Environmental, Economic, and Scalability Considerations of Selected Bio-Derived Blendstocks for Mixing-Controlled Compression Ignition Engines

Sep 21, 2026

Economic and environmental favorability are vital for large-scale development of sustainable fuels. The study evaluates economic and sustainability pathways to produce bioblendstocks optimized for improved combustion in mixing-controlled compression ignition engines. Twenty-five pathways are assessed from renewable feedstocks using technoeconomic analysis and life cycle analysis with 19 readiness, economic viability, and impact metrics ranked as favorable, neutral, unfavorable, or unknown. Economic results are largely favorable, and many pathways meet low MFSP targets. Greenhouse gas reductions exceed 60% for twelve pathways, while energy use improves for most.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

[pubs.acs.org/journal/ascecg](pubs.acs.org/journal/ascecg) Research Article Environmental, Economic, and Scalability Considerations of Selected Bio-Derived Blendstocks for Mixing-Controlled Compression Ignition Engines Andrew W. Bartling,* Pahola Thathiana Benavides,* Steven D. Phillips,* Troy Hawkins, Avantika Singh, Matthew Wiatrowski, Eric C. D. Tan, Christopher Kinchin, Longwen Ou, Hao Cai, Mary Biddy, Ling Tao, Andrew Young, Kathleen Brown, Shuyun Li, Yunhua Zhu, Lesley J. Snowden-Swan, Chirag R. Mevawala, and Daniel J. Gaspar Downloaded via NATL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY on May 26, 2022 at 22:20:03 (UTC) . See [https://pubs.acs.org/sharingguidelines](https://pubs.acs.org/sharingguidelines) for options on how to legitimately share published articles. Cite This: ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2022, 10, 6699−6712 Read Online | | | | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | ACCESS | Metrics & More | | Article Recommendations | | *sı Supporting Information | ABSTRACT: Economic and environmental favorability are vital considerations for the large-scale development and deployment of sustainable fuels. Here, we have conducted economic and sustainability analyses of pathways for producing bioblendstocks optimized for improved combustion for mixing-controlled compression ignition (MCCI) engines. We assessed 25 pathways for the production of target fuels from renewable feedstocks and conducted technoeconomic analysis (TEA) and life cycle analysis (LCA) to determine which bioblendstock candidates are likely to be viable given a slate of 19 metrics evaluating technology readiness, economic viability, and environmental impacts ranking each metric as either favorable, neutral, unfavorable, or unknown across a range of screening criteria. Among the results, we found that the economic metrics were largely favorable for most of the bioblendstocks. Of the near-term baseline cases, eight pathways oﬀered the potential of a minimum fuel selling price (MFSP) of less than $5/gallon of gasoline equivalent (GGE). In comparison, under future target case scenarios, there is potential for seven pathways to reduce their fuel selling price to less than $4/GGE. Biochemically-based pathways struggled to achieve favorable target case MFSP under the processing approach taken here, but further economic improvements could be achieved when lignin valorization is included. Most of the conversion technologies were determined to be robust in that they would be minimally aﬀected by the feedstock speciﬁcations and variations. However, given the early stage of development formost of the pathways, blending behavior and testing for regulatory limits are key data gaps as knowledge of how many of these bioblendstocks will perform when blended with existing fuels and how much can be added while still meeting fuel property speciﬁcations is still being assessed. Twelve pathways showed signiﬁcant reductions in life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions greater than 60%, and 15 showed favorable fossil energy use reductions compared to conventional diesel fuel. Energy-intensive processes and the use of GHG-intensive chemicals such as sodium hydroxide contribute signiﬁcantly to GHG emissions. Results from these analyses enable researchers and industry to assess the potential viability of MCCI bioblendstocks. KEYWORDS: techno-economic analysis, life cycle analysis, biofuels, renewable diesel ■ INTRODUCTION Society needs cost-eﬀective, clean, and low-carbon powertrains. The supply chains, freight, and other services that rely on transportation networks share a set of criteria requiring long-range applications capable of rapid re-energizing, of suﬃciently low weight, and a compact size required for roadways and existing shipping infrastructure. Currently, much of this need is met by compression ignition engines burning petroleum-derived diesel fuels. While this mode of operation has time-tested advantages of being cost-eﬀective, high eﬃci

FAQs

What is the document’s primary focus?

It focuses on economic and environmental assessment of producing bio-derived bioblendstocks for mixing-controlled compression ignition (MCCI) engines.

How were the bioblendstock pathways evaluated?

The study analyzed 25 production pathways using technoeconomic analysis (TEA) and life cycle analysis (LCA) across 19 metrics covering technology readiness, economic viability, and environmental impacts.

What do the results show about costs and emissions?

Most bioblendstocks show largely favorable economic metrics, with multiple pathways reaching low minimum fuel selling price targets. Twelve pathways reduce life cycle greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60%, and many show favorable fossil energy use reductions.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Oliver Hayes