Comparative Life Cycle Evaluation of the Global Warming Potential (GWP) Impacts of Renewable Natural Gas Production Pathways

Rai, Srijana; Hage, Danny; Littlefield, James; Yanai, Gabrielle; Skone, Timothy J

doi:10.1021/acs.est.2c00093

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Costs and life cycle GHG emissions associated with the upgrading process (including biogas compression, contaminants removal, and methane concentration) were based on the literature (Table S4 in the SI). 31,41,42 Selling price of the upgraded renewable natural gas was calculated as the sum of D3 RIN credit and fossil natural gas price, whereas GHG credit of the renewable natural gas was considered based on the displacement of fossil natural gas.…”

Section: ■ Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To illustrate the implications and potential trade-offs of incorporating RIN credits, a “new-RIN” design was considered where the new WWT process was implemented, but biogas from IC and AnMBR was upgraded and sold as renewable natural gas instead of combusted for heat and electricity production (conventional natural gas would be purchased to satisfy the biorefinery heating demand). Costs and life cycle GHG emissions associated with the upgrading process (including biogas compression, contaminants removal, and methane concentration) were based on the literature (Table S4 in the SI). ,, Selling price of the upgraded renewable natural gas was calculated as the sum of D3 RIN credit and fossil natural gas price, whereas GHG credit of the renewable natural gas was considered based on the displacement of fossil natural gas.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design of a High-Rate Wastewater Treatment Process for Energy and Water Recovery at Biorefineries

Kontos

Cabrera

et al. 2023

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

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Industrial wastewaters rich in organic carbon have potential for value generation, but conventional, low-rate, anaerobic–aerobic wastewater treatment (WWT) processes often incur significant capital expenses and energy consumption. In this study, we leveraged experimental data for biorefinery-derived wastewaters to characterize the implications of transitioning from a conventional, low-rate process to a high-rate, multistage anaerobic process. We designed and simulated these WWT processes across seven first- and second-generation (1G/2G) biorefineries and evaluated the implications for biorefinery sustainability through techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA). Compared to the conventional design, the new process can substantially reduce capital costs and electricity usage. These improvements were particularly evident for 2G biorefineries, translating to 5%–13% lower minimum product selling prices (MPSPs) and 7%–135% lower 100-year global warming potentials (GWPs; the 135% reduction is due to the transition of one biorefinery from net emission [0.87 kg of CO2e·gal–1] to net sequestration [−0.31 kg of CO2e·gal–1]). Biorefineries could further reduce the MPSP through the renewable identification number (RIN) credits by upgrading and selling the biogas as renewable natural gas, but at the expense of increasing GWP. When normalized, the COD management cost ranged from $–56 to $465 per tonne of COD, indicating that wastewater could be a net source of revenue for some biorefineries.

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Section: ■ Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of a High-Rate Wastewater Treatment Process for Energy and Water Recovery at Biorefineries

Kontos

Cabrera

et al. 2023

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

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“…Carbon in wastewater is biogenic, and CO 2 emissions are not produced during the combustion of RNG. 33 Based on the experimental results (see Table S4), 0.00105 Nm 3 RNG was produced from 1 kg of wastewater from the aPHA production process. Therefore, it was assumed that some of the LNG used to produce aPHA was substituted with the RNG.…”

Section: ■ Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Natural gas produced from wastewater is known as renewable natural gas (RNG). Carbon in wastewater is biogenic, and CO 2 emissions are not produced during the combustion of RNG . Based on the experimental results (see Table S4), 0.00105 Nm 3 RNG was produced from 1 kg of wastewater from the aPHA production process.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Cycle Assessment of aPHA Production

Lee,

Seo

et al. 2023

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

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The global production of plastic has been increasing steadily in recent years, with plastic packaging accounting for approximately 39% of the total. Plastics used for packaging are fossil-fuel-based and thus have severe environmental impacts. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are considered alternatives to fossil fuel-based plastics. Amorphous PHAs (aPHAs), are used in a wide range of applications owing to their rubber-like properties and remarkable fresh-water and ocean biodegradability. However, few studies have performed environmental impact assessments on aPHAs. Therefore, this study performed a life cycle assessment (LCA) based on site-specific and actual aPHA production data. The results of key impact categories and a single score for the three end points of aPHA production provided comprehensive insights into the environmental sustainability of aPHAs. In addition, parametric analysis (PA) was performed to analyze the possibility of increasing the sustainability of the aPHA production process. The global warming potential (GWP) of aPHA production using sugarcane ranged from 0.86 to 1.59 kg CO 2 equiv/kg aPHA, while that of corn grains ranged from 0.01 to 1.96 kg CO 2 equiv/kg aPHA. Thus, in terms of its environmental impact, the findings suggest that aPHA, as a biobased and biodegradable plastic, shows improved performance compared to fossil fuel-based plastics.

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“…The environmental impacts of integrating anaerobic digestion with technologies (i.e., scrubbing, compression) that can upgrade biogas to renewable natural gas were assessed in Europe (i.e., Sweden, Denmark) employing IPCC and ReCiPe. − Only 3% of the studies conducting LCA of anaerobic digestion utilized TRACI (Figure b and Table S10). Both TRACI and IPCC were preferred over ReCiPe in Canada and the USA to determine the environmental impacts of anaerobic digestion with organic municipal solid waste and animal waste as feedstocks. − These preferred methods were also used to compare anaerobic digestion with gasification , and composting in North America. Studies in Brazil, South Africa, and Australia conducted environmental impact analyses of anaerobic digestion and compared between anaerobic digestion and composting by applying CML and ReCiPe using feedstocks of organic municipal solid waste and animal waste. ,− …”

Section: Applications Of Data Science In Rrcc From Organic Waste Streamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Critical Review of Data Science Applications in Resource Recovery and Carbon Capture from Organic Waste

Zaki,

Rowles,

Adjeroh

et al. 2023

ACS EST Eng.

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Municipal and agricultural organic waste can be treated to recover energy, nutrients, and carbon through resource recovery and carbon capture (RRCC) technologies such as anaerobic digestion, struvite precipitation, and pyrolysis. Data science could benefit such technologies by improving their efficiency through data-driven process modeling along with reducing environmental and economic burdens via life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA), respectively. We critically reviewed 616 peer-reviewed articles on the use of data science in RRCC published during 2002−2022. Although applications of machine learning (ML) methods have drastically increased over time for modeling RRCC technologies, the reviewed studies exhibited significant knowledge gaps at various model development stages. In terms of sustainability, an increasing number of studies included LCA with TEA to quantify both environmental and economic impacts of RRCC. Integration of ML methods with LCA and TEA has the potential to costeffectively investigate the trade-off between efficiency and sustainability of RRCC, although the literature lacked such integration of techniques. Therefore, we propose an integrated data science framework to inform efficient and sustainable RRCC from organic waste based on the review. Overall, the findings from this review can inform practitioners about the effective utilization of various data science methods for real-world implementation of RRCC technologies.

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Comparative Life Cycle Evaluation of the Global Warming Potential (GWP) Impacts of Renewable Natural Gas Production Pathways

Cited by 10 publications

References 17 publications

Design of a High-Rate Wastewater Treatment Process for Energy and Water Recovery at Biorefineries

Design of a High-Rate Wastewater Treatment Process for Energy and Water Recovery at Biorefineries

Life Cycle Assessment of aPHA Production

A Critical Review of Data Science Applications in Resource Recovery and Carbon Capture from Organic Waste

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