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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » National Sedimentation Laboratory » Water Quality and Ecology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #419373
Research Project: Enhancing Long-Term Agroecosystem Sustainability of Water and Soil Resources Through Science and Technology

Location: Water Quality and Ecology Research

Title: Soil carbon dioxide equivalent emissions and theoretical ethanol yield from Midwestern bioenergy systems

Author
item Johnson Ii, Frank
item DADA, ADEBUKOLA - Purdue University
item ARMSTRONG, SHALAMAR - Purdue University
item Smith, Douglas
item VOLENEC, JEFFREY - Purdue University
item BROUDER, SYLVIE - Purdue University

Submitted to: BioEnergy Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/17/2025
Publication Date: 3/26/2025
Citation: Johnson II, F.E., Dada, A.O., Armstrong, S.D., Smith, D.R., Volenec, J.J., Brouder, S.M. 2025. Soil carbon dioxide equivalent emissions and theoretical ethanol yield from Midwestern bioenergy systems. BioEnergy Research. 18:34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-025-10832-0.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-025-10832-0

Interpretive Summary: There has been significant interests in increasing biofuel production and usage in the United States. Growing crops for biofuel production will assist the United States in meeting the energy goals. However, it is important to understand the problem of greenhouse gas emissions being produced from these agricultural systems. It is possible that planting bioenergy crops may help address this problem. An accomplishment of this work is to provide an understanding of how growing annual and perennial bioenergy crops can impact greenhouse gas emissions. This contribution helps address the problem of greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural land and helps push the United States towards its energy goals.

Technical Abstract: There has been a significant demand to increase biofuel production and usage in the United States. Bioenergy crops also have the potential to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural systems but crop type (annual vs. perennial) potentially impacts mitigation potential. Objectives of this research were to: 1) assess cumulative carbon dioxide equivalence (CO2eq) of annual and perennial crops; 2) evaluate the theoretical energy yield (TTEY) from annual and perennial crops and; 3) assess the CO2eq / TTEY ratio (CTR) of annual and perennial plants. This study was conducted from 2008-2016 at the Purdue University Water Quality Field Station near West Lafayette, IN. Replicated treatments (n = 4) included continuous corn (CC), continuous sorghum (CS), Miscanthus (MS), switchgrass (SG), and restored prairie (RP). Averaging over the course of the study, the highest annual CO2eq observed were 7.8 and 6.7 Mg CO2-C ha-1 yr-1 from RP and SG, respectively. Average CO2eq for CC, CS, and MS were 5.8, 5.5, and 5.0 Mg CO2-C ha-1 yr-1, respectively. The highest and lowest TTEY were observed in MS and RP, yielding 189.4 and 26.7 GJ EtOH ha-1 yr-1, respectively. Thus, MS had the lowest CTR out of these treatments. Averaging across plant type, CO2eq, TTEY, and CTR were 6.5 Mg CO2-C ha-1 yr-1, 89.8 GJ EtOH ha-1 yr-1, and 345 kg CO2-C GJ-1 EtOH, respectively for perennials, and 5.7 Mg CO2-C ha-1 yr-1, 118 GJ EtOH ha-1 yr-1, and 52.1 kg CO2-C GJ-1 EtOH, respectively for annuals. Although these results suggest lower CO2eq, higher TTEY, and lower CTR for annual crops compared to perennials, the mitigation potential of emitted GHGs from perennials in agricultural systems used for biofuel production is also highlighted.