Life cycle environmental and cost evaluation of renewable diesel production

FUEL

卷:279

Article

Larnaudie, Valeria^1,2  Bule, Mahesh³  San, Ka-Yiu^4,5  Vadlani, Praveen V.⁶  Mosby, James⁷  Elangovan, S.⁸  Karanjikar, Mukund³  Spatari, Sabrina^1,9 

[1] Drexel Univ, Civil Architectural & Environm Engn, 3141 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA

[2] Univ Republica, Fac Ingn, Dept Bioingn, J Herrera y Reissig 565, Montevideo 11300, Uruguay

[3] Technol Holding LLC, 825 North 300 West Suite NE208, Salt Lake City, UT 84103 USA

[4] Rice Univ, Dept Bioengn, Houston, TX USA

[5] Rice Univ, Dept Chem & Biomol Engn, Houston, TX USA

[6] Kansas State Univ, Dept Grain Sci & Ind, Manhattan, KS 66506 USA

[7] Ceramatec Inc, Salt Lake City, UT 84119 USA

[8] OxEon Energy LLC, North Salt Lake City, UT USA

[9] Technion Israel Inst Technol, Fac Civil & Environm Engn, Haifa, Israel

关键词: Renewable diesel;    Process simulation;    Techno-economic analysis;    Life cycleassessment;    Biomass sorghum;    Greenhouse gas emissions;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.fuel.2020.118429

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Computer simulations are used to study the production of renewable diesel through the biochemical transformation of biomass sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] to free fatty acids using a genetically modified strain of Escherichia Coll. We evaluate select environmental and economic metrics using life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA). The biofuel supply chain includes feedstock production, handling, pretreatment and hydrolysis, fermentation to free fatty acids, saponification of the free fatty acids, wax production on an electrochemical synthesis reactor, and hydrocracking to convert the wax to renewable diesel. The TEA model developed uses experimental data from pretreatment to wax synthesis steps and literature for the conversion of wax to diesel. The TEA model is integrated into a life cycle inventory model to estimate life cycle greenhouse gas and non-renewable energy consumption. Considering both environmental and economic factors we find that the performance of this pathway to produce renewable diesel returns lower product yield, higher cost, and higher GHG and energy impacts compared to biomass-to-ethanol pathways, primarily due to poor process yields (mainly fermentation). This limitation in the metabolic pathway constrains the maximum yield potential of FFA and therefore renewable diesel and other potential co-products from biomass derived sugars.

【 授权许可】

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