field data. Field data was only available for one plot. Therefore, the field data only indicate model performance. The comparison of the model predictions with the field data resulted in an accuracy of 92.21%. The land use classification resulted in the following five classes: 1. winter sown crops (33985.78 ha), 2. maize (9621.36 ha), rapeseed (2952.36 ha), unidentified crops (7244.18 ha), and grassland (30720.88 ha). Grasslands were not mapped by remote sensing techniques, but taken from a digital landscape model. Accuracy assessment showed an overall accuracy of 89.16 % and 0.78 kappa statistics. Prediction of skylark territories based on the land use classification of 2011 resulted in 46269 territories, or a mean density of 8.4 territories per 10 ha on agricultural areas and 5.4 territories per 10 ha on agricultural and grassland combined areas. The scenario assumed a three partite crop rotation (maize, rapeseed, winter sown crops) and a mean value of 0.17 ha per inhabitant for food security. Areas for fodder production were considered in course of the calculation of food security because Schwäbisch Hall is characterized by many livestock farms, which made it necessary to avoid conflicts between potential bioenergy sites and areas for fodder production. Considering the above mentioned assumptions, Schwäbisch Hall has a bioenergy potential of 5955 ha for maize and 15033 ha for rapeseed cropping. The results of the bioenergy scenario were randomly distributed to the land use polygons which resulted from the remote sensing analysis. With that, prediction of skylark territories based on the bioenergy scenario was feasible. Skylark territories for the bioenergy scenario resulted in 36472 territories, or a mean value of 6.8 territories per 10 ha on agricultural areas and 4.3 territories per 10 ha on agricultural and grassland combined areas. Considering both land use options, skylark territories declined by 8797 in total numbers or by 19.43 % in relative numbers. In addition to the land use options described above, landscape structure and territory distribution were analyzed based on six landscape units (Naturräumliche Haupteinheiten) covering the municipality of Schwäbisch Hall. The analysis revealed an agriculturally dominated northwestern part, with high numbers and mean values of skylark territories, and a grassland/forest dominated southeastern part, with lower numbers and mean values of skylark territories. The relative decline of these territories between the two land use options within the landscape units resulted approximately in 22 % in the northwestern and approximately 11-15 % in the southeastern part. The results indicate that an expansion of bioenergy crops will have negative effects on breeding birds in open agricultural landscapes which already suffer from degraded habitat conditions. Based on the assumptions of this study, skylark territories will decline by approximately 20 % in comparison to 2011. Yet, considering the results of the indicator report of the German National Strategy on Biodiversity (BMU 2010) and the European Bird Census Council the baseline of 2011 already represents a degraded situation in terms of habitat quality for agricultural breeding birds.
Integrating perennial biomass crops into crop rotations: How to remove miscanthus and switchgrass without glyphosate
(2023) Lewin, Eva; Kiesel, Andreas; Magenau, Elena; Lewandowski, Iris
Perennial energy grasses have gained attention in recent years as a promising resource for the bioeconomy because of their benign environmental profile, high stress tolerance, high biomass yields and low input requirements. Currently, strong breeding efforts are being made to extend the range of commercially available miscanthus and switchgrass genotypes. In order to foster farmers' acceptance of these crops, and especially of novel hybrids, more information is required about how they can be efficiently integrated into cropping rotations, how they can be removed at the end of their productive lifespan, and what effect they have on subsequently grown crops. Farmers in Europe are meanwhile increasingly constrained in the methods available to them to remove these crops, and there is a risk that the herbicide glyphosate, which has been used in many studies to remove them, will be banned in coming years. This study looks at the removal of seven‐year‐old stands of miscanthus and switchgrass over 1 year at an experimental site in Southern‐Germany. Three novel miscanthus genotypes were studied, alongside one variety of switchgrass, and the impact of each crop's removal on the yield of maize grown as a follow‐on crop was examined. A combination of soil tillage and grass herbicides for maize cultivation was successful in controlling miscanthus regrowth, such that yields of maize grown after miscanthus did not differ significantly from yields of maize grown in monoculture rotation (18.1 t dry biomass ha−1). Yields of maize grown after switchgrass (14.4 t dry biomass ha−1) were significantly lower than maize in monoculture rotation caused by insufficient control of switchgrass regrowth by the applied maize herbicide. Although some regrowth of miscanthus and switchgrass was observed in the follow‐on crop maize, complete eradication of both crops was achieved by subsequent winter wheat cultivation.
