Life cycle assessment of biodiesel production from rapeseed oil: influence of process parameters and scale

Gupta, R. , McRoberts, R., Yu, Z. , Smith, C. , Sloan, W. and You, S. (2022) Life cycle assessment of biodiesel production from rapeseed oil: influence of process parameters and scale. Bioresource Technology, 360, 127532. (doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127532) (PMID:35772716)

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Abstract

Biodiesel has the potential to mitigate the fossil fuel-related carbon emission and energy insecurity challenges. There are limited studies examining the impacts of biodiesel production scales on the environmental impacts, while such information will be valuable for guiding practical system design. This work applied the approach of life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental impacts of biodiesel production from rapeseed oil which accounts for 80% of the European biofuel market. It was shown that the centralized large-scale and localized small-scale biodiesel production schemes have annual global warming potential (GWP) of 2.63 and 2.88 tCO2-eq/t biodiesel, where the rapeseed agriculture stage caused more than 65% carbon emissions. Sensitivity analysis revealed a high dependence of GWP on rapeseed yields, glycerol re-utilization strategy, and nitrogen nutrient in fertilizer. An alternative scenario was proposed for the large- and small-scale systems that could reduce carbon emissions by 14.1% and 33.6%.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Programme Grant (EP/V030515/1). Siming You would like to thank the financial support from the Royal Society Research Grant (RGS\R1\211358) and International Exchange Scheme (EC\NSFC\211175).
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Sloan, Professor William and Gupta, Dr Rohit and Smith, Professor Cindy and You, Dr Siming and Yu, Professor Zhibin
Authors: Gupta, R., McRoberts, R., Yu, Z., Smith, C., Sloan, W., and You, S.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Infrastructure and Environment
College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
Journal Name:Bioresource Technology
Publisher:Elsevier
ISSN:0960-8524
ISSN (Online):1873-2976
Published Online:27 June 2022
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2022 The Author(s)
First Published:First published in Bioresource Technology 360: 127532
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
309846Decentralised water technologiesWilliam SloanEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)EP/V030515/1ENG - Infrastructure & Environment