IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v118y2018icp870-878.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainability assessment of synfuels from biomass or coal: An insight on the economic and ecological burdens

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Shiying
  • Yang, Yucheng
  • Kankala, Ranjith Kumar
  • Li, Baoxia

Abstract

Biomass-to-Liquid (BTL) and Coal-to-Liquid (CTL) Synfuels have been the two most significant alternatives for the transportation liquid fuels. But their performance in resource depletion, economic investment, and environmental impacts differs greatly from the conventional refinery. For comparing the strengths and the weakness of each alternative, a quantitative trade-off procedure is required. However, a few researches have discussed such trade-off procedures. In this paper, the life cycle inventories, production cost, and Ecological Cumulative Exergy Consumption (ECEC) of BTL and CTL in China are investigated to compare the pros and cons of each Synfuel. Herewith, the ECEC is taken as a metric for the ecological burden, providing a significant way to integrate the life cycle resource, economic, and environmental factors of Synfuels for the sustainability assessments. The results demonstrated that the shifting of petroleum to BTL reduced the CO2 emission by 98% but relatively increased the water consumption and wastewater. The production cost-breakeven crude oil price with BTL is about 98 $/bbl without considering the taxes, and it could be decreased to 50 $/bbl according to China's tax policy. More importantly, BTL could cut as high as 65% of the overall ecological burden so that would be much more beneficial to the sustainable development of the fuel industry. On the other hand, the economic effectiveness of CTL is relatively reliable, where its production cost-breakeven crude oil price is below 70 $/bbl. However, 10.7 t of CO2 are created for each tonne of CTL, which is 3.3 times to conventional petroleum, and three times of water is consumed in the whole. The ECEC analysis also indicates that the shifting of crude oil to coal for transportation fuels will almost double the overall ecological burden and pose threats to the safety and sustainability of the entire fuel industry at which the cautions should be paid.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Shiying & Yang, Yucheng & Kankala, Ranjith Kumar & Li, Baoxia, 2018. "Sustainability assessment of synfuels from biomass or coal: An insight on the economic and ecological burdens," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 870-878.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:118:y:2018:i:c:p:870-878
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2017.11.073
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148117311746
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2017.11.073?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yang, Z.F. & Jiang, M.M. & Chen, B. & Zhou, J.B. & Chen, G.Q. & Li, S.C., 2010. "Solar emergy evaluation for Chinese economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 875-886, February.
    2. Searchinger, Timothy & Heimlich, Ralph & Houghton, R. A. & Dong, Fengxia & Elobeid, Amani & Fabiosa, Jacinto F. & Tokgoz, Simla & Hayes, Dermot J. & Yu, Hun-Hsiang, 2008. "Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12881, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    3. Brown, Mark T. & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2010. "Updated evaluation of exergy and emergy driving the geobiosphere: A review and refinement of the emergy baseline," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 221(20), pages 2501-2508.
    4. Ou, Xunmin & Xiaoyu, Yan & Zhang, Xiliang, 2011. "Life-cycle energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for electricity generation and supply in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 289-297, January.
    5. Man, Yi & Yang, Siyu & Zhang, Jun & Qian, Yu, 2014. "Conceptual design of coke-oven gas assisted coal to olefins process for high energy efficiency and low CO2 emission," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 197-205.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stolecka, Katarzyna & Rusin, Andrzej, 2020. "Analysis of hazards related to syngas production and transport," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 2535-2555.
    2. Feng, Yong-qiang & Zhang, Fei-yang & Xu, Jing-wei & He, Zhi-xia & Zhang, Qiang & Xu, Kang-jing, 2023. "Parametric analysis and multi-objective optimization of biomass-fired organic Rankine cycle system combined heat and power under three operation strategies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 431-449.
    3. Ren, Siyue & Feng, Xiao & Yang, Minbo, 2022. "Cumulative solar exergy allocation in heat and electricity cogeneration systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PC).
