Life Cycle Biofuel

[edit / update model]
This category is now deprecated. The latest DEFRA methodology for biomass-associated greenhouse gas emissions can be found here.

This category allows the user to calculate life-cycle emissions from various biofuels. The methodology follows that from the latest Defra data and advice. Full life-cycle emissions are calculated including contributions from carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane.

Note that this category does not enable the user to calculate the direct emissions of carbon dioxide for the combustion of biofuels. This is a full life-cycle calculation only.

How to use this category

To use this category firstly use the drill-down type to select the type of biofuel to be included in the calculation from the following options.

  • Biodiesel (ME) - Methyl Ester, biodiesel produced from oils using conventional esterification processes
  • Biodiesel (HVO) - Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil, biodiesel produced from vegetable oils using hydroprocessing
  • Bioethanol
  • BioETBE (refinery)
  • BioETBE (non-refinery)
  • Biomethane
The quantity of biofuel must then be set as using the mass or volume profile item value. The volume profile item value is required for all biofuels except Biomethane. Biomethane is measured by mass, rather than volume so the mass profile item value should be used in this case. If the wrong profile item value is used then the algorithm will return a value of '0'. The algorithm multiplies this quantity by the appropriate emission factor and returns a value of kgCO2e, which includes contributions from CO2, N2O and CH4 emissions.

UIDLabel
UYQH2B97UGQC Biodiesel (HVO)
OM338PP5ZJ1B Biodiesel (ME)
2MB1KUVSTO3P BioETBE (non-refinery)
7J65M53BNQ5T BioETBE (refinery)
AKN993YLTOWC Bioethanol
GRE0LWMX0MNX Biomethane
only use for //biomethane//, use //**volume**// profile item value for all other fuels
Name: Life_Cycle_Biofuel
Provenance: DEFRA
Parent Category: Defra Life Cycle
Full path: /business/energy/fuel/defra/lifecycle/biofuel
biofuel calculation defra deprecated emission_factor fuel indirect lca UK