Photochemical Oxidant Creation Potential Research Articles

Assessing the Environmental Impact of Empty Fruit Bunches for Electricity Generation in Malaysia: A Life Cycle Perspective

Abstract Empty fruit bunches (EFB) constitute a significant residual byproduct of the palm oil mill industry in Malaysia, representing approximately 22% of the weight of every fresh fruit bunch. This study aims to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with electricity generation utilizing EFB as a primary fuel through a cradle – to – grave life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. The system boundary encompasses the power plant construction, fuel preparation, electricity generation and all transportation activities throughout its life cycle. The EFBs are sourced from seven palm mills situated within a 50-kilometer radius of the plant. SimaPro 9.4.02 software integrated with Ecoinvent 3.8 database was employed to quantify the magnitudes of significant environmental indicators, such as global warming potential (GWP), ozone depletion potential (ODP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), and photochemical oxidant creation potential (POCP), based on a functional unit of 1 kWh of electricity produced. The emission rate for the biomass plant stands at – 5.31 kgCO2eq/kWh, signifying a net carbon sink. The electricity generation process accounts for a substantial 96.48% of the total CO2eq/kWh emissions, thus bearing the greatest environmental burden. The construction phase of the biomass plant contributes approximately 3.06% of the total emissions, while the EFB transportation to the power plant represents a minor 0.19% of the overall emissions. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate the plant’s efficiency across fiscal years 2018 to 2021 and its corresponding global warming impacts. In 2021, the plant’s operations resulted in the most significant carbon avoidance, given the combustion of a high volume of EFB (188 kilotons) to produce 49.3GWh of electricity. The findings from this study serve as a valuable benchmark for evaluating emissions in the context of the empty fruit bunch-based plant in Peninsular Malaysia, hence offering profound insights into the environmental sustainability of the palm oil industry.

An Analysis of Greenhouse Gas Reduction effect of Automotive Engine Re-manufacturing throug Whole Process Analysis

In this research, through LCA analysis, the environmental impact of automotive engine manufacturing and re-manufacturing was analyzed from the perspective of the entire process, and the greenhouse gas reduction effect was calculated based on this. The amount of greenhouse gas emitted from the process of acquiring and manufacturing raw materials for automotive engines is about 3,473 kg for new manufacturing and 872 kg for re-manufacturing. Thus, the amount of greenhouse gas reduction by engaging in re-manufacturing is about 2,601 kg; the analysis shows a reduction effect in each part of the entire process except for the processing stage. As a result of the LCA weighted analysis, the environmental impact of new product manufacturing was found to be 1.07E+03 Eco-point, and it was 2.67E+02 Eco-point for re-manufacturing. The share of GWP(Global Warming Potential) among the six major impact categories(Abiotic Depletion Potential, Acidification Potential, Eutrophication Potential, Global Warming Potential, Ozone-layer Depletion Potential, Photochemical Oxidant Creation Potential) as high at 99.72%(new manufacturing) and 99.68%(re-manufacturing).

Proposal of Major Environmental Impact Categories of Construction Materials Based on Life Cycle Impact Assessments.

The “Korean New Deal” policy in South Korea emphasizes the necessity of a substantial and timely response to global climate change. In addition to carbon emissions, construction materials have various environmental impacts that necessitate serious considerations. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the major environmental impact categories of construction materials that reflect their diverse environmental impact characteristics using life cycle assessment. To this end, eight environmental impact categories were assessed for seven major construction materials. The contributions of all construction materials to these environmental impact categories were then analyzed to derive major environmental impact categories with contributions ≥95% or higher for each construction material. Consequently, global warming potential and abiotic depletion potential were derived as major environmental impact categories for all seven construction materials. In the case of ready-mixed concrete and cement, the photochemical oxidant creation potential was also found to be an environmental impact category that needs to be considered further. Thus, a study that defines environmental impacts must be considered in conjunction with the carbon emissions of building materials, and presenting the criteria for evaluating the defined environmental impacts is essential.

