Life cycle assessment of a short-rotation coppice willow riparian buffer strip for farm nutrient mitigation and renewable energy production

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dc.contributor.authorLivingstone, David
dc.contributor.authorSmyth, Beatrice M.
dc.contributor.authorLyons, Gary
dc.contributor.authorFoley, Aoife M.
dc.contributor.authorMurray, Simon T.
dc.contributor.authorJohnston, Chris
dc.date.accessioned2022-02-04T10:01:16Z
dc.date.available2022-02-04T10:01:16Z
dc.date.issued2022-02-02
dc.descriptionPublication history: Accepted - 13 January 2022; Published online - 2 February 2022.en_US
dc.description.abstractAs agricultural activity intensifies across Europe there is growing concern over water quality. Agricultural run-off is a leading cause of freshwater degradation. Simultaneously there is a continually increasing drive to promote renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Willow coppice planted as a riparian buffer has been suggested as a solution to help mitigate these problems. However, there is limited research into the use of such a system and several key knowledge gaps remain, such as, the energy ratio of the system is not known, and a fully harvested site has yet to be analysed in the literature. The aim of this research is to fill these knowledge gaps to help inform agri-environmental policy. To do this a life cycle assessment was carried out on an established willow buffer system, considering the global warming potential, eutrophication potential, acidification potential and cumulative energy demand impact categories, alongside the calculation of the energy ratio. To our knowledge it is the first site to be fully harvested and for which a full life cycle assessment has been carried out. The willow was combusted to fuel a district heating system. Key results showed emissions of 4.66 kg CO2eq GJheatout -1 and 0.01 kg SO2eq GJheatout -1, both of which are significant reductions compared to an oil heating system (95% reductions for both impact categories). The system also resulted in the permanent nutrient removal of 55.36 kg PO43-eq ha-1 yr-1 and had an energy ratio of 17.4, which could rise to 64 depending on the harvest method.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThis Bryden Centre project is supported by the European Union’s INTERREG VA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). The views and opinions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission or the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). The work was also supported by Queen’s University Belfast and the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute in Northern Ireland.en_US
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12518/398
dc.identifier.citationLivingstone, D., Smyth, B.M., Lyons, G., Foley, A.M., Murray, S.T. and Johnston, C. (2022) ‘Life cycle assessment of a short-rotation coppice willow riparian buffer strip for farm nutrient mitigation and renewable energy production’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Elsevier. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2022.112154.en_US
dc.identifier.issn1364-0321
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2022.112154
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherElsevieren_US
dc.rights© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).en_US
dc.subjectSRC willowen_US
dc.subjectLCAen_US
dc.subjectSustainabilityen_US
dc.subjectBioenergy buffersen_US
dc.subjectSystemsen_US
dc.subjectBioresourcesen_US
dc.titleLife cycle assessment of a short-rotation coppice willow riparian buffer strip for farm nutrient mitigation and renewable energy productionen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dcterms.dateAccepted2022-01-13
dcterms.dateSubmitted2021-05-14

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