LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BIODIESEL FROM CANNABIS SATIVA L. FOR TRANSPORT FUEL IN THE UK

The climate change impact potential of biodiesel from hemp (Cannabis Sativa L.) has been investigated through life cycle assessment based on data collected from a case study farm in Essex, England. Hemp biodiesel was found to have a climate change impact potential of 0.137 kg CO2e MJ−1. However, this result was significantly reduced to -0.684 kg CO2-e MJ −1 when full accounting of CO2 in the life cycle system, including absorption of carbon dioxide in the hemp straw, was used. The application of nitrogen fertilisers made the largest contribution (0.0678 kg CO2e MJ−1) from a single process to the overall climate change impact potential. When the climate change impacts were allocated between the hemp biodiesel and its co-products (hemp straw, hemp seed presscake, glycerol, and potassium phosphate salts), the climate change impact of hemp biodiesel was inside the range of results from other studies (0.005–0.060 kg CO2-e MJ −1). The method of allocating impacts of a system according to the carbon contents of the co-products was found to generate similar results to the allocation methods which used mass and energy to apportion impacts between the products. Improvements in the hemp seed yield and oil content to 1200 kg ha−1 and 37.5 % respectively combine to reduce the climate change impact potential by 20.5 % to 0.117 kg CO2-e MJ −1. Experimental tests confirmed the similarity of methods of describing biodiesel-petroleum diesel blends by the mass, energy and volume proportions of biodiesel that they contain. This research extends the range of life cycle assessments of biodiesel produced from oilseeds to include hemp. In addition, this research shows that changes in emissions of greenhouse gases caused by the production of hemp biodiesel occur in the agricultural and industrial sectors, not in the road transport sector, and highlights the potential of hemp straw for the absorption and storage of carbon dioxide to mitigate climate change and its consequences.

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