Life Cycle Assessment of bio-ethanol

Gurbakhash S. Bhander & Anthony Halog

Forest Bio-products Research Initiatives (FBRI), School of Forest Resources, Nutting Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5755; email: gurbakhash.bhander@maine.edu

Goal of Study
The goal of this case study is:
to perform cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment of bio-ethanol production from hemicellulose extraction process to evaluate the potential human health and ecological impacts associated with the products system
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Gurbakhash S. Bhander PhD, Eng. Eng.

School of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall,

System Description
A technical analysis is performed for a new process at FBRI that isolates

chemical feedstock (mainly hemicellulose material) from the hardwood in addition to hardwood Kraft pulp production.
This new process termed the near neutral hemicellulose extraction

process, involves the extraction of wood hemicellulose using green liquor and white liquor prior to Kraft pulping.
The extracted material is cooked and converted into bio-ethanol, acetic acid

and other co-products.

Enzymes
Chip

Ethanol
E. Coli K011

Pulp/Paper
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Gurbakhash S. Bhander PhD, Eng. Eng.
School of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall,

Acetic Acid

System Description (Conti..)

Steam Anthraquinone 2 Wood Chips 1 4 Wash Water 6 Recycle WL E2 8 Waste 26 E4 Steam 5 E1 3 Green Liquor Steam E3 Fresh Water 7 Logs

Wood Yard

Wood Extraction

Kraft Pulping

Washing

Bleaching & Drying

PULP PRODUCTION

Steam

Bark Saw Dust Pin chip

Steam

Split

White Liquor Storage

Evaporation
10 Black Liquor

Sodium Sulfate 11

Lignin 27

Hog Fuel Boiler Causticizing

30 Re-burn Lime Mud Water 31 Ash E7 32 H2SO4 13 28 Fuel Make Up Lime 29 Sulfuric Acid 22 Ethanol Recycle 23 Steam

Flash Tanks
E10 E11

Green Liquor
Wash water Dregs

Smelt

Recovery Boiler

Steam

Electrivity

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Dregs 33 Waste water 33

E5 Steam Steam E9

E6 Electrivity

Evaporation

Lime Burning

Dregs wash

Acid Hydrolyze
Mineral Landfill
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Solvent 25

Steam E8

CaO
18

Ethanol & Acetic Acid Separation

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Micro-Organisums

33 Dregs

Lignin Filtration

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Liquid extraction & Distillation

Liming & Filtration

Fermentation

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27

16 Acetic Acid

17 Furfural

26 Waste

19 Gypsum

21 CO2

Lignin

Gurbakhash S. Bhander PhD, Eng. Eng.

School of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall,

Functional Unit
One (1) tonne of bio-ethanol production

(99.9%) based on:

the hardwood chip material with a composition

of cellulose 42.6%, hemicelluloses 29.6%, lignin 27.5%, & ash 0.2% on dry weight basis; 46% moisture content based on wet weight; hardwood virgin logs from Northeastern part of the United States.
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Gurbakhash S. Bhander PhD, Eng. Eng.

School of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall,

System Boundaries
Anthraquinone Steam Fresh Water Logs

Wood Yard

Wood Chips

Wood Extraction
Wash Water

Kraft Pulping

Washing

PULP PRODUCTION

MATERIALS & RESOURCES

WL

Bark Saw Dust Pin chip

Recycle

Steam

Steam

Split

White Liquor Storage

Evaporation

Hog Fuel Boiler Causticizing Green Liquor

Smelt

Flash Tanks
Steam Electrivity

Recovery Boiler

Re-burn

Lime Mud Waste

Steam

Electrivity

Steam

Evaporation
Fuel

Lime Burning

Dregs wash
Water

Waste water

Steam Make Up Lime Sulfuric Acid Recycle

H2SO4

TRANSPORTATION

Acid Hydrolyze
Solvent Steam

Ethanol & Acetic Acid Separation CaO

Ethanol

Lignin Filtration

Liming & Filtration

Fermentation

Acetic Acid

Furfural (Internal Use)

Lignin Gypsum
Mineral Landfill

CO2

Dregs

Gurbakhash S. Bhander PhD, Eng. Eng.

School of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall,

EMISSIONS (Air, Water, Soil)

Liquid extraction & Distillation

SOLID WASTE

ENERGY RECOVERY
Micro-Organisums

Black Liquor

Sodium Sulfate

BY-PRODUCTS

Green Liquor

Steam

Steam

Ash

System Boundaries (Conti.)

