Well-to-wheel analysis on greenhouse gas emission and energy use with petroleum-based fuels in Korea: gasoline and diesel

This study aims at performing the first comprehensive well-to-wheel (WTW) analysis on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy uses of petroleum-based automotive fuels, i.e., gasoline and diesel, in Korea. Although the Korean Renewable Fuel Standard is supposed to take effect in 2015, there are very few WTW results available in Korea. In this study, all relevant processes in the whole fuel cycle are covered, which will provide Korea-specific results to policy makers and stakeholders in Korea. Input raw data were collected with the help of Korean petroleum industries and related association, as well as governmental institutions. Literature survey was carried out, especially for overseas processes in the crude oil recovery fields. The GREET model, developed by the U.S. Argonne National Laboratory, was adopted as a tool for WTW calculation, and most of the data were replaced by using the Korean specific information. Additional analysis was also performed for the refining process which was the most energy-intensive in the fuel life cycle. A process-level allocation method was used in calculating the refining energy use of individual petroleum products, which could reflect the detailed refining processes. The well-to-pump (WTP) GHG emissions of Korean gasoline and diesel are calculated as 12,047-12,677 and 11,025-11,643 g CO2 eq./GJ(Final_fuel), respectively. The main difference comes from the higher GHG emission in the refining process of gasoline than in diesel. As compared to other countries, the WTP results of Korean fuels are smaller than those of the USA and Europe mainly due to higher refining efficiency, while larger than those of Japan with a significant difference in GHG emissions regarding crude oil recovery. In the WTW results with all the Korean vehicle models in 2014 considered, similar weight of diesel models demonstrates overall lower WTW emissions than gasoline models, since the former has both lower WTP GHG emissions and better fuel economy than the latter. In this study, a comprehensive WTW GHG analysis on Korean gasoline and diesel was performed to provide Korea-specific results to policy makers and stakeholders. The analysis was based on the official data provided by Korean petroleum associations and companies as well as literature survey and our own analysis. There is a relatively large uncertainty from the refining process, which should be further investigated to improve the accuracy of the results.