Options for demand side management in biofuel production: A systematic review

Abstract

To minimize the emissions from the production of biofuels, one aim is to reduce or completely replace the amount of fossil fuels used for internal process energy. A conceivable solution is the use of volatile renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. The fluctuation of these energy sources in their production inevitably leads to a transformation to flexible power consumption, commonly referred to as demand side management (DSM). In current research, a wide range of processes has been identified to be suitable for DSM application. Although biorefineries have not yet been tested for DSM application, it is noteworthy that many of the DSM suitable processes are employed in biofuel plants. Thus, this contribution offers a comprehensive overview of DSM options drawn from literature with a special focus on process steps, which have been analysed for operational and capacity flexibility and which are found in or are transferable to biorefinery systems. By identifying process steps in biofuel production that can be operated flexibly, this extensive literature study helps to find technical restrictions limiting the overall process flexibility. The scope of this contribution is to create an overview of which processes in biofuel production can be considered for DSM use.