Bioenergy crop productivity and potential climate change mitigation from marginal lands in the United States: An ecosystem modeling perspective

Qin, Zhangcai; Zhuang, Qianlai; Cai, Ximing

doi:10.1111/gcbb.12212

Bioenergy crop productivity and potential climate change mitigation from marginal lands in the United States: An ecosystem modeling perspective

Journal Article · Mon Jun 16 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Global Change Biology. Bioenergy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12212· OSTI ID:1435596

^[1]; Zhuang, Qianlai ^[2]; Cai, Ximing ^[3]

Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States); Purdue University
Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL (United States)

Growing biomass feedstocks from marginal lands is becoming an increasingly attractive choice for producing biofuel as an alternative energy to fossil fuels. Here, we used a biogeochemical model at ecosystem scale to estimate crop productivity and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from bioenergy crops grown on marginal lands in the United States. Two broadly tested cellulosic crops, switchgrass, and Miscanthus, were assumed to be grown on the abandoned land and mixed crop–vegetation land with marginal productivity. Production of biomass and biofuel as well as net carbon exchange and nitrous oxide emissions were estimated in a spatially explicit manner. We found that, cellulosic crops, especially Miscanthus could produce a considerable amount of biomass, and the effective ethanol yield is high on these marginal lands. For every hectare of marginal land, switchgrass and Miscanthus could produce 1.0–2.3 kl and 2.9–6.9 kl ethanol, respectively, depending on nitrogen fertilization rate and biofuel conversion efficiency. Nationally, both crop systems act as net GHG sources. Switchgrass has high global warming intensity (100–390 g CO₂eq l^–1 ethanol), in terms of GHG emissions per unit ethanol produced. Miscanthus, however, emits only 21–36 g CO₂eq to produce every liter of ethanol. To reach the mandated cellulosic ethanol target in the United States, growing Miscanthus on the marginal lands could potentially save land and reduce GHG emissions in comparison to growing switchgrass. Furthermore, the ecosystem modeling is still limited by data availability and model deficiencies, further efforts should be made to classify crop–specific marginal land availability, improve model structure, and better integrate ecosystem modeling into life cycle assessment.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23). Climate and Environmental Sciences Division

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-08ER64599

OSTI ID:: 1435596

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1400662

Journal Information:: Global Change Biology. Bioenergy, Journal Name: Global Change Biology. Bioenergy Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 7; ISSN 1757-1693

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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