Analysis of biomass hydrothermal liquefaction and biocrude-oil upgrading for renewable jet fuel production: The impact of reaction conditions on production costs and GHG emissions performance

Tzanetis, Konstantinos F.; Posada Duque, J.A.; Ramirez, Andrea

doi:10.1016/j.renene.2017.06.104

Analysis of biomass hydrothermal liquefaction and biocrude-oil upgrading for renewable jet fuel production

Title

Analysis of biomass hydrothermal liquefaction and biocrude-oil upgrading for renewable jet fuel production: The impact of reaction conditions on production costs and GHG emissions performance

Author

Tzanetis, Konstantinos F. (Universiteit Utrecht)
Posada Duque, J.A. (TU Delft BT/Biotechnology and Society)
Ramirez, Andrea (Universiteit Utrecht)

Date

2017-12-01

Abstract

This paper shows a detailed analysis of a biomass HTL process by considering changes in three main reaction variables (i.e. catalysts (water, Na₂CO₃(aq.), and Fe(aq.)), temperature (280–340 °C), and catalysts/biomass mass ratio (0–0.33 kg catalysts/kg biomass)), and by assessing their influence on the techno-economic and GHG emissions performance. This analysis is based on Aspen Plus^® simulations, process economics and life-cycle GHG assessment on SimaPro (using Ecoinvent 2.2). Results showed that the lowest production cost for biocrude oil is achieved when HTL is performed at 340 °C with Fe as catalyst (450 €/t_biocrude-oil or 13.6 €/GJ_biocrude-oil). At these conditions, the biocrude oil produced has an oxygen content of 16.6 wt% and a LHV of 33.1 MJ/kg_biocrude-oil. When the hydrotreatment and hydrogen generation units are included, the total production costs was 1040 €/t_upgraded-oil or 0.8 €/L_upgraded-oil. After fractionation, the estimated production cost was 1086 €/t_biojet-fuel or 25.1 €/GJ_biojet-fuel. This value is twice the commercial price of fossil jet fuel. However, the allocated life cycle GHG emissions for renewable jet fuel were estimated at 13.1 kgCO_2-eq./GJ_biojet-fuel, representing only 15% the GHG emission of fossil jet fuel and therefore, indicating a significant potential on GHG emission reduction.