ORIGINAL PAPER
Environmental impact assessment of organic waste conversion technology for additives to liquid fuels
1
The Department of Strategic Research, Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Submission date: 2020-02-13
Final revision date: 2020-03-03
Acceptance date: 2020-03-04
Publication date: 2020-03-31
Corresponding author
Magdalena Muradin
The Department of Strategic Research, Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Wybickiego 7, 31-261, Krakow, Poland
The Department of Strategic Research, Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Wybickiego 7, 31-261, Krakow, Poland
Polityka Energetyczna – Energy Policy Journal 2020;23(1):135-150
KEYWORDS
life cycle assessment (LCA)organic municipal wastebiofuelsadditives to liquid fuelsglycerol tertiary butyl ether (GTBE)
TOPICS
Fuels and energy marketsEcological, economic, social and legal aspects in energy systemsDevelopment of new energy technologies
ABSTRACT
In this study, the environmental impacts of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) treatment and its conversion in anaerobic digestion to glycerol tertiary butyl ether (GTBE) were assessed. The production process is a part of the innovative project of a municipal waste treatment plant. The BioRen project is funded by the EU’s research and innovation program H2020. A consortium has been set up to implement the project and to undertake specific activities to achieve the expected results. The project develops the production of GTBE which is a promising fuel additive for both diesel and gasoline. It improves engine performance and reduces harmful exhaust emissions. At the same time, the project focuses on using non-recyclable residual organic waste to produce this ether additive.
The aim of this paper is the evaluation through Life Cycle Assessment of the environmental impact GTBE production in comparison with a production of other fuels. To quantify the environmental impacts of GTBE production, the ILCD 2011 Midpoint+ v.1.10 method was considered. The study models the production of GTBE, including the sorting and separation of municipal solid waste (MSW), pre-treatment of organic content, anaerobic fermentation, distillation, catalytic dehydration of isobutanol to isobutene, etherification of GTBE with isobutene and hydrothermal carbonization (HTC).
The results indicate that unit processes: sorting and hydrothermal carbonization mostly affect the environment. Moreover, GTBE production resulted in higher environmental impact than the production of conventional fuels.
METADATA IN OTHER LANGUAGES:
Polish
Ocena oddziaływania na środowisko technologii przetwarzania organicznych odpadów komunalnych na dodatki do paliw płynnych
ocena cyklu życia, biopaliwa, organiczne odpady komunalne, dodatki do paliw ciekłych, eter tert butylowy glicerolu
W artykule przedstawiono ocenę wpływu na środowisko konwersji frakcji stałej komunalnych odpadów organicznych (MSW) w procesie fermentacji beztlenowej do eteru tert butylowego glicerolu (GTBE). Proces produkcji stanowi część innowacyjnego projektu instalacji do przetwarzania odpadów komunalnych. Projekt BioRen finansowany jest w ramach unijnego programu badań i innowacji „Horyzont 2020”. W celu realizacji projektu i podjęcia konkretnych działań zmierzających do osiągnięcia oczekiwanych rezultatów powołano konsorcjum. Projekt BioRen obejmuje produkcję eteru tert butylowego glicerolu jako dodatku do paliw zarówno do oleju napędowego, jak i benzyny, poprawiającego osiągi silnika i zmniejszającego szkodliwe emisje do środowiska. Jednocześnie do syntezy GTBE planuje się wykorzystywać resztkowe odpady organiczne nienadające się do recyklingu.
Celem niniejszego badania jest ilościowa ocena wpływu produkcji GTBE na środowisko w porównaniu z produkcją innych paliw za pomocą środowiskowej oceny cyklu życia (LCA). W badaniach uwzględniono metodę ILCD 2011 Midpoint+ v.1.10. W ramach badań modeluje się produkcję GTBE obejmującą sortowanie i segregację stałych odpadów komunalnych (MSW), wstępną obróbkę zawartości substancji organicznych, fermentację beztlenową, destylację, katalityczne odwodnienie izobutanolu do izobutenu, eteryfikację oraz hydrotermiczną karbonizację (HTC). Uzyskane wyniki wskazują, iż dwa procesy jednostkowe – sortowanie i hydrotermiczna karbonizacja – mają najwyższe negatywne oddziaływanie na środowisko. Ponadto, analiza LCA wykazała, iż produkcja GTBE posiada znacznie większy wpływ na środowisko niż produkcja paliw konwencjonalnych.
REFERENCES (23)
1.
Asdrubali et al. 2015 – Asdrubali, F., Cotana, F., Rossi, F., Presciutti, A., Rotili, A. and Guattari, C. 2015. Life Cycle Assessment of New Oxy-Fuels from Biodiesel-Derived Glycerol. Energies 8(3), pp. 1628–1643, DOI: 10.3390/en8031628.
2.
Beatrice et al. 2014 – Beatrice, C., Di Blasio, G., Guido, Ch., Cannilla, C., Bonura, G. and Frusteri, F. 2014. Mixture of glycerol ethers as diesel bio-derivable oxy-fuel: Impact on combustion and emissions of an automotive engine combustion system. Applied Energ, 132, pp. 236–247, doi: 10.1016/J.APENERGY.2014.07.006.
3.
Borrion et al. 2012 – Borrion, A.L., McManus, M.C. and Hammond, G.P. 2012. Environmental life cycle assessment of lignocellulosic conversion to ethanol. A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16(7), pp. 4638–4650, doi: 10.1016/J.RSER.2012.04.016.
