A meta‐analytic review of life cycle assessment and flow analyses studies of palm oil biodiesel

Abstract

This work reviews and performs a meta-analysis of the recent life cycle assessment and flow analyses studies palm oil biodiesel. The best available data and information are extracted, summarized, and discussed. Most studies found palm oil biodiesel would produce positive energy balance with an energy ratio between 2.27 and 4.81, and with a net energy production of 112 GJ ha. With the exception of a few studies, most conclude that palm oil biodiesel is a net emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG). The origin of oil palm plantation (planted area) is the foremost determinant of GHG emissions and C payback time (CPBT). Converting peatland forest results in GHG emissions up to 60 tons CO 2 equivalent (eq) ha À1 y À1 leading to 420 years of CPBT. In contrast, converting degraded land or grassland for plantation can positively offset the system to become a net sequester of 5 tons CO 2 eq ha À1 y À1

Polyhydroxyalkanoates production with Ralstonia eutropha from low quality waste animal fats

“…Crude palm oil is still the most available and inexpensive plant oil on the market, even though its price has increased from $US 424/ton to $US 865/ton from 2006 to 2014 (MPOB, 2015). A main reason for the price increase can be found in the increasing demand of biodiesel from palm oil (de Vries et al, 2010;Manik and Halog, 2013;Mekhilef et al, 2011;Stichnothe et al, 2014).…”

Modelling environmental impacts of agriculture, focusing on oil palm

“…About 70 full or partial LCAs of palm oil products have been published over the last decade. Most of the published studies were on palm oil as biofuel, and focused on GHG emissions (or climate change impact) and energy balance (or fossil resource depletion) (Bessou et al, 2013;Manik and Halog, 2013). They mostly assessed the life cycle for palm methyl ester or biodiesel, that is, including all processes from background input production (e.g.…”

A framework for energy use indicators and their reporting in life cycle assessment

“…There are a number of energy use indicators used in LCA studies that consider energy outputs—such as the energy content of products and byproducts—as energy gains that reduce the energy use per functional unit. One such indicator is the net energy balance (NEB), sometimes referred to as net energy gain (NEG) (Achten et al ) or energy balance (Manik and Halog ). This designation is often used in LCA studies of fuels.…”

“…Sometimes, the terms energy input ( E input = E use ) and energy output ( E output = E gain ) are used instead in Equation . The philosophy behind the NEB is the same as for the EROI (Arvesen and Hertwich ) and net energy ratio (NER) (Pleanjai and Gheewala ; Achten et al ; de Souza et al ; Manik and Halog ) indicators. Nonetheless, the EROI and NER indicators use division instead of subtraction to relate the energy gained in the end product and byproducts to the energy used along the life cycle (i.e., E gain / E use ).…”