Você está na página 1de 9

ARTICLE IN PRESS

BIOMASS AND BIOENERGY

33 (2009) 79 87

Available at www.sciencedirect.com

http://www.elsevier.com/locate/biombioe

Assessment of bioenergy potential in Sicily: A GIS-based


support methodology
Marco Beccalia,, Pietro Columbab, Vincenzo DAlbertia, Vincenzo Franzittaa
a

DREAMDipartimento di Ricerche Energetiche ed Ambientali Universita` di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, edif. 9-90128 Palermo, Italy
DESAFDipartimento di Economia dei Sistemi Agro-Forestali, Universita` di Palermo, Palermo, Italy

art i cle info

ab st rac t

Article history:

A Geographical Information System (GIS) supported methodology has been developed in

Received 1 December 2006

order to assess the technical and economic potential of biomass exploitation for energy

Received in revised form

production in Sicily. The methodology was based on the use of agricultural, economic,

23 April 2008

climatic, and infrastructural data in a GIS. Data about land use, transportation facilities,

Accepted 24 April 2008

urban cartography, regional territorial planning, terrain digital model, lithology, climatic

Available online 20 June 2008

types, and civil and industrial users have been stored in the GIS to define potential areas for

Keywords:
Biomass

gathering the residues coming from the pruning of olive groves, vineyards, and other
agricultural crops, and to assess biomass available for energy cultivation. Further, it was
possible to assess the potential of biodiesel production, supposing the cultivation of

Biofuel
Geographical Information System
Assessing regional potential

rapeseed in arable crop areas. For the biomass used for direct combustion purposes, the
economic availability has been assessed assuming a price of the biomass and comparing it
with other fuels. This assessment has shown the strong competitiveness of firewood in
comparison with traditional fossil fuels when the collection system is implemented in an
efficient way. Moreover, the economic potential of biodiesel was assessed considering the
on-going financial regime for fuel. At the same time, the study has shown a significant
competitiveness of the finished biomass (pellets), and good potential for a long-term
development of this market. An important result was the determination of biofuel
production potential in Sicily. An outcome of the study was to show the opportunities
stemming from the harmonisation of Energy Policy with the Waste Management System
and Rural Development Plan.
& 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1.

Introduction

In the last decade there has been a renewed interest toward


the use of Agro-Forest Biomass (A.F.B.) for energy production,
both at the political and the user level. Therefore, research
efforts have been directed to the study of possibilities and
consequences of the use of A.F.B. for energy production.
A number of studies have reported the importance of
biofuel and biodiesel for the transportation sector and for
obtaining clean fuel for automobiles.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 091236211; fax: +39 091484425.

E-mail address: marco.beccali@dream.unipa.it (M. Beccali).


0961-9534/$ - see front matter & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2008.04.019

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been used in


many bioenergy studies. One of the earliest applications was
a 1980 analysis by Ranney and Cushman of the woody
biomass production potential of the southeastern United
States [1]. The authors linked a model of woody crop
productivity with county-level data on land availability and
soil quality to produce county-level maps of potential
biomass supplies. At a finer spatial resolution, very sophisticated GIS-based studies of bioenergy have been done at the
University of Hawaii, where researchers developed a GIS to

ARTICLE IN PRESS
80

BIOMASS AND BIOENERGY

assess the potential of eucalyptus plantation grown on


former sugarcane lands for supplying fuel to potential
conversion facilities [2,3]. In these analyses, road maps, soil
maps, and land-use maps are linked with forest productivity
and economic models to estimate the cost of delivering
eucalyptus wood to specific locations on the Hawaiian
Islands. At a national scale, GIS have been used to assess
the supply of municipal solid waste for energy production [4]
and to examine the best locations, given economic and
environmental considerations, for siting bioenergy facilities
in the United Kingdom [5,6].
Another study used a GIS-based modelling system to
assess potential biomass supplies from energy crops at a
regional scale [7]. The modelling system was used to estimate potential switchgrass costs and supplies in 11 US states.
The siting analysis of farm-based centralized anaerobic
digester (AD) systems for distributed generation is another
application where GIS have been used [8]. In [8], a GIS model
was studied for land-suitability assessment of potential
energy systems featuring an AD coupled with an energy
generator.
P. Krukanont presented the case of the south peninsula of
Thailand, where the rubber industry is intense. Mathematical
models were developed to assess the maximum affordable
fuel cost and optimum capacity of the power plant for a given
location with well-known fuel availability density. GIS data of
rubber growing were used to locate the appropriate sites and
sizes of the power plants [9].
The purpose of this study is to describe a methodology
that is able to assess the real technical and economic
potential of bioenergy in Sicily, a large Italian island with
about five million inhabitants and nearly 26,000 km2 of
surface area.

