title: Greenhouse gas emissions and production cost of ethanol produced from biosyngas fermentation process.
abstract: Life cycle (LC) of ethanol has been evaluated to determine the environmental and economical viability of ethanol that was derived from biosyngas fermentation process (gasification-biosynthesis). Four scenarios [S1: untreated (raw), S2: treated (torrefied); S3: untreated-chemical looping gasification (CLG), S4: treated-CLG] were considered. The simulated biosyngas composition was used in this evaluation process. The GHG emissions and production cost varied from 1.19 to 1.32 kg-CO2 e/L and 0.78 to 0.90$/L, respectively, which were found to be dependent on the scenarios. The environmental and economical viability was found be improved when untreated feedstock was used instead of treated feedstock. Although the GHG emissions slightly reduced in the case of CLG process, production cost was nominally increased because of the cost incurred by the use of CaO. This study revealed that miscanthus is a promising feedstock for the ethanol industry, even if it is grown on marginal land, which can help abate GHG emissions.
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada. Electronic address: poritosh@uoguelph.ca.
authors.forename: Poritosh
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada. Electronic address: adutta@uoguelph.ca.
authors.forename: Animesh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dutta
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: Bill
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Deen
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis / Q000191:economics; D056804:Biofuels / Q000032:analysis* / Q000191:economics*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis / Q000191:economics*; D004777:Environment; D000431:Ethanol / Q000737:chemistry*; D005285:Fermentation; D017752:Greenhouse Effect / Q000191:economics*
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D000431:Ethanol
keywords: Biosyngas; Ethanol; GHG emissions; Life cycle assessment (LCA); Production cost