Carbon Footprint Analysis of Gasoline and Diesel from Forest Residues and Corn Stover using Integrated Hydropyrolysis and Hydroconversion

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-4-2016

Abstract

© 2015 American Chemical Society. With an increasing focus on renewable fuels, it is vital to understand the environmental impacts from various alternative transportation fuel products and processes under development. This study analyzes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of renewable gasoline and diesel produced by the integrated hydropyrolysis and hydroconversion (IH2) process at an existing petroleum refinery in Memphis, TN, USA. In this study, we considered forest residues from the southeastern US and corn stover from the Midwest as the two feedstocks. H2 required for the process is either imported from a steam methane reformer using natural gas or produced from C1-C3 gas coproducts of the IH2 process. Life cycle GHG emission savings of 67-86% were calculated for IH2 gasoline and diesel compared to their fossil counterparts, depending on feedstock, transport and H2 sources. Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to assess the impact of input parameter uncertainty on the final GHG emission results. The impact of applying biochar coproduct as a soil amendment and soil carbon change due to residue harvest were also studied.

Publication Title

ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering

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