Life Cycle Assessment of New Oxy-Fuels from Biodiesel-Derived Glycerol

Energies

Francesco Asdrubali²  Franco Cotana²  Federico Rossi²  Andrea Presciutti²  Antonella Rotili²  Claudia Guattari¹ 

[1] Department of Engineering, University of Roma TRE, Via della Vasca Navale 79, Rome 00146, Italy; E-Mail:;Inter-University Research Center on Pollution and Environment “Mauro Felli” (CIRIAF), University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 63, Perugia 06125, Italy; E-Mails:

关键词: biodiesel;    glycerin;    additive;    Life Cycle Assessment;   

DOI  :  10.3390/en8031628

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Biodiesel is obtained by the process of transesterification of vegetable oils and animal fats and crude glycerol is the main by-product of the biodiesel manufacturing chain. As a result glycerol production has rapidly increased in the last decades. This work focuses on the development and the validation of a process to convert biodiesel-derived glycerol into a fuel for internal combustion engines. In order to obtain a higher conversion efficiency it was necessary to convert crude glycerol to tert-butyl ethers by means of an etherification process that was carried out in the laboratory. Then the obtained glycol-ethers mixture (GEM) was blended with a commercial diesel fuel to improve its thermal efficiency. In this paper a life cycle analysis for these GEM/diesel blends was carried out using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, in order to evaluate the environmental impacts of these new oxy-fuels; from GEM production to GEM use as an additive for diesel fuel. The LCA results highlight that the use of these new oxy-fuels in diesel engines can lead to an effective reduction in terms of greenhouse gases emissions throughout the entire life cycle.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.