Identifying the environmental hotspots of sulfur-free odorant for LPG storage and filling by life cycle approach

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to determine the potential environmental impact of storage and filling the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) with sulfur-containing (ethyl mercaptan) and sulfur-free (Greenodor) odorants by comparative life cycle assessment (LCA). The LCA was carried out within the scope of ISO 14040 and 14044 Standards in a facility that stores and fills LPG and potential environmental impact was calculated for eleven different impact categories. According to the characterization results, it was determined that the overseas transportation process had the highest impact among all impact categories. Because environmental impact was suppressed by other processes in characterization results due to the very low inclusion of the odorants in LPG, the percentage contribution of consumption of both odorants was compared and it was revealed that Greenodor had a lower environmental impact in all mid-point impact categories. For both tanker and cylinder filling, the impact category with the highest difference was photochemical oxidation with a rate of 79 %. The lowest difference was found in the global warming impact category with 18 % for tanker filling and 19 % for cylinder filling. Considering uncertainty analysis results for LPG tanker filling, Greenodor preceded ethyl mercaptan for all mid-point categories. However, in terms of LPG cylinder filling, there was no significant difference between two odorants.