Prospective Life Cycle Assessment of REDIFUEL, an Emerging Renewable Drop-in Fuel

A. E. M. van den Oever, Daniele Mesquita Bordalo Costa, Maarten Messagie, Nídia S. Caetano (Editor), Manuel Carlos Felgueiras (Editor)

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference paper

Abstract

A novel drop-in renewable fuel process was recently developed in project named ‘Robust and Efficient processes and technologies for Drop In renewable FUELs for road transport’ (REDIFUEL). The plant concept consists of a dual-fluidized bed gasifier, followed by a Fischer–Tropsch process and a hydroformylation process to produce a mixture of high-cetane hydrocarbons and C6-C11 alcohols. The Fischer–Tropsch process can also be preceded by synthetic gas production from renewable hydrogen and carbon capture. The environmental impacts of three production pathways for this fuel were compared with Life Cycle Assessment methodology. REDIFUEL has a climate change impact of 8.1–22.8 gCO2eq/MJ when produced from bark, 16.2–30.9 gCO2eq/MJ for short rotation coppice, and 11.1–19.8 gCO2eq/MJ for carbon capture. REDIFUEL production from short rotation coppice leads to the highest environmental impacts in 12–14 out of 16 impact categories assessed, especially in marine eutrophication. REDIFUEL from carbon capture has the lowest impacts in 9 out of 16 of the assessed environmental impact categories, but it leads to high material resource depletion impacts. REDIFUEL production from bark has the lowest impacts in 6 or 7 categories, and it was not associated with specific risks compared to the other scenarios.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe 9th International Conference on Energy and Environmental Research
Subtitle of host publicationGreening Energy to Shape a Sustainable Future
EditorsNídia Caetano, Manuel Carlos Felgueiras
PublisherSpringer Cham
Chapter10
Pages103-112
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)1863-5539
ISBN (Print)9783031435584
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023
EventThe 9th International Conference on Energy and Environment Research - Porto, Portugal
Duration: 12 Sept 202216 Sept 2022

Publication series

NameEnvironmental Science and Engineering
ISSN (Print)1863-5520
ISSN (Electronic)1863-5539

Conference

ConferenceThe 9th International Conference on Energy and Environment Research
Abbreviated titleICEER 2022
Country/TerritoryPortugal
CityPorto
Period12/09/2216/09/22

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgements This work was supported by REDIFUEL, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement no. 817612). The authors thank all REDIFUEL project partners for their efforts and the productive collaboration. The authors would also like to express their gratitude to Romain Sacchi for his help with premise.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

Keywords

  • Biofuel
  • Comparison
  • Gasification
  • Fischer-Tropsch
  • Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

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