Niels Jungbluth ESU-services Ltd., Uster, Rainer Zah EMPA and ecoinvent Centre, St. Gallen Switzerland ecoinvent: Methodological issues around LCA GHG emissions - the Swiss approach Expert meeting LCA GHG methodologies for bioenergy: Beyond biofuels European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, 10 June 2008
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Niels Jungbluth ESU-services Ltd., Uster, Rainer Zah EMPA and ecoinvent Centre, St. Gallen Switzerland ecoinvent: Methodological issues around LCA GHG.
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Niels JungbluthESU-services Ltd., Uster,
Rainer ZahEMPA and ecoinvent Centre, St. Gallen
Switzerland
ecoinvent: Methodological issues around LCA GHG emissions - the
Swiss approach
Expert meetingLCA GHG methodologies for bioenergy: Beyond biofuels
European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, 10 June 2008
www.esu-services.chPage 2
Status in Switzerland
• Full LCA is basis for tax reduction for biofuels– 40% GWP reduction– <125% of overall environmental impacts (UBP)
than fossil reference– Cradle to grave LCA one prerequisite
• Data provision by importers or producers of biofuels not from waste
• Common background database and methodology: ecoinvent v2.0
Harmonization of data collection in ecoinvent
• Collaboration of several research institutes and consultants
• Clear definition of product properties
• Guidelines for methodology e.g. allocation, land transformation
• Standard assumptions, e.g. prices in allocation, distances for biomass transports, regional storage
Allocation: Example Biogas
use, digested matter(0.71 kg)
disposal, organic waste(1 kg)
biogas(0.1 Nm3)
biogas plant
organic waste, to biogas plant(1 kg)
cleaning, filling station
agriculture
Allocation• Multi-output processes are stored in the database – BEFORE allocation
• Input- and output-specific allocation factors, i.e.individual allocation factor allowed per pollutant and input
• Allocation executed after import of dataset into database-> calculation of allocated unit processes-> matrix becomes invertible
• NO system expansion,NO creditsNO double counting of impacts
• All products included: fuel, electricity, heat, material, fertilizer, waste management, fodder, food, etc.
• Cut-off applied for outputs without economic value and wastes for recycling
Land use change:Clear cutting of primary forests
• Agricultural area is increased by clear cutting
• Land transformation leads to CO2 emissions from soil
and biomass
• Burning of residues with further emissions
• Loss of biodiversity
• CO2 from land transformation accounts for about
90% of Brazil CO2 emissions
• Particles from residue burning are an important problem in South-East Asia
Principle of investigation
• Increase in agricultural area for the production in the reference year?
• Emissions per m2 of clear cut land?
• Allocation of emissions between wood production and stubbed land
• Stubbed land assumed the main driver
• New elementary flow „CO2, land transformation“ as
used by IPCC for different possibilities of analysis
• No indirect effects – double counting in a database!
Indirect N2O emissions due to nitrate leaching are taken into account
www.esu-services.chPage 10
Capital goods must be included
• Share in GWP up to 10-30%
• Especially important in agriculture with low usage intensity
• Exclusion would give wrong picture
• Article published in the Int.J.LCA that gives further details and recommendations
Frischknecht R, Althaus H-J, Bauer C, Doka G, et al., The environmental
relevance of capital goods in life cycle assessments of products and
services. Int. J. LCA, 2007. DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/lca2007.02.309.
