Environmental and Economic Assessment of a Novel Solvolysis-Based Biorefinery Producing Lignin-Derived Marine Biofuel and Cellulosic Ethanol

Obydenkova, S.; Defauw, L.; Kouris, P.; Smeulders, D.; Boot, M.; Meer, Y. (2022). Environmental and Economic Assessment of a Novel Solvolysis-Based Biorefinery Producing Lignin-Derived Marine Biofuel and Cellulosic Ethanol. Energies, 15(14), 5007.https://doi.org/10.3390/en15145007

@article{Obydenkova-2022-4011,
author = {Obydenkova, S and Defauw, L and Kouris, P and Smeulders, D and Boot, M and Meer, Y},
title = {Environmental and Economic Assessment of a Novel Solvolysis-Based Biorefinery Producing Lignin-Derived Marine Biofuel and Cellulosic Ethanol},
journal = {Energies},
year = {2022},
month = {jul},
publisher = {MDPI},
volume = {15},
number = {14},
pages = {5007},
doi = {10.3390/en15145007},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/14/5007},
keywords = {Agriculture: Residues, Bio-crude, Chemical Upgrading, Fuel Production Pathways, Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA), Markets and Forecasting, Ocean-going Vessels},
}

TY - JOUR
TI - Environmental and Economic Assessment of a Novel Solvolysis-Based Biorefinery Producing Lignin-Derived Marine Biofuel and Cellulosic Ethanol
AU - Obydenkova, S
AU - Defauw, L
AU - Kouris, P
AU - Smeulders, D
AU - Boot, M
AU - Meer, Y
T2 - Energies
AB - Methanol is considered to be a viable option for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in shipping, the second-highest emitter after road freight. However, the use of fossil methanol is insufficient to meet climate change targets, while renewable methanol is yet unavailable on a commercial scale. This paper presents a novel biorefinery concept based on biomass solvolysis to produce crude lignin oil (CLO) from forest residues, a drop-in biofuel for methanol-propelled ships, and evaluates its environmental and economic profiles. In the base scenario, CLO can achieve emission saving of 84% GHG compared to fossil alternatives, and a minimum selling price (MSP) of $821 per ton of methanol equivalent (ME), i.e., within the range of the current bio-methanol production costs. The emission of GHGs of co-produced ethanol can be reduced by 67% compared to fossil analogues. The increase of renewable electricity share to 75% is capable of shrinking emissions by 1/5 vs. the base case, while fossil methanol losses, e.g., of that in cellulose pulp, can boost emissions by 63%. Low-pressure steam use in the biomass pretreatment, as well as biorefinery capacity increase by a factor of 2.5, have the greatest potential to reduce MSP of CLO to $530 and $614 per ton of ME, respectively.
DA - 2022/07//
PY - 2022
PB - MDPI
VL - 15
IS - 14
SP - 5007
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/14/5007
DO - 10.3390/en15145007
LA - English
KW - Agriculture: Residues
KW - Bio-crude
KW - Chemical Upgrading
KW - Fuel Production Pathways
KW - Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA)
KW - Markets and Forecasting
KW - Ocean-going Vessels
ER -