Environmental and energy assessment of alternative fuels for diesel in Thailand

Thailand has recently implemented the Alternative Energy Development Plan (2015-2036) aiming to reduce the dependency on conventional fuels, notably diesel from oil palm. To ensure sustainability of substituting diesel, this study aims to assess the environmental effects of three promising biofuels namely, conventional biodiesel or Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), Bio-hydrogenated diesel (BHD) and the newest alternative fuel, Partially Hydrogenated Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (H-FAME) compared to diesel in transport sector. The system boundary is “Well-to-Wheels. This study does not show a significant difference in the energy performances and environmental effects of the studied biofuels. The partial substitution of diesel by FAME, H-FAME and BHD can decrease fossil use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions significantly. In terms of global warming potential GWP, more than 100 million tonnes CO2eq would be reduced in the next 20 years according to the projection of 25% replaced conventional diesel consumption. To improve the performance in terms of resource use and GHG mitigation, the study results suggest encouraging the use of H-FAME and BHD as a good choice. Both these alternative fuels can be blended with conventional diesel more than 2 times compared with FAME. In the initial stage, substitution could start with implementing H-FAME and slightly reduce the use of FAME after which BHD could be implemented along with FAMEand H-FAME.