Life Cycle Assessment of Wood Pellet Production in Thailand

Piyarath Saosee,Shabbir Gheewala,Boonrod Sajjakulnukit

doi:10.3390/su12176996

Abstract

Thailand has increased wood pellet production for export and domestic use. The variations in production processes, raw materials, and transportation related to wood pellet production make it necessary to evaluate the environmental impacts assessment. The objective of this study was to compare via Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), eight different cases of wood pellet production varying in terms of raw materials, production processes, energy use, and the format of transportation and to compare LCA of electricity production from wood pellets and fossil fuels. The comparison results show that leucaena is better as a feedstock for wood pellet production than acacia due to shorter harvest cycle and lesser use of resources. Pellet production consumes the most energy contributing significantly to the environmental impacts. The use of fossil fuels in wood pellet production and transportation also has a major contribution to the environmental impacts. Using wood pellets for electricity production is better than lignite in terms of human health, ecosystem quality and resource scarcity. Recommendations from this study include increasing yield of feedstock plants, shortening harvest cycle, reducing overuse of fertilizers and herbicides, pollution control, reducing fossil fuel use in the supply chain, good logistics, feedstock access, and offering incentives considering the externality cost.

Highlights

Woody biomass for energy production has the capability to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as potentially beneficial economic impacts on rural regions [1,2]
The objective of this study is to compare the environmental impacts of eight cases of wood pellet production which differ in terms of raw materials, production processes, energy use, and the transportation distance, and to compare the environmental impacts of electricity production from wood pellets and fossil fuels
The endpoint impact assessment results of wood pellet production show that leucaena is better than acacia due to short harvest cycle and use of less resources in a crop

Summary

Introduction

Woody biomass for energy production has the capability to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as potentially beneficial economic impacts on rural regions [1,2]. It has been used by humans as the first source of energy. Wood is utilized for fuel in terms of conventional wood (woodchips) and charcoal. Woody biomass is used for producing torrefied wood pellets (hydrothermal carbonization) and wood pellets (compression). Wood pellets are generally made from compacted sawdust, wood shavings and wood logging residues which is related to biowaste utilization towards a circular economy perspective; biowaste to resource

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Conclusion