Combining Biomass Gasification and Solid Oxid Fuel Cell for Heat and Power Generation: An Early-Stage Life Cycle Assessment

Biomass-fueled combined heat and power systems (CHPs) can potentially offer environmental benefits compared to conventional separate production technologies. This study presents the first environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) of a novel high-efficiency bio-based power (HBP) technology, which combines biomass gasification with a 199 kW solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) to produce heat and electricity. The aim is to identify the main sources of environmental impacts and to assess the potential environmental performance compared to benchmark technologies. The use of various biomass fuels and alternative allocation methods were scrutinized. The LCA results reveal that most of the environmental impacts of the energy supplied with the HBP technology are caused by the production of the biomass fuel. This contribution is higher for pelletized than for chipped biomass. Overall, HBP technology shows better environmental performance than heat from natural gas and electricity from the German/European grid. When comparing the HBP technology with the biomass-fueled ORC technology, the former offers significant benefits in terms of particulate matter (about 22 times lower), photochemical ozone formation (11 times lower), acidification (8 times lower) and terrestrial eutrophication (about 26 times lower). The environmental performance was not affected by the allocation parameter (exergy or economic) used. However, the tested substitution approaches showed to be inadequate to model multiple environmental impacts of CHP plants under the investigated context and goal.

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Life Cycle Assessment of Maize-Germ Oil Production and The Use of Bioenergy to Mitigate Environmental Impacts: A Gate-To-Gate Case Study

Resources ◽

10.3390/resources8020060 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 60 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Mattias Gaglio ◽

Elena Tamburini ◽

Francesco Lucchesi ◽

Vassilis Aschonitis ◽

Anna Atti ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Energy Demand ◽

Food Industry ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Impact Categories ◽

Industrial Processing ◽

The Impact

The need to reduce the environmental impacts of the food industry is increasing together with the dramatic increment of global food demand. Circulation strategies such as the exploitation of self-produced renewable energy sources can improve ecological performances of industrial processes. However, evidence is needed to demonstrate and characterize such environmental benefits. This study assessed the environmental performances of industrial processing of maize edible oil, whose energy provision is guaranteed by residues biomasses. A gate-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach was applied for a large-size factory of Northern Italy to describe: (i) the environmental impacts related to industrial processing and (ii) the contribution of residue-based bioenergy to their mitigation, through the comparison with a reference system based on conventional energy. The results showed that oil refinement is the most impacting phase for almost all the considered impact categories. The use of residue-based bioenergy was found to drastically reduce the emissions for all the impact categories. Moreover, Cumulative Energy Demand analysis revealed that the use of biomass residues increased energy efficiency through a reduction of the total energy demand of the industrial process. The study demonstrates that the exploitation of residue-based bioenergy can be a sustainable solution to improve environmental performances of the food industry, while supporting circular economy.

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Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Valuation of Biochar Production: Two Case Studies in Belgium

Energies ◽

10.3390/en12112166 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (11) ◽

pp. 2166 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Sara Rajabi Hamedani ◽

Tom Kuppens ◽

Robert Malina ◽

Enrico Bocci ◽

Andrea Colantoni ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Production Systems ◽

Point Of View ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Pig Manure ◽

Future Research ◽

Life Cycle Perspective ◽

The Impact

It is unclear whether the production of biochar is economically feasible. As a consequence, firms do not often invest in biochar production plants. However, biochar production and application might be desirable from a societal perspective as it might entail net environmental benefits. Hence, the aim of this work has been to assess and monetize the environmental impacts of biochar production systems so that the environmental aspects can be integrated with the economic and social ones later on to quantify the total return for society. Therefore, a life cycle analysis (LCA) has been performed for two potential biochar production systems in Belgium based on two different feedstocks: (i) willow and (ii) pig manure. First, the environmental impacts of the two biochar production systems are assessed from a life cycle perspective, assuming one ton of biochar as the functional unit. Therefore, LCA using SimaPro software has been performed both on the midpoint and endpoint level. Biochar production from willow achieves better results compared to biochar from pig manure for all environmental impact categories considered. In a second step, monetary valuation has been applied to the LCA results in order to weigh environmental benefits against environmental costs using the Ecotax, Ecovalue, and Stepwise approach. Consequently, sensitivity analysis investigates the impact of variation in NPK savings and byproducts of the biochar production process on monetized life cycle assessment results. As a result, it is suggested that biochar production from willow is preferred to biochar production from pig manure from an environmental point of view. In future research, those monetized environmental impacts will be integrated within existing techno-economic models that calculate the financial viability from an investor’s point of view, so that the total return for society can be quantified and the preferred biochar production system from a societal point of view can be identified.

