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Life cycle energy and greenhouse gas emissions from transportation of Canadian oil sands to future markets

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  • Tarnoczi, Tyler

Abstract

Oil sands transportation diversification is important for preventing discounted crude pricing. Current life cycle assessment (LCA) models that assess greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from crude oil transportation are linearly-scale and fail to account for project specific details. This research sets out to develop a detailed LCA model to compare the energy inputs and GHG emissions of pipeline and rail transportation for oil sands products. The model is applied to several proposed oils sands transportation routes that may serve as future markets. Comparison between transportation projects suggest that energy inputs and GHG emissions show a high degree of variation. For both rail and pipeline transportation, the distance over which the product is transported has a large impact on total emissions. The regional electricity grid and pump efficiency have the largest impact on pipeline emissions, while train engine efficiency and bitumen blending ratios have the largest impact on rail transportation emissions. LCA-based GHG regulations should refine models to account for the range of product pathways and focus efforts on cost-effective emission reductions. As the climate-change impacts of new oil sands transportation projects are considered, GHG emission boundaries should be defined according to operation control.

Suggested Citation

  • Tarnoczi, Tyler, 2013. "Life cycle energy and greenhouse gas emissions from transportation of Canadian oil sands to future markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 107-117.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:62:y:2013:i:c:p:107-117
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2013.08.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Knoepfel, Ivo H., 1996. "A framework for environmental impact assessment of long-distance energy transport systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 21(7), pages 693-702.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sapkota, Krishna & Gemechu, Eskinder & Oni, Abayomi Olufemi & Ma, Linwei & Kumar, Amit, 2022. "Greenhouse gas emissions from Canadian oil sands supply chains to China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    2. Rahman, Md. Mustafizur & Canter, Christina & Kumar, Amit, 2015. "Well-to-wheel life cycle assessment of transportation fuels derived from different North American conventional crudes," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 159-173.
    3. Si, Minxing & Bai, Ling & Du, Ke, 2021. "Fuel consumption analysis and cap and trade system evaluation for Canadian in situ oil sands extraction," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    4. Nimana, Balwinder & Canter, Christina & Kumar, Amit, 2015. "Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in upgrading and refining of Canada's oil sands products," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 65-79.
    5. Sapkota, Krishna & Oni, Abayomi Olufemi & Kumar, Amit & Linwei, Ma, 2018. "The development of a techno-economic model for the extraction, transportation, upgrading, and shipping of Canadian oil sands products to the Asia-Pacific region," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 273-292.

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