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Life cycle assessment of automotive fuels: critical analysis and recommendations on the emissions inventory in the tank to wheels stage

  • LCA FOR ENERGY SYSTEMS
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

As new alternative automotive fuels are being developed, life cycle assessment (LCA) is being used to assess the sustainability of these new options. A fuel LCA is commonly referred as a “Well To Wheels” analysis and calculates the environmental impacts of producing the fuel (the “Well To Tank” stage) and using it to move a car (the “Tank To Wheels” stage, TTW). The TTW environmental impacts are the main topic of this article.

Materials and methods

Renault’s cars pollutant emissions are measured on the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) to comply with Euro regulations. The results have been used to show the variability of the emissions in the TTW stage. Five E85 flex-fuel vehicles were also tested to check their compliance with Euro standards, enabling to show the effect of an alternative fuel such as ethanol on pollutant emissions. Finally, Euro standard emission thresholds were transposed into environmental impacts to see how they affect TTW results.

Results and discussion

The TTW stage is very significant for the environmental impacts selected. The results show the unpredictable variability of the impacts between vehicles and when switching from gasoline to ethanol (E85). However, this variability is inferior compared with the differences between cars complying with different Euro standards.

Conclusions

Measured emissions on a car on NEDC cycle may not be suitable as the input data for TTW calculations. Euro standards associated with average fuel consumptions may be used as the basis for TTW impacts and should be chosen carefully in order to be relevant with the scope of the study. This leads to a functional unit, which is defined as the quantity of fuel needed to move a car that is representative of the average fleet that uses the fuel on 1 km.

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Notes

  1. European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme/European Environmental Agency, http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/emep-eea-emission-inventory-guidebook-2009

  2. http://maps.google.fr, http://www.distances.com/

  3. www.gabi-software.com/

  4. 91/441/EEC, 94/12/EC, 98/69/EC and 2007/715/EC

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Acknowledgements

Florent Querini is a PhD student, working both at Renault's Technocentre (core of Renault's Engineering) and Institut Pprime (CNRS – Université de Poitiers – ENSMA) and financed by a CIFRE (Convention Industrielle de Formation par la REcherche) thanks to the ANRT (Association Nationale pour la Recherche et la Technologie) which is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Pprime CNRS - Université de Poitiers (IRIAF), ENSMA UPR 3346 Département Fluides, Thermique, Combustion, ENSMA - Téléport 2, 1 avenue Clément Ader, BP 40109, 86961, Futuroscope Chasseneuil Cedex, France

    Florent Querini & Patrick Rousseaux

  2. Technocentre Renault, 1 avenue du Golf, 78288, Guyancourt, France

    Florent Querini, Jean-Christophe Béziat, Stéphane Morel & Valérie Boch

Authors
  1. Florent Querini
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  2. Jean-Christophe Béziat
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  3. Stéphane Morel
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  4. Valérie Boch
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  5. Patrick Rousseaux
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Florent Querini.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Wulf-Peter Schmidt

Glossary

AP

Acidification potential

CIE

Compression ignition engine

ELCD

European Life Cycle Database

EU

European Union

FU

Functional unit

GHG

Greenhouse gas

GWP

Global warming potential

HC

Hydrocarbons

ICE

Internal combustion engine

JEC

Joint Research Centre/Eucar/Concawe

LCA

Life cycle assessment

LUC

Land use change

MEP

Marine eutrophication potential

NEDC

New European Driving Cycle

OFP

Ozone formation potential

PM

Particulate matter

PMFP

Particulate matter formation potential

POCP

Photochemical oxidation creation potential

SIE

Spark ignition engine

TTW

Tank To Wheels

VOC

Volatile organic compounds

WTT

Well To Tank

WTW

Well To Wheels

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Querini, F., Béziat, JC., Morel, S. et al. Life cycle assessment of automotive fuels: critical analysis and recommendations on the emissions inventory in the tank to wheels stage. Int J Life Cycle Assess 16, 454–464 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-011-0273-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-011-0273-y

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