Life Cycle Assessment of Second Generation Bioethanols Produced From Scandinavian Boreal Forest Resources

Ryan M. Bright and Anders Hammer Strømman

Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2009, vol. 13, issue 4, 514-531

Abstract: The boreal forests of Scandinavia offer a considerable resource base, and use of the resource for the production of less carbon‐intensive alternative transport fuel is one strategy being considered in Norway. Here, we quantify the resource potential and investigate the environmental implications of wood‐based transportation relative to a fossil reference system for a specific region in Norway. We apply a well‐to‐wheel life cycle assessment to evaluate four E85 production system designs based on two distinct wood‐to‐ethanol conversion technologies. We form best and worst case scenarios to assess the sensitivity of impact results through the adjustment of key parameters, such as biomass‐to‐ethanol conversion efficiency and upstream biomass transport distance. Depending on the system design, global warming emission reductions of 46% to 68% per‐MJ‐gasoline avoided can be realized in the region, along with reductions in most of the other environmental impact categories considered. We find that the region's surplus forest‐bioenergy resources are vast; use for the production of bioethanol today would have resulted in the displacement of 55% to 68% of the region's gasoline‐based global warming emission—or 6% to 8% of Norway's total global warming emissions associated with road transportation.

Date: 2009
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