IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i18p4599-d1477492.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Assessment Comparison of Orchard Tractors Powered by Diesel and Hydrogen Fuel Cell

Author

Listed:
  • Salvatore Martelli

    (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Turin, Italy)

  • Valerio Martini

    (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Turin, Italy)

  • Francesco Mocera

    (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Turin, Italy)

  • Aurelio Soma’

    (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Turin, Italy)

Abstract

To reduce the impact of the agricultural sector on the environment, human health and resource depletion, several steps should be taken to develop innovative powertrain systems. The agricultural sector must be involved in this innovation, since diesel-powered tractors are an important source in terms of pollution. In this context, fuel-cell systems have gained importance, making them one of the possible substitutes due to their characteristics featuring almost zero local emissions, low refueling time and high efficiency. However, to effectively assess the sustainability of a fuel-cell tractor, a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment, comprising production, use phase and end of life, must be performed. This article presents a comparative analysis, according to different impact categories, of the life cycle impacts of a traditional diesel-powered tractor and a fuel-cell hybrid tractor, designed considering operative requirements and functional constraints. The study was conducted according to the LCA technique (defined by ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards), combining secondary data, mainly derived from studies and reports available in the literature, with the use of the Ecoinvent 3.0 database. The results are presented according to ten different impact categories defined by ReCiPe 2016 v 1.03 at the midpoint level. The findings obtained showed that the fuel-cell tractor allows for a relevant reduction in all the considered categories. The highest-impact reduction, more than 92%, was obtained in the human toxicity non-carcinogenic category, while the lowest reduction, around 4.55%, was observed for the fossil fuel scarcity category, mainly due to the adoption of gray hydrogen which is produced from fossil fuels. As for the climate change category, the fuel-cell tractor showed a reduction of more than 34% in the life cycle impact. Finally, the authors also considered the case of green hydrogen produced using solar energy. In this case, further reductions in the impact on climate change and fossil fuel resource depletion were obtained. However, for the other impact categories, the results were worse compared to using gray hydrogen.

