Life cycle assessment of fuel ethanol from cane molasses in Thailand

Background, aim and scope After China and India, Thailand is considered another emerging market for fuel ethanol in Asia. At present, ethanol in the country is mainly a fermentation/distillery product of cane molasses, although cassava and cane juice are considered other potential raw materials for the fuel. This study aims to evaluate the environmental impacts of substituting conventional gasoline (CG) with molasses-based gasohol in Thailand. Materials and methods The life cycle assessment (LCA) procedure carried out follows three interrelated phases: inventory analysis, characterization and interpretation. The functional unit for the comparison is 1 l gasoline equivalent consumed by a new passenger car to travel a specific distance. Results The results of the study show that molasses-based ethanol (MoE) in the form of 10% blend with gasoline (E10), along its whole life cycle, consumes less fossil energy (5.3%), less petroleum (8.1%) and provides a similar impact on acidification compared to CG. The fuel, however, has inferior performance in other categories (e.g. global warming potential, nutrient enrichment and photochemical ozone creation potential) indicated by increased impacts over CG. Discussion In most cases, higher impacts from the upstream of molasses-based ethanol tend to govern its net life cycle impacts relative to CG. This makes the fuel blend less environmentally friendly than CG for the specific conditions considered. However, as discussed later, this situation can be improved by appropriate changes in energy carriers. Conclusions The LCA procedure helps identify the key areas in the MoE production cycle where changes are required to improve environmental performance. Specifically, they are: (1) use of coal as energy source for ethanol conversion, (2) discharge of distillery spent wash into an anaerobic pond, and (3) open burning of cane trash in sugar cane production. Recommendations and perspectives Measures to improve the overall life cycle energy and environmental impacts of MoE are: (1) substituting biomass for fossil fuels in ethanol conversion, (2) capturing CH4 from distillery spent wash and using it as an energy supply, and (3) utilizing cane trash for energy instead of open burning in fields.