Varied farm-level carbon intensities of corn feedstock help reduce corn ethanol greenhouse gas emissions
A reduction in the overall carbon intensity (CI) of a crop-based biofuel can be achieved by cutting down the CI of the biofuel’s feedstock, which in turn correlates significantly to agricultural management practices. Proposals are being made to incentivize low-carbon biofuel feedstocks under U.S. fu...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac018f |
| _version_ | 1797747660797509632 |
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| author | Xinyu Liu Hoyoung Kwon Michael Wang |
| author_facet | Xinyu Liu Hoyoung Kwon Michael Wang |
| author_sort | Xinyu Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A reduction in the overall carbon intensity (CI) of a crop-based biofuel can be achieved by cutting down the CI of the biofuel’s feedstock, which in turn correlates significantly to agricultural management practices. Proposals are being made to incentivize low-carbon biofuel feedstocks under U.S. fuel regulatory programs to promote sustainable farming practices by individual farms. For such an incentive scheme to function properly, robust data collection and verification are needed at the farm level. This study presents our collaboration with U.S. private sector companies to collect and verify the corn production data necessary for feedstock-specific CI calculation at the farm level, through a carefully designed questionnaire, to demonstrate the practicality and feasibility of data collection at scale. We surveyed 71 farms that produced 0.2 million metric tons of corn grain in 2018 in a Midwestern U.S. state to obtain information on key parameters affecting corn ethanol feedstock CI, such as grain yields, fertilizer/chemical application rates, and agronomic practices. Feedstock-specific CI was calculated in the unit of grams (g) CO _2 equivalent (CO _2 e) of greenhouse gases per kilogram (kg) of corn produced. Results showed large CI variations—from 119 to 407 g CO _2 e kg ^−1 of corn—due to the farm-level inventory, while the production-weighted average CI for all surveyed farms was 210 g CO _2 e kg ^−1 , comparable to the national average CI of 204 g CO _2 e kg ^−1 . The nitrogen fertilizer type applied and rate were identified as key factors contributing most to CI variations at the farm level. The estimated N _2 O emissions from fertilizer and biomass nitrogen inputs to soil accounted for 51% of the overall farm-level CI and therefore need to be better monitored at farm level with high resolution. We concluded that this feedstock-specific, farm-level CI evaluation has the potential to be used to incentivize low-carbon feedstock for biofuel production. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:53:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6fe7ff4710b94c0081bd3c3399c33613 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:53:44Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-6fe7ff4710b94c0081bd3c3399c336132023-08-09T15:00:19ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262021-01-0116606405510.1088/1748-9326/ac018fVaried farm-level carbon intensities of corn feedstock help reduce corn ethanol greenhouse gas emissionsXinyu Liu0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4683-0272Hoyoung Kwon1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3421-9292Michael Wang2Systems Assessment Center, Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory , Lemont, IL, United States of AmericaSystems Assessment Center, Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory , Lemont, IL, United States of AmericaSystems Assessment Center, Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory , Lemont, IL, United States of AmericaA reduction in the overall carbon intensity (CI) of a crop-based biofuel can be achieved by cutting down the CI of the biofuel’s feedstock, which in turn correlates significantly to agricultural management practices. Proposals are being made to incentivize low-carbon biofuel feedstocks under U.S. fuel regulatory programs to promote sustainable farming practices by individual farms. For such an incentive scheme to function properly, robust data collection and verification are needed at the farm level. This study presents our collaboration with U.S. private sector companies to collect and verify the corn production data necessary for feedstock-specific CI calculation at the farm level, through a carefully designed questionnaire, to demonstrate the practicality and feasibility of data collection at scale. We surveyed 71 farms that produced 0.2 million metric tons of corn grain in 2018 in a Midwestern U.S. state to obtain information on key parameters affecting corn ethanol feedstock CI, such as grain yields, fertilizer/chemical application rates, and agronomic practices. Feedstock-specific CI was calculated in the unit of grams (g) CO _2 equivalent (CO _2 e) of greenhouse gases per kilogram (kg) of corn produced. Results showed large CI variations—from 119 to 407 g CO _2 e kg ^−1 of corn—due to the farm-level inventory, while the production-weighted average CI for all surveyed farms was 210 g CO _2 e kg ^−1 , comparable to the national average CI of 204 g CO _2 e kg ^−1 . The nitrogen fertilizer type applied and rate were identified as key factors contributing most to CI variations at the farm level. The estimated N _2 O emissions from fertilizer and biomass nitrogen inputs to soil accounted for 51% of the overall farm-level CI and therefore need to be better monitored at farm level with high resolution. We concluded that this feedstock-specific, farm-level CI evaluation has the potential to be used to incentivize low-carbon feedstock for biofuel production.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac018fcorn productioncradle-to-farm-gate GHG emissionspublic–private sector collaborationfarm-level surveybiofuel |
| spellingShingle | Xinyu Liu Hoyoung Kwon Michael Wang Varied farm-level carbon intensities of corn feedstock help reduce corn ethanol greenhouse gas emissions Environmental Research Letters corn production cradle-to-farm-gate GHG emissions public–private sector collaboration farm-level survey biofuel |
| title | Varied farm-level carbon intensities of corn feedstock help reduce corn ethanol greenhouse gas emissions |
| title_full | Varied farm-level carbon intensities of corn feedstock help reduce corn ethanol greenhouse gas emissions |
| title_fullStr | Varied farm-level carbon intensities of corn feedstock help reduce corn ethanol greenhouse gas emissions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Varied farm-level carbon intensities of corn feedstock help reduce corn ethanol greenhouse gas emissions |
| title_short | Varied farm-level carbon intensities of corn feedstock help reduce corn ethanol greenhouse gas emissions |
| title_sort | varied farm level carbon intensities of corn feedstock help reduce corn ethanol greenhouse gas emissions |
| topic | corn production cradle-to-farm-gate GHG emissions public–private sector collaboration farm-level survey biofuel |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac018f |
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