IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v122y2014icp73-82.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life cycle assessment of bio-jet fuel from hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae

Author

Listed:
  • Fortier, Marie-Odile P.
  • Roberts, Griffin W.
  • Stagg-Williams, Susan M.
  • Sturm, Belinda S.M.

Abstract

Bio-jet fuel is increasingly being produced from feedstocks such as algae and tested in flight. As the industry adopts bio-jet fuels from various feedstocks and conversion processes, life cycle assessment (LCA) is necessary to determine whether these renewable fuels result in lower life cycle greenhouse gas (LC-GHG) emissions than conventional jet fuel. An LCA was performed for a functional unit of 1 GJ of bio-jet fuel produced through thermochemical conversion (hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL)) of microalgae cultivated in wastewater effluent. Two pathways were analyzed to compare the impacts of siting HTL at a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to those of siting HTL at a refinery. Base cases for each pathway were developed in part using primary data from algae production in wastewater effluent and HTL experiments of this algae at the University of Kansas. The LC-GHG emissions of these cases were compared to those of conventional jet fuel, and a sensitivity analysis and Monte Carlo analyses were performed. When algal conversion using HTL was modeled at a refinery versus at the WWTP site, the transportation steps of biomass and waste nutrients were major contributors to the LC-GHG emissions of algal bio-jet fuel. The LC-GHG emissions were lower for the algal bio-jet fuel pathway that performs HTL at a WWTP (35.2kg CO2eq/GJ for the base case) than for the pathway for HTL at a refinery (86.5kg CO2eq/GJ for the base case). The LCA results were particularly sensitive to the extent of heat integration, the source of the heat for HTL, and the solids content of dewatered algae. The GHG emissions of algal bio-jet fuel can be reduced by 76% compared to conventional jet fuel with feasible improvements in those sensitive parameters and siting HTL at a WWTP. Therefore, it is critical that transportation logistics, heat integration of biomass conversion processes, and nutrient supply chains be considered as investment and production of bio-jet fuels increase.

