A Life Cycle Assessment of Biomethane Production from Waste Feedstock Through Different Upgrading Technologies

Ciro Florio, Gabriella Fiorentino, Fabiana Corcelli, Sergio Ulgiati, Stefano Dumontet, Joshua Güsewell and Ludger Eltrop
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Ciro Florio: Department of Science and Technology (DiST), University of Naples “Parthenope”, Centro Direzionale, ISOLA C4 80143 Naples, Italy
Gabriella Fiorentino: Department of Science and Technology (DiST), University of Naples “Parthenope”, Centro Direzionale, ISOLA C4 80143 Naples, Italy
Fabiana Corcelli: Department of Science and Technology (DiST), University of Naples “Parthenope”, Centro Direzionale, ISOLA C4 80143 Naples, Italy
Sergio Ulgiati: Department of Science and Technology (DiST), University of Naples “Parthenope”, Centro Direzionale, ISOLA C4 80143 Naples, Italy
Stefano Dumontet: Department of Science and Technology (DiST), University of Naples “Parthenope”, Centro Direzionale, ISOLA C4 80143 Naples, Italy
Joshua Güsewell: Institute of Energy Economics and Rational Use of Energy (IER), University of Stuttgart, Heßbrühlstrasse 49a, 70565 Stuttgart, Germany
Ludger Eltrop: Institute of Energy Economics and Rational Use of Energy (IER), University of Stuttgart, Heßbrühlstrasse 49a, 70565 Stuttgart, Germany

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-12

Abstract: Upgrading consists of a range of purification processes aimed at increasing the methane content of biogas to reach specifications similar to natural gas. In this perspective, an environmental assessment, based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, of different upgrading technologies is helpful to identify the environmental characteristics of biomethane and the critical steps for improvement. The aim of this work is to conduct an LCA of biomethane production from waste feedstock, using the SimaPro software. The study focuses on the comparison of several upgrading technologies (namely, membrane separation, cryogenic separation, pressure swing adsorption, chemical scrubbing, high pressure water scrubbing) and the on-site cogeneration of electricity and heat, including the environmental benefits deriving from the substitution of fossil-based products. The results show a better environmental performance of the cogeneration option in most of the impact categories. The Fossil resource scarcity is the impact category which is mainly benefited by the avoided production of natural gas, with savings of about 0.5 kg oil eq/m 3 of biogas for all the investigated technologies, with an average improvement of about 76% compared to conventional cogeneration. The results show that the membrane upgrading technology is slightly more environmentally convenient than the other upgrading technologies.

Keywords: life cycle assessment; biogas upgrading; cogeneration of electricity and heat from biogas; environmental assessment of biomethane production (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

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