The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) Pine Chemistry Panel study found that diverting crude tall oil (CTO) into biofuel production in Europe will not have a significant effect in either reducing carbon emissions or fossil fuel consumption.
The life cycle assessment (LCA), “Greenhouse Gas and Energy Life Cycle Assessment of Pine Chemicals Derived from Crude Tall Oil and Their Substitutes,” was conducted by Franklin Associates, a division of the Eastern Research Group.
CTO is a sustainable raw material that has been used in biorefining to produce pine chemicals for decades.
According to ACC, the study proves that the pine chemicals industry makes a positive contribution to achieving the twin bio-economy goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel consumption.
The LCA found that:
- The global carbon footprint of pine chemicals produced from CTO is 50 percent lower than substitute products used in the same situation.
- CO2 equivalent emissions will be essentially the same if CTO is used as a fuel or in chemical products in Europe.
- The amount of fossil fuel required to manufacture the substitute products of pine chemicals substantially offsets any fossil fuel reduction that might occur if CTO were used in fuel.
