Comparative life cycle assessment of alternative strategies for energy recovery from used cooking oil

Journal of Environmental Management
Lidia LombardiEnnio Carnevale

Abstract

The separate collection of Used Cooking Oil (UCO) is gaining popularity through several countries in Europe. An appropriate management of UCO waste stream leads to substantial benefits. In this study, we analyse two different possibilities of UCO energy reuse: the direct feed to a reciprocating internal combustion engine (ICE) for cogeneration purpose, and the processing to generate biodiesel. Concerning biodiesel production, we analyse four among conventional and innovative technologies, characterised by different type and amount of used chemicals, heat and electricity consumptions and yields. We perform a systematic evaluation of environmental benefits and drawbacks by applying life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis to compare the alternatives. For the impact assessment, two methods are selected: the Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Cumulative Exergy Consumption (CExC). Results related only to the processing phases (i.e. not including yet the avoided effects) show that the recovery of UCO in cogeneration plant has in general lower values in terms of environmental impacts than its employment in biodiesel production. When products and co-products substitution are included, the savings obtained by the substitution of conventiona...Continue Reading

Citations

Dec 25, 2019·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Shiqiu ZhangLe Liu
Dec 29, 2020·Proceedings. Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences·Harish K JeswaniAdisa Azapagic

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