Heat production from a geothermal energy source is gaining increasing attention due to its potential contribution to the decarbonization of the European energy sector. Obtaining representative results of the environmental performances of geothermal systems and comparing them with other renewables is of utmost importance in order to ensure an effective energy transition as targeted by Europe. This work presents the outputs of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) performed on the Rittershoffen geothermal heat plant applying guidelines that were developed within the H2020 GEOENVI project. The production of 1 kWhth from the Rittershoffen heat plant was compared to the heat produced from natural gas in Europe. Geothermal heat production performed better than the average heat production in climate change and resource use, fossil categories. The LCA identified the electricity consumption during the operation and maintenance phase as a hot spot for several impact categories. A prospective scenario analysis was therefore performed to assess the evolution of the environmental performances of the Rittershoffen heat plant associated with the future French electricity mixes. The increase of renewable energy shares in the future French electricity mix caused the impact on specific categories (e.g., land use and mineral and metals resource depletion) to grow over the years. However, an overall reduction of the environmental impacts of the Rittershoffen heat plant was observed.
Technologies to produce electric energy from renewable geothermal source are gaining increasing attention, due to their ability to provide a stable output suitable for baseload production. Performing life cycle assessment (LCA) of geothermal systems has become essential to evaluate their environmental performance. However, so far, no documented nor reliable information has been made available for developing robust LCA studies. This work provides a comprehensive inventory of the Italian Bagnore geothermal power plants system. The inventory is based exclusively on primary data, accounting for every life cycle stage of the system. Data quality was assessed by means of a pedigree matrix. The calculated LCA results showed, with an overall low level of uncertainty (2–3%), that the commissioning and operational phases accounted for more than 95% of the environmental profile. Direct emissions to atmosphere were shown to be the major environmental impact, particularly those released during the operational phase (84%). The environmental performances comparison with the average Italian electricity mix showed that the balance is always in favor of geothermal energy production, except in the climate change impact category. The overall outcome confirms the importance, for flash technology employing fluid with a high concentration of gas content, of using good quality primary data to obtain robust results.
In this study, we performed a life cycle assessment of the reuse of biomass fly ash as secondary cementitious material in cement mortars as alternative to a reference landfill scenario of the ash. Since biomass ash does contain enhanced levels of elements that are of potential concern for the environment or human exposure, the performed Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), in addition to CO2 savings, takes into account the impact on all non-toxic categories and human toxicity/carcinogenicity during service and second life stages. Results showed that utilization of biomass ash in cement is preferable over landfill for all the non-toxic categories at both cement replacements rates of 20 and 40 wt.%. In detail, the reduction of CO2-eq. was found to be between 11-26 % when biomass ash was blended with cement instead of being landfilled. The hydraulic activity of biomass ashes was found to be a critical parameter in this scenario, as it had impacts on the global warming potential (and all other investigated non-toxic categories), and it is therefore crucial to consider the uncertainty related to this aspect in LCA studies. Cement containing biomass ash performed better, on average, when compared with the reference landfill scenario regarding the impact to human toxicity (carcinogenic) category. Contrary, only the utilization in cement for one particular ash type (from paper sludge combustion) showed a better performance than the reference scenario for the ecotoxicity (ET) category. The impact to human toxicity carcinogenic (HTc) and ecotoxicity (ET) was mainly dominated by the leaching of Cr from landfilling of pure biomass fly ash (reference scenario) and the leaching of Ba, Cu, Cr (VI) and Zn from the second life stage of cement products (i.e., reuse of the crushed cement after service life in road base applications). However, this impact was acceptable when emissions are compared to existing EU landfill directive and regulations on the reuse of secondary materials in construction works. The novel LCA approach performed in this study, which includes impacts of leached contaminants during both the service and second life phase of cement, has shown that the reuse of biomass ash as secondary cementitious materials has a beneficial effect on the majority of the impact categories, with no unacceptable leaching risks.
In this paper, we assess using two alternative allocation schemes, namely exergy and primary energy saving (PES) to compare products generated in different combined heat and power (CHP) geothermal systems. In particular, the adequacy and feasibility of the schemes recommended for allocation are demonstrated by their application to three relevant and significantly different case studies of geothermal CHPs, i.e., (1) Chiusdino in Italy, (2) Altheim in Austria, and (3) Hellisheidi in Iceland. The results showed that, given the generally low temperature level of the cogenerated heat (80–100 °C, usually exploited in district heating), the use of exergy allocation largely marginalizes the importance of the heat byproduct, thus, becoming almost equivalent to electricity for the Chiusdino and Hellisheidi power plants. Therefore, the PES scheme is found to be the more appropriate allocation scheme. Additionally, the exergy scheme is mandatory for allocating power plants’ environmental impacts at a component level in CHP systems. The main drawback of the PES scheme is its country dependency due to the different fuels used, but reasonable and representative values can be achieved based on average EU heat and power generation efficiencies.
Purpose: This study evaluates the potential of biomass ash as raw clinker material and the influence of biomass feedstock and thermal conversion technology on biomass ash properties. Methods: A set of criteria for biomass feedstock and ash properties (i.e. CaO/SiO2 ratio and burnability) are established. A large dataset was collected and the best combination of biomass feedstock and conversion technology regarding the desired ash quality was identified. Results: Wood biomass has the highest potential to provide the right CaO/SiO2 ratio which is needed to form clinker minerals. Bark content and exogenous Si inclusion in wood biomass have a large influence on the CaO/SiO2 ratio. Paper sludge is composed of Ca, Si and Al and can potentially serve as a source of cement elements. Wood fly ash from pulverized fuel combustion can substitute a considerable amount of raw clinker materials due to its similar burnability. The replacement ratio is determined by the content of adverse elements in the ash (i.e. MgO2 and P2O5). Conclusion: Using biomass ash to lower the CO2 emission from clinker production depends on the joint effort of bioenergy producers, by providing higher quality biomass ash, and cement makers, by adapting the kiln operation to enable a high level of raw material replacement by biomass ash.The presented evaluation of the ash production chain, from biomass selection through combustion technology and ash management, provides new insights and recommendations for both stakeholders to facilitate this sustainable development. Graphic Abstract
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