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Nitrogen and biofuels; an overview of the current state of knowledge

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Abstract

Biofuels are forms of energy (heat, power, transport fuels or chemicals) based on different kinds of biomass. There is much discussion on the availability of different biomass sources for bioenergy application and on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional fossil fuels. There is much less discussion on the other effects of biomass such as the acceleration of the nitrogen cycle through increased fertilizer use resulting in losses to the environment and additional emissions of oxidized nitrogen. This paper provides an overview of the state of knowledge on nitrogen and biofuels. Increasing biofuel production touch upon several sustainability issues for which reason sustainability criteria are being developed for biomass use. We propose that these criteria should include the disturbance of the nitrogen cycle for biomass options that require additional fertilizer inputs. Optimization of the nitrogen use efficiency and the development of second generation technologies will help fulfill the sustainability criteria.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the support of the EU COST Action 729 the ESF program Nitrogen in Europe (NinE:.www.esf-nine.org), and the EU funded Integrated Project NitroEurope.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy Research Centre of The Netherlands, ECN, P.O. Box 1, 1755 ZG, Petten, The Netherlands

    Jan Willem Erisman & Albert Bleeker

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, VU Free University of Amsterdam, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Jan Willem Erisman

  3. Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP), P.O. Box 303, 3720 AH, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    Hans van Grinsven

  4. Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Joint Research Centre, JRC, 21020, Ispra, VA, Italy

    Adrian Leip

  5. Mount Pleasant, SC, USA

    Arvin Mosier

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  1. Jan Willem Erisman
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Correspondence to Jan Willem Erisman.

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Erisman, J.W., van Grinsven, H., Leip, A. et al. Nitrogen and biofuels; an overview of the current state of knowledge. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 86, 211–223 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-009-9285-4

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