Abstract
Growing energy needs and medium-term weakening of fossil energy reserves are driving forces towards the exploitation of alternative and renewable energy sources, such as biofuels from energy crops. In recent years, Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz has been rediscovered and is gaining popularity worldwide. The present work reports the results of a study on the life cycle, from cradle-to-gate, of C. sativa oil as a raw material for the production of biofuels in northern Italy, considering two scenarios, namely, the production of biodiesel (BD) and the extraction of pure vegetable oil (PVO). The functional unit was 1 megajoule of biofuel. A life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) was calculated according to the ILCD2011 procedure. Focusing on the global warming potential, the PVO scenario performs better than the BD scenario, with around 30 g CO2eq MJ−1. The net energy ratio (NER) exceeds unity for BD (approximately 1.4) or PVO (approximately 2.5). The same general trend was recorded for all calculated LCIA indicators; the common evidence is a generalized worse performance of the BD scenario, with indicators always scoring higher than the PVO. In particular, the two human toxicity indicators—carcinogenic and fresh water—eutrophication represent a significant difference, attributable to the refining process. Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses, respectively, underline the generalized importance of agricultural performances in the field and of allocation choices. Specifically, the importance of the grain yield and seed oil content in determining the environmental performance of the two scenarios was evident. As far as allocation is concerned, mass allocation provides the most favorable results, while on the other hand, the expansion of the system was the most penalizing alternative.
Highlights
In recent years, concerns about the mid-term weakening of fossil energy reserves, coupled with the growing energy requirements and the related environmental issues, have been driving forces motivating the exploitation of alternative and renewable energy sources
The present work reports the results of a study on the life cycle, from cradle-to-gate, of C. sativa oil as a raw material for the production of biofuels in northern Italy, considering two scenarios, namely, the production of biodiesel (BD) and the extraction of pure vegetable oil (PVO)
The same general trend was recorded for all calculated life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) indicators; the common evidence is a generalized worse performance of the BD scenario, with indicators always scoring higher than the PVO
Summary
Concerns about the mid-term weakening of fossil energy reserves, coupled with the growing energy requirements and the related environmental issues, have been driving forces motivating the exploitation of alternative and renewable energy sources. The concept of environmental safety associated with the potential impact of alternative energy sources has become of crucial importance This drove the development of quite a lot of environmental management computing tools and procedures, e.g., environmental auditing, risk assessment, environmental performance evaluation, and the so-called life cycle assessment (LCA). A relevant example of impact category in the contest of agriculture and bio-energy is the climate change which relates to the radiative forcing of greenhouse gases (i.e., their capacity of trapping heat on the Earth’s surface by absorbing infrared radiation), and whose indicator is the global warming potential (GWP) This deserves importance for energy crops though they have a nearly-shut cycle of carbon dioxide. This translates to a carbon footprint, along with a pattern of other environmental loads belonging to other specific impact categories
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