South Perth, Western Australia
August 4, 2011
A recent study into the carbon footprint of biodiesel produced from canola oil is likely to result in big emission savings for Western Australia’s canola producers.
The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study was managed by the Department of Agriculture and Food and led by the University of Western Australia at the Cunderdin Agricultural College in the wheatbelt.
Department spokesman Dan Carter said it set out to determine nitrous oxide emission levels associated with growing and converting canola for biodiesel production, and with the burning of the biodiesel.
“The LCA study, using local emission data at Cunderdin site, showed that the emissions from biodiesel were 41 per cent less than values using default emission values recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC),” he said.
Dr Carter managed the one-year study as part of a five year project on emissions from crop growth, undertaken jointly with Associate Professor Louise Barton from the University of Western Australia and Dr Wahidul Biswas from Curtin University.
“The study is significant because the results have challenged conclusions from a previous Brazilian study that the replacement of petroleum diesel by biodiesel would not decrease total greenhouse gas emissions,” Dr Carter said.
Dr Carter said that while both studies appeared to be the only vegetable oil biodiesel analyses accounting for both direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, the Cunderdin study relied on direct emission values calculated at the local site.
“The previous study used estimates provided by the IPCC for their LCA of biodiesel production,” he said.
“Significantly, our Cunderdin study was able to show that IPCC values are currently 50 times greater than the total value of actual emissions.”
Dr Carter said the study would have significant benefits for WA canola production.
“Conclusions not only support the viability of canola production for biodiesel production in WA, but also highlight the efficiency of the State’s canola growers in minimising greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
Dr Biswas, who employed a life cycle assessment approach, said that this took into account, inputs and outputs of the three lifecycle stages - on-farm, pre-farm and post-farm. Inputs measured included fertilisers and pesticides, and outputs included carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
“Life cycle assessments of biodiesel production have, in the past, focused mainly on biodiesel production from soybean and rapeseed (or canola) oils produced in Argentina, Brazil, China, South Africa and the United States,” Dr Biswas said.
“Very few studies have been conducted for semi-arid climates such as Australia.
“Given that semi-arid and arid land regions constitute one third of the global land area, and are widely used for agricultural production, this study has the potential to improve the accuracy of global greenhouse gas emission estimates.”
The project was funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation and the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE).
Associate Professor Barton said it followed on from a similarly funded LCA of paddock-based green house emissions in the growth of wheat in WA.
“This study showed that for export wheat, emissions from the production of one tonne of grain was similarly lower when calculated using local emission factors and not IPCC defaults.
“The end result of the five years of field experiments has changed the Australian nitrous oxide emissions standards being used from 1% of N-fertiliser used (IPCC values) to 0.1% (DCCEE values) for Australian grain growers,” she said.
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