LIFE-CYCLE ANALYSIS OF BIOFUELS UNDER DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS

The environmental impact of bioenergy carriers can be determined with the help of life cycle analysis. The present study shows that bioenerg y carriers offer some clear ecological advantages over fossil fuels, s uch as conserving fossil energy resources or reducing the greenhouse e ffect, but they also have some definite disadvantages-in particular re garding certain airborne pollutants-when the overall life cycle is con sidered. The paper first discusses the methodological approach for con ducting a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) for biofuels; this approach is the n used for a case study of Rape Methyl Ester (RME) compared with diese l fuel. The same approach is then applied for some bioenergy routes di scussed currently in Germany. For the different bioenergy routes the r esults of the LCA for Energy, CO2 equivalents, N2O emissions, SO2 equi valents, SO2 emissions and NOx emissions are given and discussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.