The production of residual biomass, such as vine pruning, presents environmental problems since its elimination is usually carried out through the uncontrolled burning of the remaining materials and with the emission of greenhouse gases without any counterpart. The use of these residues to produce biochar presents several advantages. In addition to the more common energy recovery, other conversion ways allowing new uses, such as soil amendment and carbon sequestration, can be analyzed as options as well. In the present study, vine pruning biomasses are characterized to evaluate the behavior of the different constituents. Then, the different possible applications are discussed. It is concluded that materials resulting from the pruning of vineyards have excellent characteristics for energy recovery, with an increment of more than 50% in the heating value and almost 60% in the carbon content when carbonized. This recovery procedure contributes to creating new value chains for residual materials to promote sustainable practices in the wine sector.

Waste management is a current and transversal problem in all production areas, including agriculture. Within this economic activity, wine production generates a large amount of waste, namely, that resulting from the winemaking activity itself, such as pomace and grape stalks, and waste resulting from the management of the vineyards, with operations such as vine pruning. The management of vine pruning residuals has traditionally been conducted by burning leftovers on-site, without any use for the energy produced. This research analyzed the potential for the valorization of residual biomass resulting from vine pruning by creating a business model based on value chains of local scale. For this analysis, several samples of residues resulting from the “Loureiro” vine variety planted in Ponte de Lima (northern Portugal) were collected and characterized. The objective of the small-scale business model created, in addition, to solving the environmental problems related to the disposal of waste from agricultural activities, a value chain can be established, contributing to increasing the income of the farmers while introducing a circular bioeconomy and sustainable rural development practices.

The use of residual biomass of forest and/or agricultural origin is an increasingly common issue regarding the incorporation of materials that, until recently, were out of the typical raw material supply chains for the production of biomass pellets, mainly due to the quality constraints that some of these materials present. The need to control the quality of biomass-derived fuels led to the development of standards, such as ENplus^®, to define the permitted limits for a set of parameters, such as the ash or alkali metal content. In the present study, samples of vine pruning, and ENplus^®-certified pellets were collected and characterized, and the results obtained were compared with the limits presented in the standard. The values presented from vine pruning approximated the values presented by Pinus pinaster wood, the main raw material used in the production of certified pellets in Portugal, except for the values of ash, copper (Cu), and nitrogen (N) contents, with vine pruning being out of the qualifying limits for certification. However, it was found that the incorporation of up to 10% of biomass from vine pruning allowed the fulfillment of the requirements presented in the ENplus^® standard, indicating a path for the implementation of circular economy processes in the wine industry.

The high volumes of animal manure and sewage sludge, as a consequence of the development of intensive and specialized cattle dairy farms in peri-urban areas, pose challenges to local environmental quality and demands for systems innovation. Besides these negative impacts, energy recovery from biogas produced in anaerobic co-digestion processes should contribute to local sustainable development. This research considers technical data obtained from the optimization of biomethanization processes using sewage sludge and cattle manure liquid fraction, aiming to develop a spatially explicit model including multicriteria evaluation and an analytical hierarchy process to locate biogas production facilities, allocate energy resources and consider biogas unit pre-dimensioning analysis. According to the biophysical conditions and socioeconomic dynamics of the study area (Vila do Conde, Northwest Portugal), a spatially explicit model using multicriteria and multiobjective techniques allowed the definition of suitable locations, as well as the allocation of resources and support pre-dimensioning of biogas facilities. A p-median model allowed us to allocate resources and pre-dimensioning biogas facilities according to distance and accessibility elements. The results indicate: (i) the location of areas with adequate environmental conditions and socioeconomic suitability advantages to install biogas production facilities, and (ii) the ability to compare the options of centralized or distributed location alternatives and associated pre-dimensioning.