Paper details

Title:

Life Cycle Assessment of Rapeseed Oil as Self-Sufficient Agricultural Biofuel - Results of Case Studies from Bavaria

Author(s):

Engelmann, K., Dressler, D., Strimitzer, L., Thuneke, K., Remmele, E.

Document(s):

Abstract:

Cold­pressed rapeseed oil (cRSO) is produced in decentralized oil mills and can be used as self­sufficient biofuel in agriculture machinery. In context of European policy for climate and energy it could offer some environmental advantages. For this study input data for rapeseed cultivation (year of harvest 2013) from 15 farms and for rapeseed processing from three decentralized oil mills in Bavaria have been collected. Using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology with different allocation procedures for co­products, regional and specific GHG balances of cRSO have been calculated. The results were compared with the default value for pure vegetable oil (PVO) from rapeseed defined in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). The results for rapeseed cultivation show a wide range among analyzed case studies highly depending on site and management conditions (28.0 to 46.3 g CO2eq MJ­1 cRSO). The GHG emissions of rapeseed processing in the three decentralized oil mills including the related transport processes average 1.4 g CO2eq MJ­1 cRSO, which marks a considerable reduction of GHG emissions compared to the RED default value for PVO from rapeseed (6 g CO2eq MJ­1 PVO). Furthermore there is a strong influence of allocation procedures on the values for GHG emission savings, ranging from 58 to 80 %.

Keywords:

biofuel, emissions, greenhouse gases (GHG), life cycle assessment (LCA), rapeseed oil

Topic:

Biomass Policies, Markets and Sustainability

Subtopic:

Sustainability assessment and criteria

Event:

22nd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition

Session:

4AV.3.29

Pages:

1566 - 1569

ISBN:

978-88-89407-52-3

Paper DOI:

10.5071/22ndEUBCE2014-4AV.3.29

Price:

FREE