Life Cycle Inventory of Refinery\nProducts:  Review and Comparison\nof Commercially Available\nDatabases

Abstract

Refinery products serve as the source for a significant\nportion of energy use and industrial chemicals. Assessing\nthe variability and reliability of the life cycle inventory\n(LCI) data for the refinery process is an important issue\nfor the acceptance of life cycle studies. The purpose of this\nresearch is to review and compare the LCI results for\nrefinery products among several available databases,\nevaluating the level of variability and technical consistency\namong data sets. Another objective is to highlight the\nneed for greater transparency and standardization in LCI\ndatabases. We found important links between the type or\nmedia of emissions and the unit processes found in\ntypical refineries. The variability of estimated emissions to\nthe atmosphere is approximately 50−150%, while variability\nin aqueous discharges is higher, approaching 1000%.\nVariability for solid emissions is on the order of 30%. This\nvariability is believed to be related to the preparation\nand summary use of individual practitioner databases and\nnot to the actual primary variations among refineries.\nSome variations clearly reflect technically incorrect data.\nImprovement of refinery LCI information can be achieved\nby the research and user communities devoting effort to\nproduce credible, representative LCI data for this critical\nmanufacturing unit. Greater transparency would significantly\nimprove specific areas of LCI assessment, as many of\nthe current databases are highly nontransparent, thus allowing\nerrors to be undetected. The central role of refinery LCI\ndata in life cycle assessment argues strongly for practitioners\nto develop more representative and less variable LCI\ninformation.