Life cycle assessment of biohydrogen production in photosynthetic processes

The outcomes of biohydrogen from photosynthesis processes are still small, however different development methods and laboratory studies are carried out to increase the production yield and meanwhile optimize the process to lessen the negative impact on the environment and climate change. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) gives the possibility to compare different biohydrogen production approaches using different photosynthesis methods and, at the same time, identify the environmental "hot spots" of the whole process. Inventory analysis and the results of different researchers in this field allow to find values of selected ecoindicators in order to evaluate the biohydrogen production efficiency with the selection of the best initial data for life cycle analysis. These ecoindicators weigh the resources needed for biohydrogen production whole system. This paper presents the first aspects for the implementation of a life cycle assessment. Copyright (C) 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.