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Supply Chain Sustainability Analysis of Whole Algae Hydrothermal Liquefaction and Upgrading

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1183770· OSTI ID:1183770
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  1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  3. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
The Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technology Office (BETO) collaborates with a wide range of institutions towards the development and deployment of biofuels and bioproducts. To facilitate this effort, BETO and its partner national laboratories develop detailed techno-economic assessments (TEA) of biofuel production technologies as part of the development of design cases and state of technology (SOT) analyses. A design case is a TEA that outlines a target case for a particular biofuel pathway. It enables preliminary identification of data gaps and research and development needs and provides goals and targets against which technology progress is assessed. On the other hand, an SOT analysis assesses progress within and across relevant technology areas based on actual experimental results relative to technical targets and cost goals from design cases and includes technical, economic, and environmental criteria as available. BETO also develops supply chain sustainability analyses (SCSA) for key biofuel production technologies that are the subject of design case or SOT analyses (Dunn et al. 2013). The SCSA utilizes a life-cycle analysis to estimate the energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with biofuel production and assists in comparing several biofuel pathways. This report documents an SCSA of whole algae hydrothermal liquefaction (AHTL) as the conversion technology to produce renewable diesel (RD). Jones et al. (2014) developed the design case process model that provides the material and energy intensity of the feedstock conversion step in the SCSA. In this study, conversion of algal biomass to RD is achieved by whole AHTL, as described in the design report by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Jones et al., 2014). Wet algal biomass, as undisrupted cells, is converted into a liquid fuel with pressurized water in a condensed phase. The SCSA for this pathway is described.
Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1183770
Report Number(s):
ANL/ESD--15/8; 115882
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English