A life cycle assessment of options for producing synthetic fuel via pyrolysis

Vienescu, Diana Nicoleta; Wang, J.; Gresley, Adam Le; Nixon, Jonathan

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2017.10.069

Cited by 67 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Vienescu et al (2018) studied the use of pyrolysis to produce synthetic fuels via an LCA approach. Despite the promising results, similar LCA studies must consider the wide range of environmental impacts that occur during the synthesis production.…”

Section: Plastic Waste Management Options and Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plastic Solid Waste (PSW) in the Context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Sustainable Management

Антелава

Damilos

Hafeez

et al. 2019

Environmental Management

168

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Over the past few decades, life cycle assessment (LCA) has been established as a critical tool for the evaluation of the environmental burdens of chemical processes and materials cycles. The increasing amount of plastic solid waste (PSW) in landfills has raised serious concern worldwide for the most effective treatment. Thermochemical post-treatment processes, such as pyrolysis, seem to be the most appropriate method to treat this type of waste in an effective manner. This is because such processes lead to the production of useful chemicals, or hydrocarbon oil of high calorific value (i.e. bio-oil in the case of pyrolysis). LCA appears to be the most appropriate tool for the process design from an environmental context. However, addressed limitations including initial assumptions, functional unit and system boundaries, as well as lack of regional database and exclusion of socio-economic aspects, may hinder the final decision. This review aims to address the benefits of pyrolysis as a method for PSW treatment and raise the limitations and gaps of conducted research via an environmental standpoint.

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Section: Plastic Waste Management Options and Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plastic Solid Waste (PSW) in the Context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Sustainable Management

Антелава

Damilos

Hafeez

et al. 2019

Environmental Management

168

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…This study suggested using standardized methods such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of a product's life cycle that covers most activities involved in BSC. Many LCAs have been conducted for biomass‐based products (Liao et al, 2020; Peters et al, 2015; Vienescu et al, 2018) and the integration of LCA to BSC optimization has been explored (Yue et al, 2014). One major challenge of conducting LCA for bioenergy systems, especially for new technologies or feedstock, is the lack of Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data (e.g., energy consumption and air emissions; Yao & Masanet, 2018), and AI could be a promising tool to address this challenge.…”

Section: Applications Of Artificial Intelligence To Bioenergy Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applications of artificial intelligence‐based modeling for bioenergy systems: A review

Ming-yang

Yao

2021

GCB Bioenergy

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Bioenergy is widely considered a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. However, large‐scale applications of biomass‐based energy products are limited due to challenges related to feedstock variability, conversion economics, and supply chain reliability. Artificial intelligence (AI), an emerging concept, has been applied to bioenergy systems in recent decades to address those challenges. This paper reviewed 164 articles published between 2005 and 2019 that applied different AI techniques to bioenergy systems. This review focuses on identifying the unique capabilities of various AI techniques in addressing bioenergy‐related research challenges and improving the performance of bioenergy systems. Specifically, we characterized AI studies by their input variables, output variables, AI techniques, dataset size, and performance. We examined AI applications throughout the life cycle of bioenergy systems. We identified four areas in which AI has been mostly applied, including (1) the prediction of biomass properties, (2) the prediction of process performance of biomass conversion, including different conversion pathways and technologies, (3) the prediction of biofuel properties and the performance of bioenergy end‐use systems, and (4) supply chain modeling and optimization. Based on the review, AI is particularly useful in generating data that are hard to be measured directly, improving traditional models of biomass conversion and biofuel end‐uses, and overcoming the challenges of traditional computing techniques for bioenergy supply chain design and optimization. For future research, efforts are needed to develop standardized and practical procedures for selecting AI techniques and determining training data samples, to enhance data collection, documentation, and sharing across bioenergy‐related areas, and to explore the potential of AI in supporting the sustainable development of bioenergy systems from holistic perspectives.

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“…The simplicity, maturity, and low cost of pyrolysis bio-oil production must therefore be balanced against the complexity and cost of its upgrading. The GHG emissions reductions must also be calculated accordingly, with poorly devised upgrading scenarios potentially raising life cycle emissions beyond that of fossil diesel ( Vienescu et al., 2018 ).…”

Section: Bio-oilmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Perspective on Biofuels Use and CCS for GHG Mitigation in the Marine Sector

2020

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Summary The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the marine sector were around 2.6% of world GHG emissions in 2015 and are expected to increase 50%–250% to 2050 under a “business as usual” scenario, making the decarbonization of this fossil fuel-intensive sector an urgent priority. Biofuels, which come in various forms, are one of the most promising options to replace existing marine fuels for accomplishing this in the short to medium term. Some unique challenges, however, impede biofuels penetration in the shipping sector, including the low cost of the existing fuels, the extensive present-day refueling infrastructure, and the exclusion of the sector from the Paris climate agreement. To address this, it is necessary to first identify those biofuels best suited for deployment as marine fuel. In this work, the long list of possible biofuel candidates has been narrowed down to four high-potential options—bio-methanol, bio-dimethyl ether, bio-liquefied natural gas, and bio-oil. These options are further evaluated based on six criteria—cost, potential availability, present technology status, GHG mitigation potential, infrastructure compatibility, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) compatibility—via both an extensive literature review and stakeholder discussions. These four candidates turn out to be relatively evenly matched overall, but each possesses certain strengths and shortcomings that could favor that fuel under specific circumstances, such as if compatibility with existing shipping infrastructure or with CCS deployment become pivotal requirements. Furthermore, we pay particular attention to the possibility of integrating deployment of these biofuels with CCS to further reduce marine sector emissions. It is shown that this aspect is presently not on the radar of the industry stakeholders but is likely to grow in importance as CCS acceptability increases in the broader green energy sector.

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A life cycle assessment of options for producing synthetic fuel via pyrolysis

Cited by 67 publications

References 43 publications

Plastic Solid Waste (PSW) in the Context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Sustainable Management

Plastic Solid Waste (PSW) in the Context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Sustainable Management

Applications of artificial intelligence‐based modeling for bioenergy systems: A review

A Perspective on Biofuels Use and CCS for GHG Mitigation in the Marine Sector

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