| This study has investigated the life cycle of three biomass feedstocks including forest residue (FR), agricultural residue (AR), and whole forest (WF) for biohydrogen and biopower production in Alberta. Three technologies are studied for biohydrogen production; these include the Battelle Columbus Laboratory (BCL) gasifier, the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) gasifier, and fast pyrolysis. The life cycle net energy ratios (NERs) for nine biohydrogen pathways lie in the range of 1.3–9.3. In contrast, the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions lie in the range of 1.20–8.1 kg CO2eq/kg H2. This study also analyzes the intensities for acid rain precursor (ARP) and ground level ozone precursor (GOP) emissions for various biohydrogen pathways. Biomass feedstocks in various forms (chip, bale, pellet, and torrefied pellet) are analyzed for direct (DC) and parallel co-firing (PC) technology. Biomass can be co-fired with coal in the scale of 7.53–20.45%, depending on the types of feedstocks and densification technologies. FR-, WF-, and AR-based co-firing pathways demonstrate NERs in the range of 0.39–0.42, 0.39–0.41, and 0.37–0.38, respectively. On the other hand, life cycle GHG emissions for them are found in the range of 957–1004, 967–1014, and 1074–1091 kgCO2eq/MWh, respectively. Like biohydrogen, life cycle ARP and GOP emissions are also evaluated for various co-firing pathways. |
