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    Energy and Climate

    Simulated Biomass Sorghum GHG Reduction Potential is Similar to Maize
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    • Jeffrey Kent*
      Jeffrey Kent
      Department of Forest, Rangeland and Fire Sciences, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 1133, Moscow, Idaho 83844-1133, United States
      *Email: [email protected]. Tel: (724) 989-1908.
      More by Jeffrey Kent
      Orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-2600-2667
    • Melannie D. Hartman
      Melannie D. Hartman
      Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1499, United States
      More by Melannie D. Hartman
    • Do Kyoung Lee
      Do Kyoung Lee
      Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, AW-101 Turner Hall, 1102 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
      More by Do Kyoung Lee
    • Tara Hudiburg
      Tara Hudiburg
      Department of Forest, Rangeland and Fire Sciences, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 1133, Moscow, Idaho 83844-1133, United States
      More by Tara Hudiburg
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    Environmental Science & Technology

    Cite this: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2020, 54, 19, 12456–12466
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    https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c01676
    Published August 28, 2020
    Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society
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    Abstract

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    Policy support for cellulosic biofuels is contingent on their achieving much greater reductions in life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions than corn starch ethanol. Biomass sorghum has been suggested as a genetically and agronomically tractable feedstock species to augment near-term cellulosic feedstock production. This study used DayCent modeling to investigate biomass sorghum production emissions relative to corn with and without stover utilization at 3,265 across the rainfed United States. Sorghum produced greater average feedstock dry matter (15.6 ± 1.4 vs 14.8 ± 2.2 Mg ha–1 yr–1) and slightly lower estimated ethanol energy yields (10.6 ± 1.0 vs 11.8 ± 2.9 MJ m–2 yr–1) as corn grain with 75% stover collection. The high biomass removals in both the sorghum and corn stover scenarios led to soil organic carbon losses on 90 and 100% of sites, respectively. Average feedstock production emissions intensities were similar between sorghum and corn with 75% stover removal (17.6 ± 2.8 vs 18.8 ± 3.0 g CO2e MJ–1), but were notably lower under sorghum for sites in the southwestern study region (13.6 ± 3.0 vs 22.5 ± 3.1 g CO2e MJ–1). These results suggest that biomass sorghum produces cellulosic feedstock with similar emissions to corn grain and at current yield levels is unlikely to meet the Renewable Fuel Standard emissions reduction threshold for cellulosic biofuels.

    Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society

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    Supporting Information

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    The Supporting Information is available free of charge at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.0c01676.

    • Supporting information file contains: parameter values, field data sources, calibration and validation figures for DayCent corn and biomass sorghum parameterizations, land use history assumptions for DayCent simulations, values and sources for field-to-farm-gate life-cycle analysis parameters (PDF)

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    This article is cited by 17 publications.

