IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i22p9415-d443861.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An In-Depth Environmental Sustainability Analysis of Conventional and Advanced Bio-Based Diesels in Thailand

Author

Listed:
  • Napapat Permpool

    (The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
    Center of Excellence on Energy Technology and Environment (CEE), PERDO, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, Bangkok 10400, Thailand)

  • Hafiz Usman Ghani

    (The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
    Center of Excellence on Energy Technology and Environment (CEE), PERDO, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, Bangkok 10400, Thailand)

  • Shabbir H. Gheewala

    (The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
    Center of Excellence on Energy Technology and Environment (CEE), PERDO, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, Bangkok 10400, Thailand)

Abstract

Thailand has been implementing its Alternative Energy Development Plan aiming to replace 20–25% of fossil fuels with locally produced biofuels by 2036. The partial substitution of fossil diesel with fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) derived from palm oil is one of the major options but blending beyond 20% of FAME is a concern for use in conventional diesel engines. This problem has led to the consideration of other bio-based diesels also derived from palm oil; namely, partially hydrogenated fatty acid methyl ester (H-FAME) and bio-hydrogenated diesel (BHD). This study performed a comparative life cycle assessment of various bio-based diesels using the ReCiPe life cycle impact assessment method. The results showed that in comparison to fossil diesel, bio-based diesels have superior performance for global warming and fossil resource scarcity, but an inferior performance for eutrophication, terrestrial acidification, human toxicity, and land use. Considering the collective environmental damages, BHD performed the worst for human health, and all the bio-based diesels showed poor performance for ecosystem quality, while diesel showed poor performance for resource availability. Among the bio-based diesel products, BHD has higher environmental burdens than FAME and H-FAME. Improvements have been suggested to enhance the environmental performance of the bio-based diesels.

Suggested Citation

  • Napapat Permpool & Hafiz Usman Ghani & Shabbir H. Gheewala, 2020. "An In-Depth Environmental Sustainability Analysis of Conventional and Advanced Bio-Based Diesels in Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-16, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:22:p:9415-:d:443861
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/22/9415/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/22/9415/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ninpanit, Panittra & Malik, Arunima & Wakiyama, Takako & Geschke, Arne & Lenzen, Manfred, 2019. "Thailand’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from production-based and consumption-based perspectives," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Napapat Permpool & Awais Mahmood & Hafiz Usman Ghani & Shabbir H. Gheewala, 2021. "An Eco-Efficiency Assessment of Bio-Based Diesel Substitutes: A Case Study in Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-10, January.
    2. Phuang, Zhen Xin & Woon, Kok Sin & Wong, Khai Jian & Liew, Peng Yen & Hanafiah, Marlia Mohd, 2021. "Unlocking the environmental hotspots of palm biodiesel upstream production in Malaysia via life cycle assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    3. Ukrit Jaroenkietkajorn & Shabbir H. Gheewala & Rattanawan Mungkung & Napat Jakrawatana & Thapat Silalertruksa & Naruetep Lecksiwilai & Jittima Prasara-A & Pariyapat Nilsalab, 2024. "Challenges and Opportunities of Bio-Circular-Green Economy for Agriculture," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 1729-1750, September.

    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. Wang, Qiang & Han, Xinyu, 2021. "Is decoupling embodied carbon emissions from economic output in Sino-US trade possible?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    2. Yuanying Chi & Wenbing Zhou & Songlin Tang & Yu Hu, 2022. "Driving Factors of CO 2 Emissions in China’s Power Industry: Relative Importance Analysis Based on Spatial Durbin Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-15, April.
    3. Lilis Yuaningsih & R. Adjeng Mariana Febrianti & Hafiz Waqas Kamran, 2021. "Climate Change and Energy Consumption Patterns in Thailand: Time Trends During 1988-2013," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 11(1), pages 571-576.
    4. Yunlong Zhao & Linwei Ma & Zheng Li & Weidou Ni, 2022. "A Calculation and Decomposition Method Embedding Sectoral Energy Structure for Embodied Carbon: A Case Study of China’s 28 Sectors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-29, February.
    5. Xiaochun Zhao & Mei Jiang & Wei Zhang, 2022. "Decoupling between Economic Development and Carbon Emissions and Its Driving Factors: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-15, March.
    6. Wu, Sanmang & Li, Shantong & Lei, Yalin & Li, Li, 2020. "Temporal changes in China's production and consumption-based CO2 emissions and the factors contributing to changes," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(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:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:22:p:9415-:d:443861. 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.