Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T10:25:30.303Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Liquid Fuel Synthesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2022

Jacqueline O'Connor
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
Bobby Noble
Affiliation:
Electric Power Research Institute
Tim Lieuwen
Affiliation:
Georgia Institute of Technology
Get access

Summary

Liquid hydrocarbon fuels are an essential component of our energy system.  They have unprecedented volumetric density of energy, roughly 32 MJ/liter for gasoline, compared to a lithium ion battery at 2.4 MJ/liter.  This means that for activities requiring high or sustained power delivery such as flying and shipping there are no current alternatives.  Compared to electric motors, internal combustion engines have significantly lower efficiency, and the recent improvements in the electric vehicle sector suggest that at least for light vehicle duty their use is not essential.  However, despite significant government action to promote electrification of the light duty fleet, there will still be a period of transition that could last well over a decade as the developing world increases its consumption of transportation services and the world builds the capacity to electrify personal transportation.  Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop pathways to produce renewable liquid hydrocarbon fuels as part of the energy transition to low carbon energy systems.

Type
Chapter
Information
Renewable Fuels
Sources, Conversion, and Utilization
, pp. 216 - 244
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abanades, J. C., Rubin, E. S., Mazzotti, M., & Herzog, H. J. (2017). On the climate change mitigation potential of CO2 conversion to fuels. Energy & Environmental Science, 10(12), 2491–99.Google Scholar
Ahlgren, S., & di Lucia, L. (2014). Indirect land use changes of biofuel production – a review of modelling efforts and policy developments in the European Union. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 7(1), 110.Google Scholar
Albrecht, F. G., König, D. H., Baucks, N., & Dietrich, R.-U. (2017). A standardized methodology for the techno-economic evaluation of alternative fuels – a case study. Fuel, 194, 511–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Argonne National Laboratory, The Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Technologies Model. (2021). https://greet.es.anl.gov/Google Scholar
Artz, J., Müller, T. E., Thenert, K., Kleinekorte, J., Meys, R., Sternberg, A., Bardow, A., & Leitner, W. (2018). Sustainable conversion of carbon dioxide: An integrated review of catalysis and life cycle assessment. Chemical Reviews, 118(2), 434504.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Becattini, V., Gabrielli, P., & Mazzotti, M. (2021). Role of carbon capture, storage, and utilization to enable a net-zero-CO2-emissions aviation sector. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 60(18), 6848–62.Google Scholar
Bokinge, P., Heyne, S., & Harvey, S. (2020). Renewable OME from biomass and electricity – evaluating carbon footprint and energy performance. Energy Science & Engineering, 8(7), 2587–98.Google Scholar
Bongartz, D., Doré, L., Eichler, K., Grube, T., Heuser, B., Hombach, L. E., Robinius, M., Pischinger, S., Stolten, D., & Walther, G. (2018). Comparison of light-duty transportation fuels produced from renewable hydrogen and green carbon dioxide. Applied Energy, 231, 757–67.Google Scholar
Broch, A., Hoekman, S. K., & Unnasch, S. (2013). A review of variability in indirect land use change assessment and modeling in biofuel policy. Environmental Science & Policy, 29, 147–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brynolf, S., Taljegard, M., Grahn, M., & Hansson, J. (2018). Electrofuels for the transport sector: A review of production costs. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 81, 1887–905.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burre, J., Bongartz, D., & Mitsos, A. (2019). Production of oxymethylene dimethyl ethers from hydrogen and carbon dioxide – part II: Modeling and analysis for OME3–5. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 58(14), 5567–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cafferty, K. G., Muth, D. J. Jr, Jacobson, J. J., & Bryden, K. M. (2013). Model based biomass system design of feedstock supply systems for bioenergy production. International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, 55867, V02BT02A023.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, S. J., Lewis, N. S., Shaner, M., Aggarwal, S., Arent, D., Azevedo, I. L., Benson, S. M., Bradley, T., Brouwer, J., & Chiang, Y.-M. et al. (2018). Net-zero emissions energy systems. Science, 360(6396), eaas9793.Google Scholar
