Life Cycle Inventory Analysis Assessment Answers

Internal Code :
Subject Code : PRRE6005
University : Curtin College
Subject Name : Bio-Technology

List of Figures: 1
List of Tables: 1
Task 1: 2
Task 2: 2
Amount of Biodiesel For 1 GJ: 2
Amount of Canola Oil: 2
Amount of Canola Seeds: 2
Inputs to The Canola Seeds: 3
Flowchart: 4
Task 3: 5
Task 4: 6
Bar chart: 6
Pie Chart: 6
Task 5: 8
Discussion: 8
Conclusion: 9
Bibliography. 10

List of Figures:

Figure 1 Bar Chart showing Different Emissions for different processes. 6
Figure 2 Total Emission of GHG in kg for Input & Combustion. 7

List of Tables:

Table 1 Amount of Emission by Each Factor 4
Table 2 Table Showing Complete Calculations. 6

Task 1:

The goal and scope of this functional unit of Life Cycle Assessment are to determine the lifecycle emissions of the production and combustion of the 1 GJ of the biodiesel.

Task 2:

In this task, life Cycle Inventory Analysis is needed to be done for the production and combustion of biodiesel of 1GJ energy.

Amount of Biodiesel For 1 GJ:

To calculate the amount of biodiesel and related parameters following calculations have been done in excel.

For everyone kg of biodiesel, the amount of Energy is 39 GJ. The amount in a litre is 1.176. So, for producing 1 GJ Energy, the amount litres would be 30.166 lt. and 25.64 kgs of biodiesel.

Amount of Canola Oil:

Now we have found the amount of biodiesel in litres, we can calculate the amount of canola oil required. Since 1 lit of biodiesel is produced by 1 lt. of canola oil+ 0.1 lt. of methanol, we have a total quantity of canola oil for producing the 30.165 lt. of biodiesel is:

Amount of Canola Seeds:

The number of canola seeds from the canola oil can be calculated from the fact that 1 kg of canola seeds are used to produce 0.3 lt. of canola oil. So, 21.12 litres of canola oil will be produced by

70.38 kgs of canola seeds which are converted into tonnes and then equivalent hectares.

Inputs to The Canola Seeds:

From the table 1, the inputs to the Canola seeds have been found. The amount of different inputs has been calculated for 1GJ of biodiesel which is equivalent to 0.0703 tonnes.

Table 1 Amount of Emission by Each Factor

Flowchart:

Task 3:

Now for calculating the total life cycle emissions, we will convert all the emissions as given in equivalent emissions and total them.

Table 2 Table Showing Complete Calculations

The emission by the input is 100.64 kg while output has 0.028 kg emission of GHG.

Task 4:

Bar chart:

The bar chart showing the emissions in kg per GJ of biodiesel is as follow:

Figure 1 Bar Chart showing Different Emissions for different processes

The bar chart shows that:

The production of biodiesel from canola seeds produces the most amount of GHG emission
The production of seeds, pre farm produces the second least amount of emission at 1.98 kg
The combustion of the fuel produces 0.028 kg per 1 GJ of biodiesel.

Pie Chart:

The pie chart has been created to show the percentage of input and output of the processes involved in the Biodiesel lifecycle.

The inputs are at 100.64 kg of GHG
The outputs are at 0.028kg per 1 GJ of fuel burnt

Figure 2 Total Emission of GHG in kg for Input & Combustion

Task 5:

When the inputs are ranked in terms of their emission, we get the following table:

From the table it is clear that superphosphate produces the most amount of carbon emission during the process.

Discussion:

The superphosphate is added to the soil to increase the retention of nitrogen in the soil and the effectiveness of the phosphorus during composting. However, studies have revealed that it is a common source of greenhouse gases.

The optimal amount of the fertilizer could lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions and at the same time increase in useability. 14 to 26% has been recommended as an optimum amount of the addition. (Bhattacharya, 2019)

Moreover, the increase in biofertilizers has proven to be an alternative for mineral phosphorus fertilizers. The use of Trichoderma harzianum has proven as plant grower fungus. Various plants have been tested for this and positive results have been deducted for its use with compost treatment to provide an alternative for mineral fertilisation. (Vinci, et al., 2018)

Conclusion:

This task provides insight into the processes involved in the production of biodiesel and the number of Greenhouse Gases emitted by them. we can reduce the amount of emission, through better planning and analysis.

Bibliography

Bhattacharya, A., 2019. Changing Environmental Condition and Phosphorus-Use Efficiency in Plants. In: Changing Climate and Resource Use Efficiency in Plants. s.l.:Academic Press, pp. 241-305.

Vinci, G. et al., 2018. An alternative to mineral phosphorus fertilizers: The combined effects of Trichoderma harzianum and compost on Zea mays, as revealed by 1H NMR and GC-MS metabolomics. PLOS ONE, 13(12).

Wood, S. & Cowie, A. L., 2004. A Review of Greenhouse Gas Emission Factors for Fertiliser Production. Research and Development Division, State Forests of New South Wales.