Life cycle assessment of natural gas and crude oil: case study in PT Pertamina Hulu Mahakam – BSP Site

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodology for assessing the environmental impacts of a product. PT Pertamina Hulu Mahakam - BSP Site has conducted an LCA study to quantify the environmental impact of natural gas and crude oil producing and then identify the activities that give significant impact on the environment which is referred to as a hotspot. The methodology used in this LCA study refers to ISO 14040:2016 and 14044:2017. The impact categories considered are Global Warming Potential (GWP), Acidification Potential (AP), Eutrophication Potential (EP), Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP), Photochemical Oxidant Creation Potential (POCP), Abiotic Depletion Potential (AD), Abiotic Depletion Potential -fossil (ADP-fossil), Human Toxicity Potential (HTP), Eco-Toxicity Potential (ETP), Land Used (LU) and Water Footprint (WFP). The result of this study identifies several activities in PT Pertamina Hulu Mahakam – BSP Site that can be categorized as hot spot: (1) The oil and gas extraction process, (2) Emission from transportation activities (3) Emission from electricity generator unit and compressor unit (4) Gas venting from surface facilities (5) Steel production that used in offshore platform infrastructure and (6) Fugitive emission from produced water. Several recommendations have been proposed to reduce the impact of those activities: reduce water content in the oil and gas extraction process, optimized transportation routes, use more environmentally friendly fuel for transportation activities, optimize the performance of compressor and electricity generator, and install the new offshore platform with a slimmer design. This study shows that LCA can help oil and gas producers to improve operational efficiency and reduce the impact on the environment to achieve sustainable development.

Analysis of the Characteristics of Environmental Impacts According to the Cut-Off Criteria Applicable to the Streamlined Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) of Apartment Buildings in South Korea

This study analyzed the characteristics of the environmental impacts of apartment buildings, a typical housing type in South Korea, as part of a research project supporting the streamlined life cycle assessment (S-LCA) of buildings within the G-SEED (Green Standard for Energy and Environmental Design) framework. Three recently built apartment building complexes were chosen as study objects for the quantitative evaluation of the buildings in terms of their embodied environmental impacts (global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, ozone layer depletion potential, photochemical oxidant creation potential, and abiotic depletion potential), using the LCA approach. Additionally, we analyzed the emission trends according to the cut-off criteria of the six environmental impact categories by performing an S-LCA with cut-off criteria 90–99% of the cumulative weight percentile. Consequently, we were able to present the cut-off criterion best suited for S-LCA and analyze the effect of the cut-off criteria on the environmental impact analysis results. A comprehensive environmental impact analysis of the characteristics of the six environmental impact categories revealed that the error rate was below 5% when the cut-off criterion of 97.5% of the cumulative weight percentile was applied, thus verifying its validity as the optimal cut-off criterion for S-LCA.

Analysis of Major Environmental Impact Categories of Road Construction Materials

To address the environmental problems associated with construction materials, the construction industry has made considerable efforts to reduce carbon emissions. However, construction materials cause several other environmental problems in addition to carbon emissions and thus, a comprehensive analysis of environmental impact categories is required. This study aims to determine the major environmental impact categories for each construction material in production stage using the life cycle assessment (LCA) technique on road projects. Through the review of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methodologies, the abiotic depletion potential (ADP), ozone depletion potential, photochemical oxidant creation potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, eco-toxicity potential, human toxicity potential, as well as the global warming potential (GWP) were defined as impact categories. To define the impact categories for road construction materials, major environmental pollutants were analyzed for a number of road projects, and impact categories for 13 major construction materials were selected as mandatory impact categories. These materials contributed more than 80% to the impact categories from an LCA perspective. The impact categories to which each material contributed more than 99% were proposed as specialization impact categories to provide basic data for use in the LCIA of future road projects.

