Biomass production in hilly areas of central Italy

The agricultural sector can provide an important contribution to reduce the fossil fuels consumption and IHI emissions through agroenergetic production from dedicated energy crops and biomass residuals. To evaluate these topics, a research project was started in 2006 with the contribution of Tuscany Region administration. The aim was to promote a short supply chain in hilly areas of central Italy (Tuscany), furthering the local energetic biomass production and the reduction of transport cost. In particular this paper describes a study about potential local production of energetic biomass from two traditional crops suitable to biofuel production. The considered crops were maize (Zea mays L.) and sunflower (Helianthus annuus, L) used respectively to bioethanol and biodiesel production.