Marginal land bioethanol production of sweet sorghum based on limited water resources in Northwest China
Keywords:
bioethanol potential, marginal land, sweet sorghum, regional water stress levels, water resources limitationAbstract
Sweet sorghum is considered a leading non-grain candidate for bioethanol production due to its low input requirement, good tolerance, high biomass potential, and high sugar content. However, insufficient studies have been conducted on the spatial distribution of sweet sorghum-based bioethanol production potential considering the water resources limitation. We presented a multi-factor analysis method not only considering terrain, meteorology, soil, and crop natural growth habits but also considering the local water resource to explore the available marginal land suitable for sweet sorghum cultivation and assess the bioethanol production potential in Northwest China. The results showed that 4.63×107 hm2 available marginal land was suitable for sweet sorghum planting. Considering the constraint of local water resources, 2.76×106 hm2 available marginal land was suitable for sweet sorghum planting, accounting for 4.7% of the total available marginal land. And 1.23×1010 L bioethanol could be produced on it. Moreover, for these districts under low water stress levels, 9.79×105 hm2 available marginal land in Gannan Tibet AP and Longnan of Gansu and Hulun Buir of Inner Mongolia was considered a priority to develop sweet sorghum-based bioethanol, and 5.56×109 L bioethanol could be produced in these districts, which can satisfy the 1.54% biofuel goal for 2050 of China. Keywords: bioethanol potential, marginal land, sweet sorghum, regional water stress levels, water resources limitation DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20221503.6122 Citation: Shi X J, Du T S, Dong P G, Hu T M. Marginal land bioethanol production of sweet sorghum based on limited water resources in Northwest China. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2022; 15(3): 132–138.References
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[39] Qin Z C, Zhuang Q L, Cai X M, He Y J, Huang Y, Jiang D, et al. Biomass and biofuels in China: toward bioenergy resource potentials and their impacts on the environment. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2018; 82: 2387–2400.
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[2] Zhu S D, Huang W J, Huang W X, Wang K, Chen Q M, Wu Y X. Pretreatment of rice straw for ethanol production by a two-step process using dilute sulfuric acid and sulfomethylation reagent. Applied Energy, 2015; 154: 190–196.
[3] EIA, The U.S. Energy Information Administration. International Energy Statistics, 2020. Available: https://www.eia.gov/renewable/ data.php. Accessed on [2020-03-26]
[4] IEA, International Energy Agency. An energy sector roadmap to carbon neutrality in China, 2021. https://www.iea.org/reports
[5] IEA, International Energy Agency. Asia is set to support global coal demand for the next five years, 2019. Available: https://www.iea.org/news. Accessed on [2019-12-17]
[6] Carneiro M, Pradelle F, Braga S L, Gomes M, Martins A, Turkovics F, et al. Potential of biofuels from algae: Comparison with fossil fuels, ethanol and biodiesel in Europe and Brazil through life cycle assessment (LCA). Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2017; 73: 632–653.
[7] Hazell P, Pachauri R. (Eds.). Bioenergy and Agriculture: Promises and Challenges. 2020 vison focus. IFPRI, Washington, DC, 2006.
[8] Clark C M, Lin Y, Bierwagen B G, Eaton L M, Langholtz M H, Morefifield P E, Ridley C E, Vimmerstedt L, Peterson S, Bush B W. Growing a sustainable biofuels industry: economics, environmental considerations, and the role of the Conservation Reserve Program. Environmental Research Letters, 2013; 8(2): 025016. doi: 10.1088/ 1748-9326/8/2/025016.
[9] Aditiya H, Mahlia T, Chong W, Nur H, Sebayang A. Second generation bioethanol production: A critical review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2016; 66: 631–653.
[10] Mathur S, Umakanth A V, Tonapi VA, Sharma R, Sharma M K. Sweet sorghum as biofuel feedstock: recent advances and available resources. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 2017; 10(1): 146–165.
[11] Zhuang D F, Jiang D, Liu L, Huang Y H. Assessment of bioenergy potential on marginal land in China. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2011; 15(2): 1050–1056.
[12] Sims R, Hastings A, Schlamadinger B, Taylor G, Smith P. Energy crops: current status and future prospects. Global Change Biology, 2006; 12: 2054–2076.
[13] Koçar G, Civaş N. An overview of biofuels from energy crops: current status and future prospects. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2013; 28: 900–916.
[14] Feng Q Y, Chaubey I, Engel B, Cibin R, Sudheer K P, Volenec J. Marginal land suitability for switchgrass, Miscanthus and hybrid poplar in the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB). Environmental Modelling & Software, 2017; 93: 356–365.
[15] Jiang D, Hao M M, Fu J Y, Liu K, Yan X X. Potential bioethanol production from sweet sorghum on marginal land in China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2019; 220: 225–234.
[16] Liu T T, Huffman T, Kulshreshtha S, McConkey B, Du Y N, Green M, et al. Bioenergy production on marginal land in Canada: Potential, economic feasibility, and greenhouse gas emissions impacts. Applied Energy, 2017; 205: 477–485.
[17] Niblick B, Landis A E. Assessing renewable energy potential on United States marginal and contaminated sites. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2016; 60: 489–497.
[18] Nie Y Y, Cai W J, Wang C, Huang G R, Ding Q, Yu, L, et al. Assessment of the potential and distribution of an energy crop at 1-km resolution from 2010 to 2100 in China – The case of sweet sorghum. Applied Energy, 2019; 239: 395–407.
[19] Saha M, Eckelman M. Geospatial assessment of regional scale bioenergy production potential on marginal and degraded land. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2018; 128: 90–97.
