International Journal of Sciences: Basic and Applied Research (IJSBAR) ISSN 2307-4531 (Print & Online) http://gssrr.org/index.php?journal=JournalOfBasicAndApplied --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 226 Life Cycle Analysis Based Evaluation of Desulfurisation Technologies Ibrahim Altuwair a , Faisal Khan b *, Salim Ahmed c , Syed Imtiaz d a,b,c,d Centre for Safety, Risk and Integrity Engineering (C-RISE) Faculty of Engineering & Applied Science, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL, Canada, Tel: +1709 770 4044 a Email: iaa134@mun.ca b Email: fikhan@mun.ca Abstract The study evaluates current desulfurisation technologies, namely hydrodesulfurisation (HDS), oxidativedesulfurisation (ODS) and supercritical fluid methods (SCF) considering different stages of life cycle. To evaluate these technologies, a functional unit of mass per unit of weight was chosen to weigh the environmental damage caused by each process. The assessment criteria include energy consumption categories (electricity, fuel oil, and diesel) and environmental impacts categories (global warming, acidification, and photochemical ozone formation). The total environmental impact was calculated based on Eco-99 indicators. Of the total environmental impacts, production is the most critical for both HDS and ODS technologies. Overall, SCF is identified as most energy saving technique. The influence of three processes on the environmental performance and the desulfurisation efficiency is studied using experimental design method. The use of this method helps to see how the process parameters interact. Statistical analysis showed that the most significant influence among different steps in these processes is the extraction of sulphur. This has opened upon opportunity to consider novel extraction method to minimize environmental impact. Keywords: desulfurization; environmental assessment; mathematical model; supercritical fluid; life cycle analysis; indicators. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * Corresponding author.