Lifecycle greenhouse gas footprint and minimum selling price of renewable diesel and jet fuel from fermentation and advanced fermentation production technologies

Fermentation and advanced fermentation (AF) biofuel production technologies may offer a means to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of transportation by providing renewable drop-in alternatives to conventional middle distillate (MD) fuels, including diesel and jet fuel. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first peer-reviewed study of the environmental and economic feasibility of AF technologies. We find that the attributional lifecycle GHG footprint of AF MD from sugar cane, corn grain and switchgrass ranges from −27.0 to 19.7, 47.5 to 117.5, and 11.7 to 89.8 gCO2e/MJMD, respectively, compared to 90.0 gCO2e/MJMD for conventional MD. These results are most sensitive to the co-product allocation method used, the efficiency and utility requirements of feedstock-to-fuel conversion, and the co-generation technology employed. We also calculate the minimum selling price (MSP) of MD fuel produced from sugar cane, corn grain and switchgrass AF as a range from 0.61 to 2.63, 0.84 to 3.65, and 1.09 to 6.30 $ per literMD, respectively, compared to the current price of conventional MD in the United States of approximately 0.80 $ per literMD. The MSP results are most sensitive to feedstock-to-fuel conversion efficiency, feedstock costs, and capital costs. Finally, we demonstrate that emissions from land use change (LUC) directly attributable to the growth of biomass for AF fuel could dominate the GHG footprint of AF MD fuels.

[1]  S. Polasky,et al.  Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt , 2008, Science.

[2]  T. A. Milne,et al.  Thermodynamic data for biomass conversion and waste incineration , 1986 .

[3]  Michael Wang,et al.  Fuel Ethanol Produced from Midwest U.S. Corn: Help or Hindrance to the Vision of Kyoto? , 1999, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.

[4]  Jacinto F. Fabiosa,et al.  Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change , 2008, Science.

[5]  Russell W Stratton,et al.  Quantifying variability in life cycle greenhouse gas inventories of alternative middle distillate transportation fuels. , 2011, Environmental science & technology.

[6]  J. Gary,et al.  Petroleum Refining: Technology and Economics , 1975 .

[7]  Steven R. Thomas,et al.  Process and technoeconomic analysis of leading pretreatment technologies for lignocellulosic ethanol production using switchgrass. , 2011, Bioresource technology.

[8]  Ryan Davis,et al.  Process Design and Economics for Biochemical Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Ethanol: Dilute-Acid Pretreatment and Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Corn Stover , 2011 .

[9]  Peter Knoef Harrie Stassen Hubert Quaak,et al.  Energy from Biomass: A Review of Combustion and Gasification Technologies , 1999 .

[10]  Q. Hu,et al.  Microalgal triacylglycerols as feedstocks for biofuel production: perspectives and advances. , 2008, The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology.

[11]  J. Goldemberg.  The Brazilian biofuels industry , 2008, Biotechnology for biofuels.

[12]  S. Venkatesh,et al.  Safety and Performance Assessment of Ethanol/Diesel Blends (E-Diesel) , 2003 .

[13]  John M. Urbanchuk,et al.  Current State of the U.S. Ethanol Industry , 2010 .

[14]  R. M. Filho,et al.  Production of bioethanol and other bio-based materials from sugarcane bagasse: Integration to conventional bioethanol production process , 2009 .

[15]  Jerry D. Murphy,et al.  Technical, economic and environmental analysis of energy production from municipal solid waste , 2004 .

[16]  G. Stephanopoulos,et al.  Relative potential of biosynthetic pathways for biofuels and bio-based products , 2011, Nature Biotechnology.

[17]  Mark E. Borsuk,et al.  Biomass Production in Switchgrass across the United States: Database Description and Determinants of Yield , 2010 .

[18]  Scott Duncan,et al.  A survey of unresolved problems in life cycle assessment , 2008 .

[19]  Heleen De Wever,et al.  Valorization of Cereal Based Biorefinery Byproducts: Reality and Expectations , 2013, Environmental science & technology.

