Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Technical applications of Jatropha oil—environmental effectiveness of renewable resources

  • LCA FOR AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES AND BIOBASED INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS
  • Published:
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To address the non-renewable resource scarcity problem, vegetable oils have been used in many technical applications such as fuel and lubricants. In this context, cultivation of the oil-bearing plant Jatropha curcas is currently seen as one option. As renewable resources are limited as well due to their occupation of land, it is important to investigate which application of Jatropha oil provides the highest environmental saving potential compared to the current use of a non-renewable resource.

Methods

This research investigated the potential environmental benefit of four technical applications of Jatropha oil by comparing them in a Life Cycle Assessment with the equivalent conventional products. Besides energy use (biodiesel), three examples of material use have been investigated: cold form oil (CFO), multifunctional oil (MFO), and a coolant emulsion. The service delivered by 1 kg of Jatropha oil was chosen as the functional unit resulting in specific reference flows for the different types of application. The centre of environmental science (CML) method was used to calculate the environmental impact results in six different impact categories (GWP, ADP, EP, AP, ODP, POCP). Furthermore, the influence of Jatropha cultivation on overall results was analyzed in a sensitivity analysis.

Results and discussion

First, absolute results for the Jatropha products are given indicating the contribution of Jatropha oil supply chain, supply of other ingredients and biodiesel and lubricant production, respectively, use, and EoL phase. Second, relative results in comparison to conventional products are shown. Finally, the environmental benefit is calculated in, e.g., kilograms of CO2-equivalent per kilogram of Jatropha oil. Results reflect that the environmental benefits gained from using Jatropha oil for lubricants are higher than using it for biodiesel. The study showed that twice the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be saved per kilogram of Jatropha oil when Jatropha oil is used in lubricants like CFO instead of using it as biodiesel feedstock. In addition to a sensitivity analysis addressing agricultural practice in the Jatropha supply chain, the critical GWP for Jatropha oil production was calculated that would negate any environmental benefit over the conventional lubricant.

Conclusions

The choice of an application may strongly influence the environmental effectiveness of a renewable material. To identify the environmentally preferable application for a given renewable material, calculating the environmental benefit per kilogram of applied material can be a helpful indicator. Future work is suggested on matching applications and renewables in a way to efficiently combine reduction of fossil resource depletion with further environmental goals like reduction of GHG emissions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Achten W, Muys B, Mathijs E, Singh VP, Verchot L (2007) Life-cycle assessment of bio-diesel from Jatropha curcas L. energy balance, impact on global warming, land use impact. 5th International conference on LCA in foods, Götheborg, Sweden

  • Achten WMJ, Verchot L, Franken YJ, Mathijs E, Singh VP, Aerts R, Muys B (2008) Jatropha bio-diesel production and use. Biomass Bioenerg 32(12):1063–1084

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Achten WMJ et al (2010a) Jatropha: from global hype to local opportunity. J Arid Environ 74:164–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Achten WMJ, Almeida J, Fobelets V, Bolle E, Mathijs E, Singh VP, Tewari DN, Verchot L, Muys B (2010b) Life cycle assessment of Jatropha biodiesel as transportation fuel in rural India. Appl Energ 87(12):3652–3660

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Achten WMJ, Verchot LV (2011) Implications of biodiesel-induced land-use changes for CO2 emissions: case studies in tropical America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Ecol Soc 16(4):14. doi:10.5751/ES-04403-160414

    Google Scholar 

  • Almeida JTGD (2009) Generic life cycle assessment of the Jatropha biodiesel system. Master’s thesis, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven

  • Almeida J, Achten WMJ, Duarte MP, Mendes B, Muys B (2011) Benchmarking the environmental performance of the jatropha biodiesel system through a generic life cycle assessment. Environ Sci Technol 45(12):5447–5453

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Arnold K, von Geibler J, Bienge K, Stachura C, Borbonus P, Kristof K (2009) Kaskadennutzung von nachwachsenden Rohstoffen: Ein Konzept zur Verbesserung der Rohstoffeffizienz und Optimierung der Landnutzung. Wuppertal Papers Nr. 180

