This study demonstrates the economic feasibility of producing renewable transportation dropin fuels from lignocellulosic biomass through hydrothermal liquefaction and upgrading. An Aspen Plus ® process model is developed based on extensive experimental data to document a techno-economic assessment of a hydrothermal liquefaction process scheme. Based on a 1000 tonnes organic matter per day plant size capacity, three different scenarios are analyzed to identify key economic parameters and minimum fuel selling prices (MFSP). Scenario I, the baseline scenario, is based on wood-glycerol co-liquefaction, followed by thermal cracking and hydroprocessing. Results show that a minimum fuel selling price (MFSP) of 1.14 $ per liter of gasoline equivalent (LGE) can be obtained. In Scenario II, only wood is used as feedstock, which reduces the MFSP to 0.82 $/LGE. Scenario III is also based on a pure wood feedstock, but investigates a full saturation situation (a maximum hydrogen consumption scenario), resulting in a slightly higher MFSP of 0.94 $/LGE. A sensitivity analysis is performed identifying biocrude yield, hydrogen, and feedstock prices as key cost factors affecting the MFSP. In conclusion, the study shows that renewable fuels, via HTL and upgrading, can be highly cost competitive to other alternative fuel processes.

This study describes a techno‐economic analysis (TEA) to evaluate the feasibility of developing an electrofuel (eFUEL) system based on hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). The system is developed to make use of the carbon in the aqueous and gas phases of an HTL process as inputs for the production of renewable transportation fuels, supplementing those from the ‘traditional’ HTL pathway. An Aspen Plus® model of the eFUEL system is developed containing a partial oxidation gasifier (POX), a reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reactor, and a Fischer–Tropsch (FT) process. The combined HTL, upgrading, and eFUEL (Electro‐HTL) system is designed with a capacity of 1000 tonne of organic matter per day as input. The electro‐HTL system increases carbon efficiency to 84.81% and the plant's fuel mass yield by 69.2% (from a yield of 27.8 to 47.0%) compared to a stand‐alone HTL and upgrading system. The TEA of the electro‐HTL system shows a minimum fuel‐selling price (MFSP) of 26.06 USD GJ−1, with a carbon efficiency of 84.91%. A sensitivity analysis is performed identifying hydrogen as the key cost influence on the MFSP. The study shows that the incorporation of the eFUEL system decreases the MFSP by 8.9% compared to the standalone HTL and upgrading system. The price generated by the electro‐HTL system is 1.5–2.2 times higher than the price of fossil gasoline. In conclusion, the study shows that the production of renewable drop‐in fuels using the electro‐HTL system is not only cost competitive with other alternative fuel processes, but also with fossil fuels. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

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