Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) potential in jet fuel production from forestry residues: A combined Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Assessment approach

• Published in: Energy conversion and management 2022-03, Vol.255, p.115346, Article 115346
• Main Authors: Fernanda Rojas Michaga, Maria, Michailos, Stavros, Akram, Muhammad, Cardozo, Evelyn, Hughes, Kevin J., Ingham, Derek, Pourkashanian, Mohamed
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alternative energy sources; Aviation fuel; Bioenergy and Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS); Biorefineries; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide emissions; Carbon sequestration; Climate change; Configurations; Economics; Emissions; Energy balance; Feasibility; Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis; Forest residues; Forestry; Fuel production; Global warming; Greenhouse gases; Jet engine fuels; Life cycle analysis; Life cycle assessment; Life cycles; Life-cycle assessment (LCA); Microbalances; Negative emissions; Reinforcement; Renewable energy; Residues; Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF); Synthesis gas; Techno-economic analysis (TEA)
• ISSN: 0196-8904; 1879-2227
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enconman.2022.115346

[Display omitted] •Techno-economic and life cycle assessment of sustainable aviation fuel within BECCS.•The inclusion of CCS increases the minimum selling price of SAF by 7.9%.•The inclusion of CCS achieves negative-emissions.•The costs are sensitive to feedstock price and CAPEX.•The GWP is sensitive to the amount of CO2 separated from the syngas.•The implementation of relevant policies can provide profit generation scenarios. In this study, the economic and environmental feasibility of a process configuration based on the Bioenergy and Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) concept is assessed. The research analyses the production of jet fuel from forestry residues-derived syngas via the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology. Further, the CO2 removed in the syngas cleaning section is not released to the environment, instead it is permanently sequestrated. The produced Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) has the potential to achieve negative emissions. The present research is a one-of-a-kind study for the jet fuel production within the BECCS concept. The process has been modelled within the Aspen Plus and Matlab software to obtain detailed and realistic mass and energy balances. Based on these balances, the technical, economic and environmental parameters have been calculated. Based on a plant that treats 20 dry-t/h of forest residues, 1.91 t/h of jet fuel are produced, while 11.26 t/h of CO2 are permanently stored. The inclusion of the CCS chain in the biorefinery increase the minimum jet fuel selling price from 3.03 £/kg to 3.27 £/kg. The LCA results for global warming show a favourable reduction in the BECCS case, in which negative emissions of −121.83 gCO2eq/MJ of jet fuel are achieved, while without CCS case exhibits GHG emissions equal to 15.51 gCO2eq/MJ; in both cases, the multi-functionality is faced with an energy allocation approach. It is, then, evident the significant environmental advantages of the BECCS process configuration. Nevertheless, financial feasibility can only be attained through the implementation of existing policy schemes and the formulation of new strategies that would reward negative emissions. The application of the UK’s policy “Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation” and a hypothetical scheme that rewards negative CO2 emissions, breaks-even the Minimum Jet fuel Selling Price (MJSP) at 1.49 £/kg for a certificate and carbon price of 0.20 £/certificate and 246.64 £/tonne of CO2.