A life cycle assessment of distributed energy production from organic waste: Two case studies in Europe

Evangelisti, S, Clift, Roland, Tagliaferri, C and Lettieri, P (2017) A life cycle assessment of distributed energy production from organic waste: Two case studies in Europe Waste Management, 64. pp. 371-385.

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Abstract

By means of the life cycle assessment methodology, the purpose of this study is to assess the environmental impact when biomethane from organic waste produced at residential level is used to supply energy to a group of dwellings in the distributed generation paradigm. Three different Combined Heat and Power systems, such as fuel cells, Stirling engine and micro gas turbine, installed at household level are assessed in two different settings: one in Northern Europe (UK) and one in Southern Europe (Italy). Different operating strategies are investigated for each technology. Moreover, marginal electricity production technologies are analysed to assess their influence on the results. This study has demonstrated that the type of bio-methane fed micro-CHP technology employed has a significantly different environmental impact: fuel cells are the most environmentally friendly solution in every category analysed; Stirling engines, although can supply heat to the largest number of dwellings are the least environmentally friendly technology. However, key factors investigated in the model presented in this paper influence the decision making on the type of technology adopted and the operating strategy to be implemented.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions :	Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences > Centre for Environmental Strategy
Authors :	Name Email ORCID Evangelisti, S Clift, Roland R.Clift@surrey.ac.uk Tagliaferri, C Lettieri, P
Date :	22 March 2017
DOI :	10.1016/j.wasman.2017.03.028
Copyright Disclaimer :	© 2017. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Uncontrolled Keywords :	Distributed generation Biomethane Life cycle assessment micro-CHP Food waste
Depositing User :	Melanie Hughes
Date Deposited :	15 May 2018 11:16
Last Modified :	16 Jan 2019 19:09
URI:	http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/id/eprint/846403

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