Life-Cycle Assessment of Biomass-Derived Refinery Feedstocks for Reducing CO2 Emissions

The U.S., by ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has pledged to emit no higher levels of greenhouse gases in the year 2000 than it did in 1990. Biomass-derived products have been touted as a possible solution to the potential problem of global warming. However, past studies related to the production of liquid fuels, chemicals, gaseous products, or electricityfrom biomass have considered only the economics of producing these commodities. The environmental benefits have not been fully quantified. Evaluating the environmental impace of various biomass-based systems has begun using life-cycle assessment. A refinery Linear Programming model previously developed has been modified to examine the effects oof CO2-capping on the U.S. refining industry and thetransportation sector as a whole. By incorporating the results of a CO2 emissions inventory into the model, the economic impact of emissions-reduction strategies can be estimated. Thus, the degree to which global warming can be solved by supplementing fossil fuels with biomass-derived products can be measured, allowing research and development to be concentrated on the most environmentally andeconomically attractive technology mix. Biomass gasification to produce four different refinery feedstocks was considered in this analysis. These biomass-derived products include power, fuel gas, hydrogen for refinery processing, and Fischer-Tropsch liquids for upgrading and blending into finished transportation fuels. Contact (e-mail): [email protected]