Life-cycle assessment of biodiesel versus petroleum diesel fuel

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:442900

Coulon, R; Camobreco, V; Sheehan, J; Duffield, J

The US Department of Energy`s Office of Transportation Technologies, DOE`s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the US Department of Agriculture`s Office of Energy, and Ecobalance are carrying out a comprehensive Life-Cycle Assessment of soy-based diesel fuel (biodiesel) to quantify the environmental aspects of the cradle-to-grave production and use of biodiesel. The purpose of the project is to produce an analytical tool and database for use by industry and government decision makers involved in alternative fuel use and production. The study also includes a parallel effort to develop a life-cycle model for petroleum diesel fuel. The two models are used to compare the life-cycle energy and environmental implications of petroleum diesel and biodiesel derived from soybean. Several scenarios are studied, analyzing the influence of transportation distances, agricultural practice and allocation rules used. The project also includes effort to integrate spatial data into the inventory analysis and probabilistic uncertainty considerations into the impact assessment stage. Traditional life-cycle inventory analysis includes an aggregation process that eliminates spatial, temporal, and threshold information. This project will demonstrate an approach to life-cycle inventory analysis that retains spatial data for use in impact assessment. Explicit probabilistic treatment of uncertainty in impact assessment will take account of scientific uncertainties, and will attempt to identify the level of spatial detail that most efficiently reduces impact assessment uncertainties.

• OSTI ID: 442900
• Report Number(s): CONF-961149--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
09 BIOMASS FUELS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DIESEL FUELS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FUEL SUBSTITUTION
LIFE-CYCLE COST
SOYBEANS
SYNTHETIC FUELS