de Jong, S., Antonissen, K., Hoefnagels, R., Lonza, L., Wang, M., Faaij, A., & Junginger, M. (2017). Life-cycle analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from renewable jet fuel production. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 10(1), 118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Detz, R. J., Reek, J. N. H., & van der Zwaan, B. C. C. (2018). The future of solar fuels: When could they become competitive? Energy & Environmental Science, 11(7), 1653–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deutz, S., & Bardow, A. (2021). Life-cycle assessment of an industrial direct air capture process based on temperature – vacuum swing adsorption. Nature Energy, 6(2), 203–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doliente, S. S., Narayan, A., Tapia, J. F. D., Samsatli, N. J., Zhao, Y., & Samsatli, S. (2020). Bio-aviation fuel: A comprehensive review and analysis of the supply chain components. Frontiers in Energy Research, 8, 110.Google Scholar
Dutta, A., & Phillips, S. D. (2009). Thermochemical ethanol via direct gasification and mixed alcohol synthesis of lignocellulosic biomass. National Renewable Energy Lab.Google Scholar
Dutta, A., Talmadge, M., Hensley, J., Worley, M., Dudgeon, D., Barton, D., Groendijk, P., Ferrari, D., Stears, B., & Searcy, E. M. (2011). Process design and economics for conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol: Thermochemical pathway by indirect gasification and mixed alcohol synthesis. National Renewable Energy Lab.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EIA, How much carbon dioxide is produced per kilowatthour of U.S. electricity generation? (n.d.). www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=77&t=11Google Scholar
Elliott, D. C., Biller, P., Ross, A. B., Schmidt, A. J., & Jones, S. B. (2015). Hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass: Developments from batch to continuous process. Bioresource Technology, 178, 147–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fivga, A., Speranza, L. G., Branco, C. M., Ouadi, M., & Hornung, A. (2019). A review on the current state of the art for the production of advanced liquid biofuels. Aims Energy, 7(1), 4676.Google Scholar
Gabrielli, P., Gazzani, M., & Mazzotti, M. (2020). The role of carbon capture and utilization, carbon capture and storage, and biomass to enable a net-zero-CO2 emissions chemical industry. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 59(15), 7033–45.Google Scholar
Hall, D., & Rao, K. (1998). Photosynthesis (6th ed.). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Han, J., Elgowainy, A., Dunn, J. B., & Wang, M. Q. (2013). Life cycle analysis of fuel production from fast pyrolysis of biomass. Bioresource Technology, 133, 421–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Han, J., Tao, L., & Wang, M. (2017). Well-to-wake analysis of ethanol-to-jet and sugar-to-jet pathways. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 10(1), 115.Google Scholar
Hartley, D. S., Thompson, D. N., Hu, H., & Cai, H. (2018). Woody feedstock 2018 state of technology report. Idaho National Lab. (INL).Google Scholar
Held, M., Tönges, Y., Pélerin, D., Härtl, M., Wachtmeister, G., & Burger, J. (2019). On the energetic efficiency of producing polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers from CO2 using electrical energy. Energy & Environmental Science, 12(3), 1019–34.Google Scholar
Herron, J. A., Kim, J., Upadhye, A. A., Huber, G. W., & Maravelias, C. T. (2015). A general framework for the assessment of solar fuel technologies. Energy & Environmental Science, 8(1), 126–57.Google Scholar
Huber, G. W., Iborra, S., & Corma, A. (2006). Synthesis of transportation fuels from biomass: Chemistry, catalysts, and engineering. Chemical Reviews, 106(9), 4044–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Humbird, D., Davis, R., Tao, L., Kinchin, C., Hsu, D., Aden, A., Schoen, P., Lukas, J., Olthof, B., & Worley, M. (2011). Process design and economics for biochemical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol: dilute-acid pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of corn stover. National Renewable Energy Lab.Google Scholar
Huo, H., Wang, M., Bloyd, C., & Putsche, V. (2009). Life-cycle assessment of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of soybean-derived biodiesel and renewable fuels. Environmental Science & Technology, 43(3), 750–56.Google Scholar
Jones, S. B., Meyer, P. A., Snowden-Swan, L. J., Padmaperuma, A. B., Tan, E., Dutta, A., Jacobson, J., & Cafferty, K. (2013). Process design and economics for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to hydrocarbon fuels: Fast pyrolysis and hydrotreating bio-oil pathway. Pacific Northwest National Lab.Google Scholar
