Life Cycle Assessment of Bioethanol Production: A Review of Feedstock, Technology and Methodology

Abstract

So far, a lot of efforts have been put in life cycle assessments (LCA) of bioethanol production. There are many works that have assessed bioethanol production in different points of view to illustrate the environmental impacts. This study reviewed former LCA studies on bioethanol produced from various biomass resources by considering the effect of methodological components, technical pathways and feedstock provision on the result of LCA studies. The review evaluated 48 papers published 2002–2021 with a focus on studies that included a complete set of environmental impact categories. However, due to lack of harmony among studies, comparing the LCA results was challenging but the review indicated that the final results of studies are influenced by LCA methodological components, such as system boundary, functional unit, etc. Around 80% of the reviewed papers show the reduction in global warming potential, while contrary results have been found about increasing acidification, eutrophication and photochemical oxidant formation impact categories because of the feedstock provision. Regarding technical aspects, results from the review revealed that most of the studies considered the pre-treatment as a crucial step in bioconversion processes. Despite several LCA studies of bioethanol production, there is still low attention given to uncertainty analysis in the publications.