  • Arvidsson R, Persson S, Froling M, Svanstrom M (2011) Life cycle assessment of hydrotreated vegetable oil from rape, oil palm and Jatropha. J Clean Prod 19:129–137

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bailis RE, Baka JE (2010) Greenhouse gas emissions and land use change from Jatropha curcas-based jet fuel in Brazil. Environ Sci Technol 44(22):8684–8691

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Centre of Environmental Science (2001) Life cycle assessment—an operational guide to ISO standards. Leiden University, Leiden

    Google Scholar 

  • Ecoinvent Centre (2010) The life cycle inventory data version 2.2

  • Fairless D (2007) Biofuel: the little shrub that could—maybe. Nature 449:652–655

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Federal Environmental Agency (FEA) (ed) (2007) Umweltdaten Deutschland. Umweltbundesamt, Dessau

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerbens-Leenes W, Hoekstra AY, van der Meer TH (2009) The water footprint of bioenergy. Proc Natl Acad Sci 106(25):10219–10223

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gmunder SM, Zah R, Bhatacharjee S, Classen M, Mukherjee P, Widmer R (2010) Life cycle assessment of village electrification based on straight jatropha oil in Chhattisgarh, India. Biomass Bioenerg 34:347–355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gnansounou E, Dauriat A (2011) Life-cycle assessment of biofuels. Biofuels: alternative feedstocks and conversion processes

  • Hasselbach C, Jeppesen H (2014) Food or fuel debate leads to EU biofuel changes. http://www.dw.de/food-or-fuel-debate-leads-to-eu-biofuel-changes/a-16313695. Accessed 08 August 2015

  • Herrmann C, Bock R, Dettmer T, Öhlschläger G, Zein A (2008) Life Cycle Assessment of use cascades for animal fat and used cooking oil. 6th international Conference ORBIT 2008, Wageningen, The Netherlands

  • ISO 14040:2006 (2009) Environmental management—life cycle assessment—principles and framework

  • ISO 14044:2006 (2006) Environmental management—life cycle assessment—requirements and guidelines

  • Jones N, Miller JH (1991) Jatropha curcas—a multipurpose species for problematic sites. Land Resour Ser 1:40–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Jongshaap REE, Corré WJ, Bindraban PS, Brandenburg WA (2007) Claims and facts on Jatropha curcas L.: global Jatropha curcas evaluation, breeding and propagation programme. Plant Research International B.V, Wageningen

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar S, Singh J, Nanoti SM, Garg MO (2012a) A comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) of Jatropha biodiesel production in India. Bioresour Technol 11:723–729

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar S, Chaube A, Jain SK (2012b) Sustainability issues for promotion of Jatropha biodiesel in Indian scenario: a review. Renew Sust Energ Rev 16(2):1089–1098

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Künast R (2005) Rede der Bundesministerin für Verbraucherschutz, Ernährung und Landwirtschaft. International Symposium on Renewable Resources for the Chemical Industry, Potsdam

  • Lapola DM, Schaldach R, Alcamo J, Bondeau A, Kock J, Koelking C, Priess JA (2010) Indirect land-use changes can overcome carbon savings from biofuels in Brazil. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107:3388–3393

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence M (2013) Despite evidence, food vs. fuel fight continues. http://www.forbes.com/sites/pikeresearch/2013/07/11/despite-evidence-food-vs-fuel-fight-continues/. Accessed 08 August 2015

  • Maes WH, Trabucco A, Achten WMJ, Muys B (2009) Climatic growing conditions of Jatropha curcas L. Biomass Bioenerg 33(10):1481–1485

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mortimer ND (2011) Life cycle assessment of refined vegetable oil and biodiesel from Jatropha grown in Dakatcha woodlands of Kenya. Report, North Energy

  • Nazir N, Setyaningsih D (2010) Life cycle assessment of biodiesel production from palm oil and Jatropha oil in Indonesia. 7th Biomass Asia Workshop. Jakarta, Indonesia

