An Integrated Sustainability Evaluation of High-Octane Gasoline Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass

A holistic sustainability analysis for early-stage biofuel production processes plays a critical role in the improvement of the overall life-cycle sustainability. Once a conceptual conversion process is developed, the next step is to evaluate its overall sustainability, preferably based on a process sustainability evaluation methodology using various indicators. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Gauging Reaction Effectiveness for the Environmental Sustainability of Chemistries with a Multi-objective Process Evaluator (GREENSCOPE) methodology evaluates processes in four areas: environment, energy, economics, and efficiency. The method develops relative sustainability scores for indicators that allow comparisons across various technologies. In this study, we implemented GREENSCOPE methodology for a sustainability performance assessment of NREL's conceptual design for the indirect liquefaction of biomass to high-octane gasoline blendstock by evaluating a range of metrics beyond the typical minimum fuel selling price and greenhouse gas emissions considerations. We applied this methodology to assess the sustainability performance of this gate-to-gate conceptual design. One outcome of the sustainability evaluation is to allow researchers to identify process areas in need of sustainability improvement during biofuel production, and the challenges and opportunities for achieving the best possible sustainability targets.