Life Cycle Analysis of Decentralized Preprocessing Systems for Fast Pyrolysis Biorefineries with Blended Feedstocks in the Southeastern United States

Lan, Kai; Ou, Longwen; Park, Sunkyu; Kelley, Stephen S.; Yao, Yuan

doi:10.1002/ente.201900850

Title: Life Cycle Analysis of Decentralized Preprocessing Systems for Fast Pyrolysis Biorefineries with Blended Feedstocks in the Southeastern United States

Journal Article · Tue Sep 03 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Energy Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/ente.201900850· OSTI ID:1615398

Lan, Kai ^[1]; Ou, Longwen ^[2]; Park, Sunkyu ^[1]; Kelley, Stephen S. ^[1];

^[1]

Department of Forest BiomaterialsNorth Carolina State University Campus Box 8005 Raleigh NC 27606 USA
Energy Systems DivisionArgonne National Laboratory 9700 South Cass Avenue Argonne IL 60565 USA

Blending biomass feedstock is a promising approach to mitigate supply chain risks that are common challenges for large-scale biomass utilization. Understanding the potential environmental benefits of biofuels produced from blended biomass and identifying driving parameters are critical for the supply chain design. Herein, a cradle-to-gate life cycle analysis model for fast pyrolysis biorefineries converting blended feedstocks (pine residues and switchgrass) with traditional centralized and alternative decentralized preprocessing sites, so-called depots, is explained. Different scenarios are developed to investigate the impacts of parameters such as feedstock blending ratios, biorefinery and depot capacities, preprocessing technologies, and allocation methods. The life-cycle energy consumption and global warming potential (GWP) of biofuel production with depots vary between 0.7–1.1 MJ MJ^-1 and 43.2–76.6 g CO2 eq. MJ^-1, respectively. The results are driven by biorefinery processes and depot preprocesses. A decentralized design reduces the energy consumption of the biorefinery but increases the overall life-cycle energy and GWP. Such increases can be significantly mitigated by increasing switchgrass content as the energy consumption at the depot is driven largely by the higher moisture content of pine feedstocks. Allocation methods also have a large impact on the results but do not change the major trends and overall conclusions.

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Research Organization:: Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials, Seattle, WA (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0006639; EE0002992

OSTI ID:: 1615398

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1560262; OSTI ID: 1597385; OSTI ID: 1781046

Journal Information:: Energy Technology, Journal Name: Energy Technology Vol. 8 Journal Issue: 11; ISSN 2194-4288

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: Germany

Language:: English

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Cited by: 23 works

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Title: Life Cycle Analysis of Decentralized Preprocessing Systems for Fast Pyrolysis Biorefineries with Blended Feedstocks in the Southeastern United States

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