The Study of Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Ethanol Production from Agro-industrial Fruit Residues

Abstract

Nowadays, bio-ethanol is playing an important role as an alternative fuel for passenger cars in Thailand. The use of biofuel can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions because it is derived from plant materials. This study aimed to analyze greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of ethanol production from agro-industrial fruit residues based on a life cycle approach. The results showed that the life cycle GHG emissions of ethanol production were found to be 123.10 kg CO₂-eq/kg of anhydrous ethanol. The main source of GHG emission was the electricity used in the process stage (97.83%) and the second was materials and reagents used in the stage (2.64%). It showed major energy consumption came from the conversion process to produce ethanol. Another encouraging result is that 1 kg non-pretreated pineapple peel waste inputs could produce 525 g of ethanol fuel; or it is was estimated to be 52-53% of ethanol production. Therefore, agro-industrial fruit residues can be feedstock for ethanol production in Tropical countries.