Life cycle assessment of conventional and advanced two-stage energy-from-waste technologies for methane production

Tagliaferri, Carla; Evangelisti, Sara; Clift, Roland; Lettieri, Paola; Chapman, Chris; Taylor, Richard

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.04.092

Cited by 40 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(70 reference statements)

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“…Although large part of the carbon within RDF is recovered in the bioSNG product, still almost 110,000 tonnes of CO2 are produced each year in the reference case. Overall, bioSNG is reported to produce significantly lower carbon emissions when compared to the full life cycle of natural gas [87]. However, these could be dramatically reduced if additional hydrogen from a connected PEM is made available.…”

Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental analysis and preliminary assessment of an integrated thermochemical process for production of low-molecular weight biofuels from municipal solid waste (MSW)

Materazzi

Holt²

2019

Renewable Energy

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This work explores the use of advanced thermal technologies for the conversion of refuse derived fuel prepared from MSW into clean syngas suitable for catalytic transformation into light hydrocarbon products. In particular, the possibilities for the specific production of C1-C4 hydrocarbons utilising a good quality syngas produced by two-stage plasma assisted gasification method are investigated. A number of catalytic tests were prepared with modified chemistry to evaluate the preliminary component activities on real waste-derived syngas. C1-C4 paraffines formed in all cases as a main products, with different product distribution for different conditions examined (up to 95% bioSNG on hydrocarbon product for supported nickel, 40% bioLPG for Cu-Zn/ZSM-5 catalysts mix). CO2 was the main byproduct with outlet concentrations ranging from 10 to 50% in volume. When increasing H2:CO in the syngas by external addition of hydrogen, CO conversion increases, as well as paraffin selectivity and hydrocarbons yield. Projections on a 65 MW thermal input bioSNG plant show that if 40 MW of electrical output from renewable sources are used to power a PEM stack during high power availability, the production of bioSNG could be increased by more than 33%, with a simultaneous reduction in CO2 emissions of more than 43%.

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Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental analysis and preliminary assessment of an integrated thermochemical process for production of low-molecular weight biofuels from municipal solid waste (MSW)

Materazzi

Holt²

2019

Renewable Energy

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“…The works is part of a wider assessment which has analysed UK developing energy types (Evangelisti et al 2015a;Evangelisti et al 2015b;Tagliaferri et al 2016b;Tagliaferri et al 2016a).…”

Section: Environmental Impacts Of Using Lngmentioning

confidence: 99%

Liquefied natural gas for the UK: a life cycle assessment

Tagliaferri

Clift

Lettieri

et al. 2017

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is expected to become an important component of the UK's energy supply because the national hydrocarbon reserves on the continental shelf have started diminishing. However, use of any carbon-based fuel runs counter to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Hence, a broad environmental assessment to analyse the import of LNG to the UK is required. Methods A cradle to gate life cycle assessment has been carried out of a specific but representative case: LNG imported to the UK from Qatar. The analysis covers the supply chain, from gas extraction through to distribution to the end-user, assuming state-of-the-art facilities and ships. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted on key parameters including the energy requirements of the liquefaction and vaporisation processes, fuel for propulsion, shipping distance, tanker volume and composition of raw gas. Results and discussion All environmental indicators of the CML methodology were analysed. The processes of liquefaction, LNG transport and evaporation determine more than 50% of the cradle to gate global warming potential (GWP). When 1% of the total gas delivered is vented as methane emissions leakage throughout the supply chain, the GWP increases by 15% compared to the GWP of the base scenario. The variation of the GWP increases to 78% compared to the base scenario when 5% of the delivered gas is considered to be lost as vented emissions. For all the scenarios analysed, more than 75% of the total acidification potential (AP) is due to the sweetening of the natural gas before liquefaction. Direct emissions from transport always determine between 25 and 49% of the total eutrophication potential (EP) whereas the operation and maintenance of the sending ports strongly influences the fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity potential (FAETP). Conclusions The study highlights long-distance transport of LNG and natural gas processing, including sweetening, liquefaction and vaporisation, as the key operations that strongly affect the life cycle impacts. Those cannot be considered negligible when the environmental burdens of the LNG supply chain are considered. Furthermore, the effect of possible fugitive methane emissions along the supply chain are critical for the impact of operations such as extraction, liquefaction, storage before transport, transport itself and evaporation.

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“…In the waste treatment facilities, plasma gasification may be viewed as a single stage operation (only thermal plasma is used for the waste conversion) or as a two-stage process, where gasification produces raw syngas, and plasma acts as a gas treatment step [18,33]. Detailed insights on gasification (type of reactors, chemical reactions, syngas utilization, energy production, etc.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Assessment of Municipal Solid Waste by Two-Stage Plasma Gasification

2019

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Plasma gasification is a thermal treatment successfully applied to waste streams, especially for solid residues. It sets an upgrade to more common waste-to-energy (WtE) techniques as incineration or gasification, granting lower levels of pollutant emissions, less landfilled materials and higher conversion efficiencies and producer gas quality. A life cycle assessment (LCA) of plasma gasification for one ton of a defined stream of solid waste is presented and compared to the hypothetical outcomes of incineration, highlighting the need to implement such sustainable techniques rather than more polluting ones. CML 2001 methodology was applied, enabling the evaluation of eleven impact categories, all of them depicting avoided burdens for the environment. Enhanced efficiency and cleanliness were seen due to the plasma step and to the replacement of part of the electrical grid mix by the produced electricity. Plasma gasification presented an overall better performance than incineration, portraying savings in energy and material resources as well as lower emissions to freshwater. Additionally, lower amounts of air contaminants were seen as well as almost triple of the produced electricity.

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Life cycle assessment of conventional and advanced two-stage energy-from-waste technologies for methane production

Cited by 40 publications

References 51 publications

Experimental analysis and preliminary assessment of an integrated thermochemical process for production of low-molecular weight biofuels from municipal solid waste (MSW)

Experimental analysis and preliminary assessment of an integrated thermochemical process for production of low-molecular weight biofuels from municipal solid waste (MSW)

Liquefied natural gas for the UK: a life cycle assessment

Environmental Assessment of Municipal Solid Waste by Two-Stage Plasma Gasification

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