Life Cycle Assessment of a Biomass Gasification Combined-Cycle System

<p>A life cycle assessment on the production of electricity from biomass in a system based on the FERCO indirectly heated biomass gasifier was performed. The purpose of this study was to quantify the total environmental benefits and drawbacks of the entire system from biomass crops through power distribution. The energy and material flows of all processes necessary to operate the power plant were assessed with subsystems being defined as the production of biomass as a dedicated feedstock crop its transportation to the power plant electricity generation and all necessary upstream processes. For each year of operation air water and solid waste emissions were tracked over the entire system. The net CO2 emissions were found to be nearly zero but highly; dependent on the amount of carbon that can be sequestered in the soil. A net energy analysis shows that the system efficiency is 33.7%. A discussion of the total emissions resource consumption and net energy balance of this biomass-based technology is presented. Contact (e-mail): margaret_mann@nrel.gov</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>