Life cycle assessment of lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NCM) batteries for electric passenger vehicles

This study evaluated and quantified the life cycle environmental impacts of lithium-ion power batteries (LIBs) for passenger electric vehicles to identify key stages that contribute to the overall environmental burden and to find ways to reduce this burden effectively. Primary data for the assessment were collected onsite from the two Chinese leading LIB suppliers, two leading cathode material producers and two battery recycling corporations from 2017 to 2019. Six environmental impact categories, including primary energy demand (PED), global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), photochemical oxidant creation potential (POCP), eutrophication potential (EP) and human toxicity potential (HTP), were considered in accordance with the ISO 14040/14044 standards.The results indicate that material preparation stage is the largest contributor to the LIB’s life cycle PED, GWP, AP, POCP, EP and HTP, with the cathode active material, wrought aluminum and electrolytes as the predominant contributors. In the production stage, vacuum drying and coating and drying are the two main processes for all the six impact categories. In the end-of-life stage, waste LIBs recycling could largely reduce the life cycle POCP and HTP.Sensitivity analysis results depict that replacing NCM 622 by NCM 811 as the cathode active material could increase all the six environmental impacts. We hope this study is helpful to reduce the uncertainties associated with the life cycle assessment of LIBs in existing literatures and to identify opportunities to improve the environmental performance of LIBs within the whole life cycle.

Environmental life cycle assessment of utilizing stem waste for banana production in greenhouses in Turkey

The life cycle environmental impacts of banana production and then its supply to the end user in Turkey were investigated. The low ground water temperatures in Turkey inhibits the yield of banana trees in Turkey and literature suggests that it is possible to double the yield of a single tree by increasing the irrigation water temperature to 27 °C. Hence, three different scenarios were studied. In the first scenario, the business as usual case was considered; in the second scenario heating the irrigation water by using natural gas was studied; and in the third scenario heating the irrigation water by using biogas produced on-site via the anaerobic digestion of banana stem waste was analyzed. The functional unit was chosen as 2 ton of bananas produced over the course of the lifetime of the biogas production system. CCaLC2™ was used as software, and CML2001 methodology was used. A cradle-to-grave approach was employed. The production processes were modelled based on real life data acquired from a real greenhouse in Turkey. Six impacts (global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, photochemical oxidant creation potential, ozone layer depletion potential, and human toxicity potential) were calculated. Results show that four of the six impacts decreased when biogas was used, suggesting that this practice has the potential to reduce the environmental footprint of banana productionThe results were found to be in good agreement with the values reported in the literature. It was concluded that, in order to reduce the environmental footprint of banana production, utilizing the stem waste instead of the conventional practice of burning is essential, and special emphasis should be given to treating or utilizing the bioreactor digestate to further reduce the environmental footprint.

When plastic packaging should be preferred: Life cycle analysis of packages for fruit and vegetable distribution in the Spanish peninsular market

Food packaging is an important industrial sector that has great influence on food loss and waste. The search of optimal conditions to minimize the negative impacts of food packaging on the environment must promote the selection of the best available packages. This work has evaluated the environmental impact of the distribution of fruit and vegetables in the Spanish peninsular context using reusable plastic crates and single-use cardboard boxes. Discussion and decision at each phase and step of the methodology were provided, being an example to follow for similar studies in the future. For the analysis, five different impact categories were considered: global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, ozone depletion potential and photochemical oxidant creation potential. In addition, energy and water consumption were taken into account. According to the results of the analysis, the use of reusable plastic crates should be selected, since the values of all impact categories and energy consumption indicators were higher in the case of single-use cardboard boxes. The sensitivity analysis revealed a robust preference for plastic crates in comparison with cardboard boxes even in alternative scenarios, and only the hypothetic reduction of the quality of the cardboard resulted in significant lower impacts for cardboard boxes in comparison to plastic crates in photochemical oxidant creation potential, acidification potential, and energy consumption. This work demonstrates that plastic packaging should not be totally excluded or banned, since it can be the most environmentally friendly option in certain applications.

