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In response to tackling the environmental consequences of fertiliser production, biofertilisers from organic sources are strongly promoted in line with circular economy and maximising resource use. Despite the outstanding potential of bio-based fertilisers for the sustainable development of the agricultural sector, an environmental investigation of these fertilisers is required to replace synthesised fertilisers. Considering the importance of iron as a plant micronutrient and the scientific gap in the environmental assessment of relevant fertilisers, iron-based fertilisers produced in EU and US geographical zones are selected as a case study in this paper. Therefore, this study examines the environmental performance of two iron-based fertilisers (Fe-biochelate and Fe-EDDHA) by the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The LCA model has been implemented in Simapro software by the ecoinvent database and ReCipe 2016 method considering 1 kg iron content as a functional unit. The results revealed that the Fe-biochelate reduced impacts (69–82%) on all relevant categories, including global warming (69%), terrestrial ecotoxicity (82%), and fossil resource scarcity (77%) in comparison with Fe-EDDHA. Soymeal and acetic acid were the main stressors identified in Fe-biochelate production, while phenol, ethylenediamine and glyoxal were the most significant contributors to the impact categories related to Fe-EDDHA. As a result, Fe-biochelate can be considered a more eco-friendly alternative to Fe-EDDHA.

The deployment of bioenergy has turned into a severe issue associated with energy security and greenhouse gas reduction. The development of technologies in the renewable energy market depends on the profitability of their investment. However, the Net Present Value of new technologies’ investment is affected by technical and economic uncertainties. Hence, the probability assessment of a positive Net Present Value and identifying critical economic and technical parameters can inform investors and decision-makers about any investment risks. This study evaluates the overall uncertainty in the Net Present Value of investment in cogeneration plants composed of a gasifier fed with biomass and a bottoming Internal Combustion Engine fed by the gasification product gas. Monte Carlo simulation assesses the probability of a positive Net Present Value for three sizes of cogeneration plants. Regarding sizes, the chance of generating a positive Net Present Value ranges from 66% to 90%, while the larger plants have a higher chance. The sensitivity analysis findings show that above all, biomass cost and then the sale price of electricity and the quantity of gasification product gas are the most dominant parameters. Using an internally produced biomass waste resource and possible achievement of green energy certificates on energy produced would make the initiative successful.

Bioeconomy, as a key strategic innovation pillar, supports energy transition and involves biomass resource assessment and its application. Biomass has an enormous potential to fulfil the domestic energy demand in Brazil. Hence, this study aims to quantify the theoretical, technical and techno-economic potential of agricultural and forestry residues to generate electricity via thermochemical processes in Brazil for the 2018–2050 timeframe. The analysis was carried out via an integrated approach, according to statistical reports and literature data. Conversion technologies for the estimation of technical potential consist of organic rankine cycle, combustion with conventional rankine cycle and gasification with an internal combustion engine. The results showed that Brazil’s theoretical potential is 7185.39 PJ and 16,708.12 PJ in 2018 and 2050. The technical potential in 2018 is 1795.16 PJ, generating 71,236.47 MWe, while the potential in 2050 is projected as 5771.49.4 PJ providing 229,027.31 MWe. The main restrictions are dispersed distribution of biomass over a large area, supply costs, and low efficiencies for energy conversion. Therefore, the techno-economic potential is around 19,704.01 MWe and 63,348.95 MWe for 2018 and 2050. The north region has the lowest electricity generation potential, while the southeast region takes a prominent position to generate electricity mainly from sugarcane residues. Levelized costs of electricity values varied from 10.532 to 15.507 US$/MWh for 2018 and from 7.320 to 13.002 US$/MWh for 2050, which highly influenced by the biomass price. The results of this study can support policy-making towards future planning on Brazilian bioenergy.

