Abstract
Biomass feedstocks are growing in importance due to their ability to serve as a renewable
alternative to fossil fuels for large scale energy generation, with bioenergy projected to be a
growing part of the UK’s energy mix. Combined with technologies such as carbon capture and
storage, sustainable bioenergy has the potential to produce negative emissions with the co16 benefit of offset unavoidable/residual emissions. This paper presents a systematic review of the sustainability impacts of wood biomass (forestry and SRC) and Miscanthus, which are grown as energy fuels, comparing the three key indicators of sustainability: soil organic carbon sequestration rates, biodiversity, and water use efficiency. Analysis has shown significant influence from primary soil composition (p<0.001) and previous land use (p<0.001) on soil organic carbon sequestration rates following conversion to biomass feedstock production. Conversion from arable to forestry can have positive rates of sequestration of 1.4 ± 0.3 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 23 on mineral soils, while similar conversions on a highly organic soils can lead to losses of -25 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 (Bader et al., 2018). This indicates a strong need for careful site selection for future forestry plantations. Miscanthus showed no preference under mineral or organic soils for carbon sequestration rate. Biodiversity at different trophic scales is impacted differently by biomass feedstock production. No significant impact on invertebrates was demonstrated between feedstocks but there is a significant difference between crops (p<0.001) for vertebrates at higher trophic levels. A limited dataset was collected for water use efficiency from the review, but analysis showed comparable WUE rates for Miscanthus and short rotation coppice, while forestry had significantly lower (p<0.001) water use efficiency. With the increase in global temperatures and changes to climate, water stress is likely to increase. Water use efficiency will play an important role in the considerations for long term biomass feedstock planning and sourcing.
alternative to fossil fuels for large scale energy generation, with bioenergy projected to be a
growing part of the UK’s energy mix. Combined with technologies such as carbon capture and
storage, sustainable bioenergy has the potential to produce negative emissions with the co16 benefit of offset unavoidable/residual emissions. This paper presents a systematic review of the sustainability impacts of wood biomass (forestry and SRC) and Miscanthus, which are grown as energy fuels, comparing the three key indicators of sustainability: soil organic carbon sequestration rates, biodiversity, and water use efficiency. Analysis has shown significant influence from primary soil composition (p<0.001) and previous land use (p<0.001) on soil organic carbon sequestration rates following conversion to biomass feedstock production. Conversion from arable to forestry can have positive rates of sequestration of 1.4 ± 0.3 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 23 on mineral soils, while similar conversions on a highly organic soils can lead to losses of -25 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 (Bader et al., 2018). This indicates a strong need for careful site selection for future forestry plantations. Miscanthus showed no preference under mineral or organic soils for carbon sequestration rate. Biodiversity at different trophic scales is impacted differently by biomass feedstock production. No significant impact on invertebrates was demonstrated between feedstocks but there is a significant difference between crops (p<0.001) for vertebrates at higher trophic levels. A limited dataset was collected for water use efficiency from the review, but analysis showed comparable WUE rates for Miscanthus and short rotation coppice, while forestry had significantly lower (p<0.001) water use efficiency. With the increase in global temperatures and changes to climate, water stress is likely to increase. Water use efficiency will play an important role in the considerations for long term biomass feedstock planning and sourcing.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Global Change Biology. Bioenergy |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 12 Jul 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Open access via the Wiley OA agreementThanks go to those who helped develop the search terms through advice and experience and
who have suggested suitable methods and materials to conduct this review. These include Dr
Mohamed Abdalla (University of Aberdeen), Dr Rebecca Heaton (formerly Drax Plc), Dr Matthias
Kuhnert (University of Aberdeen) and Kirsten MacSween for support during Covid. We would
also like to acknowledge the funding that has been received from Eastbio DTP and Drax Plc that
has made this work possible
Keywords
- Biomass
- Feedstock
- Carbon
- sustainability
- Biodiversity
- Bionergy
