A large number of biomass-to-fuel conversion technologies have been developed to replace petroleum-based production of fuels. There are many alternative ways to utilize a certain biomass feedstock to produce a certain fuel, and trade-offs between these alternatives make the selection of a production strategy a challenging task. Therefore, we develop a systematic framework for evaluation of a wide range of biomass-to-fuels strategies. Towards this aim, we create a biomass utilization superstructure (BUS), which is a network-based representation of biomass utilization options, that includes multiple conversion technologies as well as the corresponding feedstocks, intermediates and final products. We then estimate a set of parameters such as yields of major products, unit production costs and energy requirements of each technology. Based on the technology superstructure along with the associated parameters, we develop a linear programming (LP) model that consists of (i) material balances for all compounds, (ii) equations describing the consumption/production of compounds by technologies, (iii) production capacity constraints, and (iv) feedstock availability and/or product demand satisfaction constraints. Using this model, we can address various types of questions (e.g., which feedstock/strategy is best for a given product, how a given feedstock can be utilized) using different types of criteria (e.g., economic, environmental) to determine the optimal strategy (i.e., selection of technologies) as well as alternatives. We also assess the uncertainty in the projected production cost of the technologies based on their levels of maturity and complexity. Using these indicators, we assign uncertainty levels to each technology, which are subsequently used to determine a range for the unit production cost of each strategy. Finally, we study the production of ethanol from hard woody biomass to illustrate the capabilities of the proposed framework.

Optimization-based assessment framework for biomass-to-fuel conversion strategies

246th National Meeting (2013)

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