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1,3-propanediol from fossils versus biomass / Robert A. Urban in Industrial & engineering chemistry research, Vol. 48 N° 17 (Septembre 2009) 

Public ISBD [article]  in Industrial & engineering chemistry research > Vol. 48 N° 17 (Septembre 2009) . - pp. 8068–8082 Titre : 1,3-propanediol from fossils versus biomass : a life cycle evaluation of emissions and ecological resources Type de document : texte imprimé Auteurs : Robert A. Urban, Auteur ; Bhavik R. Bakshi, Auteur Année de publication : 2009 Article en page(s) : pp. 8068–8082 Note générale : Chemical engineering Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : Life  cycle  assessment  Conventional  process-based  Hybrid  economic  input−output  Hybrid  ecologically  based Résumé : Despite the popularity of life cycle assessment (LCA) for understanding the broader implications of technological alternatives, it faces challenges due to difficulties in defining the analysis boundary, uncertain data, and ignoring the role of ecological goods and services. The latter natural capital is essential for sustainability but is only considered partially in conventional LCA. Accounting for ecological resources introduces the challenge of how to aggregate resources of widely varying qualities such as sunlight, wood, water, and coal. Methods based on mass, energy, and exergy have been proposed and are evaluated in this work. In addition, this work aims to analyze three LCA techniques with different system boundaries: conventional process-based LCA, hybrid economic input−output LCA (EIO-LCA), and hybrid ecologically based LCA (Eco-LCA). These three methods are applied to the case study of 1,3-propanediol (PDO) produced via fossil-based and bio-based feedstocks. The results of this study indicate that a hierarchical set of metrics can be useful for gaining insight into the role of ecosystem resources in a life cycle. Among aggregation methods, ecological cumulative exergy consumption seems to provide meaningful results, but more empirical studies are needed. It is also determined that bio-based PDO is more attractive than fossil-based PDO because of less nonrenewable resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. However, bio-based PDO does rely more on land, water, and fertile soil. By determining the impact of making the current PDO demand entirely from corn, it is found that the consumption of natural resources relative to national consumption is very low. While producing PDO alone from corn may have a negligible impact in terms of emissions and resource use, switching other products to bio-based will have an additive effect, increasing the strain on some ecological goods and services. These impacts should be addressed before promoting the large scale production of bio-based products. En ligne : http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ie801612p [article] 1,3-propanediol from fossils versus biomass : a life cycle evaluation of emissions and ecological resources [texte imprimé] / Robert A. Urban, Auteur ; Bhavik R. Bakshi, Auteur . - 2009 . - pp. 8068–8082. Chemical engineering Langues : Anglais (eng) in Industrial & engineering chemistry research > Vol. 48 N° 17 (Septembre 2009) . - pp. 8068–8082 Mots-clés : Life  cycle  assessment  Conventional  process-based  Hybrid  economic  input−output  Hybrid  ecologically  based Résumé : Despite the popularity of life cycle assessment (LCA) for understanding the broader implications of technological alternatives, it faces challenges due to difficulties in defining the analysis boundary, uncertain data, and ignoring the role of ecological goods and services. The latter natural capital is essential for sustainability but is only considered partially in conventional LCA. Accounting for ecological resources introduces the challenge of how to aggregate resources of widely varying qualities such as sunlight, wood, water, and coal. Methods based on mass, energy, and exergy have been proposed and are evaluated in this work. In addition, this work aims to analyze three LCA techniques with different system boundaries: conventional process-based LCA, hybrid economic input−output LCA (EIO-LCA), and hybrid ecologically based LCA (Eco-LCA). These three methods are applied to the case study of 1,3-propanediol (PDO) produced via fossil-based and bio-based feedstocks. The results of this study indicate that a hierarchical set of metrics can be useful for gaining insight into the role of ecosystem resources in a life cycle. Among aggregation methods, ecological cumulative exergy consumption seems to provide meaningful results, but more empirical studies are needed. It is also determined that bio-based PDO is more attractive than fossil-based PDO because of less nonrenewable resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. However, bio-based PDO does rely more on land, water, and fertile soil. By determining the impact of making the current PDO demand entirely from corn, it is found that the consumption of natural resources relative to national consumption is very low. While producing PDO alone from corn may have a negligible impact in terms of emissions and resource use, switching other products to bio-based will have an additive effect, increasing the strain on some ecological goods and services. These impacts should be addressed before promoting the large scale production of bio-based products. En ligne : http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ie801612p