The Impact of Energy Source on the Life-Cycle Assessment of Power-to-Liquid Fuels

Abstract

Powet-to-Liquid (PtL) fuels is a promising technology and promising alternative to biofuels and conventional fuels. In this work, the environmental impact of PtL was investigated using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in order to see how the energy source used in producing the PtL affects the environmental impacts the fuel has. The electrolysis cell used is Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell (SOEC), and the pathway of CO2 provision is biomass power plant. Four scenarios of energy sources were compared; the first scenario is electricity from German grid and heat from chemical industry, the second one is electricity from Saudi Arabia grid and heat from chemical industry, the third one is the electricity from wind turbine and heat from evacuated tube collector, and the fourth scenario is electricity from photovoltaic and heat from evacuated tube collector. The result of the life cycle assessment showed that the PtL fuels have environmental benefits over the fossil reference only in the third and fourth scenarios where renewable electricity was used

Keywords

• power-to-liquid
• life cycle assessment