Life cycle assessemnt (LCA) study of a milk powder product in aluminium foil packaging

Dairy processing industry is one of the industries that give positive contribution to the economic growth, however it also contributes in many impacts on the environment, as well as milk powder product manufactured by PT X. The main objective of this study was to determine the most significant environmental impact caused by production and transportation of milk powder in bag 250 gram (Product X) using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The boundary of the LCA study is “cradle to gate”, including: materials production, materials transportation from supplier to the PT X factory, manufacture of milk powder in PT X, and distribution of the products from factory to distributor. Four impact categories will be calculated on this study: global warming potential (GWP), eutrophication potential (EP), acidification potential (AP), and photochemical oxidant creation potential (POCP). The impact assessment was calculated by software SimaPro v.8.3.2 faculty license, and the calculation result validated manually by Microsoft Excel. The result of environmental impact calculation showed the GWP, EP, AP, and POCP of 1 kg milk powder is 1.3245 kg CO2 eq/kg, 0.0033 kg PO43- eq/kg, 0.0066 kg SO2 eq/kg and 0.0020 kg C2H4 eq/kg. The material production subsystem has the highest environmental impact on GWP, POCP, AP and EP categories. In particular, production activity in PT X also contributes to GWP. An environmental impact reduction strategy can focus on reducing GWP with electricity usage efficiency and developing a material supplier selection plan with environmental impacts of material production as one of criteria.

Environmental life cycle assessment of yoghurt supply to consumer in Turkey

The life cycle environmental impacts of yoghurt supply to the end user in Turkey were investigated. Turkey is the second biggest yoghurt producer in the world; therefore reducing the environmental footprint of yoghurt production is of utmost importance from cleaner production and sustainability points of view. The functional unit was chosen as 1 ton of yoghurt, CCaLC2™ was used as software, and CML2001 methodology was used. A cradle-to-grave approach was employed. The production processes were modelled based on real life data acquired from a major yoghurt production company in Turkey. Six impacts (global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, photochemical oxidant creation potential, ozone layer depletion potential, and human toxicity potential) were calculated. All of the impacts turned out to be higher than the values reported in the literature (differences ranging from 18% to 76%), which was attributed to the high amounts of milk loss and the high energy intensity of yoghurt production processes combined with the fact that the energy resources used for thermal energy and electricity supply in Turkey have high environmental footprints. Except for ozone layer depletion, all impacts were found to be mainly caused by raw material supply and production processes, with these two stages having a combined average contribution of 80%. Choosing different end-of-life treatment methods (landfilling versus incineration) affected the results by no more than 4%. None of the impacts except for ozone layer depletion potential were found to be sensitive to transportation distances,. It was concluded that, in order to reduce the environmental footprint of yoghurt production, the electrical energy input to the production process should be obtained from more environmentally friendly resources such as solar photovoltaics whereas heat energy should be supplied from cleaner resources such as natural gas instead of coal.

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Chinese Radial Passenger Vehicle Tire

The life cycle environmental impacts of the new model radial passenger vehicle tire product was evaluated and compared. the silicon dioxide was added to replace part of the carbon black as filler, with its previous model tire product. The study covers all relevant life cycle stages: from the acquisition of raw materials to the production, use, and end-of-life. The data collected onsite in 2014 by one of the largest Chinese tire companies were used in the assessment. The evaluation is presented in terms of individual impact category according to the CML model. Five impact categories (i.e., global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), photochemical oxidant creation potential (POCP), eutrophication potential (EP), and human toxicity potential (HTP)) were considered. The research was conducted in accordance with the ISO 14040/14044 standards. The results showed that In all the five impact categories, new model tire product is lower than the previous model in the whole life cycle. It is mostly due to the reduction of the fuel consumption during the use stage, which resulted in replacing part of the carbon black with silicon dioxide. Fuel (gasoline) consumption represents an important contribution to most impact categories, including the GWP, AP, POCP, and EP, during the use stage. Vehicle fuel consumption and its proportion consumed by the tires during the use stage are key factors that contribute to environmental impact during tire life time. The largest contributor to the HTP category is raw material acquisition, mainly because of the impact of the production of organic chemicals. During the raw material acquisition stage, natural rubber, synthetic rubber, carbon black, and organic chemicals represent the largest contribution to the environmental impact categories, which could be mitigated by reducing the use of raw materials, replacing the aromatic oil with environmental oil in the new model tire product.

