Supply Chain Sustainability Analysis of Renewable Hydrocarbon Fuels via Hydrothermal Liquefaction, Combined Algal Processing, and Biochemical Conversion: Update of the 2022 State-of-Technology Cases

Technical Report · Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1963599· OSTI ID:1969257

Cai, Hao ^[1]; Ou, Longwen ^[1]; Wang, Michael ^[1]; Davis, Ryan  ^[2]; Wiatrowski, Matthew ^[2]; Bartling, Andrew ^[2]; Klein, Bruno ^[2]; Hartley, Damon ^[3]; Burli, Pralhad ^[3]; Lin, Yingqian ^[3]; Roni, Mohammad ^[3]; Thompson, David N. ^[3]; Snowden-Swan, Lesley ^[4]; Zhu, Yunhua ^[4]; Li, Shuyun ^[4]; Xu, Yiling ^[4]; Valdez, Peter ^[4]

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1. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
2. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
3. Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
4. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) aims to develop and deploy technologies to transform renewable biomass resources into commercially viable, high-performance biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower through public and private partnerships. BETO and its national laboratory teams conduct in-depth techno-economic assessments (TEA) of biomass feedstock supply and logistics and conversion technologies to produce biofuels. There are two general types of TEAs: A design case outlines a target case (future projection) for a particular biofuel pathway. It informs R&D priorities by identifying areas in need of improvement, tracks sustainability impact of R&D, and provides goals and benchmarks against which technology progress is assessed. A state of technology (SOT) analysis assesses progress within and across relevant technology areas based on actual results at current experimental scales relative to technical targets and cost goals from design cases, and includes technical, economic, and environmental criteria as available. In addition to developing a TEA for a pathway of interest, BETO also performs a supply chain sustainability analysis (SCSA). The SCSA takes the life-cycle analysis approach that BETO has been supporting for over 20 years. It enables BETO to identify energy consumption, environmental, and sustainability issues that may be associated with biofuel production. Approaches to mitigating these issues can then be developed. Additionally, the SCSA allows for comparison of energy and environmental impacts across biofuel pathways in BETO's research and development portfolio. This technical report describes the SCSAs for the production of renewable hydrocarbon transportation fuels via a range of conversion technologies in the 2022 SOTs: (1) renewable hydrocarbon fuels via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of wet sludge from a wastewater treatment plant; (2) renewable hydrocarbon fuels via biochemical conversion of herbaceous lignocellulosic biomass; (3) renewable hydrocarbon fuels via HTL of an algae/woody biomass blend; and (4) renewable hydrocarbon fuels via combined algae processing (CAP).

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Sustainable Transportation. Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308; AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1969257
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP-5100-85676; ANL/ESIA-23/2; MainId:86449; UUID:22f52de4-3db4-4295-a91c-1a57644cebda; MainAdminID:69144
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
Life Cycle Assessment
State of Technology
Supply Chain Sustainability Analysis