Conversion routes for production of biokerosene—status and assessment

Abstract

For environmental reasons, the use of biokerosene as a fuel for aviation has been recently discussed more frequently especially due the fact that some air carrier accomplished regular flights with different types of such alternative fuels. Against this background, the overall goal of this paper is to provide an overview about possible conversion routes for the provision of biokerosene including an assessment of the biomass availability. Then, selected biokerosene production options are discussed in detail from a process engineering point of view. Based on these data, various conversion pathways are assessed, taking technical and economic criteria throughout the overall conversion chain into consideration. The assessment shows significant differences within the various provision routes for biokerosene. So far, only hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) kerosene is commercially available. Nevertheless, this possibility is not the very best choice regarding the possible feedstock and the high hydrogen consumption. Despite the biogas-to-liquid (Bio-GtL) process, all other routes need more R&D efforts to produce biokerosene in an industrial scale.