Plant biostimulants have gained great interest from the agrochemical industry and farmers because of their ability to enhance nutrient use efficiency and increase abiotic stress tolerance in crop production. However, despite the considerable potential of biostimulants for the sustainable development of the agricultural sector, the environmental evaluation of the application of biostimulants is still missing. Hence, this is the first study that focuses on the environmental assessment of the biostimulant action of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices and vegetal-derived protein hydrolysate on two greenhouse vegetable crops, spinach and zucchini squash, under different fertilization regimes. The life cycle assessment from a cradle to gate perspective, which covers all processes related to crop cultivation up to harvest, was carried out to calculate the carbon footprint of the production chain for these two crops. The results of the comparative analysis revealed that the CO2 equivalent emissions of both crops were reduced due to the biostimulant applications. In particular, the effect of the mycorrhization on the reduction of carbon emissions compared to the un-mycorrhized control was higher in zucchini plants under organic fertilization (12%) than under mineral fertilization (7%). In addition, organic fertilization increased the total carbon footprint of zucchini (52%) compared with mineral fertilization. The results also showed that an increase of nitrogen fertilization from 15 to 45 kg N ha&minus, 1 in spinach production enhanced the total CO2 emissions per ton of harvested leaves in comparison with treatments that involved the foliar applications of protein hydrolysate together with a lower nitrogen input, this increase was 4% compared to the unfertilized treatment with application of biostimulant. This study can support decision-making in terms of agronomic technique choices in line with sustainable development of vegetable crop production.

Italian power generation through anaerobic digestion (AD) has grown significantly between 2009 and 2016, becoming an important renewable energy resource for the country, also thanks to the generous incentives for produced electricity available in the last years. This work focuses on the economic and environmental issues of AD technology and proposes a techno-economic analysis of investment profitability without government support. In particular, the analysis focuses on an AD power plant fed by zootechnical wastewater and agro-industrial residues coupled to a cogeneration (CHP) system and a digestate-composting plant that produces soil fertilizers. We aim to determine the economic profitability of such AD power plants fed by inner-farm biomass wastes, exploiting digestate as fertilizer, using the cogenerated heat and taking into account the externalities (environmental benefits). Environmental analysis was carried out via a life cycle analysis (LCA), and encompassing the production of biogas, heat/electricity and compost in the downstream process. The un-released environmental emissions were converted into economic benefits by means of a stepwise approach. The results indicate that integrating a compost plant with a biogas plant can significantly increase the carbon credits of the process. The results were evaluated by means of a sensitivity analysis, and they report an IRR in the range of 6%–9% according to the Italian legislative support mechanisms, and possibilities to increase revenues with the use of digestate as fertilizer. The results significantly improve when externalities are included.

Wood and agricultural biomass pellets boost the potential as bio-fuels toward power production in tertiary and residential sectors. The production of pellets, however, is a multi-stage process where the supply-processing phases and the overall energy input strongly depend on the characteristics of the input biomass. In this paper, we describe the key features of the market for pellets in Italy, including national production and consumption data, production costs and prices, the available energy conversion systems, and the current regulatory issues. Moreover, we outline the main technical, economic, and end-user barriers that should be addressed in order to foster the growth of Italian pellet production. Additionally, we propose a methodology to evaluate the profitability of the pellet production chain, by assessing the investment and operation costs as a function of the quality of the raw biomass. The approach is applied to a real case study of a small firm producing wooden frames along with dry wood chips as the main by-product, which can be utilized subsequently for pellet production. Moreover, in order to optimize the size of the pellet production plant, further biomass was purchased from the market, including wood pruning and agricultural residues, wood chips from forestry, and uncontaminated residues of wood processing firms. A sensitivity analysis of the main technical and economic parameters (including the cost and quality of raw material, pellet market value, investment and operational costs, and plant lifetime) indicated that the biomass market price considerably affects the profitability of pellet production plants, particularly where the biomass has a high moisture content. Therefore, a 20% increase in the price of biomass with a high moisture content leads to a 60% fall in profitability index, turning it into negative one. This is due in particular to the costs of pre-treatment and drying of biomass, as well as to the lower energy content of wet biomass. As a result, the use of forestry residues with high moisture and high ash content, high costs of collection/transport, and high costs of pre-treatment and drying is not financially competitive.

Between the energy sources biomass waste is considered more and more important and the choice of the most appropriate energy conversion process is essential. The present paper presents a study for biomass waste to two distinguished energy conversion processes and the comparison of their environmental impact. The considered processes are gasification combined with internal combustion engine for power generation and combustion combined with an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system with same electric power and same biomass flow as input to the conversion process. First, energy analysis of both mentioned systems have been investigated by means of Aspen Plus simulation. In the next step, model output is applied to evaluate the environmental profile of these small-scale biomass-based energy production systems. Environmental performance from cradle-to-gate was carried out by life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Results reveal that biomass production has a high influence over all impact categories. In both systems, eutrophication (EP), acidification (AP) and global warming potential (GWP) were identified as the main impacts. As a result, ORC system entails higher environmental burdens in all impacts categories.

