In the last years, the promotion of the use of biofuels for
transport has become one of the main objectives of the European
Union (EU) energy policy. Support for the use of biofuels was
motivated by various policy goals aiming at reducing greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions, diversifying fuel supply sources, and
decreasing dependency on fossil fuels. Among several measures
aiming at encouraging biofuel production and consumption in the
EU, in 2003 the Directive 2003/30/EC set an indicative target of
5.75% of transportation fuel from renewable sources by 2010[1].In
2009, the Directive 2009/28/EC established the overall target that
20% of energy consumption should be represented by renewable
energy sources by 2020 in each European member state[2].In
addition, the Directive sets a mandatory 10% minimum target for
biofuels in the transport sector.
Nowadays the use of vegetable oil-based biofuels, including
straight vegetable oils and derivatives such as biodiesel, is a reality
[3e7]. Though large scale players of the fuel market are extensively
focusing on this source, the use of oily seeds in delocalized rural
applications has drawn increasing interest due to the uneven distribution of this feedstock and the advantage of supporting rural
development[7e9]and reduce the transport of raw material[10].
Recent studies showed that in Italy biofuel production cannot
supply a significant share of the current energy requirements for
transport without serious environmental and socio-economic implications, mainly due to the huge costs in terms of land requirements[8,9,11,12]. Furthermore, literature results show that
the agricultural phase involved infirst generation biofuel production lines is the least environmentally friendly stage due to the use
of mineral nitrogen fertilizers[11e13]. This is a clear indicator that
large-scale biofuel production is not the optimal solution in the
Italian context. Nevertheless, the prospect of a biofuel production at
farm scale for agricultural uses could be considered a viable option