Comparison of Life Cycle energy consumption and GHG emissions of natural gas, biodiesel and diesel buses of the Madrid transportation system

This paper presents a comparative study on the use of three after-treatment technologies: i) EGR + DPF, ii) SCR + Urea and iii) 3-way catalyst when implemented in urban buses, to determinate the energy requirements, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), direct Land Use Change (dLUC), abiotic depletion of fossil energy by means of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The process of production, conditioning and transporting of the fuels used by the buses (diesel, biodiesel (B100), a blended biodiesel at 20% (B20) and natural gas) were also analyzed (Well-to-Tank analysis) along with the environmental impact due to its combustion in the bus (Tank-to-Wheel analysis). The environmental impact of the manufacturing, maintenance and recycling process of the urban buses and exhaust after-treatment systems has also been evaluated. Main results shows that life Cycle of SCR + Urea technology reduces environmental impact to a greater extent than its global Life Cycle increases it when gasoil is used resulting in a final balance more efficient than the other options, the same behavior is observed with the use of B20 and B100 but only when 0% dLUC is assumed since if the percentage of dLUC increases the effectiveness of the SCR + Urea technology in the reduction of environmental impact tend to decrease. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.