Life Cycle Assessment of Potential Biojet Fuel Production in the United States

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to reveal to what degree biobased jet fuels (biojet) can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the U.S. aviation sector. A model of the supply and demand chain of biojet involving farmers, biorefineries, airlines, and policymakers is developed by considering factors that drive the decisions of actors (i.e., decision-makers and stakeholders) in the life cycle stages. Two kinds of feedstock are considered: oil-producing feedstock (i.e., camelina and algae) and lignocellulosic biomass (i.e., corn stover, switchgrass, and short rotation woody crops). By factoring in farmer/feedstock producer and biorefinery profitability requirements and risk attitudes, land availability and suitability, as well as a time delay and technological learning factor, a more realistic estimate of the level of biojet supply and emissions reduction can be developed under different oil price assumptions. Factors that drive biojet GHG emissions and unit production costs from each feedstock are identified and quantified. Overall, this study finds that at likely adoption rates biojet alone would not be sufficient to achieve the aviation emissions reduction target. In 2050, under high oil price scenario assumption, GHG emissions can be reduced to a level ranging from 55 to 92%, with a median value of 74%, compared to the 2005 baseline level.

Study of the current incentive rules and mechanisms to promote biofuel use in the EU and their possible application to the civil aviation sector

“…In this scenario, the economic measures are intended to be a temporary remedy addressed to keep the Carbon Neutral Growth (CNG) while the introduction of biofuels is large enough to curb down the total C0 2 emissions. The study from Agusdinata et al (2011) finds that at likely adoption rates biojet alone would not be sufficient to achieve the aviation emissions reduction target. In the same line Dray et al (2012) find that the EU emissions goals will be difficult to meet, even under widespread adoption of the most promising technologies for all modes, due primarily to limitations in biofuel production capacity and a lack of technologies that would drastically reduce C0 2 emissions from heavy trucks and intercontinental aviation.…”

A Review of Environmental Life Cycle Assessments of Liquid Transportation Biofuels in the Pan American Region

“…2 in the Electronic supplementary material), which hinders reaching conclusions about the individual contributions. While in general, the agricultural stage appears to be the largest contributor to the net GHG emissions, in the case of lignocellulosic-based and soybean-based biofuels, it is lower than the industrial stage because these feedstock sources are considered as either crop residues or N-fixing crops needing low N fertilizer inputs (Agusdinata et al 2011;Bailis and Baka 2010;Graefe et al 2011;Luo et al 2009). …”

Design of Sustainable Biofuel Processes and Supply Chains: Challenges and Opportunities

“…This holistic systems approach captures environmental impacts that are outside the purview of the traditional process design boundary. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is one of the most common approaches for evaluating the environmental impact of a product or a process over its entire life cycle, and in recent years has emerged as the predominant method for analyzing the environmental sustainability of emerging biofuel platforms [88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95]. LCA considers impacts throughout all stages of the fuel life cycle-from raw material acquisition, to fuel conversion, and final use.…”