A life cycle evaluation of wood pellet gasification for district heating in British Columbia

The replacement of natural gas combustion for district heating by wood waste and wood pellets gasification systems with or without emission control has been investigated by a streamlined LCA. While stack emissions from controlled gasification systems are lower than the applicable regulations, compared to the current base case, 12% and 133% increases are expected in the overall human health impacts for wood pellets and wood waste, respectively. With controlled gasification, external costs and GHG emission can be reduced by 35% and 82% on average, respectively. Between wood pellets and wood waste, wood pellets appear to be the better choice as it requires less primary energy and has a much lower impact on the local air quality.