LCA analysis on the management of typical lignocellulosic agricultural wastes: Case studies and comparison in Greece and China

• Published in: Biomass & bioenergy 2024-11, Vol.190, p.107386, Article 107386
• Main Authors: Aravani, Vasiliki P., Wang, Shiya, Wang, Wen, Papadakis, Vagelis G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cotton stalks; Gasification; Life cycle assessment (LCA); Lignocellulosic agricultural wastes; Olive prunings; Open-field burning; Pyrolysis
• ISSN: 0961-9534
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biombioe.2024.107386

Significant quantities of lignocellulosic agricultural residues are produced worldwide, and their management is quite problematic. In Greece and in general in the Mediterranean, large quantities of prunings are produced, especially from olive trees. The common practice of managing these residues is by burning them in the fields. On the other hand, in China, but also globally, huge amounts of residues are produced from cotton cultivation and efforts are being made to avoid the residues' usual burning in the fields. Beyond the development and refinement of energy and material utilization technologies for this waste, as well as the necessary economic analyses, very important for the scientific community is the study of the environmental impacts concerning the conventional management practices versus alternative ones that involve the wastes’ utilization. In this work and through the analysis of case studies in Greece and China for the management of the aforementioned typical lignocellulosic agricultural residues, comparative life cycle assessments of open-field burning practices versus energy production practices through gasification or pyrolysis are attempted. The results proved to be interesting and both cases agree with each other qualitatively despite the use of different tools and the application in different countries and agricultural residues. The comparative results highlight the need for immediate adoption of sustainable practices against the highly damaging conventional ones. •LCA was conducted for the management of olive tree prunings and cotton stalks.•The net difference of burning versus gasification was 70 Pt, in favor of gasification.•Cotton stalks' open burning causes an impact of 0.31 Pt concerning human health.•Open-field burning is extremely harmful for the environment.•In both studies the sustainable scenarios result in positive environmental impact.