Life-Cycle Assessment of Sustainable Aviation Fuel Derived from Paper Sludge

Converting waste paper sludge to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) offers a circular economy strategy to decarbonize the aviation sector. This study develops a life-cycle assessment (LCA) for converting high-ash paper sludge to SAF in the U.S. using a catalytic sugar upgrading system that consists of...

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Published in:ACS sustainable chemistry & engineering 2024-06, Vol.12 (22), p.8379-8390
Main Authors: Lan, Kai, Cruz, David, Li, Jinyue, Agyei Boakye, Amma Asantewaa, Park, Hyeonji, Tiller, Phoenix, Mittal, Ashutosh, Johnson, David K., Park, Sunkyu, Yao, Yuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
09 BIOMASS FUELS
acetone
aviation
biorefining
carbon
cement
circular economy
climate
climate change
condensation reactions
enzymatic hydrolysis
fossil fuels
fuels
green chemistry
INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
ketones
landfills
life cycle assessment
paper sludge
pulp and paper sludge
reaction products
redox reactions
renewable energy sources
sludges
solvents
sugars
sustainable aviation fuel
waste paper
waste valorization
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Summary:Converting waste paper sludge to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) offers a circular economy strategy to decarbonize the aviation sector. This study develops a life-cycle assessment (LCA) for converting high-ash paper sludge to SAF in the U.S. using a catalytic sugar upgrading system that consists of ash removal, enzymatic hydrolysis, dehydration, aldol condensation, and hydroprocessing. The LCA is coupled with a process simulation for an industrial-scale biorefinery based on experimental data. We quantified the carbon intensity as 35.7–41.8 gCO2eq MJ–1 SAF (−636 to −584 gCO2eq per dry kg paper sludge) with acetone as a solvent, renewable fuel, and biobased chemicals; this is further reduced to 5.1–11.1 gCO2eq MJ–1 (−925 to −873 gCO2eq per dry kg paper sludge) if ash is recycled and used for substituting cement. Converting 1 dry kg paper sludge to SAF with acetone, renewable fuel, and biobased chemicals (−925 to −584 gCO2eq) is more climate beneficial than landfilling without landfill gas recovery (791 gCO2eq) and with landfill gas recovery (−294 gCO2eq). More than 330 million gallons of SAF can be produced annually (>4 million dry t paper sludge/year in the U.S.), resulting in a reduction of 2–7 million tCO2eq.
ISSN:2168-0485
2168-0485
DOI:10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c00795