Xia Longlong, Cao Liang, Yang Yi, Ti Chaopu, Liu Yize, Smith Pete, van Groenigen Kees Jan, Lehmann Johannes, Lal Rattan, Butterbach-Bahl Klaus, Kiese Ralf, Zhuang Minghao, Lu Xi, Yan Xiaoyuan
State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China.
Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-IFU), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Nat Food. 2023 Mar;4(3):236-246. doi: 10.1038/s43016-023-00694-0. Epub 2023 Feb 9.
Agricultural food production is a main driver of global greenhouse gas emissions, with unclear pathways towards carbon neutrality. Here, through a comprehensive life-cycle assessment using data from China, we show that an integrated biomass pyrolysis and electricity generation system coupled with commonly applied methane and nitrogen mitigation measures can help reduce staple crops' life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions from the current 666.5 to -37.9 Tg CO-equivalent yr. Emission reductions would be achieved primarily through carbon sequestration from biochar application to the soil, and fossil fuel displacement by bio-energy produced from pyrolysis. We estimate that this integrated system can increase crop yield by 8.3%, decrease reactive nitrogen losses by 25.5%, lower air pollutant emissions by 125-2,483 Gg yr and enhance net environmental and economic benefits by 36.2%. These results indicate that integrated biochar solutions could contribute to China's 2060 carbon neutrality objective while enhancing food security and environmental sustainability.
农业食品生产是全球温室气体排放的主要驱动因素，实现碳中和的途径尚不明晰。在此，我们通过利用来自中国的数据进行全面的生命周期评估表明，一个综合的生物质热解发电系统，再加上常用的甲烷和氮减排措施，有助于将主要作物的生命周期温室气体排放量从目前的666.5太克二氧化碳当量/年降至-37.9太克二氧化碳当量/年。减排主要通过将生物炭施用于土壤进行碳固存，以及用热解产生的生物能源替代化石燃料来实现。我们估计，这个综合系统可使作物产量提高8.3%，活性氮损失减少25.5%，空气污染物排放量每年降低125-2483千兆克，并使环境和经济效益净提高36.2%。这些结果表明，综合生物炭解决方案有助于中国实现2060年碳中和目标，同时增强粮食安全和环境可持续性。
