Abstract
AbstractThis study demonstrates the economic feasibility of producing renewable transportation drop‐in fuels from lignocellulosic biomass through hydrothermal liquefaction and upgrading. An Aspen Plus® process model is developed based on extensive experimental data to document a techno‐economic assessment of a hydrothermal liquefaction process scheme. Based on a 1000 tonnes organic matter per day plant size capacity, three different scenarios are analyzed to identify key economic parameters and minimum fuel selling prices (MFSP). Scenario I, the baseline scenario, is based on wood‐glycerol co‐liquefaction, followed by thermal cracking and hydroprocessing. Results show that a minimum fuel selling price (MFSP) of 1.14 $ per liter of gasoline equivalent (LGE) can be obtained. In Scenario II, only wood is used as feedstock, which reduces the MFSP to 0.82 $/LGE. Scenario III is also based on a pure wood feedstock, but investigates a full saturation situation (a maximum hydrogen consumption scenario), resulting in a slightly higher MFSP of 0.94 $/LGE. A sensitivity analysis is performed identifying biocrude yield, hydrogen, and feedstock prices as key cost factors affecting the MFSP. In conclusion, the study shows that renewable fuels, via HTL and upgrading, can be highly cost competitive to other alternative fuel processes. © 2017 The Authors. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining published by Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Highlights
Biomass is the most important renewable carbon source with the ability to replace current fossil transportation fuels
This paper assessed the economic viability of gasoline equivalents production through hydrothermal liquefaction of aspen wood, by means of three different case scenarios
The fixed minimum fuel selling price (MFSP) for the three scenarios were in the range of 0.82–1.14 USD/liter of gasoline equivalent (LGE) (1025–1425 USD/tonnes)
Summary
Biomass is the most important renewable carbon source with the ability to replace current fossil transportation fuels. In HTL, biomass is mixed with water and processed at temperatures between 250 and 450 °C and pressures between 5 and 35 MPa.[1,2,3]. The severe conditions improve water solvent properties, enhancing the production of liquid biocrude, a water phase with dissolved organics and a gas phase.[4] One of the key benefits of the HTL process is the low oxygen content of the biocrude, where around 85% of the original inherent oxygen of the biomass is extracted mainly as CO2, water, or as water soluble organics.[5] The biocrude from the HTL process can be further upgraded to equivalent hydrocarbons via, for example, hydrotreatment.[6]
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