콘크리트의 전과정 평가를 위한 기준콘크리트 선정방법 제안 연구

The purpose of this study is to suggest baseline concrete selection method for environmental impact assessment of concrete as part of study on the development of concrete life cycle assessment system. For this purpose, environmental impact was assessed for 6 environmental impact categories including Global Warming Potential(GWP), Abiotic Depletion Potential(ADP), Ozone Depletion Potential(ODP), Acidification Potential(AP), Eutrophication Potential(EP) and Photochemical Oxidant Creation Potential(POCP) using mix design DB used in concrete field. Furthermore, Correlation of baseline concrete has been analyzed by the results with Average, High rank 20% and Mode of environmental impact assessment of concrete. As a result, Baseline concrete Selection method using Mode is judged to be the most proper method at present. Through the analysis of environmental impact of baseline concrete, it is possible to use the indicator as baseline data when environmental friendly concrete assessment system is developed.

Life cycle assessment of Chinese radial passenger vehicle tire

We evaluated and quantified the environmental impact of a radial tire product for passenger vehicles throughout the product’s life cycle to identify key stages that contribute to the overall environmental burden and to find ways to reduce these burdens effectively. The study covers all relevant life cycle stages, from the acquisition of raw materials to the production, use, and end of life. Data collected onsite in 2014 by one of the largest Chinese tire companies were used in the assessment. The evaluation is presented in terms of individual impact category according to the CML model. Five impact categories (i.e., global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), photochemical oxidant creation potential (POCP), eutrophication potential (EP), and human toxicity potential (HTP)) were considered. The research was conducted in accordance with the ISO 14040/14044 standards. Fuel (gasoline) consumption represents an important contribution to most impact categories, including the GWP, AP, POCP, and EP, during the use stage. The largest contributor to the HTP category is raw material acquisition, mainly because of the impact of the production of organic chemicals. In the end-of-life stage, assuming that 100 % of used tires are collected and recycled to produce reclaimed rubber, the GWP, EP, and HTP contributions are negative, whereas those to the AP and POCP are positive. During the raw material acquisition stage, natural rubber, synthetic rubber, carbon black, and organic chemicals represent the largest contribution to the environmental impact categories. During the production stage, the compound blending process is the largest contributor to the AP and POCP, whereas vulcanizing and testing contribute most to the GWP, EP, and HTP. Vehicle fuel consumption and its proportion consumed by the tires during the use stage are key factors that contribute to environmental impact during tire life. Further investigations should be conducted to decrease the impact of these factors and improve the environmental performance of tire products.

