Abstract
Techno-economic assessment of bio-oil production from fast pyrolysis of pine was explored through process simulation. In this work, bio-oil production via a one-step pyrolysis route and a two-step pyrolysis which included a torrefaction step before fast pyrolysis were modeled to process 1000 MT/day of dry feed (dry basis) through the pyrolyzer at a temperature of 530 °C while two-step -pyrolysis was investigated at three different torrefaction temperatures of 290, 310, and 330 °C. Different scenarios that included the use of fossil energy to produce process heat as well as use of renewable energy either through the combustion of char or a portion of the condensates from -torrefaction were also investigated. Economic analysis indicates that a torrefaction step results in a reduction in the minimum selling price of bio-oil produced which reduced further with -torrefaction -temperature with lowest bio-oil price of $1.04/gal obtained for a two-step pyrolysis at torrefaction -temperature of 330 °C in comparison to $1.32/gal for a one-step process. Minimum selling price of bio-oil on an energy basis however suggests a higher price of about $22.19/GJ for a two-step in -comparison to $16.89/GJ for a one-step. There could be a trade-offs between the higher quality and the higher selling price considering the downstream upgrade step to hydrocarbon fuel.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 117-128 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Mar 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Bio-oil
- Fast pyrolysis
- Techno-economic assessment
- Torrefaction
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Bioengineering
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
