Life Cycle Energy Assessment of Biodiesel Production from Chicken Fat Based on Transesterification Method

The reduction in fossil reservoirs and the bioenvironmental pollutions entails the use of more efficient higher quality fuels that generate less pollution and are renewable. Biodiesel is an appropriate biofuel to replace gasoil and it is produced from natural oils. The current research investigates the energy of biodiesel production from chicken fat based on LCA method. The information pertaining to the amounts of the consumed inputs and the amount of the output energy in a number of chicken farms in Isfahan. Questionnaires, interviews and experiments were used for the study. In this cycle, two main products, i.e. the edible chicken meat and the biodiesel, were considered as the outputs. The total energy of the inputs for the production of biodiesel out of 1000 kg of live chicken was equal to 47486.09 MJ and the total energy of the outputs was 12380.55 MJ. The net energy in this cycle was a huge figure with a negative sign and the energy ratio was found lower than 1 and this is reflective of the high energy consumed in producing such a fuel. The results indicate that the largest share of the consumed energy pertains to the chicken farming operations. Although the energy indices indicate low energy efficiency in the conditions of the study, due to the use of wastes in the studied cycle, this method of biodiesel production is recommended however with attempts to improve its efficiency.