Life Cycle Assessment Studies for Biodiesel Produced from Jatropha curcas via Room Temperature Transesterification Process-Case Study in the Chhattisgarh Region of India

Biofuel covers major parts of the transportation sector in the global economic scenarios. Therefore, the impact assessment parameters like environmental, economic, and social are necessary to evaluate for better understanding. Keeping in mind, a life cycle assessment of biodiesel has been done using Jatropha curcas as feedstock. All the steps from cradle (cultivations, pre-treatment, and transesterification) to gate (biodiesel production) have been evaluated. The functional unit of one ton of biodiesel has been taken as reference, and environmental impacts are assessed accordingly using SimaPro. In the current paper, the conventional and room temperature process for biodiesel production is compared in terms of mid-point categories like greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and other endpoint categories like human health, ecosystems, and resources. The results from the life cycle assessment (LCA) indicates that the room temperature process is more energy-saving than the conventional process. Room temperature biodiesel produced around 1195 kg CO2 eq of emission contributing to global warming, whereas the conventional biodiesel contributed around 1228 kg CO2 eq to GHG emission. Further, the Monte Carlo analysis was carried out to quantify the uncertainty in the process in terms of normalized global warming potential. The biodiesel production from the room temperature process can be explored at the industrial level in future.