Life cycle assessment of biomass conversion to feedstock chemicals

Vigon, Bruce; Tolle, D.A.; Evers, David P.; Freeman, Scott; Humphreys, Kenneth K.; Wend, Christopher F.; Landucci, R.

doi:10.1109/iecec.1996.553555

Cited by 5 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…These biomass‐based chemicals can be produced from nonedible biomass. Rigorous life cycle assessment models have shown that biomass‐based chemicals can have >60% (even 95%) lower carbon footprint than petroleum derived chemicals . Products made from sustainable chemicals are appealing to end users that are increasingly concerned with issues regarding global warming and sustainability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxygenated commodity chemicals from chemo‐catalytic conversion of biomass derived heterocycles

et al. 2018

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxygenated commodity chemicals from chemo‐catalytic conversion of biomass derived heterocycles

et al. 2018

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“…These findings agree with the studies reported in the literature, as stated earlier in the introduction. 17,22−26 To reiterate, almost all case studies found that biomass-based fuels and processes presented significant benefits in terms of GHG emissions and energy consumption. However, they find mixed results in the remaining categories, particularly the toxicity, acidification, and eutrophication categories.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…However, in terms of use of fuel resource consumption (based on the Life Cycle Inventory), the alternative route was higher, which was attributed to the greater use of electricity from conventional sources in the production process. 22 The paper did not give a concrete answer as to which process was more environmentally sound, but suggested possible changes to better the alternate process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…22 Here, only the raw material procurement, and production phases are considered; the use and recycle phases are excluded. Once again, the results showed that the biomass-based process performs better than the hydrocarbon-based process from the energy consumption as well as environmental points of view.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similar results were reported in a study that compared two routes for producing 1,4-butanediol, one from conventional hydrocarbon feedstock to produce formaldehyde and acetylene and then finally 1,4-butanediol, and the other alternative route using biomass, where glucose from corn is subjected to fermentation to give the final product. 22 Here, only the raw material procurement, and production phases are considered; the use and recycle phases are excluded. Once again, the results showed that the biomass-based process performs better than the hydrocarbon-based process from the energy consumption as well as environmental points of view.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Energy-Efficient Routes for the Production of Gasoline from Biogas and Pyrolysis Oil—Process Design and Life-Cycle Assessment

Sundaram

Kolb

Hessel

et al. 2017

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

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Two novel routes for the production of gasoline from pyrolysis oil (from timber pine) and biogas (from ley grass) are simulated, followed by a cradle-to-gate life-cycle assessment of the two production routes. The main aim of this work is to conduct a holistic evaluation of the proposed routes and benchmark them against the conventional route of producing gasoline from natural gas. A previously commercialized method of synthesizing gasoline involves conversion of natural gas to syngas, which is further converted to methanol, and then as a last step, the methanol is converted to gasoline. In the new proposed routes, the syngas production step is different; syngas is produced from a mixture of pyrolysis oil and biogas in the following two ways: (i) autothermal reforming of pyrolysis oil and biogas, in which there are two reactions in one reactor (ATR) and (ii) steam reforming of pyrolysis oil and catalytic partial oxidation of biogas, in which there are separated but thermally coupled reactions and reactors (CR). The other two steps to produce methanol from syngas, and gasoline from methanol, remain the same. The purpose of this simulation is to have an ex-ante comparison of the performance of the new routes against a reference, in terms of energy and sustainability. Thus, at this stage of simulations, nonrigorous, equilibrium-based models have been used for reactors, which will give the best case conversions for each step. For the conventional production route, conversion and yield data available in the literature have been used, wherever available.The results of the process design showed that the second method (separate, but thermally coupled reforming) has a carbon efficiency of 0.53, compared to the conventional route (0.48), as well as the first route (0.40). The life-cycle assessment results revealed that the newly proposed processes have a clear advantage over the conventional process in some categories, particularly the global warming potential and primary energy demand; but there are also some in which the conventional route fares better, such as the human toxicity potential and the categories related to land-use change such as biotic production potential and the groundwater resistance indicator. The results confirmed that even though using biomass such as timber pine as raw material does result in reduced greenhouse gas emissions, the activities associated with biomass, such as cultivation and harvesting, contribute to the environmental footprint, particularly the land use change categories. This gives an impetus to investigate the potential of agricultural, forest, or even food waste, which would be likely to have a substantially lower impact on the environment. Moreover, it could be seen that the source of electricity used in the process has a major impact on the environmental performance.

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