Low Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) Energy Crops to Bioenergy and Biofuels—A Review

Funding Information: This research was funded by national funding from the FCT, the Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P-FCT, I.P), and through the individual research grants of Mariana Abreu (2020.06236.BD). This work was supported by Biomass and Bioenergy Research Infrastructure (BBRI)-LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-022059, supported by Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (PORTUGAL2020), by Lisbon Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa 2020) and by North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Norte 2020) under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work was supported by the Mechanical Engineering and Resource Sustainability Center—MEtRICs, which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UIDB/04077/2020 and UIDP/04077/2020). Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by national funding from the FCT, the Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P-FCT, I.P), and through the individual research grants of Mariana Abreu (2020.06236.BD). This work was supported by Biomass and Bio-energy Research Infrastructure (BBRI)-LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-022059, supported by Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (PORTUGAL2020), by Lisbon Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa 2020) and by North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Norte 2020) under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work was supported by the Mechanical Engineering and Resource Sustainability Center—MEtRICs, which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UIDB/04077/2020 and UIDP/04077/2020). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Energy crops are dedicated cultures directed for biofuels, electricity, and heat production. Due to their tolerance to contaminated lands, they can alleviate and remediate land pollution by the disposal of toxic elements and polymetallic agents. Moreover, these crops are suitable to be exploited in marginal soils (e.g., saline), and, therefore, the risk of land-use conflicts due to competition for food, feed, and fuel is reduced, contributing positively to economic growth, and bringing additional revenue to landowners. Therefore, further study and investment in R&D is required to link energy crops to the implementation of biorefineries. The main objective of this study is to present a review of the potential of selected energy crops for bioenergy and biofuels production, when cultivated in marginal/degraded/contaminated (MDC) soils (not competing with agriculture), contributing to avoiding Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) burdens. The selected energy crops are Cynara cardunculus, Arundo donax, Cannabis sativa, Helianthus tuberosus, Linum usitatissimum, Miscanthus × giganteus, Sorghum bicolor, Panicum virgatum, Acacia dealbata, Pinus pinaster, Paulownia tomentosa, Populus alba, Populus nigra, Salix viminalis, and microalgae cultures. This article is useful for researchers or entrepreneurs who want to know what kind of crops can produce which biofuels in MDC soils. publishersversion published