  • Ndong R, Montrejaud-Vignoles M, Saint Girons O, Gabrielle B, Pirot R, Domergue M, Sablayrolles C (2009) Life cycle assessment of biofuels from Jatropha curcas in West Africa: a field study. Glob Chang Biol Bioenerg 1(3):197–210

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parawira W (2010) Biodiesel production from Jatropha curcas: a review. Sci Res Essays 5(14):1796–1808

    Google Scholar 

  • Prueksakorn K, Gheewala S (2008) Full chain energy analysis of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas L. in Thailand. Environ Sci Technol 42:3388–3393

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Raschka A, Carus M (2012) Industrial material use of biomass—basic data for Germany, Europe and the world. Commissioned by the Federal Environment Agency. nova-Institute, Hürth

    Google Scholar 

  • Reinhardt GA, Gärtner S, Rettenmaier N, Münch J, von Falkenstein E (2007) Screening life cycle assessment of Jatropha biodiesel report. Daimler AG, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Heidelberg

    Google Scholar 

  • Reinhardt G, Ghosh P, Becker K (2008) Basic data for Jatropha production and use. Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Heidelberg

    Google Scholar 

  • Renner R (2007) Green gold in a shrub. Entrepreneurs target the Jatropha plant as the next big biofuel. Sci Am 296(6):20–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renner A, Zelt T, Gerteiser S (2008) Global market study on Jatropha. Final report prepared for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). GEXSI, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Romijn HA (2011) Land clearing and greenhouse gas emissions from Jatropha biofuels on African miombo woodlands. Energ Policy 39(10):5751–5762

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Romijn HA, Caniels MCJ (2011) The Jatropha biofuels sector in Tanzania 2005–2009: evolution towards sustainability? Res Policy 40(4):618–636

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt M, Häuslein A (1997) Ökobilanzierung mit Computerunterstützung—Produktökobilanzen und betriebliche Bilanzen mit dem Programm Umberto. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Uellenberg A (2007) Jatropha in Madagaskar—Sachstandsbericht. Commissioned by Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Madagascar

  • USDA—U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service 2011: EU-27 Annual biofuels report. The Hague, June 2011

  • Wahl N, Hildebrandt T, Moser C et al. (2012) Insights into Jatropha projects worldwide—key facts & figures from a global survey. Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM)

  • Weiss M, Haufe J, Carus M, Brandao M, Bringezu S, Hermann B, Patel MK (2012) A review of the environmental impacts of biobased materials. J Ind Ecol 16(S1):S169–S181

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Whitaker M, Heath G (2009) Life cycle assessment of the use of Jatropha biodiesel in Indian locomotives. Technical Report, NREL/TP-6A2-44428

  • Winter M, Öhlschläger G, Dettmer T, Ibbotson S, Kara S, Herrmann C (2012) Using Jatropha oil based metalworking fluids in machining processes: a functional and ecological life cycle evaluation. In: Leveraging technology for a sustainable world, Proceedings of the 19th CIRP International Conference on Life Cycle Engineering. Springer, pp 311–316

Download references

Acknowledgments

The project “Biogenous lubricant based on Jatropha oil for industrial metal working” was funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) upon a decision of the German Bundestag. The authors also thank all project partners. Special thanks go to Marius Winter who provided input data from technical tests and to Annika Malewski who also contributed to this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joint German–Australian Research Group on Sustainable Manufacturing and Life Cycle Management, Germany–Australia, Braunschweig, Germany

    Tina Dettmer, Suphunnika Ibbotson, Gerlind Öhlschläger, Christoph Herrmann & Sami Kara

  2. Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany

    Tina Dettmer, Gerlind Öhlschläger & Christoph Herrmann

  3. The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Suphunnika Ibbotson & Sami Kara

Authors
  1. Tina Dettmer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Suphunnika Ibbotson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gerlind Öhlschläger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Christoph Herrmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Sami Kara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tina Dettmer.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Seungdo Kim

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(PDF 86 kb)

ESM 2

(PDF 117 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dettmer, T., Ibbotson, S., Öhlschläger, G. et al. Technical applications of Jatropha oil—environmental effectiveness of renewable resources. Int J Life Cycle Assess 20, 1376–1386 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-015-0953-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-015-0953-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation