Cradle-to-Gate greenhouse gas emissions of the production of ethylene from U.S. Corn ethanol and comparison to fossil-derived ethylene production

Benavides, Pahola Thathiana; Gracida-Alvarez, Ulises R.; Richa, Kirti; Port, Jennifer; Hawkins, Troy R.

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2025.132565

Cradle-to-Gate greenhouse gas emissions of the production of ethylene from U.S. Corn ethanol and comparison to fossil-derived ethylene production

Journal Article · Mon Apr 21 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Bioresource Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2025.132565· OSTI ID:3003871

Benavides, Pahola Thathiana ^[1]; ^[1]; Richa, Kirti ^[2]; Port, Jennifer ^[2]; ^[1]

Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company, Spring, TX (United States)

Conventional ethylene production heavily depends on fossil-derived feedstocks via steam cracking, a very energy- and emission-intensive process. Researchers have been exploring alternatives to reduce CO₂ emissions including producing ethylene from biobased feedstocks. This paper evaluates the cradle-to-gate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of bioethylene produced from U.S. corn ethanol. The analysis includes different pathways for the dehydration of corn ethanol to ethylene and co-processing routes via fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) processes. For the FCC co-processing route carbon-14 analysis is used to determine bioethanol yields. A 127% reduction in life cycle GHG emissions of bioethylene is estimated compared to fossil-derived ethylene for the base case. Additional case studies are also discussed to understand the reduction of GHG emissions due to sustainable corn farming and renewable power use, biogenic carbon capture, and fuel switch with biofuels at the ethanol plant, and its impact on bioethylene GHG emissions.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 3003871

Journal Information:: Bioresource Technology, Journal Name: Bioresource Technology Vol. 430; ISSN 0960-8524

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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