Life cycle assessment and economic analysis of HFC-134a production from natural gas compared with oil-based and coal-based production

Abstract

China is the largest producer and consumer of HFC-134a (1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane) in the world. Coal-based route is mainly adopted to produce HFC-134a, which suffers from large waste and CO₂ emissions. Natural gas is a low-carbon and clean energy resource, and no research has been found on the environment and economy of producing HFC-134a from natural gas. In this study, CML 2001 method was used to carry out the life cycle assessment of natural gas (partial oxidation)-based and natural gas (plasma cracking)-based routes (abbreviated as gas(O)-based and gas(P)-based routes, respectively), and their environmental performances were compared with coal-based and oil-based routes. Meanwhile, considering that China is vigorously promoting the transformation of energy structure, and the application of electric heating equipment to replace fossil-based heating equipment in industrial field, which has a great impact on the environmental performance of the production processes, the authors conducted a scenario analysis. The results showed that the gas(O)-based route had the most favourable environmental benefits. However, the gas(P)-based route had the highest potential for reducing environmental burdens, and its environmental benefit was the most favourable in scenario 2050. Additionally, the economic performance of the gas(P)-based route was significantly better than that of gas(O)-based and coal-based routes.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

life cycle assessment / economic performance / HFC-134a / natural gas / oil / coal

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