Life Cycle Assessment and Development of Sustainable Processes for Alternative Fuel Development

Abstract

In recent years, search for alternative fuel sources has been the focus of tremendous effort and research in the United States and around the world. In 2007, the United States Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security (EISA) act that mandated the production of 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels by the year 2022, 16 billion of which must come from lignocellulosic feed stocks and it required reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study uses life cycle assessment (LCA), a technique for the quantification of potential environmental impacts throughout the life cycle of a process, to assess the environmental sustainability of different ethanol production processes. Using databases in SimaPro 8.0.0, impact assessment results were generated for select impact categories and the potential environmental impacts of the production of ethanol from sweet sorghum and eastern redcedar were quantified.