Techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment of cellulosic isobutanol and comparison with cellulosic ethanol and n-butanol

Abstract

This work presents a detailed analysis of the production design and economics of the cellulosic isobutanol conversion processes and compares cellulosic isobutanol with cellulosic ethanol and n-butanol in the areas of fuel properties and engine compatibility, fermentation technology, product purification process design and energy consumption, overall process economics, and life cycle assessment. Techno-economic analysis is used to understand the current stage of isobutanol process development and the impact of key parameters on the overall process economics in a consistent way (i.e. using the same financial assumptions, plant scale, and cost basis). The calculated minimum isobutanol selling price is $3.62/gasoline gallon equivalent ($/GGE) - similar to $3.66/GGE from the n-butanol process and higher than $3.26/GGE from the cellulosic ethanol conversion process. At the conversion stage, the n-butanol process emits the most direct CO2, at 26.42 kg CO2/GGE. Isobutanol and ethanol plants have relatively similar CO2 emissions, at 21.91 kg CO2/GGE and 21.01 kg CO2/GGE, respectively. The consumptive water use of the biorefineries increases in the following order: ethanol (8.19 gal/GGE)