(Jungbluth et al. 2008: LCA of biomass-to-liquid fuels)
GWP reduction of BTL-Diesel
0 0.0002 0.0004 0.0006 0.0008 0.001
diesel
BTL
passenger car roadevaporation and tyre abrasion provision fuelcombustion, fuel
52%
65%
Neglecting parts of the life cycle leads to different conclusions
concerning reduction potentials expressed as a percentage
www.esu-services.chPage 12
UBP 06
0% 100% 200% 300% 400% 500%
Eco-indicator 99
0% 100% 200% 300% 400% 500%
GWP
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Methane manure, optimized
Methane manure+cosubstrate, optimized
100% Recycled plant oil ME FR
Ethanol whey CH
100% Recycled plant oil ME CH
Methanol fixed bed CH
Methane wood
Methanol fluidized bed CH
Ethanol sugar cane BR
Ethanol grass CH
Ethanol wood CH
Ethanol sweet sorghum CN
Ethanol sugar beets CH
Methane sewage sludge
Methane grass biorefinery
100% Soy ME US
Methane biowaste
100% P almoil ME MY
100% Rape ME CH
Methane manure+cosubstrate
Methane manure
100% Rape ME RER
Ethanol corn US
Ethanol rye RER
Ethanol potatoes CH
100% Soy ME BR
BTL-fuel, miscanthus, ICFB-D
BTL-fuel, short-rotation wood, CFB-D
BTL-fuel, short-rotation wood, ICFB-D
BTL-fuel, short-rotation wood, cEF-D
BTL-fuel, forest wood, cEF-D
BTL-fuel, straw, CFB-D
BTL-fuel, straw, dEF-D
BTL-fuel, straw, cEF-D
BTL-fuel, straw, CH, cEF-D
Natural gas, EURO3
Diesel, low sulphur EURO3
P etrol, low sulphur EURO3
Comparison of biofuels
Conclusion from biofuels study
• A broad variety of investigated biofuels have a significant GWP-reducing potential
• Environmental impacts of biofuel pathways are more dependent on the raw material and its production, not on the type of product or conversion process
• Many biofuels from energy crops have higher overall impacts than fossil fuels
Conclusions (2)
• Differences of biomass production to be considered:– Natural variation: sun, soil, water, climate– Agricultural technology: Fertilization, irrigation,
pesticides use, machinery use– Specific issues: land transformation, burning
• ecoinvent data provides the best basis for such assessments: transparent, harmonized, unit processes that can be reworked, numerous background data
Niels JungbluthESU-services Ltd., Uster,
Rainer ZahEMPA and ecoinvent Centre, St. Gallen
Switzerland
Annexe
Problem setting“Ökobilanz von Energieprodukten”
• Diverging results for bioenergy and biofuels in separate studies in 2004
• ecoinvent data v1.3 covered only a part of bioenergy chains. No common database
• Aims to fully investigate the most important bioenergy chains transparent and publically available
• Main issue biofuels in Switzerland or imported
• Support for energy policy (fuel tax reductions)
• Examination for GHG reduction potential
• Investigation of several environmental aspects of “biofuels” supply chains
Possible classifications of fuels• Chemical classification of energy carrier
Unit 0 0 kg Nm3 kg kg biogas, from biowaste, at storage CH Nm3 1.00E-1 100.00 - - disposal, biowaste, to anaerobic digestion CH kg 1.00E+0 - 100.00 - digested matter, application in agriculture CH kg 7.12E-1 - - 100.00 heat, natural gas, at boiler condensing modulating >100kW
power sawing, without catalytic converter RER 0 h 1.24E+1 100 -
Carbon dioxide, land transformation - - kg 1.20E+5 - 100 Carbon monoxide, fossil - - kg 7.84E+3 - 100 Methane, fossil - - kg 5.14E+2 - 100
Inventory agricultural product
Name
Loca
tion Uni
t soybeans, at farm
Location BRInfrastructureProcess 0
Unit kgOccupation, arable, non-irrigated m2a 1.97E+0Transformation, to arable, non-irrigated m2 3.93E+0Transformation, from forest, intensive, clear-cutting m2 6.22E-2Transformation, from arable, non-irrigated m2 3.77E+0Transformation, from shrub land, sclerophyllous m2 1.03E-1provision, stubbed land BR m2 6.22E-2
www.esu-services.chPage 24
Share capital goods(starting point, MJ fuel)
0%
20%
40%
60%
MJ-Eq kg Sb eq kg CO2 eq kg C2H4 kg SO2 eq kg PO4--- eq m3 m2a
cumulativeenergy demand
abioticdepletion
global warming(GWP100)
photochemicaloxidation, non-
b
acidification eutrophication water use landcompetition
BTL-fuel, miscanthus TUV BTL-fuel, straw CUTEC
BTL-fuel, straw FZK BTL-fuel, straw UET
BTL-fuel, wood CUTEC BTL-fuel, wood TUV
BTL-fuel, wood UET dimethylether, black liquor Chemrec
Questions to be answered
• Using BTL reduces the GWP by X%
compared to fossil fuel
• Using a specific amount (e.g. 1 MJ or 1 kg)
of BTL reduces the GWP by Y kg (or another
appropriate unit) compared to fossil fuel
www.esu-services.chPage 26
Calculations of potential reduction
100%
38%
20%
15%
12%
And again: How much better are biofuels?
• If we want an answer like „the use of biofuel has ???% lower GWP than fossil fuels“ than we have to include the all parts of the life cycle, e.g. for transports also cars and streets
• Neglecting certain parts of the life cycle, even if the same for both options, will bias the results
• System boundaries must be stated correctly if comparing reduction figures, e.g. well-to-wheel should include the wheel
• See www.esu-services.ch/btl/ for background paper