    4. Zhang, Qiongyin & Xiao, Jun & Hao, Jingwen, 2023. "Cumulative exergy analysis of lignocellulosic biomass to bio-jet fuel through aqueous-phase conversion with different lignin conversion pathways," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    5. Raghava Rao Kommalapati & Iqbal Hossan & Venkata Sai Vamsi Botlaguduru & Hongbo Du & Ziaul Huque, 2018. "Life Cycle Environmental Impact of Biomass Co-Firing with Coal at a Power Plant in the Greater Houston Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-18, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lou, Bo & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2013. "Identifying the environmental support and constraints to the Chinese economic growth—An application of the Emergy Accounting method," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 217-233.
    2. Liu, Xinyu & Liu, Gengyuan & Yang, Zhifeng & Chen, Bin & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2016. "Comparing national environmental and economic performances through emergy sustainability indicators: Moving environmental ethics beyond anthropocentrism toward ecocentrism," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1532-1542.
    3. Geng, Yong & Tian, Xu & Sarkis, Joseph & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2017. "China-USA Trade: Indicators for Equitable and Environmentally Balanced Resource Exchange," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 245-254.
    4. Jiang, M.M. & Chen, B., 2011. "Integrated urban ecosystem evaluation and modeling based on embodied cosmic exergy," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(13), pages 2149-2165.
    5. Gengyuan Liu & Mark T. Brown & Marco Casazza, 2017. "Enhancing the Sustainability Narrative through a Deeper Understanding of Sustainable Development Indicators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-19, June.
    6. Suopajärvi, Hannu & Umeki, Kentaro & Mousa, Elsayed & Hedayati, Ali & Romar, Henrik & Kemppainen, Antti & Wang, Chuan & Phounglamcheik, Aekjuthon & Tuomikoski, Sari & Norberg, Nicklas & Andefors, Alf , 2018. "Use of biomass in integrated steelmaking – Status quo, future needs and comparison to other low-CO2 steel production technologies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 384-407.
    7. Tonini, Davide & Vadenbo, Carl & Astrup, Thomas Fruergaard, 2017. "Priority of domestic biomass resources for energy: Importance of national environmental targets in a climate perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 295-309.
    8. Lotze-Campen, Hermann & von Witzke, Harald & Noleppa, Steffen & Schwarz, Gerald, 2015. "Science for food, climate protection and welfare: An economic analysis of plant breeding research in Germany," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 79-84.
    9. Iriarte, Alfredo & Rieradevall, Joan & Gabarrell, Xavier, 2012. "Transition towards a more environmentally sustainable biodiesel in South America: The case of Chile," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 263-273.
    10. Knut Einar Rosendahl & Jon Strand, 2011. "Carbon Leakage from the Clean Development Mechanism," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 27-50.
    11. Fangyi Li & Zhaoyang Ye & Xilin Xiao & Dawei Ma, 2019. "Environmental Benefits of Stock Evolution of Coal-Fired Power Generators in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, October.
    12. Zhang, XiaoHong & Cao, Jun & Li, JinRong & Deng, ShiHuai & Zhang, YanZong & Wu, Jun, 2015. "Influence of sewage treatment on China׳s energy consumption and economy and its performances," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 1009-1018.
    13. Kriegler, Elmar, 2011. "Comment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 594-596, July.
    14. Proost, Stef & Van Dender, Kurt, 2012. "Energy and environment challenges in the transport sector," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 77-87.
    15. repec:fpr:ifprib:2012ghienglish is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Canabarro, N.I. & Silva-Ortiz, P. & Nogueira, L.A.H. & Cantarella, H. & Maciel-Filho, R. & Souza, G.M., 2023. "Sustainability assessment of ethanol and biodiesel production in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Guatemala," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    17. Baral, Nabin & Rabotyagov, Sergey, 2017. "How much are wood-based cellulosic biofuels worth in the Pacific Northwest? Ex-ante and ex-post analysis of local people's willingness to pay," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 99-106.
    18. Baka, Jennifer & Roland-Holst, David, 2009. "Food or fuel? What European farmers can contribute to Europe's transport energy requirements and the Doha Round," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 2505-2513, July.
    19. Li, Aijun & Hu, Mingming & Wang, Mingjian & Cao, Yinxue, 2016. "Energy consumption and CO2 emissions in Eastern and Central China: A temporal and a cross-regional decomposition analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 284-297.
    20. Nguyen, Thu Lan T. & Hermansen, John E. & Mogensen, Lisbeth, 2010. "Fossil energy and GHG saving potentials of pig farming in the EU," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2561-2571, May.
    21. Sarah Jansen & William Foster & Gustavo Anríquez & Jorge Ortega, 2021. "Understanding Farm-Level Incentives within the Bioeconomy Framework: Prices, Product Quality, Losses, and Bio-Based Alternatives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-21, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:118:y:2018:i:c:p:870-878. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.