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Ethylene based on woody biomass—what are environmental key issues of a possible future Swedish production on industrial scale

  • LCA OF CHEMICALS
  • Published:
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 06 August 2013

Abstract

Purpose

In order to reduce its environmental impact, the chemical industry no longer produces base chemicals such as ethylene, solely from fossil, but also from biomass-based feedstocks. However, a biomass option suitable for one region might not be as suitable for another region due to, e.g., long transport and the related environmental. Therefore, local biomass alternatives and the environmental impact related to the production of chemicals from these alternatives need to be investigated. This study assesses the environmental impact of producing ethylene from Swedish wood ethanol.

Methods

The study was conducted following the methodology of life cycle assessment. The life cycle was assessed using a cradle-to-gate perspective for the production of 50,000 tonnes ethylene/year for the impact categories global warming, acidification (ACP), photochemical ozone creation, and eutrophication (EP).

Results and discussion

The production of enzymes used during the life cycle had a significant effect on all investigated impacts. However, reduced consumption of enzyme product, which could possibly be realized considering the rapid development of enzymes, lowered the overall environmental impact of the ethylene. Another approach could be to use alternative hydrolyzing agents. However, little information on their environmental impact is available. An additional key contributor, with regard to ACP, EP, and POCP, was the ethanol production. Therefore, further improvements with regard to the process’ design may have beneficial effects on its environmental impact.

Conclusions

The study assessed the environmental impact of wood ethylene and pointed to several directions for improvements, such as improved enzyme production and reduced consumption of enzyme products. Moreover, the analysis showed that further investigations into other process options and increase of ethylene production from biomass are worth continued research.

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Notes

  1. Wood needed to produce 50,000 tonnes ethylene is ∼4.5 × 105 tonnes (dry matter content 50 %) (unallocated).

  2. One filter paper unit for cellulase enzymes according to Ferreira et al. (2009) is “the amount of enzyme that releases 1 micromole glucose per minute during hydrolysis reaction” and can be used to describe the activity of the enzyme. The enzyme product assessed in this study, however, does not only contain the enzyme but also some formulation materials. For this reason 1 g of enzyme product does not necessarily equal 1 g of enzyme rather it may vary for different products and product generations. The stated FPU dosage was, therefore, only used to calculate the enzyme product consumption for the current scenarios, since only data for current FPU/g enzyme product were available. For the future consumption scenarios, however, simplified estimates of possible future enzyme product consumptions were made, without the intention to project.

  3. This high purity is not necessary for the production of ethylene. However, the model was set up to simulate production of biofuels, which require this high concentration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Environmental Systems Analysis, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96, Göteborg, Sweden

    Christin Liptow, Anne-Marie Tillman & Matty Janssen

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, 221 00, Lund, Sweden

    Ola Wallberg

  3. Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA

    Glenn A. Taylor

Authors
  1. Christin Liptow
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  2. Anne-Marie Tillman
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  3. Matty Janssen
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  4. Ola Wallberg
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  5. Glenn A. Taylor
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Correspondence to Christin Liptow.

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Responsible editor: Guido W. Sonnemann

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Liptow, C., Tillman, AM., Janssen, M. et al. Ethylene based on woody biomass—what are environmental key issues of a possible future Swedish production on industrial scale. Int J Life Cycle Assess 18, 1071–1081 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-013-0564-6

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