[20] Xue S, Lewandowski I, Wang X Y, Yi Z L. Assessment of the production potentials of Miscanthus on marginal land in China. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2016; 54: 932–943.
[21] Zhang C X, Xie G D, Li S M, Ge L Q, He T T. The productive potentials of sweet sorghum ethanol in China. Applied Energy, 2010; 87(7): 2360–2368.
[22] Wang M X, Pan X X, Xia X F, Xi B D, Wang L J. Environmental sustainability of bioethanol produced from sweet sorghum stem on saline-alkali land. Bioresource Technology, 2015; 187: 113–119.
[23] Hu S W, Wu L M, Persson S, Peng L C, Feng S Q. Sweet sorghum and Miscanthus: Two potential dedicated bioenergy crops in China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2017; 16(6): 1236–1243.
[24] Zegada-Lizarazu W, Monti A. Are we ready to cultivate sweet sorghum as a bioenergy feedstock? A review on field management practices. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2012; 40: 1–12.
[25] Huang R D. Research progress on plant tolerance to soil salinity and alkalinity in sorghum. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2018; 17(4): 739–746.
[26] Vasilakoglou I, Dhima K, Karagiannidis N, Gatsis T. Sweet sorghum productivity for biofuels under increased soil salinity and reduced irrigation. Field Crops Research, 2011; 120(1): 38–46.
[27] Appiah-Nkansah N B, Li J, Rooney Wang D. A review of sweet sorghum as a viable renewable bioenergy crop and its techno-economic analysis. Renewable Energy, 2019; 143: 1121–1132.
[28] Regassa T, Wortmann C. Sweet sorghum as a bioenergy crop: Literature review. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2014; 64: 348–355.
[29] Ding N, Yang Y, Cai H, Liu J, Ren L, Yang J, et al. Life cycle assessment of fuel ethanol produced from soluble sugar in sweet sorghum stalks in North China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2017; 161: 335–344.
[30] Liu H H, Ren L T, Spiertz H, Zhu Y B, Xie G H. An economic analysis of sweet sorghum cultivation for ethanol production in North China. Global Change Biology Bioenergy, 2015; 7(5): 1176–1184.
[31] Qiu H G, Sun L X, Huang J K, Rozelle S. Liquid biofuels in China: Current status, government policies, and future opportunities and challenges. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2012; 16(5): 3095–3104.
[32] Tang Y, Xie J S, Geng S. Marginal land-based biomass energy production in China. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, 2010; 52(1): 112–121.
[33] Liu J, Liu M, Zhuang D, Zhang Z, Deng X. Space pattern analysis of recently land use change in China. Science in China (Series D), 2002; 32(12): 1031–1040.
[34] Liu Q Q, Sun C D, Zhang B G, Xie G H. Methodology and certification of non-food land suitable for energy plant production in China. Journal of China Agricultural University, 2015; 20(2): 11–20. (in Chinese)
[35] Zhang T T, Xie X M, Huang Z. Life Cycle Water Footprints of Nonfood Biomass Fuels in China. Environmental Science & Technology, 2014; 48(7): 4137–4144.
[36] MWRPRC. Water Resources Bulletin. Ministry of Water Resources of the People’s Republic of China, 2018.
[37] Teetor V H, Duclos D V, Wittenberg E T, Young K M, Chawhuaymak J, Riley M R, et al. Effects of planting date on sugar and ethanol yield of sweet sorghum grown in Arizona. Industrial Crops and Products, 2011; 34(2): 1293–1300.
[38] Dar R, Dar E, Kaur A, Phutela U. Sweet sorghum-a promising alternative feedstock for biofuel production. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2018; 82: 4070–4090.
[39] Qin Z C, Zhuang Q L, Cai X M, He Y J, Huang Y, Jiang D, et al. Biomass and biofuels in China: toward bioenergy resource potentials and their impacts on the environment. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2018; 82: 2387–2400.
[40] Kou J P, Bi Y Y, Zhao L X, Gao C Y, Tian Y S, Wei S Y, et al. Investigation and evaluation on wasteland for energy crops in China. Renewable Energy Resources, 2008; 26(6): 3–8. (in Chinese)
[41] Gerbens-Leenes W, Hoekstra A Y. The water footprint of sweeteners and bioethanol. Environmental International, 2012; 40(1): 202–211.
[42] Chiu Y W, Wu M. Assessing county-level water footprints of different cellulosic biofuel feedstock pathways. Environmental Science Technology, 2012; 46(16): 9155–9162.
[43] Johansson T, Patwardhan A, Nakićenović N, Gomez-Echeverr L. Global energy assessment: toward a sustainable future. Cambridge University Press, 2012.
[44] Wang M X, Chen Y H, Xia X F, Li J, Liu J G. Energy efficiency and environmental performance of bioethanol production from sweet sorghum stem based on life cycle analysis. Bioresource Technology, 2014; 163: 74–81
[45] Bennett A S, Anex R P. Production, transportation and milling costs of sweet sorghum as a feedstock for centralized bioethanol production in the upper Midwest. Bioresource Technology, 2009; 100(4): 1595–1607.
[46] Du T S, Kang S Z, Zhang X Y, Zhang J H. China's food security is threatened by the unsustainable use of water resources in North and Northwest China. Food and Energy Security, 2014; 3(1): 7–18.
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Published
2022-06-30
How to Cite
Shi, X., Du, T., Dong, P., & Hu, T. (2022). Marginal land bioethanol production of sweet sorghum based on limited water resources in Northwest China. International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 15(3), 132–138. Retrieved from https://ijabe.migration.pkpps03.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/ijabe/article/view/6122
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Natural Resources and Environmental Systems
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