Abstract
This paper compares the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of natural gas (NG)- based fuels to the GHG emissions of electric vehicles (EVs) powered with NG-to-electricity in China. A life-cycle model is used to account for full fuel cycle and use-phase emissions, as well as vehicle cycle and battery manufacturing. The reduction of life-cycle GHG emissions of EVs charged by electricity generated from NG, without utilizing carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology can be 36%–47% when compared to gasoline vehicles. The large range change in emissions reduction potential is driven by the different generation technologies that could in the future be used to generate electricity in China. When CCS is employed in power plants, the GHG emission reductions increase to about 71%–73% compared to gasoline vehicles. It is found that compressed NG (CNG) and liquefied NG (LNG) fuels can save about 10% of carbon as compared to gasoline vehicles. However, gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuel made through the Fischer-Tropsch method will likely lead to a life-cycle GHG emissions increase, potentially 3%–15% higher than gasoline, but roughly equal to petroleum-based diesel. When CCS is utilized, the GTL fueled vehicles emit roughly equal GHG emissions to petroleum-based diesel fuel high-efficient hybrid electric vehicle from the life-cycle perspective.
Highlights
We focused on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout the life cycle of the fuels, considering various procurement scenarios for fuel production (i.e., liquefied NG (LNG) liquefied in central terminal or produced locally at the service station), so in this paper, a comparison of the life cycle GHG
I 1 =j 1 in which: where, EN plant, natural gas (NG) is the amount of NG used in the plant per MJ of final fuel obtained (MJ/MJ fuel); EN plant,electricity is the amount of electricity used in the plant per MJ of final fuel obtained (MJ/MJ fuel); EN transport, j is the amount of process fuel (PF) j used during the process of NG-based fuels transport for 1 MJ of fuel (MJ/MJ fuel); SH plant, NG is the share of NG in the total energy input for NG-based fuels production; and η plant is the energy efficiency of NG-based fuels for a NG-based power plant
compressed NG (CNG) and LNG pathways both can decrease life cycle GHG emissions by 10% compared to petroleum-based gasoline in a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle
Summary
China does not have large domestic reserves of oil or natural gas (NG), and their proven recoverable reserves are 0.9% and 1.5% of the World total, respectively [1], while China is currently the largest energy producer and consumer in the World [2]. The percentage of coal in China’s total primary energy consumption was 68.8% and coal is expected to play a crucial role as an abundant energy source in China for the long term [3]. Both clean and advanced coal technologies are needed to utilize coal in an environmentally responsible manner while improving utilization efficiency [4]
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