Suggested Citation

  • Fortier, Marie-Odile P. & Roberts, Griffin W. & Stagg-Williams, Susan M. & Sturm, Belinda S.M., 2014. "Life cycle assessment of bio-jet fuel from hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 73-82.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:122:y:2014:i:c:p:73-82
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.01.077
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030626191400107X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.01.077?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sturm, Belinda S.M. & Lamer, Stacey L., 2011. "An energy evaluation of coupling nutrient removal from wastewater with algal biomass production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(10), pages 3499-3506.
    2. Toor, Saqib Sohail & Rosendahl, Lasse & Rudolf, Andreas, 2011. "Hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass: A review of subcritical water technologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 2328-2342.
    3. Razon, Luis F. & Tan, Raymond R., 2011. "Net energy analysis of the production of biodiesel and biogas from the microalgae: Haematococcus pluvialis and Nannochloropsis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(10), pages 3507-3514.
    4. Demirbas, M. Fatih, 2011. "Biofuels from algae for sustainable development," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(10), pages 3473-3480.
    5. Akhtar, Javaid & Amin, Nor Aishah Saidina, 2011. "A review on process conditions for optimum bio-oil yield in hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 1615-1624, April.
    6. Shuping, Zou & Yulong, Wu & Mingde, Yang & Kaleem, Imdad & Chun, Li & Tong, Junmao, 2010. "Production and characterization of bio-oil from hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae Dunaliella tertiolecta cake," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 5406-5411.
    7. Kadam, K.L, 2002. "Environmental implications of power generation via coal-microalgae cofiring," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 27(10), pages 905-922.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brand, Steffen & Hardi, Flabianus & Kim, Jaehoon & Suh, Dong Jin, 2014. "Effect of heating rate on biomass liquefaction: Differences between subcritical water and supercritical ethanol," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 420-427.
    2. Xu, Donghai & Lin, Guike & Guo, Shuwei & Wang, Shuzhong & Guo, Yang & Jing, Zefeng, 2018. "Catalytic hydrothermal liquefaction of algae and upgrading of biocrude: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 103-118.
    3. Rawat, I. & Ranjith Kumar, R. & Mutanda, T. & Bux, F., 2013. "Biodiesel from microalgae: A critical evaluation from laboratory to large scale production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 444-467.
    4. Pearce, Matthew & Shemfe, Mobolaji & Sansom, Christopher, 2016. "Techno-economic analysis of solar integrated hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 19-26.
    5. Reddy, Harvind Kumar & Muppaneni, Tapaswy & Ponnusamy, Sundaravadivelnathan & Sudasinghe, Nilusha & Pegallapati, Ambica & Selvaratnam, Thinesh & Seger, Mark & Dungan, Barry & Nirmalakhandan, Nagamany , 2016. "Temperature effect on hydrothermal liquefaction of Nannochloropsis gaditana and Chlorella sp," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 943-951.
    6. Gollakota, A.R.K. & Kishore, Nanda & Gu, Sai, 2018. "A review on hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 1378-1392.
    7. Huang, Hua-jun & Yuan, Xing-zhong & Zhu, Hui-na & Li, Hui & Liu, Yan & Wang, Xue-li & Zeng, Guang-ming, 2013. "Comparative studies of thermochemical liquefaction characteristics of microalgae, lignocellulosic biomass and sewage sludge," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 52-60.
    8. Lucas Reijnders, 2013. "Lipid‐based liquid biofuels from autotrophic microalgae: energetic and environmental performance," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(1), pages 73-85, January.
    9. Isa, Khairuddin Md & Abdullah, Tuan Amran Tuan & Ali, Umi Fazara Md, 2018. "Hydrogen donor solvents in liquefaction of biomass: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 1259-1268.
    10. Déniel, Maxime & Haarlemmer, Geert & Roubaud, Anne & Weiss-Hortala, Elsa & Fages, Jacques, 2016. "Energy valorisation of food processing residues and model compounds by hydrothermal liquefaction," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1632-1652.
    11. Bahadar, Ali & Bilal Khan, M., 2013. "Progress in energy from microalgae: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 128-148.
    12. Li, Qingyin & Yuan, Xiangzhou & Hu, Xun & Meers, Erik & Ong, Hwai Chyuan & Chen, Wei-Hsin & Duan, Peigao & Zhang, Shicheng & Lee, Ki Bong & Ok, Yong Sik, 2022. "Co-liquefaction of mixed biomass feedstocks for bio-oil production: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    13. Shahbeik, Hossein & Kazemi Shariat Panahi, Hamed & Dehhaghi, Mona & Guillemin, Gilles J. & Fallahi, Alireza & Hosseinzadeh-Bandbafha, Homa & Amiri, Hamid & Rehan, Mohammad & Raikwar, Deepak & Latine, , 2024. "Biomass to biofuels using hydrothermal liquefaction: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PB).
    14. Tian, Chunyan & Li, Baoming & Liu, Zhidan & Zhang, Yuanhui & Lu, Haifeng, 2014. "Hydrothermal liquefaction for algal biorefinery: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 933-950.
    15. Jun Sheng Teh & Yew Heng Teoh & Heoy Geok How & Thanh Danh Le & Yeoh Jun Jie Jason & Huu Tho Nguyen & Dong Lin Loo, 2021. "The Potential of Sustainable Biomass Producer Gas as a Waste-to-Energy Alternative in Malaysia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-31, April.
    16. Genel, Salih & Durak, Halil & Durak, Emre Demirer & Güneş, Hasret & Genel, Yaşar, 2023. "Hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass with molybdenum, aluminum, cobalt metal powder catalysts and evaluation of wastewater by fungus cultivation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 20-32.
    17. Magdeldin, Mohamed & Kohl, Thomas & Järvinen, Mika, 2017. "Techno-economic assessment of the by-products contribution from non-catalytic hydrothermal liquefaction of lignocellulose residues," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 679-695.
    18. Kumar, R. & Strezov, V., 2021. "Thermochemical production of bio-oil: A review of downstream processing technologies for bio-oil upgrading, production of hydrogen and high value-added products," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    19. Tahir H. Seehar & Saqib S. Toor & Ayaz A. Shah & Thomas H. Pedersen & Lasse A. Rosendahl, 2020. "Biocrude Production from Wheat Straw at Sub and Supercritical Hydrothermal Liquefaction," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-18, June.
    20. Liu, Quan & Zhang, Guanyu & Liu, Mingyang & Kong, Ge & Xu, Ruolan & Han, Lujia & Zhang, Xuesong, 2022. "Fast hydrothermal liquefaction coupled with homogeneous catalysts to valorize livestock manure for enhanced biocrude oil and hydrochar production," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 521-533.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:122:y:2014:i:c:p:73-82. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.