IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v23y2021i10d10.1007_s10668-021-01252-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Assessment of Coal-to-Liquid Process

Author

Listed:
  • Chunyu Wang

    (Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology
    Beijing University of Technology)

  • Ling Zhu

    (Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology)

Abstract

In this study, the life cycle assessment method was used to evaluate energy and material consumption and pollutant emission based on the 2013 ledger data of a coal chemistry factory in western China and the subprocesses used include coal gasification, conversion, purification, Fischer–Tropsch synthesis and liquid hydrocarbons separation. This method provides a comprehensive understanding of the potential environmental burden of coal-to-liquid (CTL) production and can be used to identify areas with significant potential for improving energy efficiency and reducing pollutant emissions. The results indicate that the main source of pollution in the CTL program is CTL processing step. Large amounts of water are consumed in the coal mining and CTL processing. The total amount of gaseous pollutants discharged to produce one ton of liquid hydrocarbon is 25.629 t, and 99.5% of this total consists of greenhouse gases. Over the entire life cycle of one ton of this liquid hydrocarbon, 31.955 tons of greenhouse gases (calculated as CO2) are emitted, and the weighted impact potential value is 3.149/PET2010. A series of relevant and consistent emission standards, laws and policies must be issued for the reasonable and orderly growth of the coal chemical industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Chunyu Wang & Ling Zhu, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment of Coal-to-Liquid Process," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(10), pages 14453-14471, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:23:y:2021:i:10:d:10.1007_s10668-021-01252-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-021-01252-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-021-01252-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10668-021-01252-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wang, Jinman & Wang, Ruogu & Zhu, Yucheng & Li, Jiayan, 2018. "Life cycle assessment and environmental cost accounting of coal-fired power generation in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 374-384.
    2. Li, Xin & Ou, Xunmin & Zhang, Xu & Zhang, Qian & Zhang, Xiliang, 2013. "Life-cycle fossil energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission intensity of dominant secondary energy pathways of China in 2010," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 15-23.
    3. Yang, Qingchun & Qian, Yu & Kraslawski, Andrzej & Zhou, Huairong & Yang, Siyu, 2016. "Advanced exergy analysis of an oil shale retorting process," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 405-415.
    4. Verma, Aman & Kumar, Amit, 2015. "Life cycle assessment of hydrogen production from underground coal gasification," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 556-568.
    5. Yang, Bo & Wei, Yi-Ming & Hou, Yunbing & Li, Hui & Wang, Pengtao, 2019. "Life cycle environmental impact assessment of fuel mix-based biomass co-firing plants with CO2 capture and storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.
    6. Xie, Kechang & Li, Wenying & Zhao, Wei, 2010. "Coal chemical industry and its sustainable development in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 4349-4355.
    7. Qi, Tianyu & Zhou, Li & Zhang, Xiliang & Ren, Xiangkun, 2012. "Regional economic output and employment impact of coal-to-liquids (CTL) industry in China: An input–output analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 259-263.
    8. Zhang, Xiaojin & Bauer, Christian & Mutel, Christopher L. & Volkart, Kathrin, 2017. "Life Cycle Assessment of Power-to-Gas: Approaches, system variations and their environmental implications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 326-338.
    9. Xiongfeng Pan & Yaobo Yan & Xiaoxue Peng & Qing Liu, 2016. "Analysis of the Threshold Effect of Financial Development on China’s Carbon Intensity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-14, March.
    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. Mauro Cordella & Felice Alfieri & Javier Sanfelix, 2021. "Reducing the carbon footprint of ICT products through material efficiency strategies: A life cycle analysis of smartphones," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(2), pages 448-464, April.
    2. Ahmed I. Osman & Mahmoud Nasr & A. R. Mohamed & Amal Abdelhaleem & Ali Ayati & Mohamed Farghali & Ala'a H. Al‐Muhtaseb & Ahmed S. Al‐Fatesh & David W. Rooney, 2024. "Life cycle assessment of hydrogen production, storage, and utilization toward sustainability," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(3), May.

