Techno-economic analysis: Preliminary assessment of pyrolysis oil production costs and material energy balance associated with a transportable fast pyrolysis system
Open accessAbstract
A techno-economic analysis was performed for a 100 dry-ton/day (90,719 kg/day) fast pyrolysis transportable plant. Renewable Oil International® LLC provided the life cycle cost of operating a 100 dry-ton/day fast pyrolysis system using southern pine wood chips as feedstock. Since data was not available from an actual large-scale plant, the study examined data obtained from an actual 15 dry-ton/day pilot plant and from several smaller plants. These data were used to obtain base figures to aid in the development of models to generate scaled-up costs for a larger 100 dry-ton/day facility. Bio-oil represented 60% of mass of product yield. The cost for the bio-oil from fast pyrolysis was valued at $0.94/gal. Energy cost bio-oil and char was valued at $6.35/MMBTU. Costs associated with purchasing feedstocks can drastically influence the final cost of the bio-oil. The assumed cost of feedstocks was $25/wet ton or $50/dry ton. This paper is part of a larger study investigating the economic and environmental impacts for producing bio-oil / biocide wood preservatives.
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Few studies have evaluated the use of portable systems; however, their main focus is the production of bio-oil as the main product, but not biochar.
“Few studies have evaluated the use of portable systems; however, their main focus is the production of bio-oil as the main product, but not biochar [20][21][22][23].”
From Lifecycle Assessment and Techno-Economic Analysis of Biochar Pellet Production from Forest Residues and Field Application (2022) · cites this paper as [20]
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- Authors
- Badger, P., Badger, S., Puettmann, M., Steele, P., & Cooper, J.
- Affiliations
- Renewable Oil International
- WoodLife
- Mississippi State University (US)
- Venue
- BioResources
- Publisher
- BioResources
- Published
- 2010-11-02
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 34-47
- ISSN
- 1930-2126 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1565979014
- Cited by
- 78
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 2.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- BioResources (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Thermochemical Biomass Conversion Processes
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanics of Materials › Forest Biomass Utilization and Management
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Forestry › Agricultural and Food Sciences
- Keywords
- fast pyrolysis, bio-oil, production costs, life cycle cost, feedstock cost, char, wood preservatives
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