Renewable drop‐in fuels provide a short‐ to medium‐term solution to decreasing carbon dioxide emissions from the transport sector. Polyoxymethylene ethers (OME) are among interesting candidates with production pathways both from biomass (bio‐OME) as well as electricity and CO2 (e‐OME) proposed. In the present study, both bio‐ and e‐OME production via methanol are assessed for energy performance and carbon footprint. Process integration methods are applied to evaluate synergies from colocating methanol production with further conversion to OME. Even a hybrid process, combing bio‐ and e‐OME production is evaluated. The energy efficiency of bio‐OME is considerably higher than for the e‐OME pathway, and colocation synergies are more evident for bio‐OME. Carbon footprint is evaluated according to EUs recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED II). If renewable electricity and natural gas are used for power and heat supply, respectively, results indicate that all pathways may be counted toward the renewable fuel targets under RED II. The largest emissions reduction is 92.8% for colocated hybrid‐OME production. Carbon footprints of e‐ and hybrid‐OME are highly sensitive to the carbon intensity of electricity, and the carbon intensity of the heat supply has a major impact on results for all pathways except colocated bio‐ and hybrid‐OME.
Hydrogen could play an important role in reducing the climate impact of the transport sector. This study explores the possibility of using existing biomethane infrastructure to enable the accelerated roll‐out of hydrogen as a transport fuel in a Swedish context. The concept of multifuel filling stations for hydrogen and biomethane are examined based on four cases, where the hydrogen is produced either via electrolysis or biomethane reforming, at a smaller or larger scale, and through either centralised or decentralised production. The cases are compared using established life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to establish their respective impact from a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation potential. The LCA results show generally good GHG performance for all production paths being studied with a range from −7 g CO2 eq./MJ hydrogen for hydrogen production based on biomethane via steam reformation (SMR) compared to +19 g CO2 eq. for production based on Swedish National Grid Mix via electrolyser. The SMR is the more efficient technology in mitigating GHG emissions, especially if system expansion is applied. In addition, sensitivity analyses also show that electrolyses production based on renewable wind power will decrease the impact significantly and vice versa that a European Average Electricity Grid Mix (EU – 28) would increase the impact significantly. The findings of this study underline the potential of the gradual introduction of hydrogen as a fuel for transport without the need for large investments in a dedicated fuel‐specific distribution system. The concept could contribute to overcoming the current chicken‐and‐egg catch of achieving both scalable and profitable supply of hydrogen for transport as well as the vehicles using it as fuel.
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