Jones, S. B., Snowden-Swan, L. J., Meyer, P. A., Zacher, A. H., Olarte, M. V., Wang, H., & Drennan, C. (2016). Fast pyrolysis and hydrotreating: 2015 state of technology R&D and projections to 2017. Pacific Northwest National Lab.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, S. B., Zhu, Y., Anderson, D. B., Hallen, R. T., Elliott, D. C., Schmidt, A. J., Albrecht, K. O., Hart, T. R., Butcher, M. G., & Drennan, C. (2014). Process design and economics for the conversion of algal biomass to hydrocarbons: Whole algae hydrothermal liquefaction and upgrading. Pacific Northwest National Lab.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keith, D. W., Holmes, G., Angelo, D. S., & Heidel, K. (2018). A process for capturing CO2 from the atmosphere. Joule, 2(8), 1573–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kulkarni, A. P., Hos, T., Landau, M. V., Fini, D., Giddey, S., & Herskowitz, M. (2021). Techno-economic analysis of a sustainable process for converting CO2 and H2O to feedstock for fuels and chemicals. Sustainable Energy & Fuels, 5(2), 486500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langholtz, M. H., Stokes, B. J., & Eaton, L. M. (2016). 2016 billion-ton report: Advancing domestic resources for a thriving bioeconomy, volume 1: Economic availability of feedstock. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Managed by UT-Battelle, LLC for the US Department of Energy, 2016, 448.Google Scholar
Lynd, L. R., Liang, X., Biddy, M. J., Allee, A., Cai, H., Foust, T., Himmel, M. E., Laser, M. S., Wang, M., & Wyman, C. E. (2017). Cellulosic ethanol: Status and innovation. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 45, 202–11.Google Scholar
Marchese, M., Buffo, G., Santarelli, M., & Lanzini, A. (2021). CO2 from direct air capture as carbon feedstock for Fischer-Tropsch chemicals and fuels: Energy and economic analysis. Journal of CO2 Utilization, 46, 101487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McQueen, N., Gomes, K. V., McCormick, C., Blumanthal, K., Pisciotta, M., & Wilcox, J. (2021). A review of direct air capture (DAC): Scaling up commercial technologies and innovating for the future. Progress in Energy, 3(3), 032001.Google Scholar
Michailos, S., McCord, S., Sick, V., Stokes, G., & Styring, P. (2019). Dimethyl ether synthesis via captured CO2 hydrogenation within the power to liquids concept: A techno-economic assessment. Energy Conversion and Management, 184, 262–76.Google Scholar
Müller, L. J., Kätelhön, A., Bringezu, S., McCoy, S., Suh, S., Edwards, R., Sick, V., Kaiser, S., Cuéllar-Franca, R., & el Khamlichi, A. (2020). The carbon footprint of the carbon feedstock CO2. Energy & Environmental Science, 13(9), 2979–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NREL Life Cycle Assessment Harmonization. (n.d.). www.nrel.gov/analysis/life-cycle-assessment.htmlGoogle Scholar
Smil, V. (2008). Energy in nature and society: General energetics of complex systems. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Sutter, D., van der Spek, M., & Mazzotti, M. (2019). 110th anniversary: Evaluation of CO2-based and CO2-free synthetic fuel systems using a net-zero-CO2-emission framework. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 58(43), 19958–72.Google Scholar
Tan, E. C. D., Talmadge, M., Dutta, A., Hensley, J., Schaidle, J., Biddy, M., Humbird, D., Snowden-Swan, L. J., Ross, J., & Sexton, D. (2015). Process design and economics for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to hydrocarbons via indirect liquefaction. Thermochemical research pathway to high-octane gasoline blendstock through methanol/dimethyl ether intermediates. National Renewable Energy Lab. Golden, CO (United States).Google Scholar
Trippe, F., Fröhling, M., Schultmann, F., Stahl, R., Henrich, E., & Dalai, A. (2013). Comprehensive techno-economic assessment of dimethyl ether (DME) synthesis and Fischer–Tropsch synthesis as alternative process steps within biomass-to-liquid production. Fuel Processing Technology, 106, 577–86.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Energy, Ethanol Fuel Basics. (2021a). https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/ethanol_fuel_basics.htmlGoogle Scholar
U.S. Department of Energy, Flexible Fuel Vehicles. (2021b). https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/flexible_fuel.htmlGoogle Scholar
U.S. Department of Energy Fuel Conversion Factors to Gasoline Gallon Equivalents. (n.d.). https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/equivalency_methodology.htmlGoogle Scholar
van der Giesen, C., Kleijn, R., & Kramer, G. J. (2014). Energy and climate impacts of producing synthetic hydrocarbon fuels from CO2. Environmental Science & Technology, 48(12), 7111–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wu, M., Wu, Y., & Wang, M. (2006). Energy and emission benefits of alternative transportation liquid fuels derived from switchgrass: A fuel life cycle assessment. Biotechnology Progress, 22(4), 1012–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zang, G., Sun, P., Elgowainy, A. A., Bafana, A., & Wang, M. (2021). Performance and cost analysis of liquid fuel production from H2 and CO2 based on the Fischer-Tropsch process. Journal of CO2 Utilization, 46, 101459.Google Scholar
Zhu, Y., Jones, S. B., Schmidt, A. J., Billing, J. M., Thorson, M. R., Santosa, D. M., Hallen, R. T., & Anderson, D. B. (2020). Algae/wood blends hydrothermal liquefaction and upgrading: 2019 state of technology. Pacific Northwest National Lab.Google Scholar
Zhu, Y., Tjokro Rahardjo, S. A., Valkenburt, C., Snowden-Swan, L. J., Jones, S. B., & Machinal, M. A. (2011). Techno-economic analysis for the thermochemical conversion of biomass to liquid fuels. Pacific Northwest National Lab.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×