Harmonization of LCA methodologies for the metal and mining industry

The metal and mining industry routinely conducts life cycle assessment studies to monitor and document the potential environmental impacts of their products. These studies are typically conducted independently by the various commodity associations. To facilitate alignment of these methodologies, a working group comprised of interested industry organizations and their representatives was formed to propose uniform recommendations for key methodological choices. Existing methodologies used by the participating associations were reviewed to identify areas of alignment as well as areas which could benefit from discussions and alignment. Recommendations for selected topics were then developed through a series of moderated discussions among the participating organizations throughout 2012 and 2013. Efforts were taken in the creation of the document to ensure alignment with the international standards ISO 14040 (2006) and ISO 14044 (2006). Four methodology issues were chosen to be addressed with respect to industry alignment: system boundary, recycling allocation, co-product allocation, and impact assessment categories. Recommendations for system boundary conclude that boundaries should include end-of-life disposal and recycling and, whenever possible, the product use phase, particularly for material and product comparison. For co-product allocation methods, the recommendations were based on the type of co-products being produced and included a range of options to guide practitioners’ decisions. It was recommended for recycling allocation that practitioners use the avoided burden methodology. Lastly, for the life cycle impact assessment stage, it was recommended that life cycle assessments (LCAs) on metal and mining products should report the following impact categories: global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, photochemical oxidant creation potential, and ozone depletion potential. It was recommended that inclusion of other impact categories will be periodically re-evaluated by the metal industry. Further, the recommendation is that, while impact categories included are limited to the five above, all life cycle inventory (LCI) datasets themselves should contain accurate and comprehensive inventory data, given reasonable accessibility and data collection cost constraints. Methodological alignment for LCA studies in the metal and mining industry will lead to improved consistency and applicability of the LCA data and results. Specifically, these recommendations improve the consistency of decisions regarding system boundary, recycling allocation, co-product allocation, and impact assessment categories. Further research is suggested to improve the specificity of certain recommendations (e.g., allocation), as well as expand the scope of the harmonization efforts to include other methodological decisions.

Analysis of environmental impacts of burial sites

Foot and mouth disease and avian influenza are highly contagious. The foot and mouth disease virus can be transmitted in a number of ways, including close-contact animal-to-animal spread, long-distance aerosol spread, and fomites (inanimate objects, typically fodder and motor vehicles). Many burial sites were constructed in a short time to prevent the rapid spread of the Foot and mouth disease and avian influenza. These carcass burial sites pose a risk of secondary pollution because the sites were constructed without any appropriate or systematic management due to lack of time, equipment, and available labors. In 2011, more than 4700 carcass burial sites were constructed. Approximately 7 million poultry and 3.5 million livestock, including cattle and swine, were buried in farmland. Secondary pollution from these burial sites is a cause of concern. In practice, a number of burial sites were excavated, and the carcasses were reburied or disposed of elsewhere. To minimize risks to the environment and human health, the environmental impacts of the construction methods should be analyzed. This study used life cycle assessment methodology to investigate environmental impacts of the traditional carcass burial construction method and the redisposal construction using aerobic thermophilic microbes. All input data of raw materials and energy usage were collected, and an inventory was established. The burial process contributed to freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity potential, ozone depletion potential, and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential more than the redisposal process. However, the redisposal contributed to abiotic depletion potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, global warming potential, human toxicity potential, and photochemical oxidant creation potential more than the burial process.

Sustainability and shared smart and mutual--green growth (SSaM-GG) in Korean medical waste management.

Since medical insurance was introduced in the Republic of Korea, there have been several increases concerning medical waste. In order to solve these problems, we have applied life cycle assessment and life cycle cost. But these methods cannot be a perfect decision-making tool because they can only evaluate environmental and economic burdens. Thus, as one of many practical methods the shared smart and mutual - green growth considers economic growth, environmental protection, social justice, science technology and art, and mutual voluntarism when applied to medical waste management in the Republic of Korea. Four systems were considered: incineration, incineration with heat recovery, steam sterilisation, and microwave disinfection. This research study aimed to assess pollutant emissions from treatment, transport, and disposal. Global warming potential, photochemical oxidant creation potential, acidifications potential, and human toxicity are considered to be environmental impacts. Total investment cost, transport cost, operation, and maintenance cost for the medical waste are considered in the economy evaluations though life cycle cost. The social development, science technology and art, and mutual voluntarism are analysed through the Delphi-method conducted by expert groups related to medical waste. The result is that incineration with heat recovery is the best solution. However, when heat recovery is impossible, incineration without heat recovery becomes the next best choice. That is why 95% of medical waste is currently treated by both incineration and incineration with heat recovery within the Republic of Korea.

