Life Cycle Assessment of Climate Change and GHG Emission from Natural Gas Thermal Power Plant

Abstract

The world is advancing towards a great future where the demand of electricity is rising day by day. In order to cope up with this rising demand, more power plants are commissioned. Most of the power plants use fossil fuel to produce electricity, hence are subjected to emissions to air, water and soil. This study uses life cycle assessment approach to measure the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and its impact on global warming as well as to analyze the effect on climate change per unit kWh of electricity produced in a natural gas thermal power plant in the context of Bangladesh. The plant studied here comprises of different types of units and uses natural gas as fuel. The methods used in the analysis are CML 2001 and Eco-Indicator 99(H). The total GHG emission and climate change potential (CCP) from the natural gas thermal power plant were respectively 0.529 kg CO2 eq/kWh and 1.51E-8 DALY/kWh electricity generation. This study also shows that a natural gas combined cycle unit emits less greenhouse gas than any gas engine unit or modular unit.