TY - JOUR
T1 - Microalgal biodiesel and the Renewable Fuel Standard's greenhouse gas requirement
AU - Soratana, Kullapa
AU - Harper, Willie F.
AU - Landis, Amy E.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF Grant no. 0932606 ). Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions.
PY - 2012/7
Y1 - 2012/7
N2 - The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires 15.2 billion gallons of domestic alternative fuels per year by 2012, of which 2 billion gallons must be from advanced biofuel and emit 50% less life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than petroleum-based transportation fuels. Microalgal biodiesel, one type of advanced biofuel, has the qualities and potential to meet the RFS's requirement. A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of four microalgal biodiesel production conditions was investigated using a process LCA model with Monte Carlo simulation to assess global warming potential (GWP), eutrophication, ozone depletion and ecotoxicity potentials. The four conditions represent minimum and maximum production efficiencies and different sources of carbon dioxide and nutrient resources, i.e. synthetic and waste resources. The GWP results of the four CO 2 microalgal biodiesel production conditions showed that none of the assumed production conditions meet the RFS's GHG requirement. The GWP results are sensitive to energy consumption in harvesting process. Other impacts such as eutrophication, ozone depletion and ecotoxicity potentials, are sensitive to percent lipid content of microalgae, service lifetime of PBRs and quantity of hexane in extraction process, respectively. Net energy ratio and other emissions should be included in future RFS for a more sustainable fuel.
AB - The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires 15.2 billion gallons of domestic alternative fuels per year by 2012, of which 2 billion gallons must be from advanced biofuel and emit 50% less life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than petroleum-based transportation fuels. Microalgal biodiesel, one type of advanced biofuel, has the qualities and potential to meet the RFS's requirement. A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of four microalgal biodiesel production conditions was investigated using a process LCA model with Monte Carlo simulation to assess global warming potential (GWP), eutrophication, ozone depletion and ecotoxicity potentials. The four conditions represent minimum and maximum production efficiencies and different sources of carbon dioxide and nutrient resources, i.e. synthetic and waste resources. The GWP results of the four CO 2 microalgal biodiesel production conditions showed that none of the assumed production conditions meet the RFS's GHG requirement. The GWP results are sensitive to energy consumption in harvesting process. Other impacts such as eutrophication, ozone depletion and ecotoxicity potentials, are sensitive to percent lipid content of microalgae, service lifetime of PBRs and quantity of hexane in extraction process, respectively. Net energy ratio and other emissions should be included in future RFS for a more sustainable fuel.
KW - Life cycle assessment
KW - Microalgal biodiesel
KW - Renewable Fuel Standard
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84861224353&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84861224353&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.enpol.2012.04.016
DO - 10.1016/j.enpol.2012.04.016
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84861224353
SN - 0301-4215
VL - 46
SP - 498
EP - 510
JO - Energy Policy
JF - Energy Policy
ER -