Inclusive impact assessment for the sustainability of vegetable oil-based biodiesel – Part I: Linkage between inclusive impact index and life cycle sustainability assessment

Abstract

Sustainability of vegetable oil-based biodiesel has been a controversial issue since its invention as an alternative to conventional diesel. In this study, the Inclusive Impact Index (Triple I) is applied to evaluate the trade-off between advantages and disadvantages of the biodiesel system. Triple I is a single quantitative index for sustainability assessment, which is based on ecological footprint (EF), biocapacity (BC), ecological risk (ER), human risk (HR), cost (C) and benefit (B) under the life cycle (LC) approach. Due to the lack of appropriate guidelines for calculation, the application of Triple I is varied and limited. With respect to contribution to sustainability assessment of renewable energy for transportation, this study aims to propose a methodical estimation of Triple I by integrating its current principles within the Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) framework. The entire study is presented in two parts: Part I identifies and describes the methodological framework of the Triple I - LCSA integration, whilst Part II involves assumed exemplifications on the application of the Triple I framework attached with the case study of an inedible vegetable oil-based biodiesel system in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. In the first part, an integration framework of the Triple I and LCSA was developed. Accordingly, human health impacts (DALY person−1) and ecosystem quality impacts (PDF m−2 year−1) from IMPACT 2002+ and Lethal/Effective Concentration (LC/EC) (under ecotoxicity assessment) are adopted as HR and ER in Triple I, respectively. Life cycle-based EF and life cycle costing are used for EF and C and B, respectively. Under the newly developed framework, ecosystem impacts and human health impacts are firstly converted to a monetary value, then to global hectares in line with cost and benefit values. Following the success developed in the Triple I framework, this work introduces to the sustainable assessment community, especially the transportation sector, a convenient and easy-to-apply quantitative index. Furthermore, this paper also summarizes several state-of-art life cycle assessment techniques and provides brief information about biodiesel life cycle inventories and some potential impacts of the system.