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Escobar N, Seber G, Skalsky R, Wögerer M, Jung M, Malina R. Spatially-explicit land use change emissions and carbon payback times of biofuels under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 948:174635. [PMID: 38997024 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2024] [Revised: 06/03/2024] [Accepted: 07/07/2024] [Indexed: 07/14/2024]
Abstract
The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) requires airlines to offset their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions above 2019 levels by either buying carbon offsets or using Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs). These are drop-in jet fuels made from biomass or other renewable resources that reduce GHG emissions by at least 10 % compared to kerosene and meet certain sustainability criteria. This study assesses the direct land use change (DLUC) emissions of SAF, i.e., GHG emissions from on-site land conversion from previous uses (excluding primary forests, peatlands, wetlands, and protected and biodiversity-rich areas) into alternative feedstocks, considering spatial variability in global yields and land carbon stocks. The results provide DLUC values and carbon payback times at 0.5-degree resolution for six SAF pathways, with and without irrigation and a medium-input intensity, according to CORSIA sustainability criteria. When excluding CORSIA non-compliant areas, soybean SAF shows the highest mean DLUC factor (31.9 ± 20.7 gCO2/MJ), followed by reed canary grass and maize. Jatropha SAF shows the lowest mean DLUC factor (3.6 ± 31.4 gCO2/MJ), followed by miscanthus and switchgrass. The latter feedstocks show potential for reducing GHG emissions over large areas but with relatively greater variability. Country-average DLUC values are higher than accepted ILUC ones for all pathways except for maize. To ensure the GHG benefits of CORSIA, feedstocks must be produced in areas where not only carbon stocks are relatively low but also where attainable yields are sufficiently high. The results help identify locations where the combination of these two factors may be favourable for low-DLUC SAF production. Irrigated miscanthus offers the highest SAF production potential (2.75 EJ globally) if grown on CORSIA-compliant cropland and grassland areas, accounting for ∼1/5 of the total kerosene used in 2019. Quantifying other environmental impacts of SAFs is desirable to understand sustainability trade-offs and financial constraints that may further limit production potentials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neus Escobar
- Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria; Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), Barrio Sarriena s/n, 48940 Leioa, Spain.
| | - Gonca Seber
- Centre for Environmental Sciences (CMK), Environmental Economics, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, 3590 Hasselt, Belgium
| | - Rastislav Skalsky
- Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
| | - Michael Wögerer
- Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
| | - Martin Jung
- Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
| | - Robert Malina
- Centre for Environmental Sciences (CMK), Environmental Economics, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, 3590 Hasselt, Belgium; Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Energyville, Thor Park 8310, 3600 Genk, Belgium
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Fan X, Khanna M, Lee Y, Kent J, Shi R, Guest JS, Lee D. Spatially Varying Costs of GHG Abatement with Alternative Cellulosic Feedstocks for Sustainable Aviation Fuels. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2024; 58:11352-11362. [PMID: 38899559 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c01949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/21/2024]
Abstract
Cellulosic biomass-based sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) can be produced from various feedstocks. The breakeven price and carbon intensity of these feedstock-to-SAF pathways are likely to differ across feedstocks and across spatial locations due to differences in feedstock attributes, productivity, opportunity costs of land for feedstock production, soil carbon effects, and feedstock composition. We integrate feedstock to fuel supply chain economics and life-cycle carbon accounting using the same system boundary to quantify and compare the spatially varying greenhouse gas (GHG) intensities and costs of GHG abatement with SAFs derived from four feedstocks (switchgrass, miscanthus, energy sorghum, and corn stover) at 4 km resolution across the U.S. rainfed region. We show that the optimal feedstock for each location differs depending on whether the incentive is to lower breakeven price, carbon intensity, or cost of carbon abatement with biomass or to have high biomass production per unit land. The cost of abating GHG emissions with SAF ranges from $181 Mg-1 CO2e to more than $444 Mg-1 CO2e and is lowest with miscanthus in the Midwest, switchgrass in the south, and energy sorghum in a relatively small region in the Great Plains. While corn stover-based SAF has the lowest breakeven price per gallon, it has the highest cost of abatement due to its relatively high GHG intensity. Our findings imply that different types of policies, such as volumetric targets, tax credits, and low carbon fuel standards, will differ in the mix of feedstocks they incentivize and locations where they are produced in the U.S. rainfed region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinxin Fan
- DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Madhu Khanna
- DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1301 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Yuanyao Lee
- DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- RTI International, Center for Applied Economics and Strategy, 3040 E Cornwallis Rd, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, United States
| | - Jeffrey Kent
- Department of Forest, Rangeland and Fire Sciences, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive, Moscow, Idaho 8384, United States
| | - Rui Shi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 121 Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States
| | - Jeremy S Guest
- DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 205 N Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - DoKyoung Lee
- DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Turner Hall, 1102 S Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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Fu J, McKinley B, James B, Chrisler W, Markillie LM, Gaffrey MJ, Mitchell HD, Riaz MR, Marcial B, Orr G, Swaminathan K, Mullet J, Marshall-Colon A. Cell-type-specific transcriptomics uncovers spatial regulatory networks in bioenergy sorghum stems. THE PLANT JOURNAL : FOR CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2024; 118:1668-1688. [PMID: 38407828 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.16690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Revised: 12/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
Bioenergy sorghum is a low-input, drought-resilient, deep-rooting annual crop that has high biomass yield potential enabling the sustainable production of biofuels, biopower, and bioproducts. Bioenergy sorghum's 4-5 m stems account for ~80% of the harvested biomass. Stems accumulate high levels of sucrose that could be used to synthesize bioethanol and useful biopolymers if information about cell-type gene expression and regulation in stems was available to enable engineering. To obtain this information, laser capture microdissection was used to isolate and collect transcriptome profiles from five major cell types that are present in stems of the sweet sorghum Wray. Transcriptome analysis identified genes with cell-type-specific and cell-preferred expression patterns that reflect the distinct metabolic, transport, and regulatory functions of each cell type. Analysis of cell-type-specific gene regulatory networks (GRNs) revealed that unique transcription factor families contribute to distinct regulatory landscapes, where regulation is organized through various modes and identifiable network motifs. Cell-specific transcriptome data was combined with known secondary cell wall (SCW) networks to identify the GRNs that differentially activate SCW formation in vascular sclerenchyma and epidermal cells. The spatial transcriptomic dataset provides a valuable source of information about the function of different sorghum cell types and GRNs that will enable the engineering of bioenergy sorghum stems, and an interactive web application developed during this project will allow easy access and exploration of the data (https://mc-lab.shinyapps.io/lcm-dataset/).
