Environmental Assessment of Electricity Based on Straight Jatropha Oil on Floreana Island, Ecuador

• DOI: 10.1007/s12155-017-9883-y
• Publication Date: 2017-12-15T22:08:59Z
• Authors: Marilyn Muñoz May...; Israel Herrera Or...; Yolanda Lechón Pérez; Natalia Caldés Gomez; Eva Iglesias Mart...
• Keywords: 2. Zero hunger; 13. Climate action; 11. Sustainability; 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; 02 engineering and technology; 7. Clean energy; 12. Responsible consumption

The Renewable Energies for Galapagos (ERGAL) project was launched in Ecuador as part of the “Zero fossil fuels on the Galapagos Islands” initiative. The ERGAL project strategy includes the “Jatropha for Galapagos” pilot project, which seeks to generate electricity from jatropha oil (JO) extracted from wild jatropha bushes, which are harvested by small-scale jatropha suppliers. Using life-cycle analysis, this study assessed the environmental impact of electricity produced from this biofuel under three systems: a blend system (BS) with 20% JO and 80% diesel, a reference system (RS) consisting of 100% diesel and a jatropha system (JS) made up of JO. The results show that the BS had slightly better environmental performance than RS, but worse than JS. Under the BS, the main environmental loads resulted from diesel combustion in electricity generation and the transportation of the raw material. An advantage of the BS is the low impact resulting from jatropha production, given that fertilizers are not used. However, this production strategy is highly dependent upon the presently limited yields from jatropha bushes. To increase the environmental sustainability of the BS, the logistics of transporting the fruits and improving their yields are key issues that should be considered. Finally, the low environmental impact of JS is due to diesel not being used in electricity production. However, fuel use for transportation of the high volumes of raw material and the refined product, coupled with the use of the purification substance as part of the refining are major contributors to environmental loads of JS.