According to IPCC Annual Report (AR-5), environmental impact assessment of any product prototype is recommended before its large-scale commercialization; however, no environmental profile analysis of any biodiesel prototype has been conducted in Pakistan. Therefore, objective of this study was to conduct a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA), water footprint and cumulative energy demand (CED) of biodiesel production from Jatropha curcas L. (JC) seeds oil in Pakistan. A cradle-to-gate LCA approach was applied for 400 liter (L) JC biodiesel produced in Pakistan. JC biodiesel production chain was divided into three stages i.e., 1). cultivation of JC crop 2). crude oil extraction from JC seeds and 3). crude oil conversion to biodiesel. Primary data for all the stages were acquired through questionnaire surveys, field visits and measurements in the field. Potential environmental impacts were calculated in SimaPro v.9.2 software using Eco-indicator 99 methodology. Results showed that crude oil extraction stage accounted for highest emissions (77%) to the overall environmental impact categories evaluated, followed by oil conversion stage (21%) and JC cultivation stage (02%), respectively. The three stages of JC biodiesel production chain are major contributor to ecotoxicity with a contribution of 57% to this impact category. Higher contribution to ecotoxicity was due to agrochemicals used in the JC cultivation. Similarly, fossil fuels impact category was responsible for 38% of overall environmental impacts. In addition, water footprint of JC biodiesel production chain was 2632.54 m3/reference unit. Cumulative energy required for 400L JC biodiesel production chain was 46745.70 MJ in Pakistan. Fossil diesel consumption, synthetic fertilizers use and purchased electricity were major hotspot sources to environmental burdens caused by JC biodiesel production in Pakistan. By performing sensitivity analysis at 20% reduction of the baseline values of fossil diesel used, synthetic fertilizers and purchased electricity, a marked decrease in environmental footprint was observed. It is highly recommended that use of renewable energy instead of fossil energy would provide environmental benefits such as lower greenhouse gases and other toxic emissions as compared to conventional petroleum fuels. It is also recommended that JC as a biofuel plant, has been reported to have many desired characteristics such as quick growth, easy cultivation, drought resistance, pest and insect resistance, and mainly great oil content in JC seeds (27–40%). Therefore, JC plant is highly recommended to Billion Tree Afforestation Project (BTAP) for plantation on wasteland because it has multipurpose benefits.
The need of eco-friendly materials has been attracted due to renewability, abundance availability, low cost, and so on. Therefore, the search for bio llers for the production of bio-based composite materials is gaining more and more attention in both academic and industry circles because it promotes sustainability. The present study represents the utilization of biomass solid waste in the hybrid form of tamarind seed and date seed powder into polymer reinforced composite which has been explored for the rst time by a compression molding technique. These llers are bio-waste that can be obtained at a minimal cost from renewable sources. An attempt has been made to use these hybrid llers to reinforce with the matrix ranging from 0 to 50 wt.%, and their physical, mechanical, and thermal properties were investigated. In general, the inclusion of hybrid llers increases mechanical properties, although the addition of hybrid llers had only a minor impact on thermal properties. When compared to the pure vinyl ester resin, the hybrid llers reinforced composites revealed a signi cant improvement in tensile, exural, impact, and hardness properties, with improvements of 1.51 times, 1.44 times, 1.87 times, and 1.46 times respectively, at 10 wt.% ller loading. Filler matrix interaction of fractured mechanical testing samples was analyzed by scanning electron microscope. Based on the ndings, hybrid ller reinforced composites may be suitable for applications where cost is a consideration and where minor compromises in thermal qualities are acceptable.
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