33 (2009) 79 87

The first sector where the exploitation of biomass byproducts might be possible is the residential sector, in
particular for domestic heating systems.
The analysis has also included the possibility of
biomass exploitation as fuel in power plants for electricity
generation or in central heating plants. While the fuel
required in small direct combustion systems can be of
various types, quality, and dimensions (wood chip, pellets,
olive husk), power applications require fuels with quite
homogeneous physical and chemical characteristics. Biomasses have to be conditioned through various processes
such as chipping, slash chopping, or cutting and, if necessary,
cleaned from extraneous matter (soil, iron material, etc.)
and dried.
In addition, fuel that is homogeneous in size and typology
represents an enormous advantage for handling operations,
storage in silos, and fuelling operations of the systems. These
needs can easily be met by introducing intermediate processing operations, such as chipping and desiccation, to be
carried out before storage at the combustion plant. The
introduction of these additional operations causes an increase in the operating costs with consequent higher risk for
investment [10].
The methodology adopted to assess the quantity and the
distribution of the potential resources is based on the
development of a GIS. The GIS was implemented with a
database containing information about land cover, land use,
regional cartography, administrative boundaries, populated
areas, road network, a digital terrain model, lithological map,
climatic data, industry, and a civil census [11]. As an example,
land cover has been considered according to the CORINE map
(Fig. 1). All the other data sources used for this study are
summarised in Table 1.

Fig. 1 Land cover of Sicily.

ARTICLE IN PRESS
BIOMASS AND BIOENERGY

Table 1 Main data source used for the GIS implementation


Data

Resources

CORINE land cover map

Digital terrain model


(20 m grid)
Geological, lithological,
morphological maps
Climate and rain maps

National agency for environment and


technical service [32] (resolution of
acquired data 100 m)
Environmental and Territorial
Council of Sicily Region Service for
Territorial Planning
Environmental and Territorial
Council of Sicily Region Service for
Territorial Planning
SIAS. Agro-Methereological Service.
Agriculture Council Sicily Region

Using the land cover map, it was possible to highlight


the potential areas where the by-products coming from
pruning of olive groves, vineyards, and other crops, as well
as for forest harvesting and potential SRF areas, could be
gathered.
Due to similar climatic and soil needs, the cultivation
of rapeseed was supposed to be able to partially substitute for wheat crops (particularly durum wheat). Assuming
a yield coefficient (in term of biomass per hectare), it was
possible to assess biomass available for energy purposes. This
was the first theoretical assessment of these available
resources.
A second end-use of biomass by-products has been
considered, related to the production of liquid biofuels for
internal combustion engines.
The study has shown the economic constraints on biodiesel production in Sicily. In fact, the low rainfall levels
allow poor specific production of terrains, and this increases
the costs of the final products. The possibility of setting up
an agro-energetic chain was analysed according to the
experimental data obtained by the Faculty of Agriculture in
Palermo [1214].
To obtain acceptable assessments of the economic and
energetic potentials, available references for agricultural
[1521] and forestry [2228] biomasses in the Mediterranean
region were taken into consideration. Specific data on
cultivation and forestry crops, provided from the statistical
census [11,29] and the information on the agricultural and
forestry policy were also considered [30].
Consequently, this study proceeded to analyse the types of
fuel obtainable from the different productive sectors, considering both characteristics of the raw matter and the
presence of competing markets (conventional fuel) that could
invalidate the availability of certain green resources.

