ifeu Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg GLYFINERY Life cycle assessment of green chemicals and bioenergy from glycerol: Environmental life cycle assessment Dr Maria Müller-Lindenlauf Brussels, 13 December 2011 Outline Short introduction to LCA methodology Description of GLYFINERY pathways Results of environmental assessment Comparison of innovative chemical pathways Relevance for biodiesel LCA Conclusions 2
Outline Short introduction to LCA methodology Description of GLYFINERY pathways Results of environmental assessment Comparison of innovative chemical pathways Relevance for biodiesel LCA Conclusions 3 Life cycle assessment (LCA) ISO 14040-14044 Goal and scope definition Inventory analysis Interpretation Impact assessment 4
The LCA approach Ancillary products Crude oil extraction Cultivation Apiary products Honey, wax etc. Agricultural reference system product Rapeseeds Transport Extraction De-oiled cake Feed Soy meal Crude oil Rapeseed oil conventional use Direct material use Direct use for energy chemical heat / power Refining Fossil diesel Utilisation Transesterification RME Utilisation Glycerol Processing innovative use Ethanol Butanol 1,3-PDO Biogas / CH4 Fossil ethanol Fossil butanol Fossil 1,3- PDO heat / power Byproducts 1 products 5 Product Process Reference system LCA: general settings Technical reference: mature technology Time frame: 2020 Geographical coverage: EU27 Co-product handling: system expansion (main approach) Infrastructure: excluded (known from former studies: not relevant) 6
Inputs e.g.: - natural gas - nutrients - solvents - water - electricity - LCA: Inventory Analysis Chemical Resource extraction Raw material production Transport Processing Utilisation Biochemical Fuel Fertiliser Agriculture Pesticides Outputs e.g.: - CO 2 - SO 2 - CH 4 - NO X - NH 3 - N 2 O - 7 Date sources: Expert judgements from GLYFINERY partners LCA databases (ecoinvent, GEMIS, IFEU internal database etc.) Impact assessment categories Impact category Energy demand Greenhouse effect Acidification Eutrophication Parameter Sum of depletable primary energy carriers CO 2 equivalents SO 2 equivalents PO 4 equivalents Substances (LCI) Crude oil, natural gas, coal, Uranium, Carbon dioxide, dinitrogen monoxide, methane, different CFCs, methyl bromide, Sulphur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, nitrogen oxides, ammonia, Nitrogen oxides, ammonia, phosphate, nitrate Photosmog Ozone depletion Ethen equivalents CFC11 equivalents Hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, chlorinated hydrocarbons, CFC, halone, methyl bromide, 8
Example: Life cycle assessment Greenhouse gas emissions: glyc. PDO vs. fossil PDO Credits Expenditures -2-1,5-1 -0,5 0 0,5 1 t CO 2 eq. / t glycerol Transport glycerol Fermentation energy Solvent for extraction Biogas from residues: Expenditures Biogas from residues: Credit heat savings Transport product NET TOTAL Fermentation material input Centrifugation and filtration Distillation energy Biogas from residues: Credit power savings Biogas from residues: Credit fertilizer savings Credit savings of equivalent product 9 Outline Short introduction to LCA methodology Description of GLYFINERY pathways Results of environmental assessment Comparison of innovative chemical pathways Relevance for biodiesel LCA Conclusions 10
Glyfinery life cycles Ancillary products Crude oil extraction Cultivation Apiary products Honey, wax etc. Agricultural reference system product Rapeseeds Transport Extraction De-oiled cake Feed Soy meal Crude oil Rapeseed oil conventional use Direct material use Direct use for energy chemical heat / power Refining Fossil diesel Utilisation Transesterification RME Utilisation Glycerol Processing innovative use Ethanol Butanol 1,3-PDO Biogas / CH4 Fossil ethanol Fossil butanol Fossil 1,3- PDO heat / power Byproducts 1 products 11 Product Process Reference system GLYFINERY pathways Innovative chem. pathways Crude glycerol Processing (fermentation, distillation) 1,3-PDO Conventional pathways Biogas pathways Butanol By-products Ethanol Anaerobic digestion Biogas Digestate Direct material use Direct combustion Biogas (CHP, Monofermentation) Biogas (CHP, Cofermentation) heat / power Mineral fertiliser Fossil ethanol Gasoline Fossil butanol Fossil 1,3- PDO PDO from starch 12 Option Product Process Reference system
Outline Short introduction to LCA methodology Description of GLYFINERY pathways Results of environmental assessment Comparison of innovative chemical pathways Relevance for biodiesel LCA Conclusions 13 Outline Short introduction to LCA methodology Description of GLYFINERY pathways Results of environmental assessment Comparison of innovative chemical pathways Relevance for biodiesel LCA Conclusions 14
Results for chemical pathways Greenhouse gas emissions Classic options PDO: glyc. vs. fossil Innovative options PDO: glyc. vs. starch Butanol: glyc. vs. fossil Ethanol: glyc. vs. fossil Ethanol vs. gasoline t CO 2 eq. / t glycerol -3,0-2,5-2,0-1,5-1,0-0,5 0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 Best case Typical values Worst case High variances! performs better than innovative pathways PDO as replacement of fossil PDO similar to direct combustion 15 Ethanol shows disadvantages compared to fossil references Results for chemical pathways Energy demand Classic options PDO: glyc. vs. fossil Innovative options PDO: glyc. vs. starch Butanol: glyc. vs. fossil Ethanol: glyc. vs. fossil Ethanol vs. gasoline GJ / t glycerol -60-50 -40-30 -20-10 0 10 20 30 40 Similar relative performance as for greenhouse gas emissions 16
