Page 205 - Biofuels for a More Sustainable Future

186 Biofuels for a More Sustainable Future

The assumption was also made that there would be no change in fuel
consumption in the future.

4.5 Base case scenario
4.5.1 Market of petroleum diesel in Viet Nam
– Domestic offshore crude oil was derived from Bach Ho offshore oil field,
which contributed to more than half of the country’s crude oil production
(US EIA, 2012).
– Foreign crude oil was imported from Middle East onshore fields (mostly
from Azerbaijan).
– Dung Quat refinery, the first large-scale refinery of Viet Nam, used mixed
crude oil, in which 80% domestic oil and 20% foreign crude oil was used
to produce petrodiesel (Le et al., 2016).
– The total amount of diesel in the market of Viet Nam consisted of around
33% and 67% from domestic and imported sources, respectively (Vietnam
Customs, 2015).
In general, key phases in life cycle of petrodiesel in Viet Nam include extrac-
tion of crude oil from offshore (domestic) and onshore (Middle East); trans-
port of crude oil to Dung Quat oil refinery to produce diesel fuel, which
contributes about 33% to the diesel market in Viet Nam, with the remaining
67% being imported from other countries, mostly Singapore, Thailand,
and China.

4.5.2 Inedible vegetable oil-derived biodiesel life cycle in northern
Viet Nam
The inventory data for the biodiesel system includes Pongamia cultivation,
Hibiscus-Vernicia intercropping, vegetable oil extraction, biodiesel produc-
tion, transportation, and end-use stages, are presented in Table 6.8. Life
cycle stages of biodiesel production and use in Northern Viet Nam are as
follows (Fig. 6.1):
– Feedstock propagation: In high mountainous areas (Northwest), Vernicia
seeds are planted in the nursery for 8 months for germination and then
transplanted to the field. The plantation method of Hibiscus involves
direct seed sowing. Since the Vernicia and Hibiscus were intercropped,
1
the appropriate tree density of Vernicia was 400 trees ha (Vietnamese
Academy of Forest Sciences, 2009), and for Hibiscus was 25,000 trees
1 1
ha and then thinning to around 10,000 trees ha (Vietnamese Acad-
emy of Forest Sciences, 2009). Similarly, in Quang Ninh Province,
8-month Pongamia seeds are also transplanted to the field with the density
of 500 trees ha 1 (refer to session 6.4.4 for detail base case assumption).