Nachhaltiger Anbau von Bioenergie : eine ökonomisch-ökologische Analyse für die Landwirtschaft in Baden-Württemberg
(2012) Konold, Angelika; Zeddies, Jürgen
The aim of this thesis is on the one hand to estimate the potential of energy crop production for CO2-sequestration in Baden-Württemberg. On the other hand the focus lies on the interactions that arise from the implementation of optimized na-ture conservation measures with the land management on regional level. For this the existing economic-ecological regional model EFEM (Economic Farm Emission Model), based on linear programming, is further developed. The calculations are made on farm level and are extrapolated on regional level. The model is calibrated on the database for the years 2001-2005 and the so modeled Reference_2003 than is projected to the year 2015 (BAU_2015), this to evaluate the model results without the influence of the great changes in agricultural policy in the last years. Based on the modeled situation for the year 2015 further scenarios are defined that differ in the expansion of energy cropping and nature conservation measures. In the ?biomass scenarios? only the legal nature requirements have to be met while in the corresponding ?conservation scenarios? restrictions that are optimal from a nature conservation point of view, must be considered. The sensitivity analyses for selected parameters proved that the model results have sufficient stability to make reliable statements about synergy effects and conflicts between the expansion of energy crop cultivation and requirements for natural conservation. Altogether it could be shown that with the used model approach interactions be-tween the cultivation of energy crops and nature conservation are represented sufficiently and the objectives of energy and climate policy are compatible.
Ökonomische Bewertung regionaler Wettbewerbspotentiale verschiedener landwirtschaftlicher Biomassen im Rahmen der Bioökonomie unter besonderer Berücksichtigung Baden-Württembergs
(2020) Petig, Eckart; Bahrs, Enno
The finite nature of fossil resources and climate change pose major challenges to the global society and require a comprehensive transformation of the current economic system. One important aspect of this transformation, also known as bioeconomy, is the transition from a fossil-based to a bio-based supply of raw materials. In this context, agricultural production represents an important supplier of raw materials, which in Germany is already characterized by a strong competition for the scarce land. The scarce land is a major challenge of the expansion of the use of agricultural biomass for the bioeconomy. Accordingly, the derivation of the potential of agricultural biomass for bioeconomy requires consideration of the tradeoffs between various utilization paths. In this context, economic models can be valuable methods, which on one hand are able to depict the trade-offs of different value chains and can, on the other hand, incorporate the uncertainty by developing suitable scenarios. The aim of this thesis is the evaluation of the potential of different agricultural biomasses for the bioeconomy and to analyze the associated effects on agricultural production structures in Baden-Wuerttemberg. In chapter 2 the potential of grassland as a biogas substrate is evaluated, which might be important for the bioeconomy in the future. Due to the more complex harvesting process and partly unfavorable production conditions, grassland has higher production costs compared to arable biogas substrates. The consideration of iLUC Factors with high prices for GHG emissions could improve the competitiveness of grassland to such an extent that it is competitive with the production of biogas substrates on arable land. However, silage maize is often the more favorable biogas substrate in many respects, as chapter 3 shows by means of a site modeling for biogas plants in Baden-Wuerttemberg. In chapter 4 and 5 the potential of straw for energetic and material use is analyzed. These investigations are based on the combination of EFEM with the techno-economic location optimization model BIOLOCATE. The results clearly show the interaction between the economies of scale and the rising raw material supply costs. On the one hand, the average investment costs decrease with increasing plant size, but on the other hand the raw material costs increase, because the transport distances increase and an increasing demand for biomass results also in higher market prices. Additionally, the results show that straw can make a fundamental contribution to the bioeconomy by providing regional bioenergy and as feedstock for material value chains. However, even the use of by-products can have effects on cultivation structures and thus, reduce the production of agricultural biogas substrates, among other things. In Chapter 6 the effects of macroeconomic expansion paths of the bioeconomy