2.

Resources

The main sectors that can provide biomass for energy users
are the agricultural sector, energy cultivations (rapeseed in
particular), forest harvesting, short rotation forestry, and the
food and wood industries breeding sector. Each sector

33 (2009) 79 87

81

provides different types of biomass with different physical


and chemical characteristics [11].
Simply on the basis of the evaluation of physical and
chemical characteristics, woody, cellulosic products and seed
coming from energetic cultivation can be classified into four
broad categories of raw matter [15]:

 directly usable;
 usable after being subjected to a homogenisation process;
 usable after being subjected to a homogenisation process

and used in plants provided with an exhaust air treatment


system;
usable after chemical treatments.

Wood-cellulosic biomasses from the agricultural sector (Fig.


1) are mainly represented by by-products coming from the
activities of annual and periodic maintenance of agricultural
tree crops. These are mainly branchwood from pruning
operations, which are not marketable and are occasionally
used to heat houses within the farm. The raw matter obtained
from agricultural tree crops should be processed (chipped or
lopped) when the material is loaded, for example with an
industrial biotriturator [19].
These kinds of products have characteristics similar to
Short Rotation Forest crops. Such forest crops are yet in an
experimental phase, but potentially might be able to
take the place of many of the present marginal agricultural
crops, improving the development prospects in various
agricultural areas. In addition, it is worth noting that
forest harvesting has a relevant utilisation in some areas of
the region.
The products obtained from energetic cultivation of crops
like rapeseed have to be subjected to a physical treatment
such as squeezing to obtain the oil. This oil can then be used
directly, in particular in car engines, but through a transesterification process (that reduces viscosity) it is possible to
obtain a good quality biodiesel that can be used in every type
of diesel engine [17].
By-products of the wood and food industries [18] are usually
used directly in the same industrial processes. The breeding
sector [19] is not relevant in Sicily. For these reasons, these
latter sectors have not been considered in this study.

2.1.

Wood residues from agricultural tree crops

Agriculture is the main sector that can provide biomass for


energy purposes (Fig. 2). The periodic maintenance of crops
may provide large quantities of residual biomass. This study
considers winter (JanuaryMarch) pruning activity of the
following crops: grapes, olive trees, poplar trees, and citrus
and other fruit crops. These biomasses, which generally are
burnt near the plots, may be removed and reduced into chips
for a remote use for energy purposes.
In order to assess the quantity of fuel coming from these
crops, it was necessary to account for the areas where the
biomass is produced [22]. This was accomplished through GIS
processing of the CORINE land cover map. This map was
obtained by a European programme acquiring satellite images
with a ground resolution of 100 m, with a scale of 1:250,000. In

ARTICLE IN PRESS
82

BIOMASS AND BIOENERGY

33 (2009) 79 87

We considered the possibility of carrying out cultivation of


short rotation coppices in the following categories of present
land use [25]:

 Presently utilised arable lands;


 Arable lands in fallow (set-aside);
 Bare, shrubby and herbaceous grazing lands and grasslands periodically used as pastures;

 Shrubby areas.

Fig. 2 The agricultural sector for biomass production.

agreement with the existing literature, a yield coefficient of


200 t/km2 was assumed for the vineyards and fruit trees, and
180 t/km2 for olive and citrus crops. Using these values it was
possible to calculate the theoretical potential productivity
[23]. All the areas with a slope greater than 70% and with arid
climate were excluded. This last task was executed by
processing the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of Sicily.
In the region, about 1441.25 km2 of vineyards and
1677.25 km2 of olive crops are present. These represent the
main economic sectors from which it is possible to obtain
wood residues for energy uses. The potential biomass that
could be gathered in Sicily from this sector has been assessed
at more than 1000 kt/year. Depending on the development of
facilities for the use of biomass for energy production, it is
possible that only a portion, between 25% and 50%, of the
potential production would actually be collected in the next
several years.

3.