Suggested Citation

  • Salvatore Martelli & Valerio Martini & Francesco Mocera & Aurelio Soma’, 2024. "Life Cycle Assessment Comparison of Orchard Tractors Powered by Diesel and Hydrogen Fuel Cell," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-29, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:18:p:4599-:d:1477492
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/18/4599/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/18/4599/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simons, Andrew & Bauer, Christian, 2015. "A life-cycle perspective on automotive fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 884-896.
    2. Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary & Farzad Taghizadeh-Hesary, 2020. "The Impacts of Air Pollution on Health and Economy in Southeast Asia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-15, April.
    3. Francesco Mocera & Aurelio Somà & Salvatore Martelli & Valerio Martini, 2023. "Trends and Future Perspective of Electrification in Agricultural Tractor-Implement Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-36, September.
    4. Peter A. Stott & Nikolaos Christidis & Friederike E. L. Otto & Ying Sun & Jean‐Paul Vanderlinden & Geert Jan van Oldenborgh & Robert Vautard & Hans von Storch & Peter Walton & Pascal Yiou & Francis W., 2016. "Attribution of extreme weather and climate‐related events," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 7(1), pages 23-41, January.
    5. Jonathan A. Patz & Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum & Tracey Holloway & Jonathan A. Foley, 2005. "Impact of regional climate change on human health," Nature, Nature, vol. 438(7066), pages 310-317, November.
    6. Wang, Jason X. & Burke, Haydn & Zhang, Abraham, 2022. "Overcoming barriers to circular product design," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    7. Salvatore Martelli & Francesco Mocera & Aurelio Somà, 2023. "Carbon Footprint of an Orchard Tractor through a Life-Cycle Assessment Approach," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-22, June.
    8. Briac Baudais & Hamid Ben Ahmed & Gurvan Jodin & Nicolas Degrenne & Stéphane Lefebvre, 2023. "Life Cycle Assessment of a 150 kW Electronic Power Inverter," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-18, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Molini, A. & Talkner, P. & Katul, G.G. & Porporato, A., 2011. "First passage time statistics of Brownian motion with purely time dependent drift and diffusion," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(11), pages 1841-1852.
    2. Denis Maragno & Michele Dalla Fontana & Francesco Musco, 2020. "Mapping Heat Stress Vulnerability and Risk Assessment at the Neighborhood Scale to Drive Urban Adaptation Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-16, February.
    3. Bing Li & Zhifeng Liu & Ying Nan & Shengnan Li & Yanmin Yang, 2018. "Comparative Analysis of Urban Heat Island Intensities in Chinese, Russian, and DPRK Regions across the Transnational Urban Agglomeration of the Tumen River in Northeast Asia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-16, July.
    4. Laura Vauche & Gabin Guillemaud & Joao-Carlos Lopes Barbosa & Léa Di Cioccio, 2024. "Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of GaN Power Semiconductor Device," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-18, January.
    5. Michael Tong & Berhanu Wondmagegn & Jianjun Xiang & Alana Hansen & Keith Dear & Dino Pisaniello & Blesson Varghese & Jianguo Xiao & Le Jian & Benjamin Scalley & Monika Nitschke & John Nairn & Hilary B, 2022. "Hospitalization Costs of Respiratory Diseases Attributable to Temperature in Australia and Projections for Future Costs in the 2030s and 2050s under Climate Change," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-16, August.
    6. Nicolas Taconet & Aurélie Méjean & Céline Guivarch, 2020. "Influence of climate change impacts and mitigation costs on inequality between countries," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 15-34, May.
    7. Jaewon Kwak & Huiseong Noh & Soojun Kim & Vijay P. Singh & Seung Jin Hong & Duckgil Kim & Keonhaeng Lee & Narae Kang & Hung Soo Kim, 2014. "Future Climate Data from RCP 4.5 and Occurrence of Malaria in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-19, October.
    8. Mariani, Fabio & Pérez-Barahona, Agustín & Raffin, Natacha, 2010. "Life expectancy and the environment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 798-815, April.
    9. Nadia Belmonte & Carlo Luetto & Stefano Staulo & Paola Rizzi & Marcello Baricco, 2017. "Case Studies of Energy Storage with Fuel Cells and Batteries for Stationary and Mobile Applications," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-15, March.
    10. Louise Bedsworth, 2012. "California’s local health agencies and the state’s climate adaptation strategy," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 119-133, March.
    11. Ma, Cong & Cheok, Mui Yee, 2022. "The impact of financing role and organizational culture in small and medium enterprises: Developing business strategies for economic recovery," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 26-38.
    12. Robin Smit & Eckard Helmers & Michael Schwingshackl & Martin Opetnik & Daniel Kennedy, 2024. "Greenhouse Gas Emissions Performance of Electric, Hydrogen and Fossil-Fuelled Freight Trucks with Uncertainty Estimates Using a Probabilistic Life-Cycle Assessment (pLCA)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-38, January.
    13. Menconi, M.E. & Giordano, S. & Grohmann, D., 2022. "Revisiting global food production and consumption patterns by developing resilient food systems for local communities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    14. Yuan, Yi & Chen, Li & Lyu, Xingbao & Ning, Wenjing & Liu, Wenqi & Tao, Wen-Quan, 2024. "Modeling and optimization of a residential PEMFC-based CHP system under different operating modes," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PA).
    15. Wenqi Luo & Jiexian Cheng, 2023. "Transition to sustainable business models for green economic recovery: role of financial literacy, innovation and environmental sustainability," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 3787-3810, December.
    16. Nebojša Brkljač & Milan Delić & Marko Orošnjak & Nenad Medić & Slavko Rakić & Ljiljana Popović, 2024. "Interdependent Influences of Reverse Logistics Implementation Barriers in the Conditions of an Emerging Economy," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-19, August.
    17. Xiaoguang Chen & Madhu Khanna & Lu Yang, 2022. "The impacts of temperature on Chinese food processing firms," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 66(2), pages 256-279, April.
    18. Ahmad, Farhan & Bask, Anu & Laari, Sini & Robinson, Craig V., 2023. "Business management perspectives on the circular economy: Present state and future directions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    19. Alper Ozpinar, 2023. "A Hyper-Integrated Mobility as a Service (MaaS) to Gamification and Carbon Market Enterprise Architecture Framework for Sustainable Environment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-22, March.
    20. Flückiger, Matthias & Ludwig, Markus, 2022. "Temperature and risk of diarrhoea among children in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:18:p:4599-:d:1477492. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.