Process design, economic evaluation and life cycle assessment of jet fuel production from sugar cane residue

Abstract

With the aim of diversifying energy supplies and mitigating the environmental impacts of the aviation sector, production of renewable jet fuels has recently received substantial attention. To this direction, this study deals with the techno‐economic design and life cycle assessment (LCA) of biojet fuel (farnesane) production from bagasse. Bagasse is the solid residue of sugar industries and its utilization within the biorefinery concept can positively contribute to the sustainable production of fuels. To this end, the present research proposes the production of farnesane from bagasse rather than edible feedstocks (e.g. sugarcane). Mass and energy balances were executed in SuperPro Designer software. The resultant mass yield was equal to 0.121 kg (jet fuel)/kg (dry bagasse) and an energy efficiency of 26.5% can be realized. Economic analysis suggested a gate price of 2.78 $/L. Cradle to grave GHG emissions reductions comparative to fossil jet fuel can be approximately 47%. Overall, the current sustainability analysis explores potential economics and environmental benefits for the lignocellulosic sugars pathway to biojet fuel. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 37: 1227–1235, 2018