Abstract

The oil and gas industry underpins Qatar’s current financial prosperity. This is a highly technologically-driven global industry which lies at the heart of concerns about climate change and air pollution. Compared with conventional diesel refining process, GTL diesel offers significant environmental advantages such as less carbon emissions and improvement of air quality. However, GTL technology often requires intensive energy and resources input. This paper applies a lifecycle assessment (LCA) method to quantify the environmental impacts of gas to liquid fuel processes. LCA is a tool for the analysis of the environmental impacts of a product or a system, taking into account the complete lifecycle of a product. Data were collected from the literature for the current “common practices.” Impact assessment was carried out, considering 18 impact categories classified into three damage categories: human health, ecosystem quality, and resources.