Comparison life cycle analysis of conventional versus modified integrated ethanol plants

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In conventional corn-to-ethanol fermentation, every one ton of corn gets converted in to one-third of ethanol, one-third of dried distillers' grains, and one-third into carbon dioxide. At the production facilities at Greenfield Ethanol Inc. (Greenfield), thousands of tons of carbon dioxide are being released daily to the atmosphere representing loss of potential revenue. To increase profits, Greenfield has developed a novel concept for renewable "drop-in" liquid fuels production. The novel concept utilizes three innovative Canadian technologies under bench-scale development that, when combined together in one process, will provide 100% renewable jet, diesel, naphtha, and ethanol fuels, from corn and a variety of non-food-grade feedstocks. In addition, besides the obvious renewable nature of the fuel products from the proposed process due to the type of feedstocks to be utilized, the process relies on carbon dioxide as one of the main feedstocks for the gas-to-liquid conversion process (the major by-product from ethanol manufacturing and anaerobic digestion), significantly improving the carbon foot-print and economics of the fuel products. As this concept targets clean energy production while at the same time mitigating environmental pollution, and reducing the carbon footprint of many processes, the economic benefits to Canada are in the billions if this technology was licensed worldwide as envisioned. Given the uniqueness and novelty of its waste-to-gas-to-renewable liquid fuels proposed project, it is very important to study the eco-efficiency, assess the life cycle impact, and analyze the sustainability of the new integrated ethanol plant and compare it side by side to currently existing conventional ethanol plant technology. The goal of this specific project is, therefore, to conduct a conceptual level life cycle assessment (LCA) of Greenfield's new integrated ethanol plant technology to ascertain its proposed environmental effects, compared to currently existing conventional ethanol plant technology.