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Life Cycle Assessment of Silicate Cementitious Material Production Using Calcium Carbide Sludge

Key Engineering Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/kem.599.324 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 599 ◽

pp. 324-327 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jia Ping Cui ◽

Yu Liu ◽

Zhi Hong Wang ◽

Li Li Zhao ◽

Fei Fei Shi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Waste Heat ◽

Calcium Carbide ◽

Cementitious Material ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Drying Process ◽

Cement Production

The environmental impacts of cement production using two pre-drying processes, i.e., coal-fired pre-drying process and pre-drying process by waste heat from kiln tail process were analyzed and compared through life cycle assessment (LCA). The results show that the energy consumption, GWP, AP, POCP, HT and EP of pre-drying process by waste heat from kiln tail are about 1%, 2%, 5.2%, 5% ,3.5% and 3.8% lower than coal-fired process; therefore the application of pre-drying process by waste heat from kiln tail has obvious environmental benefits.

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End-of-Life Recycling Options of (Nano)Enhanced CFRP Composite Prototypes Waste—A Life Cycle Perspective

Polymers ◽

10.3390/polym12092129 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 2129

Author(s):

Fotini Petrakli ◽

Anastasia Gkika ◽

Alexandra Bonou ◽

Panagiotis Karayannis ◽

Elias P. Koumoulos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Carbon Fibre ◽

End Of Life ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

New Product Development ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Product Development Process ◽

Impact Indicator ◽

Cfrp Composite

Life cycle assessment is a methodology to assess environmental impacts associated with a product or system/process by accounting resource requirements and emissions over its life cycle. The life cycle consists of four stages: material production, manufacturing, use, and end-of-life. This study highlights the need to conduct life cycle assessment (LCA) early in the new product development process, as a means to assess and evaluate the environmental impacts of (nano)enhanced carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) prototypes over their entire life cycle. These prototypes, namely SleekFast sailing boat and handbrake lever, were manufactured by functionalized carbon fibre fabric and modified epoxy resin with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The environmental impacts of both have been assessed via LCA with a functional unit of ‘1 product piece’. Climate change has been selected as the key impact indicator for hotspot identification (kg CO2 eq). Significant focus has been given to the end-of-life phase by assessing different recycling scenarios. In addition, the respective life cycle inventories (LCIs) are provided, enabling the identification of resource hot spots and quantifying the environmental benefits of end-of-life options.

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Environmental Impacts Associated with Intensive Production in Pig Farms in Mexico through Life Cycle Assessment

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su132011248 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (20) ◽

pp. 11248

Author(s):

Mario Rafael Giraldi-Díaz ◽

Eduardo Castillo-González ◽

Lorena De Medina-Salas ◽

Raúl Velásquez-De la Cruz ◽

Héctor Daniel Huerta-Silva

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Environmental Performance ◽

Pig Slurry ◽

Growth Phases ◽

Product System ◽

Life Cycle Assessment Methodology ◽

Intensive Production ◽

Pig Farm

In this research, environmental impacts associated with the intensive production of pigs on a farm in Mexico were determined through the application of life cycle assessment methodology. The research was focused on the following stages of the product system: (i) pig rearing and growth phases; (ii) production operations in the pig-house; (iii) the supply of feed. The life cycle inventory database was mainly made up of data collected in field visits to local farms. The functional unit was defined as one finished swine weighing 124 kg. The results for the selected impact categories of carbon, water, and energy footprints were 538.62 kg CO2eq, 21.34 m3, and 1773.79 MJ, respectively. The greatest impact was generated in the final stages of pig fattening, mainly due to the large quantity of feed supplied. The impacts caused by operation of the pig farm were less significant, their contribution in all cases was less than a third of the total quantified values. The energy conversion of pig slurry improves the environmental performance of the product system by reducing the carbon footprint.

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How to Conduct Prospective Life Cycle Assessment for Emerging Technologies? A Systematic Review and Methodological Guidance

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12031192 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 1192 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Nils Thonemann ◽

Anna Schulte ◽

Daniel Maga

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Case Studies ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Emerging Technologies ◽

Early Stage ◽

Scale Up ◽

Data Availability ◽

Novel Technologies ◽

Stage Of Development

Emerging technologies are expected to contribute to environmental sustainable development. However, throughout the development of novel technologies, it is unknown whether emerging technologies can lead to reduced environmental impacts compared to a potentially displaced mature technology. Additionally, process steps suspected to be environmental hotspots can be improved by process engineers early in the development of the emerging technology. In order to determine the environmental impacts of emerging technologies at an early stage of development, prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) should be performed. However, consistency in prospective LCA methodology is lacking. Therefore, this article develops a framework for a prospective LCA in order to overcome the methodological inconsistencies regarding prospective LCAs. The methodological framework was developed using literature on prospective LCAs of emerging technologies, and therefore, a literature review on prospective LCAs was conducted. We found 44 case studies, four review papers, and 17 papers on methodological guidance. Three main challenges for conducting prospective LCAs are identified: Comparability, data, and uncertainty challenges. The issues in defining the aim, functionality, and system boundaries of the prospective LCAs, as well as problems with specifying LCIA methodologies, comprise the comparability challenge. Data availability, quality, and scaling are issues within the data challenge. Finally, uncertainty exists as an overarching challenge when applying a prospective LCA. These three challenges are especially crucial for the prospective assessment of emerging technologies. However, this review also shows that within the methodological papers and case studies, several approaches exist to tackle these challenges. These approaches were systematically summarized within a framework to give guidance on how to overcome the issues when conducting prospective LCAs of emerging technologies. Accordingly, this framework is useful for LCA practitioners who are analyzing early-stage technologies. Nevertheless, further research is needed to develop appropriate scale-up schemes and to include uncertainty analyses for a more in-depth interpretation of results.

