Full Chain Life Cycle Assessment of Greenhouse Gases and Energy Demand for Canola-Derived Jet Fuel in North Dakota, United States

Abstract

The success of long-term sustainable biofuel production on agricultural lands is still questionable. To this end, we investigated the effects of crop prices on the changes of agricultural land use for biofuel canola production in three wheat crop management zones in North Dakota. The effects of canola hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) production on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy demand were investigated along with different allocation methods. The Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) and Alternative Fuel Transportation Optimization Tool (AFTOT) models were used to simulate the life cycle assessment (LCA) inputs for two key stages of the HEFA pathway: cultivation and transportation. From the EPIC model results, the increase in canola price had a significant impact on predicted farmer decisions to displace food crops with energy crops and particularly on resulting changes in soil carbon (C). The LCA results suggested that to increase soil C sequestration, energy canola should be grown in the place of the fallow whenever possible to guarantee the long-term soil C sustainability of canola HEFA. Other possible ways to mitigate the GHG emissions included using anhydrous ammonia as the nitrogen fertilizer for cultivation and H2 integration (use of HEFA coproducts in H2 production) for HEFA conversion.

Comparative Farm-Gate Life Cycle Assessment of Oilseed Feedstocks in the Northern Great Plains

“…In CMZ01 the canola impact remained relatively flat (655 g CO 2 eq per kg oilseed), while in CMZ02 and CMZ04 the impact to climate change (585 and 382 g CO 2 eq per kg oilseed) was reduced by 8 and 41%, respectively. The estimated results fall within the range found by Ukaew et al (2016) of 242 to 713 g CO 2 eq per kg for canola production in North Dakota. Conversely, the impact of canola production in central Montana (CMZ18) was 57% greater than the NGP climate change impact average.…”

Review of life‐cycle greenhouse‐gas emissions assessments of hydroprocessed renewable fuel (HEFA) from oilseeds

“…Greater confidence in the life‐cycle GHG emissions of HEFA fuel, along with a host of economic and political factors, may aid the adoption of HEFA fuel in Canada, one of the world's top producers of canola 3 . Between 2008 and 2016, there were at least 13 LCAs published on HEFA fuels derived from canola, camelina, or carinata 4–16 …”

Regional variations in life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of canola‐derived jet fuel produced in western Canada

“…Natural gas and hydrogen have been identified as key sources of GHG emissions in oilseed‐derived jet fuel production (Chu et al., 2017; Han et al., 2013; Ukaew et al., 2016). The assumptions for these two inputs and corresponding emissions factors are in Table S15.…”