The influence of catalysts on biofuel life cycle analysis (LCA)

Benavides, Pahola Thathiana; Cronauer, Donald C.; Adom, Felix K.; Wang, Zhichao; Dunn, Jennifer B.

doi:10.1016/j.susmat.2017.01.002

Title: The influence of catalysts on biofuel life cycle analysis (LCA)

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Abstract

Catalysts play an important role in biofuel production but are rarely included in biofuel life cycle analysis (LCA). In this work, we estimate the cradle-to-gate energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of Pt/γ-Al₂O₃, CoMo/γ-Al₂O₃, and ZSM-5, catalysts that could be used in processes to convert biomass to biofuels. We also consider the potential impacts of catalyst recovery and recycling. Integrating the energy and environmental impacts of CoMo/γ-Al₂O₃ and ZSM-5 into an LCA of renewable gasoline produced via in-situ and ex-situ fast pyrolysis of a blended woody feedstock revealed that the ZSM-5, with cradle-to-gate GHG emissions of 7.7 kg CO₂e/kg, could influence net life-cycle GHG emissions of the renewable gasoline (1.7 gCO₂e/MJ for the in-situ process, 1.2 gCO₂e/MJ for the ex-situ process) by up to 14% depending on the loading rate. CoMo/γ-Al₂O₃ had a greater GHG intensity (9.6 kg CO₂e/kg) than ZSM-5, however, it contributed approximately only 1% to the life-cycle GHG emissions of the renewable gasoline because of the small amount of this catalyst needed per kg of biofuel produced. As a result, given that catalysts can contribute significantly to biofuel life-cycle GHG emissions depending on the GHG intensity of their production and their consumption rates, biofuel LCAs shouldmore »« less

Authors:

Benavides, Pahola Thathiana ^[1]; Cronauer, Donald C. ^[1]; Adom, Felix K. ^[1]; Wang, Zhichao ^[2]; Dunn, Jennifer B. ^[1]

Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Eco Engineers, Des Moines, IA (United States)

Publication Date:: Sat Jan 21 00:00:00 EST 2017

Research Org.:: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO)

OSTI Identifier:: 1344532

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1397482

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Sustainable Materials and Technologies

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 11; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 2214-9937

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 09 BIOMASS FUELS; 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; biofuels; catalyst production; fast pyrolysis; life cycle analysis; spent catalyst treatment

Citation Formats


                    Benavides, Pahola Thathiana, Cronauer, Donald C., Adom, Felix K., Wang, Zhichao, and Dunn, Jennifer B. The influence of catalysts on biofuel life cycle analysis (LCA).  United States: N. p., 2017. 
Web.  doi:10.1016/j.susmat.2017.01.002.

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                    Benavides, Pahola Thathiana, Cronauer, Donald C., Adom, Felix K., Wang, Zhichao, & Dunn, Jennifer B. The influence of catalysts on biofuel life cycle analysis (LCA).  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susmat.2017.01.002

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                    Benavides, Pahola Thathiana, Cronauer, Donald C., Adom, Felix K., Wang, Zhichao, and Dunn, Jennifer B. Sat .  
"The influence of catalysts on biofuel life cycle analysis (LCA)".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susmat.2017.01.002.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1344532.

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@article{osti_1344532,

  title        = {The influence of catalysts on biofuel life cycle analysis (LCA)},

  author       = {Benavides, Pahola Thathiana and Cronauer, Donald C. and Adom, Felix K. and Wang, Zhichao and Dunn, Jennifer B.},

  abstractNote = {Catalysts play an important role in biofuel production but are rarely included in biofuel life cycle analysis (LCA). In this work, we estimate the cradle-to-gate energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of Pt/γ-Al2O3, CoMo/γ-Al2O3, and ZSM-5, catalysts that could be used in processes to convert biomass to biofuels. We also consider the potential impacts of catalyst recovery and recycling. Integrating the energy and environmental impacts of CoMo/γ-Al2O3 and ZSM-5 into an LCA of renewable gasoline produced via in-situ and ex-situ fast pyrolysis of a blended woody feedstock revealed that the ZSM-5, with cradle-to-gate GHG emissions of 7.7 kg CO2e/kg, could influence net life-cycle GHG emissions of the renewable gasoline (1.7 gCO2e/MJ for the in-situ process, 1.2 gCO2e/MJ for the ex-situ process) by up to 14% depending on the loading rate. CoMo/γ-Al2O3 had a greater GHG intensity (9.6 kg CO2e/kg) than ZSM-5, however, it contributed approximately only 1% to the life-cycle GHG emissions of the renewable gasoline because of the small amount of this catalyst needed per kg of biofuel produced. As a result, given that catalysts can contribute significantly to biofuel life-cycle GHG emissions depending on the GHG intensity of their production and their consumption rates, biofuel LCAs should consider the potential influence of catalysts on LCA results.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.susmat.2017.01.002},

  journal      = {Sustainable Materials and Technologies},

  number       = C,

  volume       = 11,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Sat Jan 21 00:00:00 EST 2017},

  month        = {Sat Jan 21 00:00:00 EST 2017}

}

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