The

product boundaries cover cradle-to-gate activities and assumptions made as follow. Energy produced from the Hog Fuel Boiler and Recovery Boiler is assumed to be used internally. Electricity consumption used for working activities is not included. Furfural (co-product) is used internally and therefore it is not assumed to be marketed. Gypsum (co-product), Ash disposal (Hog Fuel Boiler) and dregs (causticizing) are assumed to be landfilled in a mineral landfill. Industrial water (demineralized) is assumed to be used in washing, slaking and extraction process. Wastewater from the causticizing process is neglected. Odor from sulfide is neglected. Internal transportation & other small activities are not included. Working environment is not included.
Gurbakhash S. Bhander PhD, Eng. Eng.
School of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall,

Data Specification & Sources

Product Specific Wood procurement Chip Production Hog Fuel Boiler Electricity recovery Extraction Kraft pulping Washing Evaporation Recovery Boiler Slaking (Causticizing) WL storage Evaporation Acid Hydrolyze Lignin Filtration Liquid Extraction Liming & Filtration Fermentation Ethanol & Acetic Acid Separation Landfill Disposal route Site Specific General 1 2 3 Raw wood extraction 4 5 Comments Ecoinvent- database Ecoinvent- database Ecoinvent- database BUWAL 250 database Inputs data on electricity, ancillary substance, consumables is estimated from a model developed for extraction process in WinGEMS software. Further datasets the life cycle of used materials and ancillary substance etc is used from BUWAL and ecoinvent database. Production of ethanol, pulp & acetic acid

Disposal Material Transportation

Note: 1. Measurements 2. Computation (from mass balance consideration and input data for process of concern 3. Data obtained from similar type or technology 4. Data obtained from different type or process 5. Approximation Productspecific data: Processes specifically concern with the handling of gold Site-specific data: Data of interest obtained from actual sites in the product system of gold, but inventory of process data is not specified. General data: All others

Ecoinvent- database Ecoinvent- database Ecoinvent- database

Transportation

Gurbakhash S. Bhander PhD, Eng. Eng.

School of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall,

Results (Normalized)
Life Cycle Assessment of bio-ethanol (Cradle-to-Gate) Raw Material & Manufacturing Stage Landfill (Ash & Gypsum) 10% improvement optimization 76% 24% in landfill materials: Gypsum, Ash

Person Equivlant (PE)

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Impact Categories
Gurbakhash S. Bhander PhD, Eng. Eng.
School of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall,

Results (Normalized)
LCA of bio-ethanol (Compare the Extraction Process)
Allocation

Person Equivlant (PE)

7% of the pulp production, 47% of the acetic acid production,

Impact categories
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Gurbakhash S. Bhander PhD, Eng. Eng.
School of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall,

Results (Normalized)
LCA of bio-ethanol (Compare Processes)
Processes:

Person Equivlant (PE)

Wood yard (Red), Lime burning (light Blue), Recovery boiler (Green),

Extraction (Blue).

Impact categories

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Gurbakhash S. Bhander PhD, Eng. Eng.

School of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall,

Sensitivity Analysis (Normalized)

LCA of bio-ethanol (10% Improvement optimization)
Processes:
Wood yard, Lime burning, Recovery boiler,

Person Equivlant (PE)

Extraction.

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Impact categories
Gurbakhash S. Bhander PhD, Eng. Eng.
School of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall,

Conclusions
We have learned from the study that wood yard, wood extraction, lime

burning and recovery boiler are the significant processes in the system:
Wood yard (raw materials stage) is a main contributor (29%). Fuel

consumption (transportation and cutting activities) is the main material that contributes to all significant impact categories. The fuel oil consumption in the lime burning process contribute significantly (ethane & methane) to human toxicity. Anthraquinone (AQ) material used in the extraction process contributes human toxicity and radioactive waste. Heavy metals emission (dioxin, lead, arsenic, nickel etc) in the recovery boiler process contributes to human toxicity.
The gypsum co-product (landfill material) contributes to bulk waste and

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Ash disposal contributes to human toxicity and others impact categories. Overall bio-ethanol contributes to 4.8PE, 3.1PE and 2.6PE to human toxicity, soil, air and water, 3.8PE to bulk waste, 2.2PE to global warming and 1.4PE to ozone depletion and formation and 1.9PE to radioactive waste.
Gurbakhash S. Bhander PhD, Eng. Eng.
School of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall,

Further Improvements
Most of the data are used from the different databases. Site-

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specific data collection will be the first priority. Research will also be extended on wood chip production and site specific data will be collected from contractors & other sources. The lime burning process data and assumptions will be improved. Anthraquinone (AQ) material input is an optional input to the extraction process, avoiding AQ material will improve the extraction process significantly. Outputs emissions data will be improved for the recovery boiler process and new air emission cleaning techniques will be evaluated. Bio-ethanol production will be compared with its fossil based and agricultural based counterparts.
Gurbakhash S. Bhander PhD, Eng. Eng.
School of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall,

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

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Gurbakhash S. Bhander PhD, Eng. Eng.
School of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall,