Life Cycle Assessment of acetone production from captured carbon dioxide Using bio-fermentation at the PYROCO2-pilot plant
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Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master's Thesis
Master's Thesis
Program
Industrial ecology (MPTSE), MSc
Publicerad
2022
Författare
Jiresten, Erik
Larsson, Oskar
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Due to its need of carbon feedstocks, the chemical industry is expected to become the major driver
of oil consumption in the future, with its greenhouse gas emissions increasing annually. The
PYROCO2-project aims to reduce the industry’s dependency on fossil resources, moving it in a
direction of increased sustainability.
At the time of writing, the PYROCO2-project is still in early development where the design process
for a pilot plant, eventually to be constructed south of Oslo, Norway, is underway. The project
aims to produce acetone via two fermentation processes, using captured carbon dioxide and hydrogen
gas, produced through electrolysis, powered by renewable electricity. The aim of this thesis
is to investigate how the future pilot-plant will perform regarding environmental impacts by applying
life cycle assessment. This was further analysed using sensitivity scenarios, to verify the
hotspots for environmental impacts within the production system. This provides providing important
knowledge for the planned future construction of similar plants at other locations.
The environmental impact hotspots, identified for the pilot plant were the capture, purification and
liquefaction of carbon dioxide, and the electrolysis, which performance is highly dependent on the
electricity mix used. This was confirmed by the sensitivity analysis, using German electricity, as
opposed to Norwegian. In terms of climate change, the PYROCO2-pilot plant outperforms conventional
acetone production considerably, potentially acting as a negative emissions technology.
The impacts on toxicity was shown to be higher for the PYROCO2-pilot plant. However, these
are connected to metal use for the expansion of the electricity grid, where previous life cycle assessments
have shown that embodied emissions for electricity transmission and distribution are
negligible.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Life Cycle Assessment , PYROCO2 , Acetone , Chemical Production , Fermentation , Carbon Capture and Utilisation , Negative Emission Technology , openLCA