Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of an Integrated Biomass Gasification Combined Cycle (IBGCC) with CO2 removal

Basing on results of previous studies, the efficiency of a Brayton/Hirn combined cycle, fuelled with a clean syngas produced by means of biomass gasification and equipped with CO2 removal by chemical absorption, resulted 33.94%, considering also the separated CO2 compression process. The specific CO2 emission of the power plant was 178 kg/MWh. In comparison with values previously found for an Integrated Coal Gasification Combined Cycle (ICGCC) with upstream CO2 chemical absorption (38-39% efficiency, 130 kg/MWh specific CO2 emissions), this configuration seems to be attractive because of the possibility of operating with a simplified scheme and for the possibility of using biomass in a more efficient way with respect to conventional systems. In this paper a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was carried out presenting results on the basis of the Eco-Indicator’95 impact assessment methodology. Further, a comparison with the results previously obtained for the LCA of the ICGCC was performed, in order to highlight environmental impact of biomass production with fossil fuels utilisation. The LCA shows the important environmental advantages of biomass utilisation in terms of reduction of both greenhouse gas emissions and natural resource depletion, although an improved impact assessment methodology may better highlight the advantages due to the biomass utilisation.