Life cycle assessment of calcium oxide pretreatment of corn stover with carbon dioxide neutralization for ethanol production

Authors

Jikai Zhao, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Danyi Feng, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Juhee Lee, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2023

Abstract

This work used life-cycle assessment (LCA) to determine the environmental and human health impacts of four ethanol production scenarios (S1: CaO pretreatment + H2SO4 neutralization + C6 yeast fermentation; S2: CaO pretreatment + CO2 neutralization + C6 yeast fermentation; S3: CaO pretreatment + H2SO4 neutralization + C6/C5 yeast fermentation; and S4: CaO pretreatment + CO2 neutralization + C6/C5 yeast fermentation), with the functional unit being 1 kg of 95 % ethanol. The LCA results showed that the total ozone depletion, global warming potential, smog, acidification, eutrophication, and ecotoxicity values were comparable when CO2 or H2SO4 were used to adjust the pH of CaO-pretreated slurry. However, using CO2 for neutralization and C6/C5 yeast for fermentation demonstrated significant benefits in terms of carcinogenicity, non-carcinogenicity, respiratory effect, ecotoxicity, and fossil fuel depletion. The findings indicate that the choice of chemicals and strains plays a key role in determining environmental and human health impacts.

Highlights

• Four ethanol production scenarios were compared using LCA methodology.

• CO2 showed lower environmental and human health impacts than H2SO4.

• C6/C5 yeast offers more environmental and human health advantages than C6 yeast.

Comments

Original published version available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129042

Recommended Citation

Zhao, Jikai, Danyi Feng, and Juhee Lee. "Life cycle assessment of calcium oxide pretreatment of corn stover with carbon dioxide neutralization for ethanol production." Bioresource Technology 379 (2023): 129042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129042

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

Bioresource Technology

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129042