    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. Li, Guoxuan & Cui, Peizhe & Wang, Yinglong & Liu, Zhiqiang & Zhu, Zhaoyou & Yang, Sheng, 2020. "Life cycle energy consumption and GHG emissions of biomass-to-hydrogen process in comparison with coal-to-hydrogen process," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    2. Li, Guang & Zhang, Ke & Yang, Bin & Liu, Fan & Weng, Yujing & Liu, Zheyu & Fang, Yitian, 2019. "Life cycle analysis of a coal to hydrogen process based on ash agglomerating fluidized bed gasification," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 638-646.
    3. Yadav, Deepak & Banerjee, Rangan, 2020. "Net energy and carbon footprint analysis of solar hydrogen production from the high-temperature electrolysis process," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    4. Bareiß, Kay & de la Rua, Cristina & Möckl, Maximilian & Hamacher, Thomas, 2019. "Life cycle assessment of hydrogen from proton exchange membrane water electrolysis in future energy systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C), pages 862-872.
    5. Al-Jabri, Hareb & Das, Probir & Khan, Shoyeb & AbdulQuadir, Mohammad & Thaher, Mehmoud Ibrahim & Hoekman, Kent & Hawari, Alaa H., 2022. "A comparison of bio-crude oil production from five marine microalgae – Using life cycle analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    6. Seck, Gondia Sokhna & Hache, Emmanuel & D'Herbemont, Vincent & Guyot, Mathis & Malbec, Louis-Marie, 2023. "Hydrogen development in Europe: Estimating material consumption in net zero emissions scenarios," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    7. Stephany Isabel Vallarta-Serrano & Ana Bricia Galindo-Muro & Riccardo Cespi & Rogelio Bustamante-Bello, 2023. "Analysis of GHG Emission from Cargo Vehicles in Megacities: The Case of the Metropolitan Zone of the Valley of Mexico," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-19, June.
    8. Yang Guo & Liqun Peng & Jinping Tian & Denise L. Mauzerall, 2023. "Deploying green hydrogen to decarbonize China’s coal chemical sector," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    9. Guohui Song & Xiaobo Cui & Liang Wang & Zheng Wei, 2025. "Comparative Assessment of Biomass and Power-to-Gas Processes Integrated with Different Electricity-Driven Gasification Technologies," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-20, January.
    10. Jin, Lu & Hawthorne, Steven & Sorensen, James & Pekot, Lawrence & Kurz, Bethany & Smith, Steven & Heebink, Loreal & Herdegen, Volker & Bosshart, Nicholas & Torres, José & Dalkhaa, Chantsalmaa & Peters, 2017. "Advancing CO2 enhanced oil recovery and storage in unconventional oil play—Experimental studies on Bakken shales," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 171-183.
    11. Yishu, Li, 2019. "A photovoltaic ecosystem: improving atmospheric environment and fighting regional poverty," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 69-79.
    12. Liu, Chenglin & Zhao, Lei & Zhu, Shun & Shen, Yuefeng & Yu, Jianhua & Yang, Qingchun, 2023. "Advanced exergy analysis and optimization of a coal to ethylene glycol (CtEG) process," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    13. Li, Yan & Feng, Tian-tian & Liu, Li-li & Zhang, Meng-xi, 2023. "How do the electricity market and carbon market interact and achieve integrated development?--A bibliometric-based review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    14. Cox, Brian & Bauer, Christian & Mendoza Beltran, Angelica & van Vuuren, Detlef P. & Mutel, Christopher L., 2020. "Life cycle environmental and cost comparison of current and future passenger cars under different energy scenarios," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    15. Ren, Lei & Zhou, Sheng & Peng, Tianduo & Ou, Xunmin, 2022. "Greenhouse gas life cycle analysis of China's fuel cell medium- and heavy-duty trucks under segmented usage scenarios and vehicle types," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    16. Wang, Peng-Tao & Wei, Yi-Ming & Yang, Bo & Li, Jia-Quan & Kang, Jia-Ning & Liu, Lan-Cui & Yu, Bi-Ying & Hou, Yun-Bing & Zhang, Xian, 2020. "Carbon capture and storage in China’s power sector: Optimal planning under the 2 °C constraint," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    17. Shao, Tianming & Pan, Xunzhang & Li, Xiang & Zhou, Sheng & Zhang, Shu & Chen, Wenying, 2022. "China's industrial decarbonization in the context of carbon neutrality: A sub-sectoral analysis based on integrated modelling," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    18. Song, Hongqing & Ou, Xunmin & Yuan, Jiehui & Yu, Mingxu & Wang, Cheng, 2017. "Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of diesel/LNG heavy-duty vehicle fleets in China based on a bottom-up model analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 966-978.
    19. Qi, Tianyu & Winchester, Niven & Karplus, Valerie J. & Zhang, Xiliang, 2013. "Expanding international GHG emissions trading: The role of Chinese and U.S. participation," Conference papers 332348, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    20. Lewandowska-Bernat, Anna & Desideri, Umberto, 2018. "Opportunities of power-to-gas technology in different energy systems architectures," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 57-67.

    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:spr:endesu:v:23:y:2021:i:10:d:10.1007_s10668-021-01252-z. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.