LCA/LCC of Jatropha Biodiesel Production in Thailand

Abstract

The market price of oil has increased tremendously over the last decade. One of the major influences has been the higher demand for energy consumption in developing countries. Thailand imports a huge amount of oil each year, mainly for the industrial and transportation sectors. Statistics indicate that the selling price of diesel in Thailand increased from 0.24 Euros per liter in 2000 to 0.56 Euros/L in 2006. This problem directly and suddenly affected all sectors which rely on this fuel. In order to relieve this crisis, the government tried to promote the development of biodiesel, which has the same function as diesel fuel but is less expensive. However, there are many kinds of biodiesel fuels: such as biodiesel from used cooking oil, from plants, or from animal grease. Some of these have similar properties to petroleum-based diesel, but may require extensive improvement processes.

Jatropha shows great potential as an oil-producing plant source in Thailand. Nevertheless, from the life cycle aspect, to generate biodiesel from Jatropha oil, materials and energy must be consumed and emissions and wastes will be released into the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to quantify and verify the energy efficiency and the environmental impacts of Jatropha biodiesel production from the life cycle point of view. Thus, the objectives of this paper are to develop the life cycle inventory database of Jatropha biodiesel and to analyze the environmental impacts by using the concept of life cycle thinking.

It is clearly shown that the cultivation process of Jatropha contributes the highest environmental impacts, compared to other stages in the life cycle, due ineffective cultivation management. Suggested improvements to the Jatropha life cycle are introduced to maximize the benefits of using Jatropha biodiesel and minimize the environmental impacts, in order to help ensure future sustainable utilization.