Geospatial environmental techno-economic assessment of pretreatment technologies for bioethanol production

Second-generation biofuels, starting from lignocellulosic biomass, are considered as a renewable alternative for fossil fuels with lower environmental impact and potentially higher supply and energy security. The economic and environmental performance of second-generation bioethanol production from corn stover in the European Union (EU) is studied, starting in Belgium as base case. A comparative environmental techno-economic assessment has been conducted, with process simulations in Aspen Plus and corn stover availability data in thirteen EU countries to calculate minimum ethanol selling prices (MESP) and Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe). In this analysis, the emphasis is on the comparison of different pretreatment technologies, namely (i) dilute acid, (ii) alkaline, (iii) steam explosion and (iv) liquid hot water. Dilute acid showed the best economic and environmental performance for the base case scenario. Within the EU, Hungary and Romania presented the lowest MESP for the steam explosion model at 0.39 and 0.43 EUR/L respectively. Poland showed the lowest GHGe, at 0.46 kg CO(2)eq/ L for the alkaline model, mainly due to the avoided product allocation on electricity and its high carbon intensity in the electricity generation sector. The second lowest GHGe were obtained in France for the dilute acid model and are attributed to its low agricultural emissions intensity. This study identifies a location-dependence of the economic and environmental performance of pretreatment technologies, which can be extrapolated from the EU to other large regions around the world and should be taken into consideration by decision-makers.

Automated summary

Second-generation biofuels derived from lignocellulosic biomass are considered renewable alternatives to fossil fuels with lower environmental impact and potentially higher supply and energy security. This study examines the economic and environmental performance of second-generation bioethanol production from corn stover in the European Union (EU), focusing on different pretreatment technologies. The findings reveal that the choice of pretreatment technology has a location-dependent impact on the economic and environmental outcomes, which should be taken into consideration by decision-makers not only in the EU but also in other regions.