College of Engineering, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China.
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, 12613, Egypt.
Environ Res. 2022 Oct;213:113632. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113632. Epub 2022 Jun 11.
Unlike renewable energy sources, burning fossil fuels has severe environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess and compare the environmental impacts of three biogas utilization scenarios for energy production. The life cycle assessment (LCA) method was used to compare (i) biogas combustion in combined heat and power (CHP) unit, (ii) biogas burning in a steam boiler, and (iii) biogas upgrading using pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit to determine the most sustainable option. The results revealed that the upgrading scenario was the best option, achieving emission savings in 8 out of 10 investigated impact categories. Among them, the emission saving was the highest in the marine aquatic ecotoxicity category (-4276.97 kg 1,4-DB eq./MJ). The CHP scenario was the second-best option, followed by the boiler scenario (worst option), and both had the most beneficial performance in the ozone depletion potential category with 6.29E-08 and 9.88E-08 kg CFC-11-eq./MJ, respectively. The environmental burdens of the boiler scenario were the highest in the marine aquatic ecotoxicity category (248.92 kg 1,4-DB eq./MJ). Although the CHP and boiler scenarios contributed to environmental burdens in all impact categories, they achieved beneficial performances compared to fossil fuel-based systems.
与可再生能源不同，燃烧化石燃料会对环境造成严重影响，如温室气体（GHG）排放和气候变化。因此，本研究旨在评估和比较三种沼气利用方案用于能源生产的环境影响。本研究采用生命周期评价（LCA）方法，比较了（i）沼气在联合热电联产（CHP）装置中的燃烧，（ii）沼气在蒸汽锅炉中的燃烧，以及（iii）沼气通过变压吸附（PSA）装置进行升级，以确定最可持续的选择。结果表明，升级方案是最佳选择，在 10 个调查的影响类别中有 8 个实现了减排。其中，海洋水生生态毒性类别（-4276.97 kg 1,4-DB eq./MJ）的减排量最高。CHP 方案是第二佳选择，其次是锅炉方案（最差选择），并且在臭氧消耗潜能类别中均具有最有利的性能，分别为 6.29E-08 和 9.88E-08 kg CFC-11-eq./MJ。锅炉方案在海洋水生生态毒性类别中的环境负担最高（248.92 kg 1,4-DB eq./MJ）。尽管 CHP 和锅炉方案在所有影响类别中都对环境造成了负担，但与基于化石燃料的系统相比，它们具有有利的性能。