[20]  Michael Q. Wang,et al.  The Energy Balance of Corn Ethanol: An Update , 2002 .

[21]  Mark Holtzapple,et al.  Comparative sugar recovery data from laboratory scale application of leading pretreatment technologies to corn stover. , 2005, Bioresource technology.

[22]  Hong Huo,et al.  Methods of dealing with co-products of biofuels in life-cycle analysis and consequent results within the U.S. context , 2011 .

[23]  Michael O'Hare,et al.  Greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels' indirect land use change are uncertain but may be much greater than previously estimated. , 2010, Environmental science & technology.

[24]  Stig Irving Olsen,et al.  Life Cycle Assessment of Renewable Energy Sources , 2013 .

[25]  Steven C. Ricke,et al.  Lignocellulosic biomass for bioethanol production: current perspectives, potential issues and future prospects. , 2012 .

[26]  G. Murthy,et al.  Impact of pretreatment and downstream processing technologies on economics and energy in cellulosic ethanol production , 2011, Biotechnology for biofuels.

[27]  Nicholas E. Korres,et al.  Key issues in life cycle assessment of ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass: Challenges and perspectives. , 2010, Bioresource technology.

[28]  J. Kwiatkowski,et al.  Modeling the process and costs of fuel ethanol production by the corn dry-grind process , 2006 .

[29]  Michael E. Salassi,et al.  economic feasibility of ethanol production from sugar in the United States , 2006 .

[30]  James I. Hileman,et al.  A techno‐economic review of hydroprocessed renewable esters and fatty acids for jet fuel production , 2013 .

[31]  Steven R H Barrett,et al.  Water consumption footprint and land requirements of large-scale alternative diesel and jet fuel production. , 2013, Environmental science & technology.

[32]  Kelly N. Ibsen,et al.  Lignocellulosic Biomass to Ethanol Process Design and Economics Utilizing Co-Current Dilute Acid Prehydrolysis and Enzymatic Hydrolysis for Corn Stover , 2002 .

[33]  Luis M. Serra,et al.  Analysis of process steam demand reduction and electricity generation in sugar and ethanol production from sugarcane , 2007 .

[34]  S. Kent Hoekman,et al.  Biofuels in the U.S. – Challenges and Opportunities , 2009 .

[35]  Ludo Diels,et al.  Potential biovalorization techniques for olive mill biorefinery wastewater , 2014 .

[36]  Martin Kumar Patel,et al.  Sustainability assessment of novel chemical processes at early stage: application to biobased processes , 2012 .

[37]  Russell W Stratton,et al.  Impact of aviation non-CO₂ combustion effects on the environmental feasibility of alternative jet fuels. , 2011, Environmental science & technology.

[38]  A. Bondeau,et al.  Indirect land-use changes can overcome carbon savings from biofuels in Brazil , 2010, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[39]  A. Aden,et al.  Process Design Report for Stover Feedstock: Lignocellulosic Biomass to Ethanol Process Design and Economics Utilizing Co-Current Dilute Acid Prehydrolysis and Enzymatic Hydrolysis for Corn Stover , 2002 .

[40]  André Bardow,et al.  Life-cycle assessment of carbon dioxide capture and utilization: avoiding the pitfalls , 2013 .

[41]  Hsin Min Wong,et al.  Near-Term Feasibility of Alternative Jet Fuels , 2009 .

[42]  P. C. Lobo,et al.  Economics of alternative sugar cane milling options , 2007 .

[43]  John Sheehan,et al.  Life cycle inventory of biodiesel and petroleum diesel for use in an urban bus. Final report , 1998 .

[44]  Russell W Stratton,et al.  Environmental performance of algal biofuel technology options. , 2012, Environmental science & technology.

[45]  Richard J. Murphy,et al.  Environmental sustainability of bioethanol production from waste papers: sensitivity to the system boundary , 2012 .