Cellulosic Ethanol from Forest Biomass and Carbon Sequestration: Nonindustrial Private Forest Owner Operation and the Modeled Impact on Cellulosic Ethanol Carbon Emissions

Cellulosic Ethanol;Carbon Sequestration;Nonindustrial Private Forest Owners;Coupled Human and Natural Systems;Natural Resources and Environment

Brunner, AnnaMiller, Shelie ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Cellulosic Ethanol;    Carbon Sequestration;    Nonindustrial Private Forest Owners;    Coupled Human and Natural Systems;    Natural Resources and Environment;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/94535/AnnaBrunnerMSThesis121112.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Cellulosic ethanol has long been put forward as a more carbon-neutral fuel source than cornethanol—trees grown for cellulosic ethanol production sequester carbon from the atmosphereand are less intensive to manage. Limits on the forest’s rate of growth and the limiteddistance over which forest biomass can be profitably transported mean that forest owners inthe vicinity of a woody-biomass biorefinery must be willing to harvest their timber asfeedstock. I conducted a survey of 500 nonindustrial private forest, or NIPF, owners inMichigan to understand their management decision-making. The survey found a significantcorrelation between owners supporting sales of their timber for cellulosic ethanol productionand owners desiring to maintain the same forest for carbon sequestration. However, thesetwo ways of using NIPF land to mitigate net carbon emissions are mutually exclusive. Iconstructed a new computer model, the Cellulosic Ethanol BioRefinery Accounting Model(CEBRAM), which examines this tradeoff of how best to mitigate net carbon emissions usingNIPF land. The model was parameterized for current forest species and growth in Michigan.The overall rate of NIPF biomass harvest and provision by NIPF owners to the biorefinery(referred to as ;;participation’) indicated by the survey was 47%. At this participation rate thenet carbon balance for the biorefinery calculated on an energy basis was 0.03 MgC/ha overthe 40 year simulation. Alternatively, when considering both the biorefinery and C storage innon-participating NIPF land within the transport radius, the net carbon was 10.74 MgC/haover 40 years. If all the NIPF landscape was forested, 20.2 MgC/ha over 40 years would besequestered, and to compare the presence of the biorefinery with the opportunity cost of thissequestration potential of the land puts the net carbon calculation at -9.46 MgC/ha over 40years. This negative net carbon value indicates that more net carbon would be emitted withBrunner M.S. Thesis iiithe biorefinery than without it. This analysis indicates that when considering NIPF forestland in Michigan, greater net C sequestration can be achieved through forest growth thanthrough harvest of woody biomass for cellulosic ethanol production.