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Environmental Impacts of Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene Toughened Wood Fiber/Polylactide Composites: A Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph16183402 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (18) ◽

pp. 3402

Author(s):

Tao Qiang ◽

Yaxuan Chou ◽

Honghong Gao

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Natural Fiber ◽

Wood Fiber ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Cradle To Gate ◽

Styrene Butadiene Styrene ◽

Styrene Butadiene ◽

Butadiene Styrene

In this study, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to investigate the environmental benefits of using styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) to modify polylactide (PLA)-based wood plastic composites (WPCs), with a process-based and input–output hybrid model. The results showed that one metric ton of the SBS-modified WPCs required 1.93 × 108 kJ of energy (Sample 2) and 46 m3 of water (Sample 4), and that it could produce 42.3 kg of solid waste (Sample 2) during its cradle-to-gate life cycle phases. The environmental impact load (EIL) and photochemistry oxidation potential (PCOP) accounted for the largest share, while the eutrophication potential (EP) took the smallest one. The total EIL index of Samples 1, 2, 3, and 4 added up to 1.942, 1.960, 1.899, and 1.838, respectively. The SBS-modified WPCs were found to be more environmentally friendly than their unmodified counterparts when they had the same or higher wood fiber (WF) content. SBS was viable to toughen the PLA-based WPCs from an environmental perspective. This cradle-to-gate LCA is likely to help optimize the manufacturing process and mitigate environmental impacts for the natural fiber-reinforced polymer biocomposites.

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Environmental Performance of Emerging Photovoltaic Technologies: Assessment of the Status Quo and Future Prospects Based on a Meta-Analysis of Life-Cycle Assessment Studies

Energies ◽

10.3390/en12224228 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (22) ◽

pp. 4228 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Steffi Weyand ◽

Carolin Wittich ◽

Liselotte Schebek

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Environmental Performance ◽

Functional Unit ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Status Quo ◽

Future Prospects ◽

The Status ◽

Photovoltaic Technologies

Emerging photovoltaic technologies are expected to have lower environmental impacts during their life cycle due to their extremely thin-film technology and resulting material savings. The environmental impacts of four emerging photovoltaics were investigated based on a meta-analysis of life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies, comprising a systematic review and harmonization approach of five key indicators to describe the environmental status quo and future prospects. The status quo was analyzed based on a material-related functional unit of 1 watt-peak of the photovoltaic cell. For future prospects, the functional unit of 1 kWh of generated electricity was used, including assumptions on the use phase, notably on the lifetime. The results of the status quo show that organic photovoltaic technology is the most mature emerging photovoltaic technology with a competitive environmental performance, while perovskites have a low performance, attributed to the early stage of development and inefficient manufacturing on the laboratory scale. The results of future prospects identified improvements of efficiency, lifetime, and manufacturing with regard to environmental performance based on sensitivity and scenario analyses. The developed harmonization approach supports the use of LCA in the early stages of technology development in a structured way to reduce uncertainty and extract significant information during development.

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Comparative Analysis of Environmental Impacts between Dregs Disposal and Conventional Cement Production by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.777.461 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 777 ◽

pp. 461-466 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kan Fu ◽

Xiao Yu Ren ◽

Jin Quan Lin ◽

Ping Yue

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Load Ratio ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Cement Kiln ◽

Environmental Load ◽

Human Toxicity ◽

Cement Production ◽

Depletion Potential

The environmental impacts of the dregs disposal in cement kiln and conventional production were contrastively evaluated by life cycle assessment (LCA) in this study. The results showed that the environmental load ratio of both cement productions followed the order of energy depletion potential (EDP) > depletion potential (ADP) > global warming potential (GWP) > acidification potential (AP) > human toxicity (HT) > photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP). The comprehensive environmental load of disposal dregs was 14.465×10-12/a, which was 3.98% lower than that of the conventional cement production. Moreover, the reduced percentage of the environmental load followed the order of HT> AP> POCP> EDP> ADP> GWP, which indicated that the reduced percentage of human toxicity and acidification reached 10.62% and 10.06% respectively. Thus, considering the environmental benefits, it would be a better method to dispose dregs instead of limestone in cement kiln.

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