Life cycle assessment of ethylene production from empty fruit bunch

Empty fruit bunch (EFB), as the abundant residue of palm oil processing in Indonesia, is potential lignocellulosic biomass that can be converted into ethylene. The use of lignocellulosic biomass as feedstock may overcome the problem of fossil-sources depletion in the long term. The Aspen Plus was employed to simulate the entire process of ethylene production. The environmental impact of the process was further evaluated through life cycle assessment (LCA) method in which the global warming potential, acidification, eutrophication, ozone depletion, and photochemical oxidant creation were considered. A cradle-to-gate LCA study of ethylene production from EFB revealed that global warming potential (GWP) had the largest impact to the environment with the value of 1.15 kg CO2 eq/kg ethylene. Utilizing biomass as the raw material for producing ethylene showed a lower impact of global warming compared with the fossil based. The presence of biogenic carbon and lignin content in lignocellulosic biomass may potentially reduce environmental burden. Taking lignin into account as a credited product in this study resulted in a considerable reduction on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission by 83.9%, while the sequestration of CO2 provided insignificant effect to offset GHG emission.