Biomass-fueled combined heat and power systems (CHPs) can potentially offer environmental benefits compared to conventional separate production technologies. This study presents the first environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) of a novel high-efficiency bio-based power (HBP) technology, which combines biomass gasification with a 199 kW solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) to produce heat and electricity. The aim is to identify the main sources of environmental impacts and to assess the potential environmental performance compared to benchmark technologies. The use of various biomass fuels and alternative allocation methods were scrutinized. The LCA results reveal that most of the environmental impacts of the energy supplied with the HBP technology are caused by the production of the biomass fuel. This contribution is higher for pelletized than for chipped biomass. Overall, HBP technology shows better environmental performance than heat from natural gas and electricity from the German/European grid. When comparing the HBP technology with the biomass-fueled ORC technology, the former offers significant benefits in terms of particulate matter (about 22 times lower), photochemical ozone formation (11 times lower), acidification (8 times lower) and terrestrial eutrophication (about 26 times lower). The environmental performance was not affected by the allocation parameter (exergy or economic) used. However, the tested substitution approaches showed to be inadequate to model multiple environmental impacts of CHP plants under the investigated context and goal.

To mitigate climate change and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, more efficient energy production is necessary. Combined heat and power systems (CHPs) are a key technology to reach such an objective, due to its higher energy efficiency than the separate production of heat and electricity. These environmental benefits can be enhanced by using a versatile energy source, such as biomass. The H2020 Hieff-BioPower project is developing an innovative medium-scale biomass CHP technology based on biomass gasification combined with solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). This technology shall reach a high gross electric and overall energy efficiencies (40% and 90% respectively) and is expected to achieve equal-zero gaseous and PM emissions. This study analyses the expected environmental performance of producing heat and electricity with such a technology, using environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The analysis investigates the cradle-to-gate impacts considering different biomass feedstocks and including the manufacturing of the main power plant components (gasifier, gas cleaning unit, SOFC). The preliminary results indicate environmental improvements when compared with state of the art technologies such as internal combustion engines and organic Rankine cycle CHPs.