    1. Xinxin Fan, Madhu Khanna, Yuanyao Lee, Jeffrey Kent, Rui Shi, Jeremy S. Guest, DoKyoung Lee. Spatially Varying Costs of GHG Abatement with Alternative Cellulosic Feedstocks for Sustainable Aviation Fuels. Environmental Science & Technology 2024, 58 (26) , 11352-11362. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c01949
    2. Maik Lucas, J. Gil, G. P. Robertson, N. E. Ostrom, A. Kravchenko. Changes in soil pore structure generated by the root systems of maize, sorghum and switchgrass affect in situ N2O emissions and bacterial denitrification. Biology and Fertility of Soils 2025, 61 (3) , 367-383. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-023-01761-1
    3. Bethany Blakely, Caitlin E. Moore, Taylor L. Pederson, Christy D. Gibson, Michael C. Benson, Evan Dracup, Carl J. Bernacchi. Climate Forcing of Bioenergy Feedstocks: Insights From Carbon and Energy Flux Measurements. GCB Bioenergy 2025, 17 (4) https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.70026
    4. Tarun Sharma, Prakram Singh Chauhan, Maulik Patel, Akashdeep Singh, Manmeet Kaur, Garima Chauhan, Bharat Bhushan Rana, Naveen Kumar, Abhishek Walia. Carbon negative biofuels: a step ahead of carbon neutrality. Biofuels 2025, 14 , 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/17597269.2025.2450156
    5. Xu Yang, Nianhua Chen, Hui Yu, Xinyue Liu, Yujie Feng, Defeng Xing, Yushi Tian. Applying machine learning and genetic algorithms accelerated for optimizing ethanol production. Science of The Total Environment 2024, 955 , 177027. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177027
    6. Austin Lamb, Evan Kurtz, Priscilla Glenn, Brian A. McKinley, John Mullet. Bioenergy sorghum nodal root bud development: morphometric, transcriptomic and gene regulatory network analysis. Frontiers in Plant Science 2024, 15 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1456627
    7. Neus Escobar, Gonca Seber, Rastislav Skalsky, Michael Wögerer, Martin Jung, Robert Malina. Spatially-explicit land use change emissions and carbon payback times of biofuels under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). Science of The Total Environment 2024, 948 , 174635. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174635
    8. Jie Fu, Brian McKinley, Brandon James, William Chrisler, Lye Meng Markillie, Matthew J. Gaffrey, Hugh D. Mitchell, Muhammad Rizwan Riaz, Brenda Marcial, Galya Orr, Kankshita Swaminathan, John Mullet, Amy Marshall‐Colon. Cell‐type‐specific transcriptomics uncovers spatial regulatory networks in bioenergy sorghum stems. The Plant Journal 2024, 118 (5) , 1668-1688. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.16690
    9. Marco E. Mechan-Llontop, John Mullet, Ashley Shade. Phyllosphere Exudates Select for Distinct Microbiome Members in Sorghum Epicuticular Wax and Aerial Root Mucilage. Phytobiomes Journal 2023, 7 (2) , 184-197. https://doi.org/10.1094/PBIOMES-08-22-0046-FI
    10. Melannie D. Hartman, Mark Burnham, William J. Parton, Adrien Finzi, Evan H. DeLucia, Wendy H. Yang. In silico evaluation of plant nitrification suppression effects on agroecosystem nitrogen loss. Ecosphere 2022, 13 (12) https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4292
    11. Josh Bendorf, Emily Heaton, Theodore Hartman, Guler (Rojda) Aslan‐Sungur, Andy VanLoocke. Agroecosystem model simulations reveal spatial variability in relative productivity in biomass sorghum and maize in Iowa, USA. GCB Bioenergy 2022, 14 (12) , 1336-1360. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.13004
    12. Pan Yang, Ximing Cai, Xinchen Hu, Qiankun Zhao, Yuanyao Lee, Madhu Khanna, Yoel R. Cortés-Peña, Jeremy S. Guest, Jeffrey Kent, Tara W. Hudiburg, Erhu Du, Steve John, Fred Iutzi. An agent-based modeling tool supporting bioenergy and bio-product community communication regarding cellulosic bioeconomy development. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2022, 167 , 112745. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2022.112745
    13. G. Philip Robertson, Stephen K. Hamilton, Keith Paustian, Pete Smith. Land‐based climate solutions for the United States. Global Change Biology 2022, 28 (16) , 4912-4919. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16267
    14. Zhen Zhang, Zhuo Feng, Hao Qi, Yali Chen, Yujie Chen, Qiliang Deng, Shuo Wang. Carbonized sorghum straw derived 3D cup-shaped evaporator with enhanced evaporation rate and energy efficiency. Sustainable Materials and Technologies 2022, 32 , e00414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susmat.2022.e00414
    15. Jonathan J. Ojeda, Graeme Hammer, Kai‐Wei Yang, Mitchell R. Tuinstra, Peter deVoil, Greg McLean, Isaiah Huber, Jeffrey J. Volenec, Sylvie M. Brouder, Sotirios Archontoulis, Scott C. Chapman. Quantifying the effects of varietal types × management on the spatial variability of sorghum biomass across US environments. GCB Bioenergy 2022, 14 (3) , 411-433. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12919
    16. Austin Lamb, Brock Weers, Brian McKinley, William Rooney, Cristine Morgan, Amy Marshall‐Colon, John Mullet. Bioenergy sorghum’s deep roots: A key to sustainable biomass production on annual cropland. GCB Bioenergy 2022, 14 (2) , 132-156. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12907
    17. Caitlin E. Moore, Adam C. von Haden, Mark B. Burnham, Ilsa B. Kantola, Christy D. Gibson, Bethany J. Blakely, Evan C. Dracup, Michael D. Masters, Wendy H. Yang, Evan H. DeLucia, Carl J. Bernacchi. Ecosystem‐scale biogeochemical fluxes from three bioenergy crop candidates: How energy sorghum compares to maize and miscanthus. GCB Bioenergy 2021, 13 (3) , 445-458. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12788
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    Environmental Science & Technology

    Cite this: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2020, 54, 19, 12456–12466
    Click to copy citationCitation copied!
    https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c01676
    Published August 28, 2020
    Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society
    Request reuse permissions

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