Environmental performance of palm oil biodiesel — A life-cycle perspective

Author

Castanheira, Érica G. ; Freire, Fausto M.

Author_Institution

MIT-Portugal Sustainable Energy Syst. Program, Univ. of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

fYear

2011

fDate

16-18 May 2011

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

6

Abstract

The increased use of palm oil as feedstock for biodiesel production has been a focus of discussion due to several environmental problems. This paper presents a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of biodiesel from palm oil (PME). Alternative land use change (LUC) scenarios and fertilization types have been evaluated. A life-cycle inventory and modeling of palm plantation and oil extraction in Colombia, transportation and biodiesel production in Europe has been implemented. Life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results in terms of global warming potential. acidification, eutrophication, ozone layer depletion and photochemical oxidation are presented for the various LUC scenarios and types of fertilization.

Keywords

biofuel; global warming; life cycle costing; oils; LCIA; LUC; PME; acidification; environmental performance; eutrophication; feedstock; fertilization type; global warming potential; land use change; life cycle impact assessment; life-cycle inventory; oil extraction; ozone layer depletion; palm oil biodiesel; palm plantation; photochemical oxidation; Biofuels; Carbon; Carbon dioxide; Fertilizers; Kernel; Production; Soil; Fertilization; land use change (LUC); life cycle assessment (LCA); palm oil biodiesel (PME);

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Sustainable Systems and Technology (ISSST), 2011 IEEE International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Chicago, IL

ISSN

2157-524X

Print_ISBN

978-1-61284-394-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISSST.2011.5936843

Filename

5936843