on agricultural production structures in Baden-Wuerttemberg are investigated. For this purpose, the results of an iterative model coupling between the agricultural sector model ESIM and the energy sector model TIMES-PanEU of four bioeconomic scenarios are scaled down from national level to regional and farm level using EFEM. The results show different impacts on farm types and thus illustrate the advantages of a differentiated analysis of the expansion of the bioeconomy. Therefore, farms with mainly extensive production methods such as suckler cow husbandry do not profit from the expansion of the bioeconomy due to unfavorable production conditions, while especially large arable farms in fertile regions would benefit disproportional more than the average. Basically, the results reveal limits to the mobilization of additional biomass potential. The reason for this is the already high cultivation intensity of agricultural production in Germany, in which the expansion of one production restricts production of another due to competition for the limited agricultural land. For grassland, the results show that the decline in grassland-based cattle farming and unfavorable economic conditions can lead to a significant increase of unused grassland. Grassland thus presents itself as a promising resource for biomass production for the bioeconomy, as it can provide important ecosystem services (e.g. biodiversity) in addition to the provision of raw materials. However, a political framework has to be established that promotes ecological services accordingly. Finally, in chapter 7 additional research needs are identified, which include further development of the methodological approach. These comprise an extension of the analysis by macroeconomic models to integrate interactions with the material use in a more detailed way. Furthermore, an integration of ecological parameters is necessary for a holistic analysis in the context of bioeconomy.
Sustainable bioenergy cropping concepts : optimizing biomass provision for different conversion routes
(2014) Mast, Benjamin; Claupein, Wilhelm
Today energy from biomass already contributes to a considerable share to the global energy consumption. In particular, certain modern bioenergy streams like biogas, biofuels for transportation etc., are of increasing relevance. However, several of the beneficial aspects, which were initially attributed to the utilization of today’s bioenergy, had to be relativized and the controversies regarding environmental and socio-economic drawbacks have, in the meanwhile, been on the rise. Alongside a shift to advanced conversion technologies, the improvement of bioenergy cropping systems towards a sustainable biomass provision is a key element of future bioenergy production. Against this background, the present thesis assessed various aspects in terms of biomass production, biomass provision and biomass conversion mainly addressing the two bioenergy streams – 2nd generation biofuels and biogas. For biogas, the thesis addresses aspects regarding the development of alternative cropping systems, the evaluation of novel crops for biogas purpose, and the assessment of regional biogas potentials using a crop growth model. The second focus of the thesis was set on biofuels while special attention was given to the production of microbial biodiesel, and the characterization and evaluation of potential feedstocks for this purpose.
Yield performance of woody crops on marginal agricultural land in Latvia, Spain and Ukraine
(2022) Celma, Santa; Sanz, Marina; Ciria, Pilar; Maliarenko, Oksana; Prysiazhniuk, Oleh; Daugaviete, Mudrite; Lazdina, Dagnija; von Cossel, Moritz
Agricultural land abandonment due to biophysical and socioeconomic constraints is increasing across Europe. Meanwhile there is also an increase in bioenergy demand. This study assessed woody crop performance on several relevant types of marginal agricultural land in Europe, based on field experiments in Latvia, Spain and Ukraine. In Latvia, hybrid aspen was more productive than birch and alder species, and after eight years produced 4.8 Mg ha−1 y−1 on stony soil with sandy loam texture, when best clone and treatment combination was selected. In Spain, Siberian elm produced up to 7.1 Mg ha−1 y−1 on stony, sandy soil with low organic carbon content after three triennial rotations. In Ukraine, willow plantations produced a maximum of 10.8 Mg ha−1 y−1 on a soil with low soil organic carbon after second triennial rotation. The productivity was higher when management practices were optimized specifically to address the limiting factors of a site. Longer rotations and lower biomass yields compared to high-value land can be expected when woody crops are grown on similar marginal agricultural land shown in this study. Future studies should start here and investigate to what extent woody crops can contribute to rural development under these conditions.