Life-cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) were combined in the environmental sustainability assessment of bioelectricity production by means of vineyard waste biomass gasification. Fifty vineyards were assessed following LCA and DEA methodologies to estimate their technical efficiency. Moreover, target performance values benchmarked for inefficient vineyards, and the potential reductions in their environmental impact linked to the improvement in technical efficiency, were evaluated with the aim of verifying eco-efficiency criteria. The DEA results showed an average reduction of up to 30% per input of material for the vineyards, leading to impact reductions that ranged from 29% to 60% depending on the chosen impact category. Photochemical oxidation and terrestrial ecotoxicity had the highest environmental inefficiencies. Electricity generated from vineyard pruning residue gasification—as an alternative to conventional electricity and in comparison to electricity generation via combustion—was a suitable solution for reducing environmental impact under the studied categories. The innovative value of the present work is further based in the integrated application of LCA and DEA methodologies for the previously unexplored Iranian context. The results show that operational efficiency within vineyards is required to ensure that bioelectricity is significantly advantageous with regards to environmental performance in comparison to national grid electricity. The analysis further emphasises that increasing the operational efficiency of biomass production is a feasible way to achieve significant and wide-ranging environmental sustainability benefits.

This study evaluates the environmental profile of a real biomass-based hydrogen production small-scale (1 MWth) system composed of catalytic candle indirectly heated steam gasifier coupled with zinc oxide (ZnO) guard bed, water gas shift (WGS) and pressure swing absorber (PSA) reactors. Environmental performance from cradle-to-gate was investigated by life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Biomass production shows high influence over all impact categories. In the syngas production process, the main impacts observed are global warming potential (GWP) and acidification potential (AP). Flue gas emission from gasifier burner has the largest proportion of total GWP. The residual off gas use in internal combustion engine (ICE) leads to important environmental savings for all categories. Hydrogen renewability score is computed as 90% due to over 100% decline in non-renewable energy demand. Sensitivity analysis shows that increase in hydrogen production efficiency does not necessarily result in decrease in environmental impacts. In addition, economic allocation of environmental charges increases all impact categories, especially AP and photochemical oxidation (POFP). This research has been supported by the following projects: the Italian national Ricerca di Sistema research project HBF2.0 funded by Italian Ministry for Economic Developments and European project UNIfHY (UNIque gasifier for HYdrogen production) funded by FP7 European Commission Programme. This research has been supported by the following projects: HBF2.0 funded by Italian Ministry of Economic Development within the Italian National System Research, in the Programme called Ricerca di Sistema, and the European project UNIfHY (UNIque gasifier for HYdrogen production) funded by FP7 EuropeanCommissionProgramme. Within these projects we thank especially Andrea Di Carlo of University of L'Aquila, for the plant flowsheet and part of the plant data and Donatella Barisano of ENEA for the data and the picture of the UNIFHY 1000 kWth plant.

Woody biomass has a considerable potential for energy purposes specially after densification processes which convert these materials into solid biofuels with higher energy density. This study focuses on the energy and environmental assessment of pellet production system from vine and olive grove woody biomass. The life cycle assessment (LCA) from grape and olive cultivation up to packed pellet production, ready for delivery to final users was conducted to quantify the eco-profile of agro-pellet production. The results of comparative analysis revealed that pellet production from both biomasses is dominated by cultivation phase. Vine pellet production was more dependent on chemical fertilizers specially potassium sulfate, but olive pellet production was more dependent on copper oxide pesticide. Primary energy use per MJ energy of vine pellet was greater than that of olive pellet (0.6 vs. 0.19). On the other hand, energy return ratio of olive pellet was three times of that of vine pellet (5.22 vs. 1.7). Nevertheless, olive pellet had higher environmental impacts in the forms of human toxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity and marine ecotoxicity. Consequently, sensitivity analysis investigates the impact of variation in input parameters of fertilizers, pesticides, machinery, diesel fuel, transport and pelletizing process on LCA results.

