The present study aims to evaluate from the environmental and economic perspectives, diesel and Liquefied Natural Gas-powered Heavy-Duty vehicles for long-road applications in the European Union context. The adopted methodology for this analysis is the Well-To-Wheel approach, providing an assessment of the whole life cycle of the fuel, from the extraction of its raw materials, to processing and transportation activities and finally considering the usage phase. The GREET software of the Argonne National Laboratory has been used for the Well-To-Tank analysis, while the VECTO Tool has been adopted to perform the Tank-To-Wheel assessment. For the economic point of view, the comparison between two heavy duty vehicles, working with diesel and LNG respectively, has been presented, considering the perspective of a road transportation company which must face the decision to buy alternatively one of the two moles. The Net Present Value approach is considered to perform such task, also evaluating the Internal Rate of Return, Payback Time, and target selling price of LNG at the pump in order to guarantee a target Payback Time, hence, economical attractiveness of this alternative solution. At first, an analysis of the automotive sector is provided, focusing then on EU context and on HDVs, considering even market considerations in terms of trailers and tractors providers among European Countries. Then, a literature review of several studies adopting LCA methodologies in order to evaluate energy carriers to be used in the road transportation sectors has been performed. Results of the Well-to-Tank analysis show that LNG and diesel are comparable in terms of global warming impact, with LNG being slightly worse. Considering other pollutants, namely, VOC, PM, NOx and SOx diesel has less environmental impacts, with emissions of all of them being higher for LNG, especially NOx and SOx. Then, the Tank-To-Wheel analysis show that, LNG performs better than diesel from the environmental perspective. CO2 emissions are much lower. Results of the WTT and TTW analyses show that LNG leads to CO2 emissions savings compared to diesel, meaning that, from the global warming perspective, LNG is the better fuel being able to achieve a reduction of 9.6% compared to diesel. Considering the economic assessment, LNG can be able to achieve an economic convenience over the whole life of the vehicle; still, this fact strongly depends on the context, affecting heavily operating costs as well as the main driver which is the fuel cost. Indeed, only if the diesel price is high enough, LNG technology can become an attractive alternative. Moreover, the driven distance and the carried payload over the years are affecting the economical results, increasing the uncertainty of such investment.
La seguente tesi si propone di valutare dal punto di vista economico ed ambientale diesel e gas naturale liquefatto applicati a veicoli pesanti nel contesto dell'Unione Europea. La metodologia adottata per quest'analisi è la WTW, utilizzando il software GREET per l'analisi WTW e lo strumento VECTO per la TTW. L'analisi economica viene effettuata utilizzando il Net Present Value, paragonando due modelli di veicoli diesel e LNG e valutando la decisione di acquisto di uno o l'altro. IRR, Payback Time e prezzo del GNL tale che il Payback Time risulti conveniente sono inoltre calcolati. Un analisi del settore trasporti su strada viene inizialmente effettuata, focalizzandosi sul contesto europeo e su veicoli pesanti, facendo anche considerazioni di mercato riguardo aziende che producono rimorchi e motrici. Un'analisi di letteratura è presente, indicando diversi studi fatti utilizzando la metodologia LCA per valutare combustibili adottati nel settore trasporti. I risultati dell'analisi WTT mostrano come diesel ed LNG siano paragonabili in termini di emissioni di CO2, con il secondo che emette leggermente maggiori quantità. Altri inquinanti considerati (VOC, PM, SOx, NOx) mostrano anch'essi come la fase di produzione dell'LNG sia più inquinante. L'analisi TTW mostra come l'LNG sia più promettente avendo meno emissioni di CO2 del diesel, e dunque l'analisi complessiva porta ad avere un risparmio di emissioni di CO2 del 9.6% adottando LNG piuttosto che diesel. L'analisi economica suggerisce che l'LNG sia in grado di essere economicamente competitivo, ma questa possibilità dipende fortemente da fattori di contesto (geografico ad esempio) che ne influenzano fortemente i costi operativi, specialmente quello del combustibili che è il principale. Infatti, solo nel caso in cui il prezzo del diesel è sufficientemente elevato l'LNG può risultare una soluzione economicamente competitiva, in più la distanza percorsa all'anno e il carico trasportato sono fattori che impattano questa analisi economica.
Well-to-wheel analysis for heavy-duty diesel and liquefied natural gas-powered vehicles with an environmental and economic evaluation perspective in EU context
Abbiati, Paolo
2020/2021
Abstract
The present study aims to evaluate from the environmental and economic perspectives, diesel and Liquefied Natural Gas-powered Heavy-Duty vehicles for long-road applications in the European Union context. The adopted methodology for this analysis is the Well-To-Wheel approach, providing an assessment of the whole life cycle of the fuel, from the extraction of its raw materials, to processing and transportation activities and finally considering the usage phase. The GREET software of the Argonne National Laboratory has been used for the Well-To-Tank analysis, while the VECTO Tool has been adopted to perform the Tank-To-Wheel assessment. For the economic point of view, the comparison between two heavy duty vehicles, working with diesel and LNG respectively, has been presented, considering the perspective of a road transportation company which must face the decision to buy alternatively one of the two moles. The Net Present Value approach is considered to perform such task, also evaluating the Internal Rate of Return, Payback Time, and target selling price of LNG at the pump in order to guarantee a target Payback Time, hence, economical attractiveness of this alternative solution. At first, an analysis of the automotive sector is provided, focusing then on EU context and on HDVs, considering even market considerations in terms of trailers and tractors providers among European Countries. Then, a literature review of several studies adopting LCA methodologies in order to evaluate energy carriers to be used in the road transportation sectors has been performed. Results of the Well-to-Tank analysis show that LNG and diesel are comparable in terms of global warming impact, with LNG being slightly worse. Considering other pollutants, namely, VOC, PM, NOx and SOx diesel has less environmental impacts, with emissions of all of them being higher for LNG, especially NOx and SOx. Then, the Tank-To-Wheel analysis show that, LNG performs better than diesel from the environmental perspective. CO2 emissions are much lower. Results of the WTT and TTW analyses show that LNG leads to CO2 emissions savings compared to diesel, meaning that, from the global warming perspective, LNG is the better fuel being able to achieve a reduction of 9.6% compared to diesel. Considering the economic assessment, LNG can be able to achieve an economic convenience over the whole life of the vehicle; still, this fact strongly depends on the context, affecting heavily operating costs as well as the main driver which is the fuel cost. Indeed, only if the diesel price is high enough, LNG technology can become an attractive alternative. Moreover, the driven distance and the carried payload over the years are affecting the economical results, increasing the uncertainty of such investment.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/176337