Life cycle assessment of rapeseed oil, RME and ethanol as fuels - a comparison of large-scale and small-scale production
Last changed: 11 March 2011
Production of rapeseed oil, rape methyl ester (RME) and ethanol fuel for heavy diesel engines can be carried out with different systems solutions, in which the choice of system is usually related to the scale of the production. The main purpose of this study was to analyse whether the use of small-scale rapeseed oil, RME and ethanol fuel production systems reduced the environmental load compared with medium-scale and large-scale systems.
This was achieved by means of a life cycle assessment (LCA). The entire production chain, from cultivation of the crops and transport to processing and use of the fuels, was evaluated. For the environmental evaluation, global warming, acidification, eutrophication, photochemical ozone formation and the energy requirement for fuel production were studied. Four different methods for allocating the environmental burden between different products were compared. The costs for production of the fuels were also studied.
The project was carried out during the period 2002-2004 and was funded by the Swedish Energy Agency.
Contact: Sven Bernesson