Sustainable aviation fuel production from <i>Brassica carinata</i> in the Southern United States

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides empirical data on carinata agronomy and modeling that can inform bioenergy crop research and life-cycle assessments.

🏢実務担当者:Offers practical guidance on carinata cultivation (seeding rates, nitrogen management) for farmers and biofuel supply chain developers.

🏛政策担当者:Highlights the potential of carinata as a sustainable feedstock for SAF, supporting policy on agricultural diversification and renewable fuel mandates.

The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change categorically mentions that immediate, rapid, and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are needed, else limiting global warming to 1.5°C or even 2°C will be beyond reach (Masson-Delmotte et al., 2021). In this context, reducing greenhouse gas emissions of the aviation sector is essential. This is especially true as the aviation sector is currently responsible for 3.5% of overall global warming (Lee et al., 2021). It is projected that the global aviation sector would cumulatively generate an estimated 43 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions through 2050, constituting almost 5% of the global emissions allowable to keep global warming below 1.5°C (Pardee, 2015). This could be attributed to the fact that the total consumption of conventional aviation fuel is expected to increase by almost 2.5 times by the end of 2050 due to the rising demand for aviation worldwide (EERE, 2020). The United States consumes about 25% of the total conventional aviation fuel worldwide (EERE, 2020). The aviation sector currently emits 181 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, that is, about 5% of the overall greenhouse gas emissions nationwide (USEPA, 2020). Therefore, a critical need exists for reducing carbon emissions of the aviation sector at the national level. Three federal agencies (Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, and Department of Agriculture) have recently signed a memorandum of understanding to launch a government-wide Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge to reduce the cost, enhance the sustainability, and expand the production and use of sustainable aviation fuel that achieves a minimum of a 50% reduction in lifecycle greenhouse gas compared to conventional fuel to meet a goal of supplying sufficient sustainable aviation fuel to displace 100% of conventional aviation fuel demand by 2050. This grand challenge supports the national goal of producing 132.5 billion liters of sustainable aviation fuel by 2050 (White House, 2021). This challenge is especially significant for the 13 southern states that together consumed about 35% of the overall conventional aviation fuel nationwide in 2019 (USEIA, 2021). Brassica carinata (henceforth, carinata) provides an opportunity to reduce the aviation sector's carbon footprint at the regional level. The oil obtained from carinata seeds could be refined using existing conversion technologies to produce sustainable aviation fuel and other valuable bioproducts. Additionally, carinata is a non-food crop, and being a winter crop, it does not compete with other summer crops in the Southern United States. It also potentially provides several other advantages such as water quality improvements, soil protection, weed control, increased soil carbon, and support pollinator health. It is quite likely that the growing carinata would also help farmers in the region by diversifying and augmenting their revenue streams. This is especially true as between 979 and 2045 million liters of carinata-based sustainable aviation fuel could be potentially produced across Georgia, Florida, and Alabama (Alam & Dwivedi, 2019). In this context, over 100 collaborators from 10 public institutions and four industry partners are undertaking research, extension, and education efforts under the aegis of SPARC (Southeast Partnership for Advanced Renewables from Carinata; www.sparc-cap.org) to assess the economic, environmental, and social feasibility of incorporating carinata into current crop rotations in the Southern United States. The focus is also on establishing sustainable supply chains of carinata-based sustainable aviation fuel by developing strategic public-private partnerships. The SPARC is supported by a $15 million CAP (Coordinated Agricultural Project) grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture. This virtual special issue provides scientific grounding for carinata-based sustainable aviation fuel production in the Southern United States based on the research conducted by SPARC. It is divided into four sections. The first section introduces carinata. The second section focuses on the agronomy of carinata. The third section focuses on carinata economics. Finally, the fourth section focuses on the environmental impacts of carinata-based sustainable aviation fuel production in the region. George et al. (2021) introduce carinata as a crop in the Southern United States, highlighting its role as a potential winter crop. Carinata seeds can be crushed to extract the oil, which can be processed with existing conversion technologies for sustainable aviation fuel production along with other commercially valuable co-products (e.g., naphtha, bio-diesel). It is also mentioned that leftover carinata seed at the carinata oil extraction phase could readily be utilized for animal feed due to its high protein content after some basic pre-processing. They have also provided more details about SPARC. A need for building resilience through partnerships across academia, industry, and state and federal agencies is emphasized for ensuring sustainable bio-economy development in the Southern United States. Seepaul, Kumar, Iboyi, et al. (2021) provide details of the origin, distribution, genomic resources, morphology, phenology, reproduction, and agronomy of carinata based on studies across the world. It was found that carinata is adaptable to diverse growing regions, cropping systems, and management regimes with demonstrated potential to be grown on the continents of Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Europe, and Australia either as a spring or winter crop in double-cropped systems. It further reports that carinata could be potentially produced in a double-crop system in the Southern United States, though it would require continued research to integrate crop biology with agronomy to understand the interaction between crop growth and development with agricultural inputs and management. Seepaul, Kumar, Boote, et al. (2021) quantified the total aboveground dry matter accumulation (TDM), allocation, growth, nutrient uptake, and seed quality of carinata based on field experiments conducted during 2017–2018 (Year 1) and 2018–2019 (Year 2) in Quincy, Florida. The two carinata cultivars Avanza 641 and AX17012 accumulated 10,826 and 9343 kg TDM/ha in Year 1 and 9655 and 10,642 kg TDM/ha in Year 2, respectively, at harvest maturity. The proportion of DM in the vegetative parts such as leaves and stems decreased, and the DM in reproductive structures such as silique walls and seeds increased with maturity. Seed yield was similar between cultivars but differed between years with Year 1 (2732 kg/ha), producing 29% greater seed yield than Year 2 (1929 kg/ha). Bashyal et al. (2021) conducted a nitrogen rate (0, 45, 90, 134, and 179 kg N/ha) study during the winter–spring growing seasons (2017–2018 and 2018–2019) across Florida (one site) and Georgia (three sites, 2018–2019 only) focusing on carinata nutrient uptake, biomass, seed yield, and seed chemical composition. Seed yield showed a linear response up to 134 kg N/ha. Seed protein and glucosinolate concentrations decreased from 0 to 90 kg N/ha, and then increased from 90 to 179 kg N/ha. The seed oil concentration was inversely related to seed protein concentration. Additionally, a two-split N application was found to be more profitable than either a single N application or a three-split N application based on marginal return for the study sites located in Georgia. The authors recommended a two-way split N application (at-plant + pre-bolting) at 134 kg N/ha for optimizing seed yield. Iboyi et al. (2021) conducted a study to evaluate the effect of tillage system (conventional, no-till, broadcast-disc, and ripper-roller) and seeding rate (1.12, 5.60, 10.09, and 14.57 kg seed/ha) on the performance of carinata. Studies at Headland in AL and Jay and Quincy in FL during the winter–spring growing seasons (2017–2018 and 2018–2019) found that soil penetrometer resistance was significantly affected by the tillage system, with the ripper-roller consistently having the lowest penetration resistance values across all sites and years. Yield response to the tillage system was variable. Among seeding rate treatments, the yield was lowest at 1.12 kg seed/ha and similar among 5.60, 10.09, and 14.57 kg seed/ha across all sites and years. There was no tillage by seeding rate interaction for yield. Among the seeding rate treatments, 5.6 kg seed/ha rate was optimal across all sites and years regardless of land preparation method and is thus the recommended seeding rate for commercial carinata production. The CROPGRO model is a mechanistic crop simulation of daily crop growth and development as a function of daily weather, soil properties, crop management, and species parameters (Boote et al., 2018). Using data published in the above studies (Bashyal et al., 2021; Iboyi et al., 2021; Seepaul, Kumar, Boote, et al., 2021), Boote et al. (2021) adapted the CROPGRO model to simulate carinata growth over time. A case study was also developed to simulate the response of carinata relative to sowing dates at eight sites. Simulated yields were higher for the earlier sowing dates. The October 16 date gave the highest yield for five of the eight sites, although the November 6 date was the highest yielding at three sites. For the more northerly locations (Tifton and Midville in GA; Plains, Shorter, and Brewton in AL), it was recommended to sow between October 16 and November 6, both to achieve high yield, and to avoid late harvest that could interfere with summer crops. For the southerly sites closer to the Gulf (Quincy, Jay, and Fairhope in FL), the sowing date range for high yield and reasonable maturity is broader, and stretches from October 16 to November 27. Overall, the adapted model provided good simulations of the growth dynamics of carinata du

• openalex https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12900first seen 2026-08-02 18:04:00