A method to measure the eco-efficiency of diesel locomotive

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Highlights

  • A railroad’s eco-efficiency measurement method is proposed.

  • Seven eco-efficiency indicators were proposed.

  • The methodology was applied to a real major Brazilian railroad.

  • Results achieved by the proposed method were compared with USA EPA standards.

  • Different alternative fuels and technologies were evaluated.

Abstract

Brazilian railroads transport over 490 million tons a year using diesel-electric locomotives. These locomotives emit several pollutants into the atmosphere and because of that, the railroads seek to reduce emissions and achieve global emission standards. Thus, it is important to analyze the environmental impact of the use of diesel and alternative fuels to reach environmental standards. This paper makes use of a method based upon the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) metrics to evaluate the locomotives’ eco-efficiency. The method was applied to Estrada de Ferro Vitória a Minas (EFVM). Different scenarios representing the exchange of fuel sources and technologies were developed, tested and analyzed. The impacts were evaluated by seven eco-efficiency performance indicators and compared with United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards. The results offered cost savings and emissions reduction opportunities.

Introduction

Brazilian railroads transported over 490 million tons in 2013 and in 2016 it is forecasted that they will transport over 550 million tons (ANTF, 2014). Transporting such high volumes using diesel-electric locomotives means railroads will emit thousands of tons of pollutants into the atmosphere every year. Transporting the same volume by trucks through roads would be catastrophic, taking into consideration the already poor state that federal roads find their selves in and the high traffic they support, causing even more degradation. When it comes to emissions, it is known that moving freight by rail instead of truck reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent (AAR, 2015).

This paper presents a method to quantify the environmental impact caused by the use of locomotives, comparing petroleum diesel and also greener fuel alternatives. The method evaluates atmospheric emissions, energy efficiency and the costs concerning the different fuels. Petroleum diesel, biodiesel from soybean and liquefied natural gas (LNG) were compared in this paper. The eco-efficiency of the actual operation using petroleum diesel, was compared with the operation using alternative fuels.

The method is an approach to evaluate the cost/benefit to improve the economic and environmental aspects of the business. It is an evolution over the traditional energy-efficiency programs used by companies focused strictly on reducing fuel consumption and can be used by railroads in all countries, with all types of locomotives and fuels – including railroads with electric locomotives.

The method was applied to Vitoria a Minas Railroad (EFVM). EFVM transports 50% of the Brazilian railroads freight volume, has 905 km of length and a fleet of 265 locomotives and over 18,000 wagons, and transports over 100 million tons of iron ore and 20 million tons of general cargo (soy, corn, fertilizers, coal, steel etc.) every year.

This paper is structured as follows: Section 2 describes the concept of eco-efficiency. Section 3 presents a literature review. Section 4 presents the method to measure locomotives’ eco-efficiency. Section 5 describes the characteristics of the operation of EFVM. Section 6 describes how the data were obtained, including the characteristics of the fuels, its consumption and emission rates. It also presents scenarios to be evaluated. Section 7 presents results and analysis of the results achieved. Finally, Section 8 presents the conclusions.

Section snippets

Eco-efficiency concept

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) defines eco-efficiency as the skill in measuring the evolution of an economic activity in an environmentally sustainable manner to meet human needs and upgrade the quality of life, reducing environmental impacts and the consumption rates of natural resources, limited by the environmental capacities of the planet keeping the competitiveness of the companies. There are seven goals related to eco-efficiency, some of them are: (1)

Literature review

A chronological report is made in this section considering some of the main papers about alternative fuels, locomotives and railroad emissions, and environmental impacts of this mode of transportation.

Plakhotnik et al. (2005) presented an analysis of the ecological situation at railway transportation of Ukraine with a specific focus on the Prydniprovs’ka regional railways. Large-scale pollutant was found and a comparison of the environmental impact of the different railway subdivisions was

Eco-efficiency method

Based upon the formula to calculate eco-efficiency proposed by WBSCD, Eq. (1), this paper employs a method that is suitable for calculating eco-efficiency of diesel locomotives. Thus, service value (V) is defined by seven eco-efficiency measurements (EM) and to calculate them, the environmental influence (EI) must be first obtained. The seven Eco-Efficiency Measurements (EM) proposed in this paper are: (1) Total energy consumption, (2) Total renewable energy consumption, (3) Carbon dioxide

Case study

EFVM is one of the most important railroads in Brazil. It transports over 120 million tons/year through 905 km of lines with a fleet of 265 locomotives and over 18,000 wagons that run on average 30 ton high axle load iron ore trains daily, powered by up to three diesel-engine locomotives. A full cycle iron ore train trip (port-mine-port) can take up to three days, depending on which mine is visited (there are 18 mines reached by the railroad). The land topography makes it so that 49% of the

Data acquisition

The method used for data acquisition of consumption and emissions are described next. The data was collected during over eight years, after more than 100,000 km of running test and 1700 h of static tests on an appropriate test facility. The emission data was collected in accordance to the requirements of US Code of Federal Regulations, 40 CFR Part 92. American railroads followed the outcome of the tests, such as BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad, as well as General Electric and

Results and analysis

Fig. 2 shows the result of Total Energy Consumption (E). Scenario 2 is the most efficient due to the use of LNG, and presents a small difference (0.06%) from Scenario 3. Scenario 5 is the least efficient because biodiesel used increases fuel consumption. Scenario 1 is better than Scenario 5 (difference of 0.97%) since less biodiesel is used. The standard deviation of the results is 0.84%, influenced by the consumption measurements for each fuel. This means that technically Scenarios 2, 3 and 4

Conclusions

A method to measure locomotives’ eco-efficiency, evaluating emissions and costs, was applied to Estrada de Ferro Vitória a Minas (EFVM), one of the most important Brazilian railroads. Different scenarios representing the exchange of fuel sources and technologies were developed, tested and analyzed. The emissions were evaluated by seven eco-efficiencies measurements: (1) Total energy consumption, (2) Total renewable energy consumption, (3) Carbon dioxide emissions, (4) Carbon monoxide emissions,

Future work

This study does not take into consideration emissions generated during the production of the fuels, only those generated as consequence of their consumption. As next steps for the study, it would be valid to consider the emissions of the whole chain of production, including the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) specific for transportation, which is called Well-to-Wheel (WTW), and their effect on the results achieved so far.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank FAPES (processes 458/2013 and 75528452/2016) and CNPq (process 313408/2014-9) for the financial support.

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