Life-cycle assessment of biogas production under the environmental conditions of northern Germany: greenhouse gas balance
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SUMMARY A considerable expansion of biogas production in Germany, paralleled by a strong increase in maize acreage, has caused growing concern that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during crop substrate production might counteract the GHG emission saving potential. Based on a 2-year field trial, a GHG balance was conducted to evaluate the mitigation potential of regionally adapted cropping systems (continuous maize, maize-wheat-Italian ryegrass, perennial ryegrass ley), depending on nitrogen (N) level and N type. Considering the whole production chain, all cropping systems investigated contributed to the mitigation of GHG emissions (6·7–13·3 t CO2 eq/ha), with continuous maize revealing a carbon dioxide (CO2) saving potential of 55–61% compared with a fossil energy mix reference system. The current sustainability thresholds in terms of CO2 savings set by the EU Renewable Energy Directive could be met by all cropping systems (48–76%). Emissions from crop production had the largest impact on the mitigation effect (⩾50%) unless the biogas residue storage was not covered. The comparison of N fertilizer types showed less pronounced differences in GHG mitigation potential, whereas considerable site effects were observed.
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Non-appropriate procedures before bioenergy plantation can lead to negative consequences like increased soil erosion and compaction risks, increased nitrogen mineralization and leaching risks, and changes in local biodiversity.
“non-appropriate procedures can lead to many negative consequences like increased soil erosion and compaction risks (Duttmann et al., 2014), increased nitrogen mineralization and leaching risks (Claus et al., 2014;Svoboda et al., 2013), and changes in local bio-diversity (Brandt and Glemnitz, 2014;Csikós and Szilassi, 2020).”
From Concepts of agricultural marginal lands and their utilisation: a review (2023) · cites this paper as Claus et al., 2014
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Concepts of agricultural marginal lands and their utilisation: a review
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- Authors
- CLAUS, S., TAUBE, F., WIENFORTH, B., SVOBODA, N., SIELING, K., KAGE, H., SENBAYRAM, M., DITTERT, K., GERICKE, D., PACHOLSKI, A., & HERRMANN, A.
- Affiliations
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (DE)
- University of Göttingen (DE)
- Corresponding author
- CLAUS, S.
- Venue
- The Journal of Agricultural Science
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2013-10-11
- Volume
- 152
- Issue
- S1
- Pages
- 172-181
- ISSN
- 0021-8596 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-5146
- OpenAlex
- W2001705974
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 2.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- Locations
- The Journal of Agricultural Science (publishedVersion)
- GoeScholar The Publication Server of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- GRO (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Multilingual Matters (Channel View Publications) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Bioenergy crop production and management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Sustainable Agricultural Systems Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Energy, Environment, Agriculture Analysis
- Keywords
- biogas production, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, maize, continuous maize, nitrogen fertilization, nitrogen fertilizer type, carbon emission reduction, northern Germany, life cycle assessment
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