Techno-Economic Analysis and CO2 Emissions of the Bioethanol-to-Jet Fuel Process

Abstract

A model for the bioethanol-to-jet fuel process, based on ethanol dehydration, ethylene oligomerization, and hydrogenation, was developed to analyze its techno-economics and CO2 emissions. A reactor model of ethanol dehydration with estimated kinetic parameters and experimental data-driven reactor models for oligomerization and hydrogenation were used for the process simulator. The techno-economic analysis of the process using the developed model showed that the total production cost (TPC) surpassed the total capital investment, and the bioethanol price contributed the most (approximately 75%) toward TPC with a normalized sensitivity of 0.80. The minimum selling price was calculated to be $119 per barrel, making the process only marginally profitable compared to the market price of $120 per barrel. However, the process was found to be environmentally friendly, exhibiting a negative value of net CO2 emissions per unit mass of the product (−1.54 kg CO2 equivalents/kg) after considering the biomass credit, indicating that CO2 reduction was achievable. Further analysis demonstrated that the hydrogen production methods significantly influenced CO2 emissions with a normalized sensitivity of 0.18.