BioEconomy between food & non-food: the Italian way

Transcription

1 BioEconomy between food & non-food: the Italian way EXPO 2015, 26 maggio 2015 FOOD 4 NON-FOOD: an apparent contradiction Biagio Pecorino, Di3A Università di Catania

2 IPCC Mitigation Report Agriculture alone is responsible for 12% of the GHGs emission globally

3 3 FAO Food Price Index

4 4 José Graziano Da Silva FAO Director Berlin 16 January 2015 In the past decades there have been a lot of debates about food versus biofuel production. But nowadays we need to move from the food versus fuel debate to a food and fuel debate Like anything else, it can do good or bad. However, in more recent years, the demand for biofuels has supported food prices. It acted as a support for those crops creating a buffer zone and avoiding that agricultural prices fell to the point that farmers would be discouraged to produce next year. Biofuels create additional demand for agriculture products, including cereals in countries with long supplies, which helps farmers in developing countries.

5 Why do we need of italian way for 5 bioeconomy? Land efficiency There is no question that food comes first With Maize or Rapeseed monoculture we cannot substitute crude oil due to their yield Carbon efficiency We need to produce more in agriculture We need to produce more mitigating GHG emissions from agriculture We need to produce more, not only energy, advanced biofuel or byproducts but also Food & Feed

6 6 Agriculture can become part of the solution rather than being part of the problem IPCC Mitigation report April 2014 The BECCS in order to prevent abrupt climate change scenarios the mere production of carbon neutral electrons will not be sufficient, and that technologies able to sequestrate CO 2 directly from the atmosphere as will be needed as afforestation and Bioenergy and carbon capture and sequestration (BECCS) BECCS hurdles In relation to BECCS, IPCC underlines that There is uncertainty about the potential for large-scale deployment of BECCS These challenges and risks include those associated with the upstream large-scale provision of the biomass that is used in the CCS facility as well as those

7 7 Google engineer question November 18th 2014 Suppose for a moment that it had achieved the most extraordinary success possible, and that we had found cheap renewable energy technologies that could gradually replace all the world s coal plants. Even if that dream had come to pass, it still wouldn t have solved climate change. This realization was frankly shocking: not only (our billionaire) RE<C had failed to reach its goal of creating energy cheaper than coal, but that goal had not been ambitious enough to reverse climate change. What It Would Really Take to Reverse Climate Change Today s renewable energy technologies won t save us. So what will?

8 8 Italian way for bioeconomy, 1 example Coexistence and integration for FOOD & ENERGY: SOLUZIONI TECNOLOGICHE INNOVATIVE PER LA VALORIZZAZIONE DEGLI SCARTI DEGLI AGRUMI (SOCRATE), Citrus processing activities produce: Juice Pulp and peel (in Italy, about 400,000 t per year from citrus fruit production and about 185,000 t from orange production)

9 The aims of the research project To analyze citrus juice production processes To valorize pulp and peel through: The extraction of components with high economic value (pectins, flavonoids, anthocyanins, etc.) The production of animal feed The production of biogas and/or biomethane (anaerobic digestion) and fertilizer To reduce the amount of citrus pulp and peel destined for the waste treatment

10 The project activities To evaluate the energy consumption of some processes suitable to extract the high-valued components from citrus pulp and peel To determine the costs of the extraction processes To estimate the market value of the products obtained To verify the possible energy uses of citrus pulp and peel coming out from the extraction processes

11 The project activities with support of The Coca - Cola Foundation To determine the methane potential production of citrus pulp and peel after the extraction processes To design and build a pilot plant for biogas production To maximise the amount of citrus pulp and peel that can be utilized in an anaerobic digester mixed with other Mediterranean biomasses To improve soil fertilization by utilizing digestate as a soil amendment/fertilizer FINAL AIMS: demonstrate the sustainability of citrus supply-chain with specific regard to processing and valorization of citrus by-products: from waste to additional resource for production of food, feed and

