Life Cycle Assessment of Fossil-Fuel based Carbon Monoxide Production: Comparison of Steam Methane Reforming and Partial Oxidation

This study conducts a life cycle assessment (LCA) to compare two fossil fuel-based carbon monoxide production processes: steam methane reforming (SMR) and partial oxidation (POX). For the SMR process, gate-to-gate data was generated through process simulation, while for the POX process, data retrieved from a commercial lifecycle inventory database was modified and utilized. As a result of the cradle-to-gate LCA conducted for South Korea, the SMR process has a lower impact on global warming (1.24 kg-CO2 eq/kg-CO) compared to the POX process (2.49 kg-CO2 eq/kg-CO). However, the POX process shows advantages in terms of abiotic depletion and ozone layer depletion indices. These differences are attributed to the distinct raw materials and energy sources used in each process. Additionally, a future scenario analysis using low-carbon electricity suggests that the POX process could have a lower impact on global warming than the SMR process in the long term.