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Fu
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA
- DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA
| | - Brian McKinley
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, USA
- DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Resource Center, Madison, Wisconsin, 53726, USA
| | - Brandon James
- DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA
- HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, Alabama, 35806, USA
| | - William Chrisler
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington, 99354, USA
| | | | - Matthew J Gaffrey
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington, 99354, USA
| | - Hugh D Mitchell
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington, 99354, USA
| | - Muhammad Rizwan Riaz
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA
| | - Brenda Marcial
- DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA
- HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, Alabama, 35806, USA
| | - Galya Orr
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington, 99354, USA
| | - Kankshita Swaminathan
- DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA
- HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, Alabama, 35806, USA
| | - John Mullet
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, USA
- DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Resource Center, Madison, Wisconsin, 53726, USA
| | - Amy Marshall-Colon
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA
- DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA
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Hartman MD, Burnham M, Parton WJ, Finzi A, DeLucia EH, Yang WH. In silico evaluation of plant nitrification suppression effects on agroecosystem nitrogen loss. Ecosphere 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/07/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Melannie D. Hartman
- Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Mark Burnham
- Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Urbana Illinois USA
| | - William J. Parton
- Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA
| | - Adrien Finzi
- Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, Department of Biology Boston University Boston Massachusetts USA
| | - Evan H. DeLucia
- Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment, Department of Plant Biology University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Urbana Illinois USA
| | - Wendy H. Yang
- Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment, Department of Plant Biology University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Urbana Illinois USA
- Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment, Department of Geology University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Urbana Illinois USA
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Robertson GP, Hamilton SK, Paustian K, Smith P. Land-based climate solutions for the United States. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:4912-4919. [PMID: 35638387 PMCID: PMC9544421 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Accepted: 04/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Meeting end-of-century global warming targets requires aggressive action on multiple fronts. Recent reports note the futility of addressing mitigation goals without fully engaging the agricultural sector, yet no available assessments combine both nature-based solutions (reforestation, grassland and wetland protection, and agricultural practice change) and cellulosic bioenergy for a single geographic region. Collectively, these solutions might offer a suite of climate, biodiversity, and other benefits greater than either alone. Nature-based solutions are largely constrained by the duration of carbon accrual in soils and forest biomass; each of these carbon pools will eventually saturate. Bioenergy solutions can last indefinitely but carry significant environmental risk if carelessly deployed. We detail a simplified scenario for the United States that illustrates the benefits of combining approaches. We assign a portion of non-forested former cropland to bioenergy sufficient to meet projected mid-century transportation needs, with the remainder assigned to nature-based solutions such as reforestation. Bottom-up mitigation potentials for the aggregate contributions of crop, grazing, forest, and bioenergy lands are assessed by including in a Monte Carlo model conservative ranges for cost-effective local mitigation capacities, together with ranges for (a) areal extents that avoid double counting and include realistic adoption rates and (b) the projected duration of different carbon sinks. The projected duration illustrates the net effect of eventually saturating soil carbon pools in the case of most strategies, and additionally saturating biomass carbon pools in the case of forest management. Results show a conservative end-of-century mitigation capacity of 110 (57-178) Gt CO2 e for the U.S., ~50% higher than existing estimates that prioritize nature-based or bioenergy solutions separately. Further research is needed to shrink uncertainties, but there is sufficient confidence in the general magnitude and direction of a combined approach to plan for deployment now.
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Affiliation(s)
- G. Philip Robertson
- W.K. Kellogg Biological StationMichigan State UniversityHickory CornersMichiganUSA
- Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial SciencesMichigan State UniversityHickory CornersMichiganUSA
- Great Lakes Bioenergy Research CenterMichigan State UniversityEast LansingMichiganUSA
| | - Stephen K. Hamilton
- W.K. Kellogg Biological StationMichigan State UniversityHickory CornersMichiganUSA
- Great Lakes Bioenergy Research CenterMichigan State UniversityEast LansingMichiganUSA
- Department of Integrative BiologyMichigan State UniversityEast LansingMichiganUSA
- Cary Institute of Ecosystem StudiesMillbrookNew YorkUSA
| | - Keith Paustian
- Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and Natural Resource Ecology LaboratoryColorado State UniversityFort CollinsColoradoUSA
| | - Pete Smith
- Institute of Biological and Environmental SciencesUniversity of AberdeenAberdeenUK
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