12 12 Italian way for bioeconomy, 2 example Coexistence and integration for FOOD & ENERGY: WHEAT FOR BREAD AND PASTA AND WHEAT STRAW FOR EXPANDED CLAY, LATERLITE (ENNA)

13 13 An example: Biomethane as advanced biofuel There is demand then for the agriculture sector to produce more FOOD & FUEL and to become carbon negative, that means being able to reduce GHG emissions and storing Carbon

14 14 Biomethane as advanced biofuel the residues(1) Industrial organic by products Livestock effluents Civilian organic waste

15 15 Biomethane as advanced biofuel the crops (2) EU Directive amendment at art. 2, par. 2- point (s) 'non-food cellulosic material' means feedstocks mainly composed of cellulose and hemicellulose, and having a lower lignin-content than ligno-cellulosic material; it includes food and feed crop residues (such as straw, stover, husks and shells), grassy energy crops with a low starch content (such as alfalfa and other nitrogen-fixing crops, cover crops before and after annual cereal and oil crops, cactus and other CAM crops, ryegrass, switchgrass, miscanthus, giant cane, etc.), industrial residues (including from food and feed crops after vegetal oils, sugars, starches and protein have been extracted), and material from biowaste).

16 Nitrogen fixing crops 16 Hedysarum coronarium as rotation crop to durum wheat in Sicily: - biomass for our anaerobic plants - nitrogen-fixing - aims of the CAP

17 17 Double purpose perennial crops: energy & forage (in mediteranean area)

18 18 Cover crops before and after grain and oil crops More land cover: - More carbon fixed by farmland - Reduce soil erosion and oxidation of organic matter, and then less carbon losses

19 Ecological intensification, 19 effects Mitigation of livestock effluents and by products GHG emissions Soil coverage the whole year Increased crop rotation Double croppings with minimum tillage with techniques mutuated from conservative and precision farming Greater increase of Organic Matter to the soils

20 20 Digestate is the game changer

21 Effects of Organic Matter increase on the farmland 1% raise in OM per ha means 38 ton OM, thus 20 ton Carbon stored in the soil 300 ha farmland fertilized with digestate and green mulching cn store ton of organic carbon, the same amount saved by 5 years of electricity generation via biogas in 5 years 21

22 22 Soil carbon sequestration (Evidence from the Hoosfield Rothamsted farm trial) Consorzio Italiano Biogas

23 23 Biomethane as advanced biofuel in Italy: A different way A tool to keep open stalls in the North and the agro-food processing enterprises in the south (citrus fruits, olives, etc.)

24 Biogas in Europe 18 Biogas production: ~ 15,6 Mrd m 3 methane, ~ 3% of NG consumption Average: 31,3 m 3 CH 4 /citizen BioCH 4 production: ~ 1,0 Mrd m 3 methane ~ biogas plants ~ 300 upgrading units BioCH 4 production in 15 countries: AT, CH, DE, DK, ES, FR, FI, HU, IS, IT, LX, NL,

25 19 EBA Biogas/Biomethane growth

26 Italy has a big task to spur the development of biomethane as advanced biofuel in Europe 26 Third biogas in the world 80% of european current NGV market 3th biogas sector after China & Germany 4 Billiuon invested in the last 5 years > 1300 biogas plants built MWe 8GWh el/year produced, Circa 2 billion Nmc Biomethane equivalent utilized per year, 35% italian natural gas production increase Less than 2% of italian agricultural land used for monocultures qualified green jobs NGVs Circa 80% of NGVs on the road in EU Demand of 1 Billion Nmc/year NGVs sold in Italy in 2014 (+3,3% over the 2013)

27 27 The Biomethane Italian Law 2% advanced biofuel from 2022+

28 Agroenergie in ambiente mediterraneo: nutrire il suolo per nutrire il pianeta-energia per la vita 28 See you in Sicily October 2, 2015 Thanks for your attention Biagio Pecorino,