The spatiotemporal availability of crop residue for biofuel feedstock in East and Central-South China

Crop residue resources are known to provide important lignocellulosic biomass that can be used as feedstock. This study evaluates spatiotemporal variation in residue quantities of field crops across seven provinces in East China (EC) and six provinces in Central-South China (CSC). MATLAB and Map GIS were used to analyze the data, which was collected from yearbooks and the published literature. The results show that cereals such as wheat, maize, and rice comprised the largest crop residue feedstock resource across both regions over the period between 2017 and 2019. Thus, annual total residue amounts were 206 Mt in EC and 243 Mt in CSC. This means that, when expressed as total standard coal equivalent (SCE), the amounts were estimated as 107 Mt in EC and 127 Mt in CSC. Compared with previous research, CSC exhibited the highest crop residue production and potential for biofuels, whereas EC exhibited one of the lowest potentials for biofuels among the six regions of China. This study is the first to evaluate the spatial distribution of annual field residue quantity based on counties in the two regions. The key factors influencing the availability of biofuel feedstock included storage capacity (X-3), irrigation acreage (X-4), and fertilizer input (X-5) while the degree of mechanization also played a role in the CSC region. In contrast, the field residue quantity across the EC region was significantly (P < 0.01) influenced by these three factors. (c) 2021 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Automated summary

This study evaluated the spatiotemporal variation in crop residue quantities in field crops in Eastern and Central-South China, showing that the latter region has higher crop residue production and biofuel potential. Key factors influencing the availability of biofuel feedstock include storage capacity, irrigation acreage, and fertilizer input.