Life Cycle and Techno-Economic Assessment of the Conversion of Biocrude Oil from Pyrolysis to Chemicals
摘要
Many countries whose main source of wealth relies on fossil fuels are facing a critical challenge in crafting a sustainable path to incorporate low carbon products into energy portfolio. Low carbon technology products produce less pollution than their traditional energy counterparts and will play a vital role in the transition to a low carbon economy. Low carbon technologies include biomass systems to produce biofuels. The biocrude oil from pyrolysis is a complex mixture of decomposition products from biomass components. Although some direct uses of this oil are proposed, higher value and practical applications require converting the biocrude oil into other products. In this work, the conversion of biocrude oil into value-added aromatic products is evaluated. The process consists of the pyrolysis of lignin from a bioethanol process, the separation of the oil and its hydrodeoxygenation into a mixture of benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX), and a mixture of cycloalkanes which are reformed to generate the hydrogen for the process. The BTX mixture is separated and sold as value-added products. This chapter describes the economic and life cycle environmental sustainability assessment of the whole process is carried out and results are compared against fossil-based alternatives.