Advances and challenges of life cycle assessment (LCA) of greenhouse gas removal technologies to fight climate changes

Goglio, Pietro; Williams, Adrian G.; Balta‐Ozkan, Nazmiye; Harris, Neil; Williamson, Phillip; Huisingh, Donald; Zhang, Zhe; Tavoni, Massimo

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118896

Cited by 104 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…These techniques are potentially deployed to capture and sequester CO 2 from the atmosphere and are termed negative emissions technologies, also referred to as carbon dioxide removal methods (Ricke et al 2017). The main negative emissions techniques widely discussed in the literature include bioenergy carbon capture and storage, biochar, enhanced weathering, direct air carbon capture and storage, ocean fertilization, ocean alkalinity enhancement, soil carbon sequestration, afforestation and reforestation, wetland construction and restoration, as well as alternative negative emissions utilization and storage methods such as mineral carbonation and using biomass in construction (Lawrence et al 2018;Palmer 2019;McLaren 2012;Yan et al 2019;McGlashan et al 2012;Goglio et al 2020;Lin 2019;Pires 2019;RoyalSociety 2018;Lenzi 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategies for mitigation of climate change: a review

et al. 2020

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Climate change is defined as the shift in climate patterns mainly caused by greenhouse gas emissions from natural systems and human activities. So far, anthropogenic activities have caused about 1.0 °C of global warming above the pre-industrial level and this is likely to reach 1.5 °C between 2030 and 2052 if the current emission rates persist. In 2018, the world encountered 315 cases of natural disasters which are mainly related to the climate. Approximately 68.5 million people were affected, and economic losses amounted to $131.7 billion, of which storms, floods, wildfires and droughts accounted for approximately 93%. Economic losses attributed to wildfires in 2018 alone are almost equal to the collective losses from wildfires incurred over the past decade, which is quite alarming. Furthermore, food, water, health, ecosystem, human habitat and infrastructure have been identified as the most vulnerable sectors under climate attack. In 2015, the Paris agreement was introduced with the main objective of limiting global temperature increase to 2 °C by 2100 and pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 °C. This article reviews the main strategies for climate change abatement, namely conventional mitigation, negative emissions and radiative forcing geoengineering. Conventional mitigation technologies focus on reducing fossil-based CO2 emissions. Negative emissions technologies are aiming to capture and sequester atmospheric carbon to reduce carbon dioxide levels. Finally, geoengineering techniques of radiative forcing alter the earth’s radiative energy budget to stabilize or reduce global temperatures. It is evident that conventional mitigation efforts alone are not sufficient to meet the targets stipulated by the Paris agreement; therefore, the utilization of alternative routes appears inevitable. While various technologies presented may still be at an early stage of development, biogenic-based sequestration techniques are to a certain extent mature and can be deployed immediately.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategies for mitigation of climate change: a review

et al. 2020

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“…On the side of the environmental impacts, life cycle assessment (LCA) is particularly useful because it allows to consider all the direct and indirect burdens connected with all the phases of the life cycle of a 2 technology. Indeed it is possible to evaluate the negative and positive effects on the environment of the natural resources consumption and of the direct and indirect emissions occurring during the raw materials extraction, transports, manufacturing, operation and the disposal [21]. Moreover, several environmental impact categories can be investigated including global warming potential, resources depletion, acidification and eutrophication potential and other types of impacts [22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental and economic optima of solar home systems design: A combined LCA and LCC approach

Rossi

Heleno

Basosi

et al. 2020

Science of The Total Environment

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This paper compares the economic and environmental optimal design of Solar Home Systems (SHSs) and explores the role of economic incentives (such as tariffs and technology costs) in approximating the two optima. To achieve that, we present a methodology for the environmental and economic evaluation of grid-connected SHSs: user-scale electric systems involving a photovoltaic (PV) power system and a battery energy storage system. The proposed methodology is based on a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) optimization, life cycle assessment and life cycle costing. This methodological framework is applied to a case study involving a typical SHS installation in Italy. The results of the environmental optimal design brought to the evaluation of a 3.25 kW PV assisted by 8.66 kWh of nickel cobalt manganese batteries, whereas the costs of the SHS are minimized by a small PV system (less than 1 kW). Results underline that the environmental optimal configurations rely on battery technologies, which entails a significant cost compared to the grid connection. In contrast, the economic optimal design solutions is less impactful than the grid mix both from an environmental and economic points of view. Thanks to a reduction of batteries and PV costs, the environmental impact of the economic optimal design is expected to decrease in the future.

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“…The timing of the capture of CO 2 and subsequent emissions should also be accounted, [139] and this is often lacking. Chemicals or fuels produced from CO 2 offer temporary storage of CO 2 (very short in the case of fuels).…”

Section: Use Of Lca To Analyze Environmental Impacts Of Ccu Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analytical Review of Life‐Cycle Environmental Impacts of Carbon Capture and Utilization Technologies

et al. 2021

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Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) has been proposed as a sustainable alternative to produce valuable chemicals by reducing the global warming impact and depletion of fossil resources. To guarantee that CCU processes have environmental advantages over conventional production processes, thorough and systematic environmental impact analyses must be performed. Life‐Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a robust methodology that can be used to fulfil this aim. In this context, this article aims to review the life‐cycle environmental impacts of several CCU processes, focusing on the production of methanol, methane, dimethyl ether, dimethyl carbonate, propane and propene. A systematic literature review is used to collect relevant published evidence of the environmental impacts and potential benefits. An analysis of such information shows that CCU generally provides a reduction of environmental impacts, notably global warming/climate change, compared to conventional manufacturing processes of the same product. To achieve such environmental improvements, renewable energy must be used, particularly to produce hydrogen from water electrolysis. Importantly, different methodological choices are identified that are being used in the LCA studies, making results not comparable. There is a clear need to harmonize LCA methods for the analyses of CCU systems, and more importantly, to document and justify such methodological choices in the LCA report.

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Advances and challenges of life cycle assessment (LCA) of greenhouse gas removal technologies to fight climate changes

Cited by 104 publications

References 48 publications

Strategies for mitigation of climate change: a review

Strategies for mitigation of climate change: a review

Environmental and economic optima of solar home systems design: A combined LCA and LCC approach

Analytical Review of Life‐Cycle Environmental Impacts of Carbon Capture and Utilization Technologies

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