Environmental Potential Impact on Biofuel Production from Thermal Cracking of Palm Shell using Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the environmental potential impact of the palm shell biofuel production process using life cycle assessment (LCA) through gate to gate approach. The environmental impact of each scenario was assessed using ISO 14040 (2006), which includes goal and scope definition, life cycle inventory (LCI), life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) and interpretation. The simapro v.9 software with ecoinvent 3.5 database was utilized to assess the environmental effect. The impact analysis method used is Impact 2002+. Functional units were used to show environmental references in damage assessment and characterization, such as energy use and global warming potential. The results show that the environmental impact evaluation obtained through LCA for the entire biofuel production process stated that the thermal cracking stage resulted in the highest global warming impact, compared to other processes, which was 118.374 kg CO 2 eq. For the categories of human health, ecosystem quality, and climate change, each has a value of 0.0001 DALY; 15.708 PDF•m 2 •yr; and 335.233 kg CO 2 eq where this value is the total damage assessment of the entire biofuel production process. From the results of the analysis by utilizing the networking graph on the simapro application, it can be seen that the environmental hotspot of the thermal cracking process of biofuel production is due to the use of electricity from the State Electricity Company (PLN) and the release of chemical substances from the process. To improve the environmental performance of biofuel production process, additional development steps are required to increase biofuel yield, purification efficiency of biofuel to obtain pure liquid fuel, and the use of renewable energy sources to generate electricity. Additionally, more particular data would be required for a more precise LCA study result.

Characterization of Empty Fruit Bunch of Palm Oil as Co-firing Biomass Feedstock

“…In developing nations, biomass is the most important primary energy source, representing approximately 38% of total energy consumption in rural areas and 90% of total energy supply. With an anticipated 90% of the world's population in the area by 2050, biomass energy will continue to be a significant reserve energy source [3], [4].…”