A comparative assessment on life cycle analysis of the biodiesel fuels produced from soybean, Jatropha, Calophyllum inophyllum, and microalgae

Abstract

There is a continuous depletion of fossil resources recorded in 20th century for the production of diesel that resulted in significant climatic change. The current study focuses on the challenges faced due to energy crisis and climate change followed by biodiesel production from various feedstock sources such as Soybean, Jatropha, Calophyllum inophyllum, and Microalgae. The pivotal aim of the study is to analyze the life cycle balance of biodiesel produced from three generation feedstocks. These sources were selected based on energy balance and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, specifically on the aspect of Well-to-Pump module. The results infer that GHG emission was stringent in the production of soybean biodiesel i.e., 32.53 gCO2Eq/MJ whereas other sustainable measures such as net energy value, net renewable energy value, and energy ratio were low in the life cycle of microalgae-based biodiesel. This phenomenon indicates its efficiency in obtaining the maximal energy output. On the contrary, about 49.44 gCO2Eq/MJ was produced during all the stages of biodiesel production from microalgae. In terms of sensitivity, the output dependency over input value was also estimated since it showcases the significant influence of cultivation, transportation, oil extraction and biodiesel production upon biodiesel Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). After taking the entire LCA values, sensitivity analyses of selected feedstocks and the importance of food crops into account, the biodiesels produced from Jatropha and Calophyllum inophyllum feedstocks were found to be viable and possess the ability to overcome GHG emission challenges without compromising the energy balance.