Life-Cycle Assessment of SW Biomass and Biofuel Energy Systems

This report uses Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to examine the environmental life cycle impact of three biomass boilers and two biofuel production plants recently installed in the South West of England. The advantage of using LCA methodology is that it examines the environmental impact of a product or system over its whole life cycle, from production, through use, and to disposal.

Biomass - LCA Report

The use of biomass to generate energy is considered to be environmentally beneficial as it helps to reduce our use of fossil fuels, and therefore helps reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, unlike other methods of generating renewable energy, such as wind and solar, it is not immediately dependant on the weather. Issues for biomass such as size, geographical supply chain and conflicts with food crops can be overcome by the use of waste wood to fire small to medium scale biomass heating systems, especially where the waste material does not have to be transported over long distances.

Key findings:

• In terms of fossil fuel use, the biomass boilers studied are far better than the main alternatives, LPG and oil.
• The main negative environmental impacts associated with the boilers are the emissions. However, the effect of the emissions depends on the atmosphere into which they are emitted and will change in different geographic areas depending on existing pollutants, wind speed, etc.
• Biomass heat systems have energy payback times of within a year which is comparable to other small to medium scale renewable heating systems, such as solar thermal.
• Biomass heat systems have the benefit over such systems that they are more weather independent and the fuel can be stored until it is needed.
• Use of biomass burners as an energy providing tool seems to be generally more environmentally benign than many of the alternatives, especially the use of fossil fuels. Careful positioning of the boilers in urban areas, to ensure that any emissions do not exacerbate any existing air quality problems, and that the feedstock does not have to travel large distances, should ensure that their use is as environmentally benign as possible.
  

Biofuel - LCA Report

Key findings:

• The environmental impact of producing biodiesel from waste oil is less than the environmental impact of producing biodiesel from virgin rapeseed oil.
• In terms of the use of fossil fuels and climate change gas production, the impact is lower than that of the production of conventional fossil fuel diesel.
• The biggest impact within the waste oil biodiesel production process is associated with the use of methanol. This impact could be reduced if methanol produced from non fossil sources was used.
• The production of the biodiesel from waste oil requires significantly less energy than the production of biodiesel from virgin rapeseed oil. It can also provide much more energy than it requires in its production.
• An impact associated with the collection of the waste oil can be reduced if the amount of containers used in this part of the process is minimised.

If you are interested to know more on these projects e.g. Biomass & Biofuel SW Review Case studies or our Sustainable Energy collaborative initiatives, please contact Alan Stewart on 0117 3282542