Life cycle assessment of sunflower and rapeseed as energy crops under Chilean conditions

Iriarte, Alfredo; Rieradevall, Joan; Gabarrell, Xavier

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2009.11.004

Cited by 140 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Moreover NOX emissions were 10% of N2O emissions [23,57]. The transportation phase of seeds and straw was evaluated by taking 50 km as the average distance.…”

Section: Input Data and Assumptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

LCA Study of Oleaginous Bioenergy Chains in a Mediterranean Environment

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper reports outcomes of life cycle assessments (LCAs) of three different oleaginous bioenergy chains (oilseed rape, Ethiopian mustard and cardoon) under Southern Europe conditions. Accurate data on field practices previously collected during a three-year study at two sites were used. The vegetable oil produced by oleaginous seeds was used for power generation in medium-speed diesel engines while the crop residues were used in steam power plants. For each bioenergy chain, the environmental impact related to cultivation, transportation of agricultural products and industrial conversion for power generation was evaluated by calculating cumulative energy demand, acidification potential and global warming potential. For all three bioenergy chains, the results of the LCA study show a considerable saving of primary energy (from 70 to 86 GJ· ha −1 ) and greenhouse gas emissions (from 4.1 to 5.2 t CO2· ha −1 ) in comparison to power generation from fossil fuels, although the acidification potential of these bioenergy chains may be twice that of OPEN ACCESSEnergies 2014, 7 6259 conventional power generation. In addition, the study highlights that land use changes due to the cultivation of the abovementioned crops reduce soil organic content and therefore worsen and increase greenhouse gas emissions for all three bioenergy chains. The study also demonstrates that the exploitation of crop residues for energy production greatly contributes to managing environmental impact of the three bioenergy chains.

show abstract

“…Moreover NOX emissions were 10% of N2O emissions [23,57]. The transportation phase of seeds and straw was evaluated by taking 50 km as the average distance.…”

Section: Input Data and Assumptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

LCA Study of Oleaginous Bioenergy Chains in a Mediterranean Environment

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Most studies considering water consumption are from countries with an extensive and welldeveloped biofuel sector, such as the US and Brazil. Eight analyses were conducted in the United States (ChavezRodriguez and Nebra 2010; Chiu et al 2009Chiu et al , 2012Clarens et al 2010;Mishra and Yeh 2011;Yang et al 2011Yang et al , 2012Zaimes and Khanna 2013), 3 in Brazil (Cavalett et al 2013;Chavez-Rodriguez and Nebra 2010;Ometto et al 2009), 2 in Chile (Iriarte et al 2010(Iriarte et al , 2012, and 1 in Argentina (Emmenegger et al 2011). Water consumption is of particular importance where water scarcity is a prevalent issue (e.g., southwestern US, the northern region of Mexico, and the Norte Grande in Chile all deal with arid climates) and can be a limiting factor.…”

Section: Water Consumptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Environmental Life Cycle Assessments of Liquid Transportation Biofuels in the Pan American Region

Shonnard

Klemetsrud

Sacramento-Rivero

et al. 2015

Environmental Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Life-cycle assessment (LCA) has been applied to many biofuel and bioenergy systems to determine potential environmental impacts, but the conclusions have varied. Different methodologies and processes for conducting LCA of biofuels make the results difficult to compare, in-turn making it difficult to make the best possible and informed decision. Of particular importance are the wide variability in country-specific conditions, modeling assumptions, data quality, chosen impact categories and indicators, scale of production, system boundaries, and co-product allocation. This study has a double purpose: conducting a critical evaluation comparing environmental LCA of biofuels from several conversion pathways and in several countries in the Pan American region using both qualitative and quantitative analyses, and making recommendations for harmonization with respect to biofuel LCA study features, such as study assumptions, inventory data, impact indicators, and reporting practices. The environmental management implications are discussed within the context of different national and international regulatory environments using a case study. The results from this study highlight LCA methodology choices that cause high variability in results and limit comparability among different studies, even among the same biofuel pathway, and recommendations are provided for improvement.

show abstract

“…Under specific conditions -reasonable biomass transportation distance and efficiency of the energy conversion systems -they demonstrated that generating electricity from willow biomass crops is sustainable from an energy balance perspective and contribute to obtain additional environmental benefits. Iriarte [2010] carried out a research in Chile with the aim to compare environmental impacts, and energy and water demand of two types of energy cropsrapeseed (Brassica napus L.) and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) -considered as potential oleaginous crops for first-generation biodiesel production. They elaborated a cradle-to-farm gate Life Cycle Assessment and found that rapeseed production has a better environmental performance in 9 out of the 11 impact categories evaluated and lower water consumption.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%