Short rotation forestry

Many wood plantations use innovative crops bound to the


production of biomass for industrial use. These plantations
are characterised by high planting density, ranging from
10,000 to 18,000 plants per 10,000 m2 [31]. The species are
mainly eucalyptus, poplar trees, willows, and robinias.
Eucalyptus has proven to produce better results for use in
Sicily. These plantations could produce thousands of tons of
energy biomass at 700 t/km2. The layers of the GIS used for
the selection of the areas that could be potentially used for
the cultivation of short rotation coppices were:






Land use;
Digital Terrain Model;
Climate;
Geological substratum.

Areas with less than 10% slope were selected in order to


make the mechanical operations possible [26]. Furthermore,
since the crops are rather demanding with respect to climate,
we identified a limit of 500 mm of annual average rainfall so
that irrigation can be avoided. Such a limit does not involve
irrigated arable lands. Using these assumptions, we assess
that the potential areas of short rotation forestry in Sicily
could produce about 1322.3 kt of biomass that could be
transformed into wood pellets.
Taking into account current price levels and the subsidies
made available by regional regulations, such crops achieve
sufficient levels of profitability. Combining the ecological
needs, in terms of climate and soil, of the species under
consideration with the economic characteristics of mechanisation and competition with other crops, we conclude that in
Sicily, biomass-producing crops could be extended to around
3500 km2. As mentioned above, relevant support from public
administrations is necessary in order to develop this sector.

3.1.

Biomass coming from forest areas

The aim of this part of the study was to identify total


productivity of regional forest areas, both in terms of
marketable wood and in terms of by-products to be used for
energy purposes [27]. As previously stated, the biomass
usable for energy purposes is produced during silvicultural
operations aimed at producing firewood and industrial wood
[28]. In fact, the application of current prices highlights a lack
of profitability in harvesting wood for energy purposes alone
[21]. The two types of production are tightly bound, since the
amount of by-products for energy purposes, which are
possible to recycle, is directly proportional to the ecological
and economic productivity of forests in terms of marketable
assortments.
The work was organised in the following phases: The
first step was the individuation and analysis of the geographic localisation of forest resources through the Territorial Information System; the second was the accounting
of sustainable total productivity, by means of a yield
coefficient.
It was found that in Sicily, there are two areas that produce
this type of biomass. They are the Regional Parks Parco dei
Nebrodi (Fig. 3) and Parco dellEtna.
The selection of potentially productive forest crops was
made on the basis of the following criteria:

 slope below 70%;


 easy or somewhat easy accessibility;
 slightly affected or free from erosion.

ARTICLE IN PRESS
BIOMASS AND BIOENERGY

33 (2009) 79 87

83

Fig. 3 Collecting centres for Parco dei Nebrodi.

This analysis indicated that in Sicily it is theoretically


possible to produce more than 2.2 Mt of marketable wood and
500 kt of by-products for energy production. From an economic point of view, it is not convenient to exploit all woods,
since the returns are not always able to cover the utilisation
costs. Accordingly, the market for wood has been analysed,
and the potential of biomass for energy purposes is strongly
reduced. The global potential, assessed by statistical analyses,
consists of 7.5 kt for Parco dellEtna and 8.7 kt for Parco dei
Nebrodi. An energetic analysis comparing several different
heating systems and different fuels reveals that biomass
would become competitive at a price of 115.00 h/t.

4.

Energetic cultivation

The possibility of cultivating an energetic crop is demonstrated by rapeseed [12,29]. This is a plant that can be adapted
to the Mediterranean climate and in particular to the Sicilian
climate. Several studies have shown the possibility of
cultivating this plant in non-argillaceous terrain with a
rainfall greater than 600 mm/year. In order to assess the
potential production of rapeseed in Sicily using the GIS it was
possible to:

 select the arable crop areas;


 select the non-argillaceous terrains;
 exclude the terrains with a slope over 30% for mechanical
harvesting;

 select the terrain with a rainfall over 600 mm.