Acidification Results for chemical pathways Classic options PDO: glyc. vs. fossil Innovative options PDO: glyc. vs. starch Butanol: glyc. vs. fossil Ethanol: glyc. vs. fossil Ethanol vs. gasoline kg SO 2 eq. / t glycerol -6-4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 PDO and Butanol perform better than direct combustion in typical scenario but worse than direct material use Low emissions for all pathways 17 Results for chemical pathways Eutrophication Classic options PDO: glyc. vs. fossil Innovative options PDO: glyc. vs. starch Butanol: glyc. vs. fossil Ethanol: glyc. vs. fossil Ethanol vs. gasoline g PO 4 eq. / t glycerol -500-400 -300-200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 18 PDO vs. starch almost as good as direct material use (because of emissions from agriculture in starch production) PDO and Butanol from typical or good practice perform better than direct combustion Low emissions for all pathways
Ozone depletion Results for chemical pathways Classic options PDO: glyc. vs. fossil Innovative options PDO: glyc. vs. starch Butanol: glyc. vs. fossil Ethanol: glyc. vs. fossil Ethanol vs. gasoline g CFC-11-eq / t glycerol -4-2 0 2 4 6 8 Depend on fermentation inputs (nitrogen N 2 O) High data uncertainty Very low emissions for all innovative options (=no significance) 19 Photosmog Results for chemical pathways Classic options PDO: glyc. vs. fossil Innovative options PDO: glyc. vs. starch Butanol: glyc. vs. fossil Ethanol: glyc. vs. fossil Ethanol vs. gasoline kg Ethen-eq. / t glycerol -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 mostly because of extraction solvent use Very low emissions for all innovative options (= no significance) 20
Inhabitant equivalents Inhabitant equivalent (IE): Instrument to compare environmental impact categories Formular: Total environmental impact in EU in category A Number of inhabitants in EU = IE (category A) Examples (for EU): Energy demand: Greenhouse gas emissions: 1 IE = 82 GJ 1 IE = 11 t CO 2 -eq. 21 Inhabitant equivalents GHG emissions Energy Acidification PDO: bio vs. fossil Butanol: bio vs. fossil Ethanol: bio vs. fossil PDO: bio vs. fossil Butanol: bio vs. fossil Ethanol: bio vs. fossil PDO: bio vs. fossil Butanol: bio vs. fossil Ethanol: bio vs. fossil IE / 1000 t glycerol -800-600 -400-200 0 200 400 600 22
Inhabitant equivalents Eutrophication Photosmog PDO: bio vs. fossil Butanol: bio vs. fossil Ethanol: bio vs. fossil PDO: bio vs. fossil Butanol: bio vs. fossil Ethanol: bio vs. fossil Ozone depletion Energy and greenhouse gas emissions most important impact categories PDO: bio vs. fossil Butanol: bio vs. fossil Ethanol: bio vs. fossil IE / 1000 t glycerol -800-600 -400-200 0 200 400 600 23 Impact of life cycle stages Credits Expenditures PDO: glyc. vs. fossil PDO: glyc. vs. starch Butanol: glyc. vs. fossil Ethanol: glyc. vs. fossil Ethanol vs. gasoline -2-1,5-1 -0,5 0 0,5 1 1,5 t CO 2 eq. / t glycerol 24 Transport glycerol Fermentation material input Fermentation energy Centrifugation and filtration Solvent for extraction Distillation energy Biogas from residues: Expenditures Biogas from residues: Credit power savings Biogas from residues: Credit heat savings Biogas from residues: Credit fertilizer savings Transport product Credit savings of equivalent product Credits for equivalent product and distillation energy are most important life cycle stages
Outline Short introduction to LCA methodology Description of GLYFINERY pathways Results of environmental assessment Comparison of innovative chemical pathways Relevance for biodiesel LCA Conclusions 25 Entire biodiesel pathway Comparison of feedstocks and glycerol use options Rape seed Soy beans Variance between glycerol use options (typical scenarios) Palm oil -3,0-2,5-2,0-1,5-1,0-0,5 0,0 t CO 2 eq. / t FAME Glycerol use affects biodiesel performance (E.g. Soy + direct material use performs better than to rape seed + ethanol) Type of feedstock also very important 26
Land use change Effects of land use change scenarios and glycerol use options Rape seed Palm oil Soy beans no LUC no LUC LUC 1 LUC 2 no LUC LUC 1 LUC 2 Variance between glycerol use options (typical scenarios) -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 t CO 2 eq. / t FAME Land use change most important for biodiesel LCA 27 Outline Short introduction to LCA methodology Description of GLYFINERY pathways Results of environmental assessment Comparison of innovative chemical pathways Relevance for biodiesel LCA Conclusions 28
Conclusions From an environmental point of view: remains best option PDO most promising innovative option: comparable performance as direct combustions regarding GHG emissions and energy savings Optimization: Reduction in distillation energy Lowering emission of solvent for PDO extraction (to reduce photosmog) 29 Thank you for your attention! Dr. Maria Müller-Lindenlauf maria.mueller-lindenlauf@ifeu.de Tel.: 06221 4767-76 Acknowledgement The work presented was supported by the European Commission through the FP7 project Sustainable and integrated production of liquid biofuels, green chemicals and bioenergy from glycerol in biorefineries ( Glyfinery, GA no. 213506).