Life Cycle Assessment of a Wood Biomass Gasification Plant and Implications for Syngas and Biochar Utilization

Francesco Arfelli, Cristian Tosi, Luca Ciacci () and Fabrizio Passarini
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Francesco Arfelli: Department of Industrial Chemistry “Toso Montanari”, University of Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti, 85, 40129 Bologna, Italy
Cristian Tosi: Curti-Costruzioni Meccaniche-S.P.A., Via Emilia Ponente, 750, 48014 Castel Bolognese, Italy
Luca Ciacci: Department of Industrial Chemistry “Toso Montanari”, University of Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti, 85, 40129 Bologna, Italy
Fabrizio Passarini: Department of Industrial Chemistry “Toso Montanari”, University of Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti, 85, 40129 Bologna, Italy

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-15

Abstract: The growing attention regarding the environmental challenges in the energy sectors pushes the industrial system toward the investigation of more sustainable and renewable energy sources to replace fossil ones. Among the promising alternatives, biomass is considered a valid source to convert the system and to reduce the fossil fraction of the national energy mixes, but its multiple potential uses need an environmental evaluation to understand the actual benefit when it is used as an energy resource. For this purpose, life cycle assessment (LCA) is applied to a wood biomass gasification system aimed to produce electricity and heat generated after the combustion of the produced syngas and the management of the biochar. The aim is to provide a quantitative comparison of (i) a baseline scenario where wood biomass is sourced from waste and (ii) a second scenario where wood biomass is drawn from dedicated cultivation. A further evaluation was finally applied to investigate the environmental implications associated with the biochar composition, assuming it was used on land. The proposed strategies resulted in an environmental credit for both the examined scenarios, but the outcomes showed a net preference for the baseline scenario, resulting in better environmental performances for all the examined categories with respect to the second one. It underlines the potentialities of using waste-sourced biomass. However, according to the Climate Change category, if on-site dedicated biomass cultivation is assumed for the second scenario, the baseline is considered preferable only if the biomass transportation distance is <600 km, which is estimated as a theoretical distance for scenarios to break even. Finally, biochar composition proved a particular concern for toxicity-related categories. This study highlights the importance of applying objective and standardized methodologies such as LCA to evaluate energy production systems based on alternative sources and to support decision-making toward achieving sustainability goals.

Keywords: life cycle assessment; gasification of biomass; biochar use on land; energy from biomass (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: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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