Analysis of Biological Degradation and Life Cycle Indicators of Mineral Diesel Fuel Mixtures, Containing 10% Biodiesel, Obtained by Simultaneous Oil Extraction and Transesterification

This article provides data on the environmental properties of biofuels obtained by the simultaneous extraction of oil from spoiled rapeseed and transesterification, with the addition of mineral diesel to the reaction mixture. The resulting reaction product contained 10% biodiesel: fatty acid methyl, ethyl, or butyl esters in mixtures with mineral diesel. The addition of biodiesel has been found to increase the rate of biodegradation of fuels. Such fuels are classified as partially biodegradable, according to the OECD classification. Life cycle analysis showed that the mixtures of biodiesel and mineral diesel have lower negative environmental impacts, compared to pure mineral diesel. The values of indicators such as abiotic depletion, acidification, global warming, ozone depletion, and human toxicity for these mixtures were 40–58% lower compared to the corresponding values for mineral diesel.

Validation of GreenH2armony® as a Tool for the Computation of Harmonised Life-Cycle Indicators of Hydrogen

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is often used to check the environmental suitability of hydrogen energy systems, usually involving comparative studies. However, these comparative studies are typically affected by inconsistent methodological choices between the case studies under comparison. In this regard, protocols for the harmonisation of methodological choices in LCA of hydrogen are available. The step-by-step application of these protocols to a large number of case studies has already resulted in libraries of harmonised carbon, energy, and acidification footprints of hydrogen. In order to foster the applicability of these harmonisation protocols, a web-based software for the calculation of harmonised life-cycle indicators of hydrogen has recently been developed. This work addresses—for the first time—the validation of such a tool by checking the deviation between the available libraries of harmonised carbon, energy, and acidification footprints of hydrogen and the corresponding tool-based harmonised results. A high correlation (R2 > 0.999) was found between the library- and tool-based harmonised life-cycle indicators of hydrogen, thereby successfully validating the software. Hence, this tool has the potential to effectively promote the use of harmonised life-cycle indicators for robust comparative LCA studies of hydrogen energy systems, significantly mitigating misinterpretation.