Economic and environmental impacts are vital considerations for large-scale development and deployment of sustainable biofuels. Under the Co-Optima initiative, a Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored project, we have conducted economic and sustainability analyses of pathways for producing bioblendstocks optimized for improved combustion for mixing-controlled compression ignition (MCCI) engines. We assessed 25 pathways including the use of a variety of renewable feedstocks and conversion technologies to produce target fuels. We conducted techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) to determine which bioblendstock candidates are likely to be viable in terms of affordability, sustainability, and state of technology. A slate of 19 metrics evaluating technology readiness, economic viability, and environmental impacts was established with each metric ranked as either favorable, neutral, unfavorable, or unknown. Among the results, we found that the economic metrics were largely favorable for most of the bioblendstocks. Under that baseline case, eight pathways offered the potential of the minimum fuel selling price (MFSP) of less than $5/GGE, while under future target case scenarios there is potential for eight pathways to reduce their fuel selling price to less than $4/GGE. Biochemically based pathways struggled to achieve favorable target-case MFSP, however, further economic improvements could be achieved when lignin valorization is included. Most of the conversion technologies were determined to be robust in that they would be minimally affected by the feedstock specifications and variations. However, given the early stage of development for most of the pathways, blending behavior and testing for legal limits are key data gaps as knowledge of how many of these bioblendstocks will perform when blended with existing fuels and how much can be added while still meeting legal specifications are still being assessed. About half of the pathways showed significant reductions in lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fossil energy consumption relative to conventional diesel fuel, with 14 pathways showing the potential for a reduction of greater than 60% for both metrics. Energy-intensive processes and the use of GHG-intensive chemicals such as sodium hydroxide contribute significantly to the GHG emissions. Results from these analyses enable researchers and industry to assess the potential viability of MCCI bioblendstocks

Economic and sustainability screening analysis of bio-blendstocks for mixing-controlled compression ignition (MCCI) engines

ACS Fall 2021

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