Integrated System for Biojet Fuel Production

Abstract

The global shift toward environmentally friendly renewable fuels is necessary to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and meet the climate goals established by competent international organizations. The aviation sector, a major GHG emitter, must reduce emissions to mitigate environmental impacts. In this context, the use of biojet fuels (or Sustainable Aviation Fuels, SAFs) as “drop-in” fuels has received great attention since it is considered the most efficient and fastest technique towards decarbonization. However, current technologies for converting biomass into biojet fuel have a high production cost and sales prices are not competitive with those of fossil jet fuel. Thus, this study evaluated the potential of an integrated system for biojet fuel production to satisfy the demand of the Brazilian market. The system was made up of four technologies: Alcohol-to-jet (ATJ), Fischer-Tropsch (FT), Syngas fermentation (SF), and direct sugar hydrocarbons (DSHC) using sugarcane as raw material, and jatropha fruit was also considered as raw material for the HEFA route. On the other hand, a techno-economic and environmental assessment was carried out to estimate the sales price of biojet fuel, the number of hectares to be used in biomass cultivation and the environmental impact generated in the production chain. The results demonstrated that an integrated system is a promising alternative for biojet fuel production generating an attractive sales price (1.09 US$ l−1) compared to individual conversion routes and a competitive sales price (0.55 US$ l−1) against fossil jet fuel. In addition, the use of hectares is reduced and environmental impacts are approximately similar to those generated by the individual conversion route as long as an adequate share (%) of a given route is chosen.