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Translating the Paris Agreement into Action in the Pacific pp 201–232Cite as

A Life Cycle Analysis of the Potential Avoided Emissions from Coconut Oil-Based B5 Transportation Fuel in Fiji

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Part of the book series: Advances in Global Change Research ((AGLO,volume 68))

Abstract

Biodiesel B5 blend is being considered for the substitution of diesel fuel needs for the entire transportation sector in Fiji. The 2017 Nationally Determined Contributions Roadmap targets for all diesel fuel land transport in Fiji to begin using biodiesel fuel B5, which is made up of 95% diesel and 5% biodiesel, from the years 2021 to 2025 in an attempt to lower emissions.

Fiji is capable of producing enough coconut oil (CNO) to provide for the production of this B5 requirement. However, its copra production has been declining relentlessly since the peak production of some 33,000 tonnes per annum in 1977. The government has set up a Coconut Industry Task Force to reverse the decline. Based on a scenario that the government can increase its copra yield to 3.25 tonnes/ha on the currently available land of 15,000 ha, this chapter reveals that it is possible to replace the entire 450 million litres of imported diesel fuel per annum with B5.

The chapter also investigates the Greenhouse gas emissions of coconut methyl ester (CME) production in Fiji using a simple cradle to gate life cycle approach and compares it with the emissions arising from diesel use. Emission factors of 9.61 gCO2eq emissions/MJ and 91.534 gCO2eq emissions/MJ were calculated for CME and diesel respectively. An estimation of the avoided emissions without considering the emissions due to production of CME reveal avoided emissions of 59,000 tonnes of CO2eq emissions per annum. The avoided emissions reduce to 47,500 tonnes when the emissions savings due to the CME production are taken into account. This is in excess of the savings of 37 kT CO2eq/year targeted by Fiji’s NDC Roadmap.

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  1. School of Science and Technology, The University of Fiji, Lautoka, Fiji

    Dhrishna Charan

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  1. Dhrishna Charan
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Correspondence to Dhrishna Charan .

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  1. School of Science and Technology, The University of Fiji, Lautoka, Fiji

    Anirudh Singh

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Charan, D. (2020). A Life Cycle Analysis of the Potential Avoided Emissions from Coconut Oil-Based B5 Transportation Fuel in Fiji. In: Singh, A. (eds) Translating the Paris Agreement into Action in the Pacific. Advances in Global Change Research, vol 68. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30211-5_9

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