Sammanfattning

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/).

Nyckelord

Biochar; Pyrolysis; Farm; Energy system modelling; Life cycle assessment; Potential

Publicerad i

Journal of Cleaner Production
2021, Volym: 280, artikelnummer: 124873
Utgivare: ELSEVIER SCI LTD

SLU författare

• Karltun, Erik

  • Institutionen för mark och miljö, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Sundberg, Cecilia

  • Institutionen för energi och teknik, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    
  • Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH)

Globala målen

Säkerställa tillgång till ekonomiskt överkomlig, tillförlitlig, hållbar och modern energi för alla
Vidta omedelbara åtgärder för att bekämpa klimatförändringarna och dess konsekvenser


UKÄ forskningsämne

Miljö- och naturvårdsvetenskap


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124873

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/110407