Intensification of the alcohol-to-jet process to produce renewable aviation fuel

Abstract

The biojet fuel production has been considered a promising strategy to partially satisfy the aviation fuel demand. Recently, the biojet fuel obtained from the alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) process has been certified by the American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM). In this work, the modelling and simulation of the ATJ conventional process is presented, considering as raw material bioethanol produced from lignocellulosic wastes. To reduce the energy requirements and the environmental impact, process intensification tools are applied on the separation zone, followed by the energy integration of the whole process. The ATJ conventional and intensified-integrated processes are assessed by the total annual cost (TAC) and the CO2 emissions. According to the results, the intensification on the separation zone allows reducing energy requirements by 5.31 % in contrast to the conventional sequence; moreover, the energy integration of the intensified process reduces by 34.75 % and 30.32 % the heating and cooling requirements, respectively; as consequence, TAC and CO2 emissions are decreased by 4.83 % and 4.99 %, respectively, when compared to the conventional process. Nevertheless, the electricity generated by the turbines completely satisfies the electrical energy requirement of the process.