Abstract
Renewable, low-carbon biofuels offer the potential opportunity to decarbonize marine transportation. This paper presents a comparative techno-economic analysis and process sustainability assessment of four conversion pathways: (1) hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of wet wastes such as sewage sludge and manure; (2) fast pyrolysis of woody biomass; (3) landfill gas Fischer-Tropsch synthesis; and (4) lignin-ethanol oil from the lignocellulosic ethanol biorefinery utilizing reductive catalytic fractionation. These alternative marine biofuels have a modeled minimum fuel selling price between $1.68 and $3.98 per heavy fuel oil gallon equivalent in 2016 U.S. dollars based on a mature plant assessment. The selected pathways also exhibit good process sustainability performance in terms of water intensity compared to the petroleum refineries. Further, the O and S contents of the biofuels vary widely. While the non-HTL biofuels exhibit negligible S content, the raw biocrudes via HTL pathways from sludge and manure show relatively high S contents (>0.5 wt %). Partial or full hydrotreatment can effectively lower the biocrude S content. Additionally, co-feeding with other low-sulfur wet wastes such as food waste can provide another option to produce raw biocrude with lower S content to meet the target with further hydrotreatment. This study indicates that biofuels could be a cost-effective fuel option for the marine sector. Marine biofuels derived from various feedstocks and conversion technologies could mitigate marine biofuel adoption risk in terms of feedstock availability and biorefinery economics.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 17206-17214 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Environmental Science and Technology |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue number | 23 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 6 2022 |
Funding
This work was financially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), and was performed at the PNNL under contract DE-AC05-76RL01830 and NREL, managed and operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, under contract DE-AC36-08GO28308. Support for the work conducted at the University of Dayton (UD) was through DOE BETO subcontract PO-2196073. The authors would like to thank Josh Messner at BETO for supporting this work, the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) for collaborating and providing wet waste feedstocks, including sewage sludge, and Michael Talmadge from NREL for contributions to related FP pathway analysis. The authors would also like to thank the following institutions for their support and the contribution of feedstock materials to this study: Contra Costa Central Sanitary District (CCCSD), Waste Management and Engineered BioSlurry, and the Ghost Warrior and Courage Inn Restaurants of the Lewis-McCord United States Air Force Base. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government. The U.S. Government retains, and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes. Neither the U.S. Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed, or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. This work was financially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), and was performed at the PNNL under contract DE-AC05-76RL01830 and NREL, managed and operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, under contract DE-AC36-08GO28308. Support for the work conducted at the University of Dayton (UD) was through DOE BETO subcontract PO-2196073. The authors would like to thank Josh Messner at BETO for supporting this work, the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) for collaborating and providing wet waste feedstocks including sewage sludge, and Michael Talmadge from NREL for contributions to related FP pathway analysis. The authors would also like to thank the following institutions for their support and the contribution of feedstock materials to this study: Contra Costa Central Sanitary District (CCCSD), Waste Management and Engineered BioSlurry, and the Ghost Warrior and Courage Inn Restaurants of the Lewis-McCord United States Air Force Base. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government. The U.S. Government retains, and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes. Neither the U.S. Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees makes any warranty, expressed, or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.
Keywords
- decarbonization
- heavy fuel oil
- marine biofuels
- sustainability
- techno-economic analysis