The suitable areas for rapeseed cultivation in Sicily amount
to 1430.2 km2 (Fig. 4). Assuming a yield of 300 t/km2, the
potential amount of rapeseed grown in Sicily is about 429 kt.
Considering a 40% yield for the oil, it would be possible to get
172 kt of oil for energy purposes. From this oil it is possible to
produce 157 kt of biodiesel with a performance ratio for oil to

biodiesel of 93%. The effective potential may be significantly


reduced because of the occurrence of dry seasons and of the
strongly irregular distribution of rainfalls during the crop
period. The actual yield could be assumed to vary between
150 and 300 t/km2 [1214].

4.1.

Assessment of economic potential

The next step was to assess the amount and distribution of


biomass residues with economic potential. The main goal
was to assess the cost of biomass production. The cost of
biomass results from the sum of the costs of harvesting
operations, gathering, and pellet production. Transportation
costs turned out to be the most relevant factor. The
implementation of a network of regional facilities might help
private agents to act in a common efficient framework, by
sharing costs, logistics, and personnel. A group of collection
centres would allow the gathering and transformation of the
biomass into pellets from related districts. Locations (Fig. 5)
and sizing of these centres would have to be strictly linked to
the agricultural and geographic characteristics of the district,
together with the existing infrastructures similar to those
planned by the Regional Waste Master Plan for the gathering
of the dry fraction of waste. By means of the slope map, road
network map, and climatic type, it was possible to calculate
the areas with easy access and with a good technical
potential. Distances from collection centres were measured
using GIS capabilities.
The next step was to define the manner and the cost of
biomass transport to the collection centres. Each type of
biomass residue has an individual cost of harvesting, collection, and transportation, which depends on cultivation type,
harvesting techniques, transportation means, and distance
from collection centre. After the identification of unit transport cost (per km), it was possible to build economic supply
curves for each type of biomass. These clearly depend on a set
of local factors, so the supplycost curves are specific to each

ARTICLE IN PRESS
84

BIOMASS AND BIOENERGY

33 (2009) 79 87

Fig. 4 Terrains where is possible to cultivate rape seed.

Fig. 5 Biomass collection centres in Sicily.


Fig. 6 Costsupply curve for forestry biomass.

district. If we consider the whole region, it is possible to


superimpose each centres supplycost curves in order to
develop an aggregate curve for each type of biomass. The
regional supply curves are shown for forestry biomass of
Parco dei Nebrodi (Fig. 6), agricultural biomass (Fig. 7), and SRF
(Fig. 8). Supply curves were drawn for every type of biomass
and also for the nine provinces of the region.

4.2.

Economic aspects of biodiesel production

The latest developments of the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) [30] have focused on reducing the cost of
financial support towards agriculture and the achievement of
better environmental functions. For this purpose, non-food
and energy crops can play an important role. The objective of
granting income support to farmers, even without increasing

crop production and area (decoupling), can be achieved only


by supporting relevant costs (direct aid to income) as a
payment for the environmental functions they carry out. In
addition, the increase of oil prices in the world market is
encouraging studies on sources of renewable energy. Both the
conditions are strongly increasing the competitiveness of
energy crops such as rapeseed.
Rough assessments of the cultivation costs of rapeseed and
on the transformation costs of raw oil into biodiesel lead to an
overall cost comparable to the current price of diesel fuel. The
price of diesel fuel is mainly composed of taxes (65%) and
only a small stock of biodiesel (200 kt, which will probably rise
to 250 kt) is allowed to be sold without taxation. Sicily could
hypothetically provide nearly the whole quantity. Nevertheless, some restrictions must to be considered. We have

ARTICLE IN PRESS
BIOMASS AND BIOENERGY

Fig. 7 Costsupply curve for agricultural biomass.

Fig. 8 Costsupply curves for SRF.

considered a theoretical yield of 300 t of seeds per km2, as is


often reported in literature, but this assumption could result
in an overestimation of the average potential due to frequent
dry seasons that can significantly lower productivity (up to
50% less). Moreover, crop energy balance is heavily affected by
the energetic content of chemical fertilizers, so that an actual
sustainability should be reached by adopting low-input
techniques; this might also affect the achievement of high
yields. In both hypotheses, the cost of biodiesel could rise
above what is economically feasible. Until now, little effort
has been devoted to improving technical aspects of rapeseed
cultivation in semi-arid lands; further research could lead to
the identification of more suitable crop varieties and more
energetically efficient cultivation patterns that are able to
lower costs and push the competitiveness of biodiesel.
Meanwhile, the opportunity for implementing biodiesel
production in Sicily is strongly dependent on financial
support from the public administration.

