Techno-economic analysis of pennycress production, harvest and post-harvest logistics for renewable jet fuel

Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) is a winter annual oilseed crop with relatively high seed oil content (25-36%-wet basis), which can be planted as cover crop in corn-soybean rotation in the Midwestern U.S., to provide both economic benefits and ecosystem services. Pennycress oil has adequate quality for conversion to renewable jet fuel (RJF); however, the technical feasibility and cost of pennycress supply at the commercial scale have not been evaluated; so, the objective of this study was to evaluate techno-economics of the production, harvest and postharvest logistics of pennycress as an RJF feedstock. In addition, an uncertainty analysis was performed to address the inherent variability of the parameters used for this evaluation. This study considered the feedstock supply for a biorefinery with RJF production capacity of around 19 million liters per year (i.e., 5 million gallons per year) in Ohio. Technical feasibility included the assessment of resources (land, infrastructure, machineries, fuel, labor, and consumables) for the production (i.e., planting, fertilizer and pesticide applications), harvest and post-harvest logistics (i.e., grain handling, transportation, drying and storage). Economic analyses included estimation of pennycress production and logistics costs. Annual pennycress seed requirement for the selected biorefinery capacity was estimated to be 90-115 thousand t (90% central range - CR), which would require pennycress plantation in 41-63 thousand ha (90% CR) land in corn-soybean rotation. The direct fossil fuel use ratio (i.e., fossil fuel use per liter of RJF produced) for pennycress production and logistics was estimated to be 0.06-0.09 L/L (90% CR). Estimated total cost for the production and logistics was 170-230 $/t (90% CR); and it was identified to be highly sensitive to pennycress seed yield. The outcomes of this research contribute to identifying the bottlenecks and hotspots for establishment of pennycress at the commercial scale in corn-soybean rotation in Ohio and Midwestern U.S.