During the last years, combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) systems have drawn a lot of attention thanks to their low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, high efficiency and cost benefits. Considering the increasing interest on sustainability assessment of novel energy generation technologies, in this paper a life cycle assessment of an innovative small-scale solar Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) trigeneration plant is performed. The plant under investigation is composed of a 50 m2 Compound Parabolic Collectors (CPC) solar field, a 3 m3 diathermic oil storage tank, a 3.5 kWe ORC plant and a 17 kWc absorption chiller. After the set-up of the inventory data of the different subsystems, a sensitivity analysis of the environmental and energy performance of the plant has been conducted by varying: (i) the system adjustment parameters; (ii) the size of the solar field and the consequent solar multiple index of the plant; and (iii) the organic working fluid of the ORC unit. Results of the analysis confirmed that the Life cycle assessment (LCA) is of paramount importance for the appropriate selections of component specifications and operating conditions of the integrated system. In particular, the investigation has revealed that the variation of the adjustment parameters brings to slight modifications of the energy performance and has a limited impact on the environmental output whilst the proper selection of the working fluid and the size of the solar field can result in an appreciable environmental optimization of the whole plant.

This paper examines the energy use patterns and relationship between energy input and yield for grape production in Malayer region of Hamadan Province. Data from 50 farmers were collected using a face-to-face questionnaire method. In the surveyed vineyards, average yield and energy consumption were calculated as 18,530 kgha −1 and 45,213.66 MJha −1 , respectively. Among input energy sources, fertilizers, electricity and farmyard manure contained highest energy shares with 37.25%, 19%, and 17.84%, respectively. The energy ratio and energy productivity were found to be 4.95 and 0.42 kgMJ −1 . Three econometric models were developed to estimate the impact of energy inputs on yield. The results revealed that impact of chemical, fertilizer and water on yield were significant at 1% probability level. Also, indirect and non-renewable energies were found to be rather high. Sensitivity analysis indicated that among the inputs, chemical has the highest MPP value of energy inputs. RTS (returns to scale) values for grape yield was found to be 2.15; thus, there prevailed an IRS of grape for estimated model. The net return was found to be positive as 2810.56 $ha −1 for grape. The benefit-cost ratio was calculated as 2.08.

The aim of this study was to determine energy consumption and the relationship between energy input and yield for potato production in Kaboud Rahang region of Hamadan state. The data used in this study are collected by questionnaire. The results revealed that nitrogen fertilizer (39%), diesel (21%), seed (14.9%), water (7.5%) and manure (6.4%) consumed the bulk of energy. In the surveyed farms, average yield and energy consumption were calculated as around 28613.7 kg/ha, 92296.3 MJ/ha, respectively. The results also showed that energy ratio, specific energy and energy productivity were 1.1, 3.2 MJ/kg and 0.3 kg/MJ, respectively. An econometric model was developed to estimate the impact of energy inputs on yield by using parametric methods. For this purpose, potato yield, an endogenous variable was assumed to be a function of energy inputs: fertilizer manure, chemical, machinery, human, water for irrigation, diesel and seed. The empirical results indicated that variables: fertilizer, chemical, seed and human were found statistically significant and contributed to yield. Among statistically significant exogenous variables, seed, water for irrigation, chemical, human and fertilizer were ranked in terms of elasticities.

The Editor-in-Chief of American Journal of Potato Research is issuing an editorial expression of concern to alert readers that this article shows substantial indication of irregularities in authorship during the submission process.

In this study, an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was developed to predict potato production in Iran. Data related to potato yield from 2010 to 2011 was collected from 50 potato producers in Hamedan, Iran. The resulting ANFIS network has an input layer with eight neurons and an output layer with a single neuron (potato yield). The energy inputs were manual labor, diesel, chemical fertilizers, and manure from farm animals, chemicals, machinery, water, and seed. The most significant and influential inputs were selected from the eight initial inputs and the ANFIS network was used to choose the parameters that have the most influence on potato yield. A new ANFIS model was created after the three most influential parameters were selected. The new ANFIS model was then utilized to estimate yield using the three energy inputs. Next, the ANFIS model results were compared with the results from the support vector regression (SVR) technique. The end results revealed that ANFIS provided more accurate predictions and had the capacity to generalize. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) for ANFIS potato yield prediction was 0.9999 in the training and testing phases, while the SVR model had a correlation coefficient of 0.8484 in training and 0.9984 in testing.