4.
Bozkurt et al. 2019 – Bozkurt, Ö.D. Yılmaz, F., Bağlar, N., Çelebi, S. and Uzun, A. 2019. Compatibility of di- and tri-tert-butyl glycerol ethers with gasoline. Fuel 255, p. 115767, doi: 10.1016/J.FUEL.2019.115767.
5.
Cherubini et al. 2009 – Cherubini, F., Bargigli, S. and Ulgiati, S. 2009. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of waste management strategies: Landfilling, sorting plant and incineration. Energy 34(12), pp. 2116–2123. doi: 10.1016/J.ENERGY.2008.08.023.
6.
Daylan, B. and Ciliz, N. 2016. Life cycle assessment and environmental life cycle costing analysis of lignocellulosic bioethanol as an alternative transportation fuel. Renewable Energy 89, pp. 578–587. doi: 10.1016/J.RENENE.2015.11.059.
7.
EEA 2019. European Environmental Agency, 2019. Annual European Union greenhouse gas inventory 1990–2017and inventory report 2019, European Commission, DG Climate Action European Environment Agency.
8.
EP 2019. European Parliament resolution on the 2019 UN Climate Change Conference in Madrid, Spain (COP 25) (2019/2712(RSP)).
9.
EU 2009. Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC.
10.
EU 2018. Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources.
11.
European Commission – Joint Research Centre – Institute for Environment and Sustainability, 2011. International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook – General guide for Life Cycle Assessment – Detailed guidance. Luxembourg, Publications Office of the European Union; 2010 [Accessed: 2020-01-15].
12.
Eurostat 2019. Share of energy from renewable sources in transport. [Online] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/... [Accessed: 2020-02-10].
13.
Huang, R. and Kim, E.Y. 2015. Catalytic Synthesis of Glycerol tert-Butyl Ethers as Fuel Additives from the Biodiesel By-Product Glycerol, Journal of Chemistry, p. 763854, doi: 10.1155/2015/763854.
14.
ISO 14040:2006. Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Principles and framework.
15.
ISO 14044:2006. Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Requirements and guidelines.
16.
Kijeński et al. 2007 – Kijeński, J., Jamróz, M.E. and Tęcza, W. 2007. Research on the use of glycerol in organic synthesis. Part 2: Conversion of glycerol to its tert-butyl ethers (Badania nad wykorzystaniem glicerolu w syntezie organicznej. Cz. 2. Konwersja glicerolu do do jego tert-butylowych eterów), Przemysł Chemiczny 86 (4), pp. 282–285 (in Polish).
17.
Meng et al. 2019 – Meng, F., Ibbett, R., De Vrije, T., Metcalf, P., Tucker, G. and McKechnie, J. 2019. Process simulation and life cycle assessment of converting autoclaved municipal solid waste into butanol and ethanol as transport fuels. Waste Management 89, pp. 177–189, doi: 10.1016/J.WASMAN.2019.04.003.
18.
Muradin, M. and Cholewa, M. 2019. Production of biofuels from the organic fraction of municipal waste (Produkcja biopaliw z organicznej frakcji odpadów komunalnych). Czasopismo Techniczne KTT No. 180–181, pp. 23–30 (in Polish).
19.
Schmitt et al. 2012 – Schmitt, E. Bura, R., Gustafson, R., Cooper, J. and Vajzovic, A. 2012. Converting lignocellulosic solid waste into ethanol for the State of Washington: An investigation of treatment technologies and environmental impacts. Bioresource Technology 104, pp. 400–409, doi: 10.1016/J.BIORTECH.2011.10.094.
20.
Singh et al. 2013 – Singh, A., Pant, D., Korres, N., Nizami, A-S., Prasad, S. and Murphy, J. 2013. Key issues in life cycle assessment of ethanol production form lignocellulosic biomass: challenges and perspectives. Bioresource Technology 101, pp. 5003–5012.
21.
Stichnothe, H. and Azapagic, A. 2009. Bioethanol from waste: Life cycle estimation of the greenhouse gas saving potential. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 53(11), pp. 624–630, doi: 10.1016/J.RESCONREC.2009.04.012.
22.
Tao et al. 2014 – Tao, L., Tan, E., McCormick, R., Zhang, M., Aden, A., He, X. and Zigler, B. 2014. Techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment of cellulosic isobutanol and comparison with cellulosic ethanol and n-butanol. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining 8, doi: 10.1002/bbb.1431.
23.
Toufiq Reza et al. 2016 – Toufiq Reza, M., Coronella, Ch.J., Holtman, K.M., Franqui-Villanueva, D. and Poulson, S.R. 2016. Hydrothermal Carbonization of Autoclaved Municipal Solid Waste Pulp and Anaerobically Treated Pulp Digestate. ACS Sustainable Chemistry Engineering 4(7), pp. 3649–3658, doi: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b00160.
Share
RELATED ARTICLE
| eISSN: | 2720-569X |
| ISSN: | 1429-6675 |
We process personal data collected when visiting the website. The function of obtaining information about users and their behavior is carried out by voluntarily entered information in forms and saving cookies in end devices. Data, including cookies, are used to provide services, improve the user experience and to analyze the traffic in accordance with the Privacy policy. Data are also collected and processed by Google Analytics tool (more).
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
