Dissertation
STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONEMNTAL INDICATORS TO PRODUCE SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUEL
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000005479
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/119034
Abstract
Based on chemical engineering, techno-economic and sustainability principles, a strategic framework is built to evaluate processes for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production. This thesis begins with a literature review of emerging SAF technologies and the identification of techno-economic and environmental challenges. Detailed process and economic models are built for seven SAF technologies. The information collected are used to build a simplified equation where minimum fuel selling price (MFSP) is correlated with feedstock price, conversion cost, and yield. This simple equation is used to visualize techno-economic challenges of SAF production. The main challenge to produce SAFs at competitive prices is the low conversion yield of all the existing technologies from lignocellulosic materials (less than 0.25 kg jet fuel produced/kg of biomass feedstock). These low yields are mostly due to the removal of oxygen in the form of CO2 in the deoxygenation step which resulted in lower fuel yields. To achieve targeted MFSP from lignocellulosic materials fuel yield needs to be close to 60 wt. %. General guidelines are proposed for SAF production technologies from lignocellulosic materials to achieve that goal. A novel concept based on biomass carbonization, CO2 gasification/CH4 steam reforming for syngas (CO/H2) production. With this new concept, several paths are available for jet fuel production from syngas at yields higher than 1 kg of jet fuel/per kg of biomass processed. We continue the analysis of new SAF production concepts using rigorous mathematical modeling framework by process graph (P-graph). This modeling framework suggests several new SAF producing concepts coupled with the production of bioproducts. Acetic acid production seems to be particularly attractive. The next three sections of this dissertation focus on near- or short-term strategic assessment of SAF producing technologies by integrating them in existing industrial infrastructures. Integration strategies propose several scenarios that benefit from utilizing existing infrastructures and their existing product and waste stream. These scenarios are evaluated to build a sustainability matrix, in terms of economic and environmental performance indicator. These evaluations result in a collection of 47 integrated scenarios that provide economic and environmental benefit, in terms of minimum fuel selling price and greenhouse gas emission, respectively.
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Details
- Title
- STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONEMNTAL INDICATORS TO PRODUCE SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUEL
- Creators
- Abid Hossain Tanzil
- Contributors
- Manuel Garcia-Perez (Advisor)Michael Wolcott (Committee Member)Xiao Zhang (Committee Member)Claudio Stockle (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Biological Systems Engineering
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 358
- Identifiers
- 99900592056901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation