Integrated and spatially explicit assessment of sustainable crop residues potential in Europe

This paper provides estimates of available agricultural residues at the European level. It complements previous studies by expanding the geographical study area to 36 European countries, and improving the methodology by incorporating temporal variability of the theoretical potential resources and taking into consideration technical and environmental constraints. The amount of residues potentially obtainable from the main crops cultivated in Europe, namely wheat, rye, barley, oats, maize, rice, rapeseed and sunflower was assessed. Detailed spatial distribution maps of different crop residue potentials (theoretical, technical, environmental and sustainable) are provided at 1 km spatial resolution. The average theoretical potential was estimated at 291 and 367 Mt DM in the EU and Europe, respectively. Significant yearly variability of crop residue production has been noticed, between 209 and 365 million tonnes dry yr(-1) (3673-6389 PJ) in the EU and between 253 and 483 million tonnes dry yr(-1) (4434-8453 PJ) across Europe. The average technical potential of crop residue was estimated at 168 million tonnes dry yr(-1) (2941 PJ) in the EU and at 212 million tonnes dry yr(-1) (3715 PJ) in Europe. The average sustainable potential considering both technical and environmental constraints in each location was estimated at about 124 million tonnes dry yr(-1) (2162 PJ) in the EU and at 14 Mt DM (2601 PJ) in Europe.