Methane reforming in a small-scaled plasma reactor – Industrial application of a plasma process from the viewpoint of the environmental profile

The environmental profile of plasma assisted methane reforming for the production of synthesis gas was researched. A miniaturized gliding arc discharge reactor was applied for the partial oxidation of methane in this study. The best operational condition regarding to the lowest CO2-eq emission was screened out. Studied were the global warming potential, the acidification potential, the eutrophication potential, the human toxicity, the NOx photochemical oxidant creation potential, and the ozone depletion potential. The electricity consumption was the main contribution to the four of these six impacts. A sensitivity research of different energy resources of electricity and electricity mix of different countries was carried out in order to decrease the emission caused by the electricity consumption. Then, the conventional steam reforming was benchmarked to the plasma reforming process, which shows that the global warming potential of the plasma reforming is comparably on the same level as the conventional reforming only in the case when the electricity is generated from renewable or clean energy. So, the environmental impact research of the plasma assisted methane reforming in lab scale shed light on its industrial application from the viewpoint of the environmental profile. In order to decrease the emissions from electricity production, it’s recommended that such plasma plant should be built close to power plants from the renewable or clean energy. The compactness of plasma plants due to their expected process intensification would facilitate such distributed approach, while conventional reforming plants are very large and need Verbund-type integration into ChemParks. Finally, another option to make the plasma reforming process more energy efficient and green is proposed which is to combine the plasma reforming unit with Solid Oxide Fuel Cells.

Comparative life cycle assessment of ethanol production from fast-growing wood crops (black locust, eucalyptus and poplar)

A life cycle assessment (LCA) study was carried out to evaluate the environmental implications of the production and use of ethanol from three fast-growing wood crops: eucalyptus, black locust and poplar in flexi-fuel vehicles. The production of a blend rich in ethanol: E85 (85% ethanol and 15% gasoline by volume) was assessed and the results compared with those of conventional gasoline (CG) in an equivalent car. The following environmental categories were evaluated: fossil fuels use (FF), global warming potential over 100 years (GWP 100), photochemical oxidant creation potential (POCP), acidification potential (AP) and eutrophication potential (EP).The use of ethanol derived from black locust was found to be the option with the lowest impact in most categories with reductions of 97%, 42%, 41% and 76% for GWP 100, AP, EP and FF respectively in comparison with CG.Concerning the production stage of ethanol (excluding the stages of blending and use), black locust has the lowest environmental impacts due to the low levels of agricultural inputs during its cultivation. The poplar scenario has higher impacts in AP and EP due to the emission of diffuse substances from fertilizer application and the eucalyptus scenario in GWP 100, POCP and FF due to the use and requirements of heavy machinery during harvesting.The use of the LCA methodology has helped to identify the key areas in the life cycle of ethanol. Special attention should be paid to ethanol production related activities and forest activities oriented to the feedstock production. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Evaluating the environmental impacts of an urban wetland park based on emergy accounting and life cycle assessment: A case study in Beijing

In this paper, emergy accounting (EA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) methods are employed to investigate a typical urban wetland park, the Green Lake Urban Wetland Park (GLUWP) of Beijing, in terms of its environmental and capital inputs, ecosystem services and organic matter yields, environmental support, and sustainability. The LCA method is also used to obtain a quantitative estimation of the environmental impact of discharges during the entire life cycle of the GLUWP. Various emergy-based indices, such as emergy yield ratio (EYR), environmental load ratio (ELR), emergy sustainability index (ESI), net economic benefit (Np), and environmental impacts of process-based LCA, including global warming potential (GWP), eutrophication (EU), nonrenewable resource depletion (RU), energy consumption (EN), acidification potential (AP), photochemical oxidant creation potential (POCP), particulate matter (PM) and wastes (W), are calculated. The results show that the GLUWP has higher proportions of renewable resource input, less pressure on the environment, more environmental support and better ecological and economic benefits, which can be considered as an environment-friendly and long-term sustainable ecological practice, compared with another constructed wetland in Beijing. Meanwhile, the dominant environmental impact is induced by POCP with the construction phase contributing the most on the entire life cycle. It is expected that increasing green area, extensively using environment-friendly materials, optimizing construction techniques and reducing power consumption can promote the sustainability of the GLUWP.