5.

Planning issues for biomass in Sicily

The results of these studies have been utilised in the


definition of the Action Plan of the new Regional Energy

85

33 (2009) 79 87

Master Plan [32]. The authors have taken part in the


development of this document. The Action Plan for the
diffusion of Renewable Energy Systems (RES) aims to supply
about 6% of the primary energy demand and about 12% of
electricity production through RE by 2010.
At a mid-term perspective, biomass will share 13% of the
total amount of the primary energy saving by RET (Table 2).
The total investment by the Regional Government will be
about 300 Mh (about 100 Mh for actions related to biomass
exploitation). The total (public+private) investment for implementation of energy facilities is about 1500 Mh. Funding
from UE and from National and Regional Governments
amounting to 800 Mh is expected to be used during
20072013 for water and energy infrastructures.
All the actions related to biomass exploitation are summarized in Table 3, where the potentials achievable in three time
steps (short, medium and long term) are presented. The costs
of the avoided emissions (h per tCO2) and of the saved energy
(h per MJ) are also presented.
Concerning infrastructure for biomass residues, economic
analyses have shown that the price of the finished biomass
should be 60 h/t. This price is competitive with the national
price of biomass. Centres could be created near centres for
gathering the dry fraction of municipal wastes to take
advantage of sharing personnel and costs. With a 6 Mh
investment it would be possible to set up 12 centres (located
where there is a relevant potential), and with 14 Mh it would
be possible to finance the purchase of 19,000 heating systems
for household users. This investment would result in a saving
of 736.8 GJ/year for fossil fuels and 0.06 Mt for CO2 emissions
[28]. In the long term, it could be possible to achieve all the
production potential of agricultural biomass. With an investment of 7 Mh it is possible to establish all 26 centres, and
21 Mh would finance the purchase of 31,000 heating systems.
An incentive to buy the biomass heating systems equal to the
25% of the total cost has been suggested.
Concerning forest biomass sources, all the potential that
could be achieved is concentrated in two regional parks, the
Parco dei Nebrodi and the Parco dellEtna. In the short
term, it is possible to achieve all the potential by means of an
investment of 3 Mh for setting up biomass gathering centres
in these parks. The total investment of 4.5 Mh would produce

Table 2 Share of Energy Master plan RES targets in the


mid-term
Font

Municipal
Solar thermal
Solar power
plants
Photovoltaic
Wind
Biomass
Mini-Hydro

Primary energy saving from


RETshare %
17
9
1
3
54
13
3

ARTICLE IN PRESS
86

BIOMASS AND BIOENERGY

33 (2009) 79 87

Table 3 Summary of actions for biomass exploitation [33]


Planning issues for biomass
development BIOMASS actions

Short term
Implementation of collection centres
and final users incentives
Support to exploitation of Zootecnic
waste for biogas
Support start-up cultivation of 10 km2
of rape-seed and transesterification
Mid term
Further implementation of collection
centres and final users incentives
Support SRF cultivation and power
plants
Support cultivation 500 km2 of rapeseed
and transesterification
Long term
Support cultivation 1000 km2 of
rapeseed and transesterification
Further support SRF cultivation and
power plants

Public
investment
(Mh)

Avoided
emissions
(kt CO2)

Primary
energy
saving (TJ)

Cost of primary
energy saving
(kh GJ 1)

Avoided
CO2 cost
(ht 1)

