Life cycle GHG emissions and economic viability of two levulinic acid production processes from biomass: A case study of Japan and Canada

We evaluated CO₂ equivalent (CO₂eq) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and minimum selling price of levulinic acid (LA) produced in two biomass-waste-based processes: the AlCl₃/choline chloride (ChCl) process, and the formic acid (FA) process, with catalysts recycling. Six scenarios were synthesized to compare the performances of the two processes in Japan and Canada. In the AlCl₃/ChCl process, the total GHG emission was 11.35–11.56 kg-CO₂eq/kg-LA and those from the energy input to the pretreatment and ChCl production were 5.22 and 3.90 kg-CO₂eq/kg-LA, respectively. In the FA process, the total GHG emission was 9.46–9.68 and 22.29–22.51 kg-CO₂eq/kg-LA for 60 wt% and 80 wt% FA, respectively. The operational emissions for makeup FA input were 7.65 and 20.80 kg-CO₂eq/kg-LA (60 wt% and 80 wt%, respectively), which accounted for more than 80% in all scenarios. The optimization of the product purge volume, FA concentration in the pretreatment, and FA production using biomass and/or renewable energy are critical parameters to reduce overall environmental impacts of the processes. The liquid content of the solid residue (moisture, water soluble organic matters, and catalyst) had insignificant influences on the GHG emission and minimum selling price. In the FA process, combustion of solid residue can compensate the GHG emissions from the reaction and separation units.