24.5

68.5

0.82

29

14.3

5.0

59.0

0.87

3.4

0.25

2.7

0.05

5.4

95.3

30.0

99.4

1.19

25

12.1

23.0

49.6

0.74

31

18.5

12.5

136.0

2.30

5.4

93.4

25.0

273.0

4.60

5.4

93.5

59.0

123.2

1.84

32

19.1

a savings of 97.13 GJ for fossil fuels and reduce the emission of


CO2 by 8 kt.
To improve SRF, it would be important to put all the
investments into a territorial plan or rural development plan
in order to not to scatter the resources. With a long-term
investment of 15 Mh, it would be possible to plant 0.05 km2 of
SRF with a savings of 154.8 GJ/year for fossil fuels and to avoid
0.048 Mt CO2 emissions per year. It would also be possible to
use the biomass for hydrogen production through reforming
or gasification technologies. It has been determined that each
ton of wood biomass can produce 60 kg of H2 through
gasification, and the same weight can be produced by 200 kg
of ethanol. The hydrogen could be used in public transportation projects or for micro co-generation in fuel cells.
In the mid-term scenario, an investment of 31 Mh would allow
cultivation of some 500 km2 of experimental crops and the
construction of plants for the transformation of raw oil into
biodiesel. This could be used, pure or mixed with diesel fuel, for
urban transportation and/or sold to ordinary consumers.
The environmental savings can be estimated at 2302.54 GJ
from fossil fuels and 136.0 kt of CO2 emissions. Depending on
current regulations, the high costs of the investments can be
significantly reduced because 12.5 Mh/year is already granted
to support the income of wheat producers, even if they are
not producing at all; moreover, the investment would result in
more employment (about 1000 units) and improve the rural
economy and environmental sustainability.

6.

Conclusions

Using a GIS-based methodology, we presented an overview of


the energy potential of biomass coming from the agricultural
and forestry sectors in Sicily. The system considered all the

territorial components that influence the bio-energetic production and its economical convenience, including proximity
to streets, morphology and elevation of terrain, density of
facilities, and other factors. According to the considered
variables, we identified the most exploitable biomass sources
and then planned actions to implement them for the
proposed purpose (Table 3). It was possible to quantify the
potential results of the planned actions (for immediate
biomasses uses, including home heating and heat production
for businesses), considering the environmental issues. Despite the feasibility of biomass energy production, we stress
that the use of biomass depends on assistance from public
entities such as the Strategic Operative Plan, Rural Development Plan, National and Regional Programs and Regional
Energy Master Plan.
R E F E R E N C E S

[1] Ranney JW, Cushman JH. Regional evaluation of woody


biomass production for fuels in the Southeast. In: Biotechnology and bioengineering symposium no. 10. New York:
Wiley; 1980. p. 1020.
[2] Phillips VD, Liu W, Merriam RA, Singh D. Biomass systems
model estimates of short-rotation hardwood production in
Hawaii. Biomass and Bioenergy 1993;5:4219.
[3] Liu W, Merriam RA, Phillips VD, Singh D. Estimating shortrotation Eucalyptus saligna production in Hawaii: an integrated yields and economic model. Bioresource Technology
1993;45:16776.
[4] Tyson KS, Rymes M, Hammond E. Future potential for MSW
energy development. Biomass and Bioenergy
1996;10(23):11124.
[5] Dagnell SAP. Resource mapping and analysis of UK farm
livestock manure. In: Proceedings of the second biomass

ARTICLE IN PRESS
BIOMASS AND BIOENERGY

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]
[12]

[13]
[14]

[15]
[16]
[17]

conference of the Americas: energy, environment, agriculture, and industry, 1995, p. 214.
Cole N, Dagnall SP, Hill J, Jenner C, Pegg D, Rushton KM, et al.
Resource mapping and analysis of potential sites for short
rotation coppice in the UKassessing the opportunities for
biomass to energy technologies. In: Chartier PH, Ferrero GL,
Henius UM, Hultberg S, Sachau J, Wiinblad M, editors.
Proceedings of the ninth European bioenergy conference:
biomass for energy and environment. Oxford: Pergamon;
1996. p. 18116.
Graham RL, English BC, Noon CE. A Geographic Information
System-based modeling system for evaluating the cost of
delivered energy crop feedstock. Biomass and Bioenergy
2000;18:30929.
Ma JG, Scott NR, Degloria SD, Lembo AJ. Siting analysis of
farm-based centralized anaerobic digester systems for distributed generation using GIS. Biomass and Bioenergy
2005;28:591600.
Krukanont P, Prasertsan S. Geographical distribution of
biomass and potential sites rubber wood fired power plants
in Southern Thailand. Biomass and Bioenergy 2004;26:4759.
Bruzzi I, Petrini C, Malagoli E. Colture agricole alternative per
la produzione di elettricita`. LInformatore Agrario, no. 2, 1996.
p. 3944.
41 Censimento Generale dellAgricoltura ISTAT 2002.
Leto C, Carrubba A, Cibella R. Il Colza, coltura da rinnovo per
gli ambienti della Sicilia interna. LInf. Agr., Verona, no. 38,
1992. p. 8990.
Leto C, Carrubba A, Trapani P. Valutazione di cultivar di Colza
per uso alimentare. LInf. Agr., Verona, no. 38, 1994. p. 314.
Amato G. Rese del colza in 41 prove sperimentali, dati grezzi.
Dipartimento di Agronomia Ambientale e Territoriale, Universita` di Palermo; 2006.
AAVV. Utilizzazione energetica biomasse agro-forestali,
Agenzia Regionale Recupero Risorse Toscana; 1998.
AAVV. Biomasse per lEnergia, ISES Italia; 2004.
, Chiaramonti D, Nibbi L.
Bachiller AR, Mieres, JA, Gartner SO
Opportunities for biomass to energy in La Rioja (Spain) and
Tuscany (Italy). In: Proceedings of the first world conference on
biomass for energy and industry, Seville, Spain, 59 June 2000.

33 (2009) 79 87

87

[18] Renagri, Recupero produttivo ai fini ambientali ed energetici


delle biomasse agricole ed agroindustriali, UNIF (Unione
Nazionale degli Istituti di Ricerche Forestali), Disafri
Universita` degli Studi della Tuscia, Irl-Consiglio Nazionale
delle Ricerche, Regione Umbria, Biomasse agricole e forestali
ad uso energetico, Allerona (TR), 1998.
[19] Boardman NK. Energy from the biological conversion of solar
energy. Phil Trans R Soc London 1980;295:47789.
[20] AAVV. Biomass available in Tuscany DEART Universita` di
Firenze; 2002.
[21] Chabbert N, Braun P, Guiraud JP, Arnoux M, Galzy P.
Productivity and fermentability of Jerusulam artichoke
according to harvesting date. Biomass 1983;3:20924.
[22] Bozzini A. Valorizzazione energetica delle biomasse forestali.
In: Agricoltura, Biomassa ed Energia, Quaderni I Georgofili,
IV; 1999.
[23] Bernetti I, Fagarazzi C, Romano S. Il mercato delle biomasse a
scopi energetici in Toscana. DEAF Universita` di Firenze; 2002.
[24] Bisoffi S, Facciotto G. I cedui a turno breve. Sherwood, no. 8,
2000.
[25] Spinelli R. La raccolta delle coltivazioni energetiche legnose.
Legno Cellulosa e Carta no. 12, 1995.
[26] Spinelli R. Short rotation negli USA: le frontiere della
meccanizzazione. Supplemento Informatore Agrario no. 1
del, 713 September, 2001.
[27] Del Favero R. Gestione forestale e produzione legnosa a fini
energetici, Sherwood, no. 8, 2000.
[28] Hellrigl B. Numeri per la Dendroenergetica. Edizione provvisoria; Milano, 2001.
[29] AAVV. Country report for Italy. European Energy Crops
Overview, European Commission DG XII, 1996.
[30] Frascarelli A. Il nuovo piano di regionalizzazione della PAC.
Terra e Vita magazine no. 36, 1999.
[31] Baldini S, Barbagallo A, Brucchioni A. Biomasse forestali per
uso energetico. Quaderni I Georgofili, IV, Valorizzazione
energetica delle Biomasse forestali, 1999.
[32] /www.clc2000.sinanet.apat.itS accessed on April 2006.
[33] AAVV, Studies for the regional energy master plan. Public
report of Dipartimento di Ricerche Energetiche e Ambientali,
University of Palermo, July 2007.

Você também pode gostar